Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain Which F**ked Up Things Have Been Normalized By Movies

Woman eating popcorn watching TV at home
JESHOOTS.COM/Unsplash

Reddit user -Weirdo-Ranjan-3725 asked: 'What are some fucked up things that are normalised by movies?'

As an art form, movies are an escape from the mundanity or stress we experience in our day-to-day lives.

Nicole Kidman nailed it perfectly when she told AMC audience members that "we need that, all of us, that indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim."


We are prepared to "go somewhere we've never been before," and as moviegoers, we're prepared to suspend our disbelief for the sake of being entertained.

But there are scenes depicted in movies that can jolt us back to reality and make us wonder, are movies really the magical escape they always purport to be?

Curious to find out, Redditor -Weirdo-Ranjan-3725 asked:

"What are some f'ked up things that are normalised by movies?"

How movies portray various protocols in life can be very misleading.

Police And Professionalism

"Cops being allowed to stay on a case involving their relatives or someone they are dating."

– SeriousNep2nian

"Cops saying to their supervisor, 'Then I guess what I do on my time is my own business?' after being told they’re off the case because they’ve gotten too involved in it …"

– SniffleBot

Medical Myths

"Unrealistic expectations in medicine for one."

– Skeptical_Monkie

"Dr. House is both the world's best and worst doctor simultaneously."

– guynamedjames

The Resuscitating Technique

"Most people would be shocked how rarely CPR is effective."

– KoedKevin

"Okay but what if after they call it, you scream at the patient, "Damnit, LIVE!!!!! LIVE you bastard!" And slap them, then get pulled away and rush back to the patient and punch their chest and start compressions again? I heard that works, and they wake right up and say something witty or sweet and definitely do not have broken ribs, if you use that movie-certified technique."

– ImAsking4AFriend

Focusing On The Road

"Facing your passenger for seconds at a time while driving. I still believe some people do this IRL because they've seen it in movies."

– JAMisOVERRATED

"I get so uncomfortable during those scenes. Can't hear the dialogue cos internally I'm screaming 'LOOK AT THE F&*@ING ROAD!'"

– maybebaby83

Cuts So Deep

"Slicing your palm wide open with a knife when needing to give a blood sample. Literally the worst place because the margin of error between a little blood and detached tendons is super thin skin."

– AnEpicBowlOfRamen

"Not to mention this sh*t is going to be the WORST while waiting for it to heal. You move your hand like a billion times a day, but apparently, it's OK to just slice across your entire palm deep enough to draw blood, wrap it in a bandage, and go about your business like nothing happened."

"If you for some reason need to cut yourself to draw blood, why not somewhere that's generally stationary even while doing mundane sh*t like walking around, like your shin or bicep. You can easily draw blood and then bandage it and forget about the wound for a few days while it heals."

– cheeseburgerwaffles

Ending The Call

"Ending a phone call without saying goodbye."

– shikakaaaaaaa

"In the Midwest a goodbye is like an obligatory six sentences long."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"My South Carolina cousins will tell you AT LEAST 4 more stories after you say goodbye."

– jimtown28

These dangerous examples don't apply in real life.

Destablizer

"Tranquilizer darts. It’s basically anesthesia and you can’t shoot different targets with the same loads since they’re generally special formulas. Each dart is created based on the intended targets mass, metabolism, and presence of other medicines it might potentially react with."

– whynotchez

"iirc The Lost World: Jurassic Park actually got this one relatively right ? They talked about how it depended on the size of the Rex. Plus, when they are capturing the dinosaurs, they don't go immediately under, it takes some time."

– medvezhonok96

Head Thwack

"Hitting people on the head with heavy objects to knock them out for a few minutes."

– Mataza89

"In the James Bond universe, you just have to karate chop people in the back of the neck to knock them out for an hour."

OB1KENOBI

"I call it the 'Knockout Button'. I remember laughing at how often it happened in Lost. They’d all be suffering from extreme CTE at least from the amount of times they’d been bludgeoned over the head."

– WhyDiver

It's Gangster

"the mafia. Organized crime is very disturbing and shouldn’t be glamorized at all, yet we have countless movies depicting it differently."

– anon

"perhaps Hollywood scripts are written by Big Mafia."

