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Brian1946's avatar

What are some stupidity-driven plot devices, that you've noticed?

Asked by Brian1946 (32592points) November 9th, 2019

For example, a lot of annoying or dangerous situations could be avoided if the characters would just lock their doors.

This would have greatly reduced the number of uninvited drop-ins from Urkel, Kramer, and other jerks.

Are there other ways to drive a plot, besides chronic carelessness?

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4 Answers

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

This is a real life situation that I caused.
I am someone who was chronically careless with locking the door.
My parents tried to hammer that into my head as I was growing up.
Fast forward years later. I am married and living in a neighborhood which had to be the model for Mayberry.
It was a beautiful,hot summer day and I’m upstairs taking a shower when I hear what I thought was my husband in the bathroom.
I whip back the curtain to see a strange man standing there mumbling something.(about killing no less)
I yelled like a freak for him to get the fuck out of my house and chased him down the stairs.
As he was walking down the street, I grabbed my camera, while wearing a towel & took a few pictures.
I then called the police who asked what he looked like.I took him over to the computer & printed an 8×10 of the guy.
They found him about 30 min later & I identified him,
That same day, I called my brother (couldn’t reach hub) & told him what happened.
He asked,“Did he see you naked?” I said,“Yes!” He said,“Don’t worry, he won’t be back.” LOLOL!
I had to go to court as they took the guy away for evaluation,kept him a few days.
When I got there, a man approached with a folder with the picture I took in it and asked if I was the one. I said yes and that was that. Idk his reasons but it was strange enough to make the local paper,I was told.
It turns out that he lived behind me with his mother! I never saw him before, just his brother who’d stand on a bucket to look over the fence. These were not teenage boys.They were grown men!
At the time, I had 2 German shepherd Dogs.They were safely in my yard when this happened and I own firearms-which were also safely tucked away-probably good for him as it might have had a different ending.
So yeah,lock your doors.

chyna's avatar

Pretty teenager babysitting, wearing a crop top and shorts always goes to the attic or basement to investigate a noise.

longgone's avatar

Failing to tell anyone where you’re going. My dad does a real-life version of this by going scuba-diving in remote lakes spontaneously, all alone.

Zaku's avatar

I call it lazy, ignorant, and/or stupid writing, and it’s so common that I tend to avoid or become exasperated by many shows.

* Many plots in shows strike me as unintentional moral tales about how stupid it is not to share information with other people.
* Holding a gun pointed at someone but walking up into range where they can grab it or you.
* Not calling for help.or running away.
* Failing to collect or remove dropped weapons after a combat.

The list is endless.

Of course there are better ways to write stories. I find it much more interesting and compelling when the characters tend to employ some intelligence.

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