Tropes in Media That Make Me Roll My Eyes

​By Rahma

As an avid consumer of film and TV, it’s important to utilize my critical thinking and media literacy skills to analyze whatever it is I’m consuming. And there will come a time when I have to roll my eyes aggressively at my computer screen, sighing dramatically as I witness the same tired, overused tropes that perpetuate the same tired, outdated ideas. In this article, I will attempt to break down multiple tropes in popular media that make me lose my mind just a little. 

1. Enemies to lovers. Hear me out, please. I know it might be an unpopular opinion, but the enemies-to-lovers trope - more specifically, hetero enemies-to-lovers - is a slippery slope. It’s simply so difficult to perfect and so easy to mess up. There is a fine line between “that man doesn’t like me because we’re both competing for the same thing,” and “that man doesn’t like me because he hates women.” More times than not, in an enemies-to-lovers piece, a woman will fall in love with someone who badly mistreated her previously, and I don’t see how that’s romantic or satisfying in any sense. I don’t understand why we’re overlooking typically misogynistic behavior and advertising it under this romantic guise, when in reality, that man would be blocked before we ever get to the “lovers” part. 
   
   
2. Plot armor. We’ve all seen it time and time again. The hero who escaped death even though they were stabbed 17 times. I want whatever they’re on, your honor. Now I’ll call out my hypocritical behavior and say that I don’t mind it sometimes. Especially when I’ve become emotionally attached to that character. In that case, keep them alive at all costs, please. However, if you aren’t writing a fantasy, don’t throw your character off a 24-storey building and have them survive. 
   
   
3. She’s not like other girls. She’s quirky and so witty for a girl. She doesn’t wear makeup, and she doesn’t have girl friends because they are dramatic, stupid, jealous females. She likes food, video games, and stereotypical chores for women! Girls go shopping, but not this girl. This girl likes sports and dark humor! Tropes like this perpetuate the idea that anything traditionally feminine or “girly” is deemed negative and undesirable. To not be like other girls is the ultimate compliment, except it isn’t. It’s simply a tool to put down other women.
   ​
4. Cops are heroes. I think it’s time we retire that one for the ACAB era. Cop propaganda is a tale as old as time. Because why fight against deep-rooted racism in a broken system when we can use the media to glorify it? It might be fun watching a good old action sequence, until you start to realize there is a huge gap between “cops are selfless heroes who serve the community without ever knowing if they’ll make it back home” and the reality we face every day. 

The list goes on and on. Harmful stereotypical tropes are a dime a dozen, and it’s always a breath of fresh air seeing them purposefully broken every once in a while. Watching and enjoying these tropes is not a problem in itself. I’ll enjoy heroic-cop-no-die-after-taking-bullet-to-heart every once in a while. But regardless, it’s important to see, think, and analyze. Keep the conversation open, share opinions, and discover different perspectives.​