Tropes

[Jeremy Blackman]

We need a thread for tropes that perhaps don't warrant their own thread (like this one, in retrospect).

Here's one that I've run into twice in the last week. And inexplicably I couldn't find it on tvtropes.

"Is that what you want to hear?" is what I'll call it.

It goes like this:

(1) Boyfriend suspects girlfriend of cheating, confronts her.
(2) Girlfriend denies cheating, and we know she didn't, but the confrontation continues to escalate.
(3) Reaching an argumentative breaking point, the girlfriend says "okay it's true, I did it, we had sex,* is that what you want to hear?"
(*) To intensify the escalation, she might describe the sex as great, note that the boyfriend is inadequate in comparison, etc.
(4) It is clear to the audience that this provocation was meant to be sarcastic and facetious ("is that what you want to hear?" being an important clue), but the boyfriend is in such a boiling rage that it bypasses his logical brain and is processed as a literal confession.
(5) In some rare cases, the boyfriend might recognize the facetiousness of the statement but still be enraged by his girlfriend's intent to wound.
(6) The boyfriend's rage does indeed boil over, resulting in domestic abuse or murder.

[jenkins]

gimme a sec because the "Women in refrigerators" thread hasn't made me stop laughing

[edit] imma need some more time because i think this thread's start is strong and warrants consideration and i haven't stopped laughing about the refrigerators or the subsequent post

[Jeremy Blackman]

[Jeremy Blackman]

Just started watching Mudbound. It's always hilarious to me when characters are digging a very deep hole in a movie. Have you ever tried to dig a very deep hole in the actual earth? This depends on your geological region of course, but typically at a certain point you hit hard clay, then rock. It becomes literally impossible to dig further with a shovel. At that point you have to use a machine or something like this that can actually dig into and scrape out the rock. It's also going to be tedious and exhausting. You won't be flinging out shovels full of dirt every few seconds.

[wilberfan]

Just started watching Mudbound. It's always hilarious to me when characters are digging a very deep hole in a movie. Have you ever tried to dig a very deep hole in the actual earth? This depends on your geological region of course, but typically at a certain point you hit hard clay, then rock. It becomes literally impossible to dig further with a shovel. At that point you have to use a machine or something like this that can actually dig into and scrape out the rock. It's also going to be tedious and exhausting. You won't be flinging out shovels full of dirt every few seconds.

Interesting.  From now on, every hole I see being dug in a film (TWBB notwithstanding) I will think of your comment.

I ultimately lost faith in Mudbound after just a few too many melodramatic moments undid the performances up to that point.  And skipped the last 20 minutes because I could tell what was coming.

[Jeremy Blackman]

https://twitter.com/evaandheriud/status/1295753178043088897