💬 Weekly Question: What cliché are you exhausted by in modern storytelling?

There are so many to choose from, I expect — or at least hope — this will be an enthusiastic and maybe even hilarious conversation about the tropes that have become so commonplace in modern storytelling that we’re often more shocked by their absence from a narrative. For example, the reluctant mentor trying to run from their dark past, the manic pixie dream girl (who’s probably undiagnosed ADHD), the mysterious flash forward to create tension because no editor or film/TV executive can imagine audiences will engage without a big hook upfront, the antagonist/villain with a tragic backstory that somehow humanizes them more than the heroic leads, and so on.

So, tell us: What cliché are you most exhausted by in modern storytelling? I’d love to hear examples of your complaint, too, bearing in mind that I hate criticism that isn’t explained/contextualized in any way.

In my case, I’m most exhausted by the Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” and “the chosen one” that George Lucas mainstreamed it with Star Wars. I’ve been trying to deconstruct it for several years now, including in that feature commercial spec you’ve heard me talk about lately. My biggest issue with it is, while mythologically fun, it perpetuates two ideas that I think are toxic to our culture:

• That we can achieve greatness without doing any work ourselves (just another story of privilege).

• That someone else, someone preordained in some way, is coming to save us, which is as absurd as checking out of this life because Heaven is on the other side of it.

Now, your turn. Tell us what storytelling cliches you’re most exhausted by - and be sure to read others’ answers and comment on those, too, if you have thoughts about them. The best arts conversations require interaction!