Unrealistic things in movies and tv shows that drive you crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

As a German, my biggest pet peeve is a) how Germans tend to be portrayed in most American movies and b) how badly the American actors are coached to speak German. Agree, just hire Germans.


Noteable exception:Sandra Bullock, who really does speak German quite well. (German mother)

Interesting. What movie did she speak German in?

NP. Ocean’s 8. She was apparently raised in Germany.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forced diversity in recent shows/movies. They always have to have that one character that is gay or trans and it’s too obvious and on the nose. (Example: Bros)

I miss 20 years ago when a gay character just existed and wasn’t heavily stereotyped and over the top.

Genuinely curious what show/movie you are thinking of when you say this. I can't think of any examples.

NP the Lieutenant on “Bosch” was a lesbian, no fuss.

The A-Team (although that is 40 years ago). Mr. T just was who he was.

Leverage.

I’m sorry……what?? 🧐🧐

I mean they didn’t make a fuss about him being a negro.

What? What decade are you posting from? WTF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

As a German, my biggest pet peeve is a) how Germans tend to be portrayed in most American movies and b) how badly the American actors are coached to speak German. Agree, just hire Germans.


Noteable exception:Sandra Bullock, who really does speak German quite well. (German mother)

Interesting. What movie did she speak German in?

NP. Ocean’s 8. She was apparently raised in Germany.

I don't know about the movies, but when she is interviewed in German TV she speaks German. (I'm the PP) There are other American actors who have dual citizenship, etc (Kirsten Dunst) but don't really speak German or don't speak it well. She does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

As a German, my biggest pet peeve is a) how Germans tend to be portrayed in most American movies and b) how badly the American actors are coached to speak German. Agree, just hire Germans.


Noteable exception:Sandra Bullock, who really does speak German quite well. (German mother)

Interesting. What movie did she speak German in?

NP. Ocean’s 8. She was apparently raised in Germany.

No, she grew up ijn Arlington actually. Her mother is German.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

A ton of people won’t watch subtitled movies. It’s just a business decision.

Source: my husband, who works in film.

Go tell your husband you don't have to subtitle the whole movie, just a scene or two to set the idea that characters X Y Z are from (fill in the country). Like they did in Hunt for Red October so they wouldn't have to speak in absurd faux Russian/English accents for the whole movie.

Yes, PP, just go tell your husband to change the way people want to watch movies, and also tell the production companies that they need to have subtitles even though people don’t want them and the movie will make less money that way. Your husband can just go do that, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obvious, contrived or inappropriate colour blind casting. I couldn’t watch Bridgerton as there was no historic authenticity. Also couldn’t watch Wheel of Time where little villages were perfectly diverse. Made everything seem fake.

Yeah, only white people should get roles in period films!

Yeah, let's cast a bunch of white and Asian people in Black Panther and any movie about sub Saharan Africa, just to make sure there's diversity. Nobody will complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

As a German, my biggest pet peeve is a) how Germans tend to be portrayed in most American movies and b) how badly the American actors are coached to speak German. Agree, just hire Germans.


Noteable exception:Sandra Bullock, who really does speak German quite well. (German mother)

Interesting. What movie did she speak German in?

NP. Ocean’s 8. She was apparently raised in Germany.

No, she grew up ijn Arlington actually. Her mother is German.

Her Wikipedia page says she was born in Arlington, but raised for 12 years in Germany and Austria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

A ton of people won’t watch subtitled movies. It’s just a business decision.

Source: my husband, who works in film.

Go tell your husband you don't have to subtitle the whole movie, just a scene or two to set the idea that characters X Y Z are from (fill in the country). Like they did in Hunt for Red October so they wouldn't have to speak in absurd faux Russian/English accents for the whole movie.

Yes, PP, just go tell your husband to change the way people want to watch movies, and also tell the production companies that they need to have subtitles even though people don’t want them and the movie will make less money that way. Your husband can just go do that, right?

I think that might have been a tongue in cheek comment, not quite so literal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They seemingly never repeat outfits. Ever.

