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Two Movie & TV Tropes That Bug Me
Easy solutions to complex problems.
Like me, you watch films for the escape from everyday life.
Also like me, when something happens for which there’s an easy and obvious solution, it lifts you right out of that story and the suspension of disbelief.
The runaway automobile
You’ve seen this countless times over the years; a car or truck has been rigged to a remote control to cause a crash after accelerating to ludicrous speed while the protagonist tries to stop that from happening. This is also a trope used by villains to murder someone in the most complex way possible, perhaps while blasting max volume Justin Bieber tunes on the radio for added terror effect.
As the speed increases minute by minute, WHY does no one just turn the ignition off and coast to a stop? It’s right there on the instrument panel!
Driver’s Ed in movies must be an elective rarely taken in school. Think about it — if you cut off the source of motive power, your death buggy soon goes nowhere fast. No one thinks of this simple solution, though.