List of film and television clichés
The following is a list of clichés found to occur frequently in films and television series. Clichés are recurring ideas in fiction, and have been considered to have been overused in cinematic and televised media. Clichés are present throughout the action, horror, and romance genres, among others.
Examples by genre
Primarily action
Description |
Examples |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|
A chase scene, be it running on foot or a car chase. Except for the chased and chasing, no one else gets hurt, even if the car chase involves hair raising stunts on public roads. |
Bullitt (1968), The French Connection (1971) |
|
A deathtrap and/or an accompanying monologue. |
From Russia with Love (1963), The Incredibles (2004) |
|
Explosions. Spectacular explosions are common in action films. Following an explosion, characters often walk away without looking at it, to demonstrate their sang froid and grit. |
Breaking Bad (2008–13), The Other Guys (2010) |
|
A character falls from a dangerously tall height, but survives by landing in a body of water. |
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jurassic World (2015) |
|
Unrealistic vehicle explosions. |
Driven (2001), 21 Jump Street (2012) |
|
Primarily horror
Description |
Examples |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|
A car fails to start in a time-sensitive situation. |
Cujo (1983), Back to the Future (1985) |
|
A character attempts to use a cell phone but finds that there is no reception. |
Wrong Turn (2003) |
|
A character runs from a threat and falls to the ground, without any force present that would impede their balance. |
Scream (1996), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) |
|
The final girl, a female who becomes the sole surviving member of her peers to confront a killer. |
Halloween (1978), Alien (1979) |
|
A character repositions a bathroom mirror, revealing a threat behind them in the reflection. |
An American Werewolf in London (1981), Shaun of the Dead (2004) |
|
Primarily romance
Description |
Examples |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|
[...] is used in many films to get certain audiences more interested. |
N/A |
|
Star-crossed lovers. |
Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009) |
|
A love triangle. |
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), The Legend of Korra (2012–14) |
|
The Manic Pixie Dream Girl, a free-spirited woman who teaches a repressed male protagonist to relax and have fun. |
Garden State (2004), Elizabethtown (2005) |
|
Primarily sports
Description |
Examples |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|
A training montage. |
Rocky series (1976–), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) |
|
Victory by the underdog. |
Mighty Ducks series (1992–97), Creed (2015) |
|
An inspiring speech that motivates a sports team. |
Any Given Sunday (1999), Miracle (2004) |
|
Primarily Western
Description |
Examples |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|
Climactic showdowns between the protagonist and antagonist. |
N/A |
|
A Mexican standoff, wherein three or more characters, engage in a duel. |
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Reservoir Dogs (1992) |
|
Townspeople in a community that have to be saved by an outsider. |
High Noon (1952), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) "Pale Rider" |
|
Miscellaneous
Description |
Examples |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|
Comic book death, the apparent death and subsequent return of a protagonist. |
WALL-E (2008) |
|
A computer used as a plot device to instantly solve a crime or otherwise defeat the enemy at the last moment. |
Jurassic Park (1993), Independence Day (1996) |
|
A cliffhanger. These are commonly found in series to encourage audiences to return. |
Batman (1966–68), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) |
|
Deus ex machina, the term for a fortunate happenstance which saves the day. |
The War of the Worlds (1953), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) |
|
Dumb blondes, a negative stereotype about the intelligence of blondes. |
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Teen Wolf (1985) |
|
The protagonist awakes, therefore realizing that the events they experienced beforehand were only a dream. |
The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
|
Happy endings. |
N/A |
|
A hardboiled sleuth and a guilty rich person. |
The Maltese Falcon (1941) |
|
A protagonist who wants to commit one last job in a heist film before he retires from a life of crime. |
The Italian Job (1969), Ant-Man (2015) |
|
Villains attack one at a time, can't shoot straight, or become incompetent in the face of opposition by the protagonists. Roger Ebert called this the "Principle of Evil Marksmanship". |
Star Wars franchise (1977–), World War Z (2013) |
|
The Magical Negro, a black character who aids a cast of white characters. |
Song of the South (1946), The Green Mile (1999) |
|
The hero or heroes ride off into the horizon, silhouetted by a sunset. |
Stagecoach (1939), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) |
|
A formerly supportive, shrewish wife who stands in the way of her husband's heroic quest. |
N/A |
|
Time paradoxes which are easily solved. |
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) |
|
The wise fool, an apparently foolish character who possesses greater wisdom than his educated peers. |
Forrest Gump (1994) |
|
Voice-over narration, a stylistic choice that can unintentionally over-explain plot elements. |
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), 500 Days of Summer (2009) |
|
Instead of actors characters having conversations to illustrate the story, a message on a telephone answering machine can establish a plot point. |
N/A |
|
Depicting a character's life from birth to death, or otherwise showing different stages of someone's life. |
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Boyhood (2014) |
See also
- TV Tropes