Roseanne was perhaps the first and only show where people wore outfits more than once.

Mad Men did this also, at least for Peggy.

Mad Men was super deliberate about this and it was a creative choice. I remember reading the Matthew Wiener (the creator) was a stickler about realism and would get upset if the fruit on set was too big (because fruit was smaller in the 60s).

But regarding costumes, the costume designer, Janie Bryant, created realistic wardrobes for characters based on their presumed income, social status, etc. So yes, Peggy is the best example because in the first season, she's fresh out of secretarial school and has never worked in Manhattan before and has basically no money, so she's rewearing the same 2-3 things. As she moves up and becomes more financially independent, she invests in more clothes (still rewearing things, but higher quality and more options). It's a whole journey and it's really thoughtful and realistic.

But not just her. Joan rewore outfits. All Don's secretaries rewear. The wealthier characters don't rewear as often, but that's sometimes because you don't see them as frequently. But Betty definitely rewore certain clothes, especially around the house, as did the kids. And the actual Mad Men definitely rewear suits and ties, though Don and Roger are genuinely rich and can afford more of them and of higher quality.

The fashion on Mad Men is one of my favorite things. It was such a gift. They could have done it the easy way and just kind of given people what they were expecting based on stereotypes about the 60s and 70s. And instead the clothes were an integral part of the story and part of the storytelling, given you all this information about the characters and their relationships. If you ever want to rewatch that show, I recommend reading all the Mad Style posts on Tom & Lorenzo (fashion blog) because it's so enlightening.

Interesting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

Do you really think most people that watch movies/TV want to read subtitles for significant periods of time? No, they don’t. Know your audience.

I think the Hunt for Red October handled this pretty well. Sean Connery's accent was clearly out-of-place, but you were already supposed to be imagining that they were speaking Russian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

A ton of people won’t watch subtitled movies. It’s just a business decision.

Source: my husband, who works in film.

Go tell your husband you don't have to subtitle the whole movie, just a scene or two to set the idea that characters X Y Z are from (fill in the country). Like they did in Hunt for Red October so they wouldn't have to speak in absurd faux Russian/English accents for the whole movie.

Yes, PP, just go tell your husband to change the way people want to watch movies, and also tell the production companies that they need to have subtitles even though people don’t want them and the movie will make less money that way. Your husband can just go do that, right?

I think that might have been a tongue in cheek comment, not quite so literal.

Ohhhh really

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Here’s mine: When two characters from the same foreign country speak to each other in broken, heavily accented English rather than their mother tongue. That never EVER happens in real life. It’s baffling to me why directors always do this. I mean, directors: If you can’t find two American actors who speak fluent German, then just hire a couple of German actors and use subtitles for their scenes. It will make the movie feel more authentic and the audience will appreciate that you respect their intelligence.

A ton of people won’t watch subtitled movies. It’s just a business decision.

Source: my husband, who works in film.

Go tell your husband you don't have to subtitle the whole movie, just a scene or two to set the idea that characters X Y Z are from (fill in the country). Like they did in Hunt for Red October so they wouldn't have to speak in absurd faux Russian/English accents for the whole movie.

Yes, PP, just go tell your husband to change the way people want to watch movies, and also tell the production companies that they need to have subtitles even though people don’t want them and the movie will make less money that way. Your husband can just go do that, right?

I think that might have been a tongue in cheek comment, not quite so literal.

Ohhhh really

What a clever and witty response! What other interesting things do you have to say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple waking up together, talking, kissing, and having sex.
The morning breath, ughhh.

I love morning sex. You just don’t do it facing each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband always asks “Doesn’t anybody potty?”. He says that during every movie or series.

I just don’t understand. A movie is like 2 hours long and you want them to stop the action so someone can take a piss? A lot of the things people are complaining about are just boring. No one wants to watch people take off shoes, use the toilet, or say goodbye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A couple waking up together, talking, kissing, and having sex.
The morning breath, ughhh.

I love morning sex. You just don’t do it facing each other.

Has no one taken a sip of water in the morning?