Dead Horse Trope: Difference between revisions

 

A common cause of [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]], because it's hard to imagine yourself back into the innocent frame of mind when this was ''new''.

 

* [[All That Glitters]] (don't expect anyone to take this [[An Aesop|Aesop]] seriously)

* [[Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word]]: "But in this case, it's appropriate."

* Anything with [[British Royal Guards]] in London.

** The [[Dastardly Whiplash]] mustache-twirling villain also present in such things is almost never used seriously these days.

* [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]]; while many series have continued to get [[Darker and Edgier]], the specific stylings of 90's comics, such as pouches, random metal ornamentation, and bizarre headpieces have all been parodied well after they went out of style.

* [[Floating Advice Reminder]]

* [[Glove Slap]]

* [[Great White Hunter]] - this trope has become associated by some with racism and hunters are [[Villain By Default|evil nowadays.]]

* The [[Greedy Jew]] stereotype in the western world, after it was used as a justification for the Holocaust.

* Hippies are seldom played straight outside of sixties period pieces, having been mostly replaced by [[New Age Retro Hippie|New Age Retro Hippies]] and [[Granola Girl|Granola Girls]].

* [[Hypno Ray]] (As well as hypnotizing as a plot device altogether, save for loads of justifications.)

* [[Instant Cultured]]

* [[I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday]] as a segue into a [[Flash Back]]. Or, for that matter, [[I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday]] being followed by "It ''was'' yesterday" or even "It happened today!".

* [[Lie Back and Think of England]]

* [[Lights Off Somebody Dies]]

** Showing it when all the animals that appear are animated or puppets.

** "No animals were harmed, except that one, and that one, and that one..."

* Likewise, most fictional priests nowdays tend to be either [[Sinister Minister|evil]] or [[Pedophile Priest|a child molester]], to the point where seeing a genuine [[Good Shepherd]] is seen as a subversion. ''[[Frontline]]'' Deconstructed the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of this [[Driven to Suicide|HARD.]]

* Nuns beating students at Catholic school. At least in the United States, nuns stopped doing this a long time ago (and also a good many Catholic schoolteachers are lay people), and yet Hollywood and TV shows constantly act like it's still standard procedure, as sitcom parents often threaten their rebellious teen with a transfer to a school run by nuns, implying that they will be beaten.

* [[Red Wire Blue Wire]] - [[The War On Terror|9/11]] and 30 years of terrorists hiding grenades inside dead cows and cars instead of metal boxes marked "BOMB" have stomped this one flat.

* [[Retirony]]: It's far more common to see this outright [[Discussed Trope|discussed]], [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] or [[Averted Trope|averted]] than played straight anymore.

* [[Save the Princess]] -- had its days as an acceptable [[Excuse Plot]] in [[Video Games]], but those days are pretty much over. [[Grandfather Clause|Unless you're]] [[Mario]], and even he needs something beyond this.

* [[Scoring Points]] -- No one cares anymore.

* [[Super Sentai Stance]]: Almost universally made fun of in these days. Except of course [[Toku|within]] [[Super Sentai|such]] [[Power Rangers|series]], and even then it'll be [[Lampshaded]].

{{quote| [[Power Rangers SPD]] [[Monster of the Week]]: "Enough posing! Let's FIGHT!"}}

** On the most literal level, however, this trope is still alive and well. After all, Americans and northern Europeans ''are'' on the average taller than other peoples; black and brown are still the most common hair colors; and [[Hollywood Homely]] has yet to become a widespread, non-ironic look for protagonists.

* [[Take Me to Your Leader]]: Despite the fact that there is some [[Truth in Television]] in the sense that an explorer in a distant land, upon meeting some of the locals, might wish to speak with whoever's in charge around here, the form of this where visiting extraterrestrials request this is almost never played straight these days.

* [[Torches and Pitchforks]]

* [[Utopia]] is mostly deconstructed in these days.

* Because many drama series deal with touchy real life subjects these days as a matter of course, the [[Very Special Episode]] is more often parodied than played straight these days.