Screenwriting : Stereotypes? by Mariannjely Marval

Packing scenes and funeral scenes.

Drinking. I'm so done with moms drinking wine, and office people drinking scotch.

Disability as disability. I'd like to see actors with disabilities playing roles where their disability isn't the subject of the film. 'Avatar' - did I hear this right - featured an able-bodied actor playing a hero with a disability (whose disability BTW was not a focus)? That's not so good, but moving in a positive direction.

Thank God we're mostly done with smoking as stage business.

Old ladies portrayed as crazy cat ladies, weak and always in need of assistance, romantically undesirable, unadventurous or always the archetypal grandma. BTW, this is posted by an old lady.

Eric Roberts I agree with the disability roles and specially encouraging actors with disability to be part of it :)

Noel Thompson that's so true! haha

Aray Brown oh, I am okay with women saving the world :)

Hanna Strauss Yes!!!! I actually love to write my grandma into my plays. She is fearless, beautiful, adventurous and fun! Okay, a little grumpy sometimes, but it's quick :)

Eric Roberts I sort of disagree with the Avatar example. They turn him back into a biped as soon as they can. Peter Dinklage in “I care” is as scare as they come as a gangster. He is also one of the finest actors of our time, so that helps.

I'm tired of seeing all the girls/women from SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men).

A producer asking a director if there could be the standard 2-minute sex scene. The Director answering:. "God damn man, this is a U-boat in the middle of fucking WO2. There are no women in a U-boat. All the men do is screw each other over." (ok, the last sentence I made up)

Do you mean tropes?

Like having a villain litter or drunkenly burp or kick a puppy to establish they're villainous?

Like Space Explorers always dying off / getting picked off one by one on a spaceship?

Definition of stereotype: "a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing."

I don't want to see anything or anyone presented this way. It's boring, predictable, and (for writers) lazy.

Early on in writing I was told to write what you know. So I wrote a screenplay that was a true story about my dad and I. He was a thrill seeking womanizer who raced motorcycles and hydroplanes. I wrote what I witnessed and experienced. The critique came back "too stereotypical a character" and I thought "now what?" If you don't want the real deal, what do you want? Maybe I should go back and revisit that script...

"TOO stereotypical a character" does not exist. People, - if they want or not - mostly think through stereotypes. Filmmakers know this. If they want their audience to watch their movies. It would be - let me say - not too smart to depict non-stereotyped characters. Making your characters "vague". What you should do as a filmmaker is taking a boring stereotype character and make him/her 'special', more colorful -- having a lot of facets. Still the same character, but pimped.

Good point Rutger. All good theater is exaggeration. Making things (esp. your characters and their struggles) bigger than life for dramatic effect.

I learned the same, Kathaleen, wrote a film about what I know and where I know. I built in a villain, too flat, a stereotypical bad boyfriend/neo-predator guy. Lazy me! And that villain was more of a distraction than a story driver. Because of my preoccupation with him, I missed the true story hiding within - a father/daughter story. If I get that right on my rewrite, it should be a much more emotionally fulfilling story and not need a stereotype villain to move the story.

Kathleen: That quote originated from Hemingway and is very popular. One of my instructors in college told us that very same thing. I am going to be direct here and use a very old quote" "opinions are like a**holes and everybody has one". I would not take to heart what everyone thinks about your script. Take what info you can that is useful to improve it and just ignore the personally biased viewpoints. You can drive yourself bananas regarding all opinions with the same gravity.

Southern people as either rednecks or snobs. There are millions in the middle and they are full of story and the characters are great in that bunch. I try to capture those in the middle. Steel Magnolia women exist in legions! We are tougher than we look.

Italians (and other Latin/Mediterranean people) being portrayed as criminals and/or degenerates, or having a cult-like worship of their families.

Mariannjely, I hope that TV-and-film producers learn, once and for all, that not every American teenager is into rock music or into hip-hop music.

Me, I'm into basically all forms of music...and I was like that when I was in my teens back in the 1968-74 period. But I got to thinking about Adam Swanson, a performer I competed alongside when I was still doing the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival (an event where Adam won four Regular Division titles and three Junior Division ones).

Adam was a teen in the second half of the 2000s...and he didn't dig rock and hip-hop back then!

Great question you posed...and here's wishing you all the VERY BEST!

I think all well observed stereotypes are a writer's friend — it's only when they are shallow or trite they are tiresome. Right?

I think it is fun to see a stereotypical character suddenly reveal a whole other side...the surprise factor...the one to fool us all.

Male super heroes. The ratio of female super heroes to male superheroes needs to improve. There are so many women who are "heroes" in real life and take care of themselves and others. They should be honoured on screen.

Stereotype = safetype...no one wanna risk 250 mil. investment because someone wanna see Batman cry...

This is not necessarily a "stereotype" - but I am so tired of seeing projects where characters "owe money to the mob". I think that is the laziest complication or source of conflict for a character.

Fair, @Ingrid you could be bored of them. We like superheroes because so few of us are, IRL. Albeit concurred, more superheroines wouldn't hurt us boys either.

Don't get me wrong Sandeep, I enjoy watching characters like Thor and Arrow. I feel that women are just as capable of leading these stories, as proven by Black Widow and Wonder Woman, for example. Having grown up believing girls can do anything, I'd like to see more strong women doing amazing things, like Bobby Draper in The Expanse.

