Criticize one of your favorite films or tv shows

[Sutekh]

I love Guardians of the Galaxy, but there's one scene that takes me right out and makes me want to punch a muppet. Drax is talking about how everyone is his friend, and gets to Gamora and says, 'This green whore, is my friend.' Never mind if I'm a fan of that particular word or not, it's Drax, the guy who an hour ago we had a scene discussing how his people didn't understand metaphor, and only said stuff literally. Unless he *literally* thought Gamora was a professional sex-worker, he would never have called her a whore. Killer? Yes. Murderess? Sure. Lackey of a genocidal maniac? Absolutely the literal truth, so it's all fair. He might even be able to go with her reputation and call her an assassin, even if he hasn't personally seen her assassinate anyone. But not a sex worker.

The writer of that line clearly did not remember the bit an hour ago where he only said literal stuff, and didn't 'get' metaphor, and it even cropped up later when he killed someone and called it a metaphor, and Star-Lord was like, 'sure, buddy, whatever.'

And so it bugs me, not because it's a silly flaw, but because it's a silly flaw in an otherwise amazing movie, so it sticks out like a dead cockroach on a thick slice of black forest cake.

[babyblob]

Big Bang Theory. I watch this show every day.

But the guys at the start of the series were not just nerds but parodies of nerds having every stereotype you can think of. Sheldon started and pretty much stayed an unlikable mess and pretty much everytime he was a horrible person his friends just crawled back to him. Raj is the most unlikable pathetic character in all of tv. And Penny goes from party girl with an active sex life to sitting around watching the gang play dnd and have in sex that she has said more than once does not satisfy her.

But even in all of that there are still some golden moments in that show. And I stay for those moments because if I stop and think about what I just listed I would never watch the show again.

[Sutekh]

Big Bang Theory. I watch this show every day.

But the guys at the start of the series were not just nerds but parodies of nerds having every stereotype you can think of. Sheldon started and pretty much stayed an unlikable mess and pretty much everytime he was a horrible person his friends just crawled back to him. Raj is the most unlikable pathetic character in all of tv. And Penny goes from party girl with an active sex life to sitting around watching the gang play dnd and have in sex that she has said more than once does not satisfy her.

But even in all of that there are still some golden moments in that show. And I stay for those moments because if I stop and think about what I just listed I would never watch the show again.

Some workmates knew I played AD&D and read comics, and told me that I just had to watch this show, it was all about geeks, and super-funny! I didn't make it through a single episode. I felt like the entire show was built around making fun of people like me, but not even people like me, but absurd over-the-top caricatures of geeks, who frankly deserved the contempt of the viewers, and, at least in the episode I watched, seemed like horrible bitchy people who low-key hated each other, but were forced by their own lack of human socialization to shelter together and turn on each other in some weird Lord of the Flies homage.

(I felt like a chicken who was told to watch this video, because, 'you'll like it, it has chickens!' only it was one of those gross meat-processing-plant-exposes where they herd a bunch of chickens into a giant spinny machine to be gruesomely 'mechanically-separated' and thinking 'why on Earth would anyone think I would like this?')

It just seemed kind of ugly. And I don't know if this was a regular thing, or just in the episode I saw (part of), but the laugh-track felt insulting, like it was telling me what was funny and what I had to laugh at, which was generally one of the characters (usually Sheldon) saying something bitchy to/about their so-called friends.

I actually own comics and little model spaceships and even a few action figures, so I can see 'geek stuff' by looking in almost any direction in my house. I sure as hell don't need to watch a show normalizing shitty behavior by badly-written caricatures of normal people, for an occasional glimpse of a comic book or an action figure.

[DanMad1977]

I love Guardians of the Galaxy, but there's one scene that takes me right out and makes me want to punch a muppet. Drax is talking about how everyone is his friend, and gets to Gamora and says, 'This green whore, is my friend.' Never mind if I'm a fan of that particular word or not, it's Drax, the guy who an hour ago we had a scene discussing how his people didn't understand metaphor, and only said stuff literally. Unless he *literally* thought Gamora was a professional sex-worker, he would never have called her a whore. Killer? Yes. Murderess? Sure. Lackey of a genocidal maniac? Absolutely the literal truth, so it's all fair. He might even be able to go with her reputation and call her an assassin, even if he hasn't personally seen her assassinate anyone. But not a sex worker.

The writer of that line clearly did not remember the bit an hour ago where he only said literal stuff, and didn't 'get' metaphor, and it even cropped up later when he killed someone and called it a metaphor, and Star-Lord was like, 'sure, buddy, whatever.'

And so it bugs me, not because it's a silly flaw, but because it's a silly flaw in an otherwise amazing movie, so it sticks out like a dead cockroach on a thick slice of black forest cake.

You may have a point here, but the crowd was laughing hard when the scene came. I watched it three times with different people, and anyone is laughing about that. So, that works for me.

[ChrisIII]

Star Trek---The Main characters are the only ones that can fix things on the Enterprise. Warp Core is broke? Scotty is incapacitated? Send Uruha. She can go it!!!! Not Ensign Bob who works there and knows it inside and out, but the Communications officer can do it!

At least the movies sort of had an excuse most of the time-In TWOK the crew was mostly trainees, and in III and IV Kirk only took his senior crew along for the ride (and even then in III he didn't have Spock and Uhura at first-Chechov in particular had to do half the jobs!)