– cubosh

"The Mafia had effective script approval on The Godfather. If not, the film would not have been made."

"Lenny Montana, the actor who played Luca Brasi ('It's a Sicilian message. Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes') was actually a real life, honest to god mob enforcer who was sent to the set to keep an eye on things. De Coppola spotted him and gave him a part. As a mob enforcer."

– douglarri

These are perceived as romantic for dramatic effect, but in real life, not so much.

Being A Creeper

"Stalking being romantic."

– tourniquet13

"Stalking a girl. In the films, she eventually comes around and they fall in love. IRL don't do this, she's not going to come around and fall for you."

– TheAbyssGazesAlso

"'Falling in love' with someone you’ve never spoken to is NOT romantic."

"Refusing to take 'No' for an answer is NOT romantic."

"Showing up at a girl’s house after she broke up with you with a boom box over your head is NOT romantic."

"Following someone home without their knowledge so you can see where they live is NOT romantic".

"Breaking into their home to watch them sleep is NOT romantic."

"Writing someone a letter a day for a year+ even though you never get a reply is NOT romantic."

"Threatening to harm yourself if someone won’t go on a date with you is NOT romantic."

"People on the receiving end of this behavior tend to call it 'terrifying.'"

– titianqt

I appreciate it when movies poke fun at cinematic tropes.

While the logistics of running upstairs during a home invasion usually don't work in favor of the victim, I applaud the self-awareness the Scream franchise deployed by deliberately staging scenes depicting what not to do.

The brilliance lies in the fact that the slasher franchise normalized horror tropes of parodies while still managing to scare the living daylights out of moviegoers.

There's a reason why a seventh sequel was greenlit with the announcement of Neve Campbell returning to reprise her role as Sydney Prescott.

Fans can't get enough of Scream.

More from Entertainment/tv-and-movies

The Creepiest Unexplainable Things People Have Seen With Their Own Eyes

As much as we might not want to admit it, there are some things in life that are hard, if not impossible, to explain.

That's all the harder to swallow when the unexplainable is also horrifyingly creepy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Gavin Newsom; Screenshot of JD Vance from AI-generated video
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images; @GovPressOffice/X

Gavin Newsom Just Epically Trolled JD Vance Over Tariffs With An AI Video About Couches

California Governor Gavin Newsom mocked Vice President JD Vance—and his love of couches—with an AI-generated video to troll him over the rising costs of goods due to President Donald Trump's retaliatory tariffs.

Earlier this week, Trump announced new tariffs: 10% on softwood timber and lumber, and 25% on “certain upholstered wooden products,” set to take effect October 14. The move follows Trump’s announcement last week of additional tariffs on kitchen cabinets, vanities, and other upholstered products, which will take effect October 1.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Kelly Clarkson's conversation with bus drivers from Texas flood
The Kelly Clarkson Show/YouTube

Kelly Clarkson Honors Texas Flood Heroes In Emotional Return To Her Talk Show Following Ex's Death

In July 2025, homes, businesses, Camp Mystic, and more were swept away when central Texas was devastated with severe flooding. At Camp Mystic alone, 27 campers and staff members, including the camp's director, died during the initial flood.

Many people were caught off guard by the flooding and were left stranded mid-flood, getting to the highest ground they could find while they waited and hoped for help to come.

Keep ReadingShow less
Walton Goggins; Pete Davidson
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images; Michael Loccisano/WireImage

Walton Goggins Speaks Out After Pete Davidson Predicts Fans Will 'Turn On' Him Like They Did Pedro Pascal

Pete Davidson went viral recently for calling out the weird online backlash to actor Pedro Pascal's unstoppable career trajectory in recent years.

And he thinks White Lotus star Walton Goggins is next.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alabama State University Honeybeez
@the.asuhoneybeez/Instagram

College Announcer Apologizes After Sparking Outrage With Body-Shaming Comment About Plus-Size Dance Team

In the United States, there are 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)—schools founded when segregation laws and racist policies kept Black men and women from higher education. The schools developed their own unique culture and customs around stepping, marching band, drum majors, and majorettes.

HBCU majorettes march with the band, dance, and have stand battles during games. The dance style and moves are unique to Black culture, but have spread beyond the HBCUs to high schools and dance schools across the country.

Keep ReadingShow less