Goodness, no @ingrid, like many many boys I am in agreement with you. I was being facetious to bring some levity to your disappointment. Oops!

Yeah I agree @Jason It’s a lazy stale conflict in many cases and somewhat schoolyardish “characters owing mob.” However occasionally script and action pull it off marvellously. Thinking of opening scene Goodfellas where someone who owed was in trunk of car. That scene was multi purpose cos it was a preview flashback for main character to explain in VO he’d always wanted to be a gangster. Another good one the baptism scene in Godfather.

Not a stereotype, but I'm tired of seeing a quarreling couple back down a driveway or drive through an intersection and BAM--a horrible wreck, or someone steps off the curb and SPLAT!! WHAT?? He didn't see that BUS??? All I can figure is the CGI algorithm for accidents must be dirt cheap.

@Stefano Agree. I’m sick of seeing Latinos cast as degenerate, gang related or have some family issue or some Santeria object shows up in closet.

Yeah @Timothy. Usually see arguing or about to shag couple or nice big dog lick window of back seat or baby dribble in carseat before BAM! A tired and poxy precursor to a life changing incident.

Yeah - stereotypes - I no longer watch TV or factory movies. That's my personal decision.

Also not a stereotype, but giving the hero a big, huge soliloquy at the end of the piece, clearly written with the intent to move the audience (and you can suuuuuuuuuuuuper tell because the hero is crying) but it's the most heavy-handed & lame stuff in the universe.

I see you, WW84.

@Angela - I feel like the answer to that, then, has to be a character who eats their deserts first and gives their big, juicy monologue upfront LOL #StoptheEmotionalManipulation

I'm tired of "strong female characters" who derive their strength from anger - I must prefer Zoe from Firefly where her strength comes from her strategic mind and reserved nature. I'm tired of large women being the comedy relief or not attracting men who are considered "leading men", because "leading men" are only for traditionally "leading lady" types. And not just overtly large - all sorts of large. Let's really explore that spectrum, yeah? Orange is the New Black really hit the nail on the head for that one.

How about the girl who is tough “because she had brothers?” Can’t she just be tough?

I'd not thought of it that way @Karen - that women too often derive their strength from anger. And @Bradley I agree with you! She could also be tough because she had sisters, took on a leadership role at school, grew up in an environment where "having a go" at something was encouraged, and so on. Some of the strongest women I know are quietly tough and have an inner steel that you only see when things get difficult. So yes, she can just be "tough."

Looking for a good agent - it's been a while as I was spending most of my time as a journalist...

Bad people being given a “soft side” so the audience likes them. People that do this are lazy. Everyone (yes everyone) can see through this.

I don't watch TV a lot anymore because some shows and movies have creepy, scary plots where people get killed, or the main character gets into one horrible situation and never finds a happy outcome.

To be honest, I get tired of that. It gets harder and harder to find the 'Brooklyn 99', or 'Superstore' kind of comedies and feel-good storylines. Okay, yes, I get it. Some people enjoy the tease of a creepy monster lurking in the dark- or they like that ' 'Will he get to her?' game, but I don't get excited by that horror and gore.

This is only my personal opinion. I DO NOT attempt to offend someone. I understand that every person looks for something different to gain from a show or movie. I just don't have a tolerance level for a story where the character gets abused or treated like... (beep).

I get attached to movie characters very quickly and need to protect myself.

It is fine with me, if you like that kind of stuff- that's your business and I won't meddle with that. I can be friends with people who like the genres I disagree with or just don't care for because the respect stands no matter our tastes! The character of a person means more to me than anything else. :-) Friendship is precious.

Lucie, stay away from stuff I write. I am not a happy ending guy.

Craig D Griffiths , thanks for letting me know. .

I saw a post on IG @mixedasianmedia that brought up the white father / Asian mother stereotype. I wrote a couple who are both Filipinos in one of my scenes (I personally have more family and friends like that living abroad). Only the mother spoke Tagalog (once, in exclamation) so I explicitly stated that they are both Filipinos, to avoid assumptions!

Craig D Griffiths sometimes it's the actor's fault! I've seen actors who are so good at this that it's hard to hate their character.

Some actor are super charismatic, no doubt. Gerry Butler for me. He could read a phone book - I am in. There is a UK limited series “Dark Angel” about the UKs first female serial killer. She doesn’t have a nice side. No killing people, while looking after a sick mum. She just kills people and manipulates men using sex. She is horrible and compelling. The book “Save the Cat” gets its name from that concept. You can have a bad guy, but you have to make him save a cat in a tree, so people will like him.

This may have been (somewhat true in the 80’s), but people are more complex in their desire for stories.

People can be super bad as long as they are the hero in their own story. This makes their actions logical. People will live with a bad logic person all day. IMO.

Thanks for the insight Craig D Griffiths

I don't know why the word stereotype was coined, every time I saw this thread I felt as far as we are concerned here, it might be good to distinguish some of these stereotypes as monotypes — so trying to define them as those that flat out don't have depth, serve no narrative purpose, just a cheap laugh, a checkbox, or a quota. Works?