March 6, 2017

EP. 169 — 25 Bizarrely Specific Ways Movies Get Reality Wrong

It’s not something that you consciously notice, but movies speak to us in a secret language. They use a special shorthand to convey ideas or explain plot in the most efficient way possible. There’s one problem though: they do it in the same couple dozen ways and recycle them over and over. And they need to stop. Or at least invent some new ones.

Is someone’s life crumbling away after a break-up? Just give them a beard and litter their apartment with Chinese food cartons. Want to show someone has a house or apartment, but no possessions? How about some well-placed Chinese food cartons? Is someone pulling an all-nighter with their work? More Chinese food cartons!

If you’re a person who even casually watches movies, you’ll know so many of these the instant we bring them up and you’ll never unsee them in any film going forward. To break down 25 of the biggest offenders, Jack O’Brien is joined by Cracked’s Carmen Angelica, Soren Bowie and Daniel O’Brien. They talk about how people brush their teeth in movies, how men try to steal kisses and why you can never trust a fictional male nurse.

Remember to buy tickets to our next live taping of The Cracked Podcast on this Saturday, March 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles. Jack and the gang are going to talk about Amity Island, Jurassic World and movies where vacations go awry in an attempt to figure out the best spring break you should take while vacationing in a fictional universe.

Tickets are $7 and available here: https://goo.gl/Li0ocH

Footnotes:

Podcast: Cracked: Dumb Movie Tropes That Need to Die Already: https://goo.gl/oMk0jv

Video: Cracked: 6 Bizarrely Specific Scenes  Hollywood Won’t Quit Using: https://goo.gl/i1Bll2

Video: Cracked: 4 Movie Straw Men Characters That Keep Showing Up: https://goo.gl/17JVkG

Video: Cracked: 7 Bizarrely Specific Ways Movies Get Normal Jobs Wrong: https://goo.gl/lvqPpo

Article: Cracked: 4 Bizarrely Specific Rules That Exist in Movie Universes: https://goo.gl/Hs9iGT

Article: Cracked: 3 Bizarrely Specific Job Trends in Movies: https://goo.gl/a4NL9

Article: Cracked 4 Products That Only Exist in Movies: https://goo.gl/q4RAF

Cracked Photoplasties About Movie Tropes: https://goo.gl/2BsDGG, https://goo.gl/x4QfQ, https://goo.gl/qnQZQr, https://goo.gl/gYZfr

Article: The New Yorker: What Did Jesus Do? (Actual Logic vs. Narrative Logic): https://goo.gl/4c126Q

Article: The Hathor Legacy: Why Film Schools Teach Screenwriters Not To Pass The Bechdel Test: https://goo.gl/MMdcbt

This episode is brought to you by Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/cracked) and Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CRACKED).

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