![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofastolatDoes anyone have a pet peeve that, when you encounter it in a book or a film, it entirely, and unduly, distracts you from the plot? I'm not talking about unpleasant real world issues which you prefer not to encounter in fiction. I don't even mean mistakes, whether in the form of plot holes and internal contradictions, or in the form of research failings - anachronisms, offences against the laws of physics or whatever. No, I mean things that shouldn't really be contraversial at all, yet still bother you.
For example, I get unduly bothered when people who are doing dodgy or secret things, insist on doing them while standing in a window after dark, with the lights on and the curtains open. "Shut the curtains!" I shout, getting entirely distracted from the plot. When their secret affair or vile murder gets discovered, as it inevitably does, I feel compelled to say, "If only they'd shut the curtains!" every few minutes, and end up virtually incapable of watching the film.
But the big one for me, I think, is waste, in particular food waste. The characters sit down to dinner. Plot is discussed. Someone gets up and leaves the table, leaving their dinner untouched. Others follow. Cut to scene of lone remaining person tipping all the uneaten dinners into the bin. Into the bin! Not into the food recycling container! Not into the garden for the birds. Not into the dog bowl. Not carefully covering it with cling film and putting it in the fridge for later. Just into the bin. The whole meal! Thrown away! So disturbed do I get that I entirely fail to notice the plot for many minutes of outrage.
For example, I get unduly bothered when people who are doing dodgy or secret things, insist on doing them while standing in a window after dark, with the lights on and the curtains open. "Shut the curtains!" I shout, getting entirely distracted from the plot. When their secret affair or vile murder gets discovered, as it inevitably does, I feel compelled to say, "If only they'd shut the curtains!" every few minutes, and end up virtually incapable of watching the film.
But the big one for me, I think, is waste, in particular food waste. The characters sit down to dinner. Plot is discussed. Someone gets up and leaves the table, leaving their dinner untouched. Others follow. Cut to scene of lone remaining person tipping all the uneaten dinners into the bin. Into the bin! Not into the food recycling container! Not into the garden for the birds. Not into the dog bowl. Not carefully covering it with cling film and putting it in the fridge for later. Just into the bin. The whole meal! Thrown away! So disturbed do I get that I entirely fail to notice the plot for many minutes of outrage.
no subject
Date: 2014-08-01 03:11 pm (UTC)Also, yes, Dodgy Secret Doings 101 - close the curtains!!!