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This new Twitter meme pokes fun at Hollywood’s most overused tropes 

‘Hi I’m a woman in a movie. I have perfect hair and make up even when I’m in a perilous situation.’

Photo of Dominic-Madori Davis

Dominic-Madori Davis

movie-tropes-meme
Topher./Flickr (CC-BY)

People are tweeting descriptions of characters typically found in Hollywood movies. The point is to show how obviously predictable these characters are–and how they are often founded on harmful and offensive tropes.

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“I’m a fat person in a movie. I’m the comic relief, usually entirely self-hating. My redemption comes in the form of before/after and weight loss storylines. I’m usually played by thin women in fat suits,” Meghan Tonjes tweeted.

https://twitter.com/meghantonjes/status/1168653060333195264

Rory Turnbull, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, kicked off the meme. Turnbull tweeted out the archetype of a Hollywood professor: only reaching the main point of their lecture as class ends and yelling at students to do their reading or homework as they leave. Very on point, Turnbull.

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From there, people decided to jump in on the action.

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‘Movie Tropes’ memes

“Hi, I’m a disabled woman in a movie. I rarely exist, AT ALL. But when I do, I’m almost never an actual character. I exist purely for the benefit of abled characters & to make audiences feel ‘inspired’. Most disabled ppl in movies are ‘fakers’ or make miraculous recoveries,” Kitty Kavanagh tweeted.

https://twitter.com/chronicfab/status/1168464936781004800

Another illustrated the trope of a mentally ill woman in movies, who is more often than not seen killing, haunting, or stalking the non-mentally ill protagonist.

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“Hi I’m a woman in a movie. I have perfect hair and make up even when I’m in a perilous situation. I have amazing sex without looking ugly or removing my bra and the leading man’s shirt always fits me like haute couture in the morning,” Twitter user @goldilocksrocks wrote.

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https://twitter.com/EmuHp/status/1167733914691166208

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https://twitter.com/Robbiebox147/status/1167730540205805568

One user tweeted the several tropes often used for Black men in movies.

“If I’m not a gang member, drug dealer, drug-dealing gang member, or star athlete with a troubled background, then I’m a secondary character with street smarts, the comic relief with street smarts, or Will Smith. I’m very likely to die,” they wrote.

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While some of the tropes the memes highlighted are far less dangerous than others, the meme represents a need for Hollywood to stop relying on them for content. Tropes can do a lot to hurt the representation of people, many of whom are already underrepresented.

Take note, Hollywood.

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The Daily Dot