There is a commercial on TV right now that is driving me crazy. It's for a detergent, and it's one of those, "real person test' travesty commercials with the testers being a blond woman with long hair and a brunnette with hair that can only be called a bowl cut "joyce dewitt" style, and bad glasses.
And of course the brunette with the bad hair is the smart one and the blond the flighty idiot. I take exception on behalf of both blondes and brunettes, but also, seriously. A national commercial, and these lazy, ridiculous cliches are the best the advertising company could come up with?
Every genre is a breeding ground for cliches, but the books I enjoy the most find a way to turn cliches on their head. Sherry Thomas does this over and over again. I no longer want to read about the uptight governess who secretly desires the rake. But if you give me the uptight laywer who falls for the wrong woman, than I'm in.
One of the storylines I love the most right now is on The Vampire Diaries(I know, I won't give up talking about this show, but it's great) They had the spoiled blond teenager, who was as annoying as she sounds, but then she's turned into a vampire. This transformation makes her more powerful, but also more caring. She's more human now that she's a vamp. It's great, and something Joss Whedom used to do with his characters. Take the annoying, shallow girl and make her someone the audience truly cares about.
Any other good cliche turn arounds out there? Cliches people hate?
4 comments:
Amen Sinead! For me the worst is television. I've often lamented on not having that "couple" to watch get interested in and watch grow... because most shows will simply revert to every cliche in the book.
Sick of it!
Currently? On TV, it's schlubby guy with hot smart wife. In romance novels, it's schlubby girl gets hot guy.
You know what happens to those relationships in real life? They don't last. Someone gets restless. Every time I see/read that storyline, all I can think of how sad the kids are going to be when their parents get divorced.
Well, BSG was full of cliche turnarounds, but I guess it's kind of old news now...
This was a great post, Sinead. Cliches go way beyond corner tired wording.
Eileen, I HATE that cliche in sitcoms. Seriously none of those men would land those women and you almost never see the reversal onscreen. In fact, I can't think of a single case, unless said schlubby girl is only schlubby because she has yet to take off her glasses or put on make up to discover she is in fact not schlubby, but a supermodel.
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