[j9ac9k]

I love Guardians of the Galaxy, but there's one scene that takes me right out and makes me want to punch a muppet. Drax is talking about how everyone is his friend, and gets to Gamora and says, 'This green whore, is my friend.' Never mind if I'm a fan of that particular word or not, it's Drax, the guy who an hour ago we had a scene discussing how his people didn't understand metaphor, and only said stuff literally. Unless he *literally* thought Gamora was a professional sex-worker, he would never have called her a whore. Killer? Yes. Murderess? Sure. Lackey of a genocidal maniac? Absolutely the literal truth, so it's all fair. He might even be able to go with her reputation and call her an assassin, even if he hasn't personally seen her assassinate anyone. But not a sex worker.

The writer of that line clearly did not remember the bit an hour ago where he only said literal stuff, and didn't 'get' metaphor, and it even cropped up later when he killed someone and called it a metaphor, and Star-Lord was like, 'sure, buddy, whatever.'

And so it bugs me, not because it's a silly flaw, but because it's a silly flaw in an otherwise amazing movie, so it sticks out like a dead cockroach on a thick slice of black forest cake.

I'm not sure if it's true or I heard it somewhere years ago and it's just become true in my head, but I think I heard there was a cut scene in the prison where one of the other inmates referred to her as a whore. So he took it as literal truth, and Gunn kept the joke in for the laugh even though it didn't make sense without the setup.

[Jokerz79]

1: West Wing: This is a Bartlet and Toby issue they knowingly talk down to people to look smarter. Both men are smart but seem to get a joy at showing it off even when it could hurt their chances on an issue or swaying people to their side. Case in point a democratic advisor in the season 3-episode Manchester points out most people don't know what the word "Torpor" means, and it should be replaced with a term people know this is IMO a reasonable idea, but Toby and Jed say they can look it up. That's not how people are they get frustrated for not knowing it and believe you're talking down to them which honestly, they are and instead of getting the point across you alienate them.

2: Star Trek they use a universal translator hence why everyone can understand each other yet occasionally they'll have Klingons switch to Klingon while in Mix Company. What the Klingons where speaking English before? Because if not then they were always speaking Klingon and the universal translator would keep translating.

3: Sopranos when taking plead deals is seen as a betrayal. In real life Mobsters take plead deals all the time it's only a betrayal if you name others.

Edit 4: As mentioned when cops blatantly cross the line my mum watched the modern Hawaii 5.0 and, in every episode, they were breaking suspects civil liberties. I'm watching thinking "Every arrest they make must get thrown out." Kind of like Batman if he was a real dude every case would get thrown out. Maybe his rogue's gallery doesn't escape the cases just keep getting thrown out lol.

[Mister Mets]

It's a cheap shot but NYPD Blue, 24 and so many other procedurals are quite unrealistic in terms of how many life and death situations even the most extraordinary law enforcement officer gets involved in.

[krazijoe]

It's a cheap shot but NYPD Blue, 24 and so many other procedurals are quite unrealistic in terms of how many life and death situations even the most extraordinary law enforcement officer gets involved in.

What? CSI is not an accurate portrayal of how a CSI scientist works?

[babyblob]

What? CSI is not an accurate portrayal of how a CSI scientist works?

I was shocked to learn that a CSI tech would not be brought in on Swat team raids and take the lead.

[Jokerz79]

What? CSI is not an accurate portrayal of how a CSI scientist works?

Actually, there was a real issue with the affect the CSI shows were having on real life juries. Most cases are based off eyewitness testimony, motive and opportunity, paper trails, even fingerprints but very few are from DNA evidence. The CSI shows got people thinking we leave DNA everywhere and it takes only a small sample to get matches and none of this is true.

[babyblob]

Actually, there was a real issue with the affect the CSI shows were having on real life juries. Most cases are based off eyewitness testimony, motive and opportunity, paper trails, even fingerprints but very few are from DNA evidence. The CSI shows got people thinking we leave DNA everywhere and it takes only a small sample to get matches and none of this is true.

60 minutes called it the CSI Effect.

[marvelprince]

60 minutes called it the CSI Effect.

Fascinating. I wonder though, would this have an impact on crime rates? Like are people less likely to commit certain crimes cause they think they'd get CSIed?

[ChrisIII]

1: West Wing: This is a Bartlet and Toby issue they knowingly talk down to people to look smarter. Both men are smart but seem to get a joy at showing it off even when it could hurt their chances on an issue or swaying people to their side. Case in point a democratic advisor in the season 3-episode Manchester points out most people don't know what the word "Torpor" means, and it should be replaced with a term people know this is IMO a reasonable idea, but Toby and Jed say they can look it up. That's not how people are they get frustrated for not knowing it and believe you're talking down to them which honestly, they are and instead of getting the point across you alienate them.

2: Star Trek they use a universal translator hence why everyone can understand each other yet occasionally they'll have Klingons switch to Klingon while in Mix Company. What the Klingons where speaking English before? Because if not then they were always speaking Klingon and the universal translator would keep translating.

3: Sopranos when taking plead deals is seen as a betrayal. In real life Mobsters take plead deals all the time it's only a betrayal if you name others.

Edit 4: As mentioned when cops blatantly cross the line my mum watched the modern Hawaii 5.0 and, in every episode, they were breaking suspects civil liberties. I'm watching thinking "Every arrest they make must get thrown out." Kind of like Batman if he was a real dude every case would get thrown out. Maybe his rogue's gallery doesn't escape the cases just keep getting thrown out lol.

Star Trek VI had a joke about Shakesphere being in "The original Klingon".

[Mister Mets]

What? CSI is not an accurate portrayal of how a CSI scientist works?

LOL. That's another issue. I was thinking about how often cops get into firefights on TV.