The Thing About Cliche

[roscoegino]

There will be scenes in your script that will come across as cliche, perhpas even a tad corny -- no matter how you write it. But, because they contain The Uncompromising Truth of the story they are forgivable and therefore must stay.

True or false?

[omovie]

Nope.

[wcmartell]

There are many paths to the same truthful destination. There are many ways to phrase the same truth.

- Billucius

[Joe Unidos]

Cliche is lazy truth. Don't write lazy, but write truth.

(Wow, that came off a little pompous...)

[asjah8]

There will be scenes in your script that will come across as cliche, perhpas even a tad corny -- no matter how you write it. But, because they contain The Uncompromising Truth of the story they are forgivable and therefore must stay.

True or false?

i think this is a trick question...?

if a scene is cliche regardless of how it's written then that means the writer has no choice in the endgoal; ie, to make it other than cliche, right? but, i think the only cliches that stand irregardless of creative input are genre expectations. no matter how a scene/story is written there still has to be a 'cute-meet' et al; and those are cliche but they are forgivable because they are expected.

true or false? i go with true - i wouldn't want to piss off the movie-going public by not giving them what they expect to see.

[Ven]

I think it's cliche for people to excuse bad writing.

square peg, round hole

[Hamboogul]

I avoid cliches like the plague.

[Mac H.]

There will be scenes in your script that will come across as cliche, perhpas even a tad corny -- no matter how you write it. But, because they contain The Uncompromising Truth of the story they are forgivable and therefore must stay. Utterly false.

The reason they must stay is because the paying customers enjoy watching them.

That's the reason. Nothing to do with 'uncompromising truth' or any of that nonsense.

People who enjoy rom-coms enjoy the classic 'run to the airport to stop her from leaving' trope. It's a cliché - but the viewers of that genre enjoy it.

People who enjoy detective cosies enjoy the classic scene at the end when the detective has all the suspects in the room and explains who really killed the butler. It's an unrealistic cliché - but viewers of that genre enjoy it.

People like me who enjoy action films enjoy the classic scene at the end when all is lost - there's clearly no way the hero can survive this and rescue the girl .. and then the camera pans around and we see he has a gun sticky taped to his back. It's an realistic cliché - but I love the 'all is lost ... except' scene that is obliged to appear in almost all films of that genre.

It's the enjoyment of the audience that matters. Not the 'uncompromising truth' of a story.

(Heck - even Shakespeare had Falstaff making fart jokes throughout his plays)

Mac

[Bulldog]

Conventions are forgivable. Cliches, not so much.

In an action movie, the hero and main villian usually save each other for last. Works out that way 99.9% of the time.

What should not be uttered in the process: "Is that all you got?" "Your ass is mine!" "Okay, who's almost dead?"

[wcmartell]

Writers discussing cliches, what a ...

- Bill

[hscope]

I'm considering a thriller with a French lead character called Raymond Cliché.

I expect it will be very easy to write.

[asjah8]

Writers discussing cliches, what a ...

- Bill

:rolling:

[tuukka]

Define cliche. What does it even mean? It seems to mean different things for different people.

I think a lot of people are too afraid of being cliche, and end up trying to break conventions just for the sake of breaking them. In my opinion a lot of archetype story situations simply tend to work well, they are attractive to audiences on a very primal level.

I think "cliches" work, if you just put a little bit of original detail in them. But then again, someone might argue that if you do this, they cliches are no longer cliches.

[BattleDolphinZero]

It's very dangerous for a writer to think this way. Writers should feel like they're doing fresh, original sh!t--whether they are or not. I guarantee that the most cliche'd script was written by a writer who believed every scene was tasty with originality.

If you give into accepting that some sh!t is "just gonna be a cliche" you are willingly pinning down your own potential and raping it.

[Joaneasley]

I don't consider genre conventions cliche. I think it's my responsibility as a writer to meet the genre expectations in fresh ways so they are not cliche.
Your meet cute shouldn't be the same as anyone else's meet cute. Your final showdown between the protagonist and the main villain should be different from anything we've seen before.

[WriteByNight]

I'd like to see the villain in an action movie blink, just to mix things up. Nonblinking villains with their mouths just slightly opened are tired.

[Ire]

Here's one cliche that I think is extremely f-ing hard to get around: badass bad guys with bad aim. At some point, in scripts with gunplay, the bad guys have to miss. The hero or heroine has to survive at least up until the end.

There was gunplay in my last script and I did my best to justify why and how the bad guy missed. I think my approach was at least Chicken McNugget with BBQ sauce tasty.

[hscope]

Here's one cliche that I think is extremely f-ing hard to get around: badass bad guys with bad aim. At some point, in scripts with gunplay, the bad guys have to miss. The hero or heroine has to survive at least up until the end.

There was gunplay in my last script and I did my best to justify why and how the bad guy missed. I think my approach was at least Chicken McNugget with BBQ sauce tasty.

The subtle way to handle this problem is by including an autopsy scene for the bad guy after the good guy kills him and the coroner says, "this guy had an extremely rare condition - I've heard about, but never seen before - called shakyaimeitis, which causes a slight vibration in the hands. But it was at such an early stage he wouldn't even have been aware of it."

[Ire]

There was alot of Shakyaimeitis in the 80's.

[J Linc]

It's the enjoyment of the audience that matters. Not the 'uncompromising truth' of a story.

Personally, I'd say what matters is what the writer(s) would like to see happen in their story... but that's just me. :|

[dirtbottle]

It's very dangerous for a writer to think this way. Writers should feel like they're doing fresh, original sh!t--whether they are or not. I guarantee that the most cliche'd script was written by a writer who believed every scene was tasty with originality.

If you give into accepting that some sh!t is "just gonna be a cliche" you are willingly pinning down your own potential and raping it.

I rape my potential everyday. But then again my potential has always been into some pretty kinky stuff... :shifty: