What Sterotypes do you hate?

[HeavenShallBurn]

A single thread for all your media stereotype hate needs.

So tell me what popular media stereotypes have you had enough of? What characteristic in media, whether books, movies, comics, TV, whatever has you pissed off because it just won't go away?

Personally my list is like this
1. Pre-teen heroes I am personally sick and tired of having series built around a bunch of thirteen year old kids "save the world" from "villians" who wouldn't even rate an honourable mention in the World Court and couldn't even get on the list of the International War Crimes tribunal.
2. Incompetent heroes who always win because they're the protagonist even when for the entire balance of the piece except when they absolutely need to win they are completely useless tools.
3. *Looks at popularized modern anime "I'm talking to you"* the combination of 1 and 2 into "heroes" that are not only so young they're just a bad joke they are also stupid to the point of riding the short-bus, indecisive beyond all measure, terminally incompetent and unconfident, and make you want to see the villian win just so they will die and stop their pre-teen drama fest so something good can take its place.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Can you give an example of #3?

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

<Racking my brains because I haven't watched anime much lately because of this>
Naruto- somehow even though he's certifiably moronic and seems across the run of the series to be incompetent at things background characters take for granted suddenly when he needs to win because he's the protagonist he wins despite a general lack of aptitude
Tenchi Muyo-It's one of those anime perrenials, but it's characters like Tenchi that are the worst offenders.
Any Magical Girl Anime-Sailor Moon is just the top of this list but the rest is just as annoying.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I agree about Tenchi, but its a comedy so I can just ignore it.

Naruto starts out pretty stupid, but he gets smarter. Goku from DB is probably the ultimate example of that kind of thing. He was an idiot. I think the Japanese like idiot heroes for some reason.

My major pet peeve is "reverse the polarity." It's the solution to everything. *twitch*

 

[Mark]

Incompetent Dads have become overdone by a good margin at this point.

 

[Starman]

My major pet peeve is "reverse the polarity." It's the solution to everything. *twitch*

Have you tried reversing the polarity of your stereotype likes/dislikes?

 

[trancejeremy]

People who slide down ropes (or other things) without gloves and don't hurt their hands.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Have you tried reversing the polarity of your stereotype likes/dislikes?

I think that would cause the universe to implode upon itself.

Incompetent Dads have become overdone by a good margin at this point.

Agree totally.


Here's another one from anime: one minute the hero can't possibly win, the next he's super powerful. (corollary: one sided fights)

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Thank you Goku was a far better example than Tenchi I think I just blocked him out because he was so annoying.

Another anime hate-"fights" composed to long stretches of alternate monologuing and incoherent screaming interspersed with a a handful of actual blows being traded. DBZ the icon of this style but you see it to a lesser extent in way too much anime. It's a fight not an ****ing debate club.

 

[RangerWickett]

Stepping away from anime, I have been trained to hate "tough chicks." You know, the ones like Faith from Buffy who are just so cool because their lives were so rough. Sure, they're hot, and can kick ass, but they don't care, because they're so tough. And if a man ever even looks like he wants to help her somehow, he can go to hell, because she's a tough chick, and tough chicks don't need men.

Please be aware of intense bitterness and intermittent sarcasm in the above paragraph.

On the same line, the brooding hero. Oh, angst. Oh, he's so dark because he doesn't know what to do, and he can't reconcile his dark side with his need to be a hero. B***h, grow up, learn to talk about your feelings, and get over yourself so you can save the world. Drizzt, I'm looking at you. Heck, Smallville Clark Kent falls into this category too.

Now mind you, I don't dislike tough women or dark heroes. Tank girl is an awesome character, and Buffy mostly was too. Ripley from Aliens is the pinnacle of a cool tough woman. I just dislike the ones who are full of themselves, and who are presented in the book/movie/show as legitimately being cool, when actually they're lame. Likewise, Batman is cool because he has mostly come to terms with any of his angst. Angel (from Buffy) started off kinda lame, but once he lightened up and came to joke about his own angstiness, he became a great character.