By: Megan Saul and Jane Wilde

Media Production and Culture Editors

Whether it’s the infamous popular guy nerdy girl trope or the “you look so pretty without your glasses” motif, it’s no secret the film industry is an avid participant of cheesy clichés. Many might say that clichés cannot be good after being used hundreds of times. To counter this, we argue that clichés might somehow get better and funnier each time they occur in every movie possible. Although the list of movie clichés is long, we have a few favorites that are sure to leave us chuckling. 

Disney, or “home of the clichés” as they say, does not shy away from these platitudes. A personal favorite of ours is the “[s]he’s right behind me, isn’t she” gag. Playful yet beat to death by screenwriters, this hilarious movie cliché has turned into an even funnier TikTok trend, in which the person says a secret in an attempt to mock the silly cliché. 

You’d think after all this time and use of the same clichés, Marvel would start to switch it up a little but no. It’s safe to say that they are an avid participant in cheesy movie clichés. After all, it’s not a Marvel movie without a handful of the line, “We got company” or the comic relief saying, “You’re gonna wanna see this” when disaster awaits. Not to mention there’s always a nerd, and they’re always hacking into something and “breaking down the firewall.” The brief “I’m in” after successfully hacking into the antagonists’ secret system is the real cherry on top. 

In addition to cliché lines, other clichés we enjoy include the infamous rain scene where rain starts pouring before someone confesses their love for another or the story’s climactic fight occurs. Even if the sky is sunny with no clouds in sight, somehow rain appears and adds emphasis to an already dramatic event. Some examples of this are the fight scene in The Matrix, and, of course, Singin’ in the Rain. Another favorite repeated scene is one character racing to the airport to see the ‘love of their life’ before they leave. Although sweet and entertaining, very unrealistic because they always end with the flight attendant opening the cabin door or the flight happening to be delayed. 

 As much as we’d like to sit here and diss overdone tropes and cringy clichés, we eat them up every time. There’s something about the same relentless plot lines and character dynamics that intrigue an audience like no other story. It might not be the worst thing for a film to be generic, and perhaps that’s what makes it so favorable. However, you will not catch us watching any cliché Hallmark movies. We could confidently guess the end of a Hallmark movie within the first five minutes of it, therefore they are a waste of time.

One thing that makes clichés so appealing to an audience is their predictability. Sometimes audiences love watching something to which they know the ending. Many viewers see the same thing as comforting and solitary. However, not all critics enjoy these predictable plots; we are believers and supporters of clichés.