History Main / Discreditedtrope

* CommercialBreakCliffhanger: This trope was already considered to be an overused and tired cliché on televison, particularly in the live-action game and reality show genres, but it's particularly fallen on the wayside in the modern day as most TV shows made the jump to streaming, thus making this trope useless. ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' is about the only show deliberately using the trope these days.

* ChainedToARailway: Was possibly considered a banal cliché as early as the early 1900s--by the time this was first done in film for the 1913 comedy ''Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life'', it was ''already'' a subject for parody. The only reason people even remember the trope [[DeadHorseTrope is because how often it was parodied in the first place.]]

* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Falling out of favor because of Western audiences becoming more knowledgeable about Asian cultures and their differences (thanks to the internet and Asian cuisines like sushi becoming more mainstream) and Asian people demanding a more respectful representation in media. Nowadays, the trope is used to portray a character as clueless at best and racist at worse.

* WraparoundBackground: Rarely used in contemporary animation, since it's considered such an obvious (and cheesy) cost-cutting trick. The technique is generally inapplicable to CGI as well (although it ''is'' used for MindScrew purposes still, such as in the Mad Hatter boss fight in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''), which further cuts off its use in newer works.

* OnceGreenMars: Stories where Mars had a thriving civilization are getting to be this these days due to real-life Martian probing finding little or no archeological evidence. The theorized reasons why Mars isn't thriving like Earth now has a lot to do with its significantly lower gravity being unable to hold in an atmosphere with enough air pressure to keep liquid water from evaporating away, or any ozone layer to protect it from deadly solar radiation; a slow environmental death of natural consequences. However, in the past before space probes, astronomers only had their telescopes and their imaginations pointed at Mars, giving plenty of room to think up entire alien civilizations living on it.

OmnipresentTropes are immune to being discredited, mostly because those tropes are too natural to the medium of storytelling to ever be considered tired cliches.

* AmnesiacHero: While not out of favor in other mediums, in video games since the mid 2000s and on (mainly RPG games due to the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, particularly [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the seventh entry]], helping to popularize the trope), its become viewed as a very tired and played out story cliche.

* CatUpATree: Considered to be a very tired and cliche comedy trope these days. Generally speaking, if a household cat manages to climb up a tree, it most certainly will find a way down on its own. Calling the fire department or local hero to "save" them is only going to cause ''more'' problems if anything.

* ChainedToARailway: Was possibly considered a banal cliche as early as the early 1900s--by the time this was first done in film for the 1913 comedy ''Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life'', it was ''already'' a subject for parody. The only reason people even remember the trope [[DeadHorseTrope is because how often it was parodied in the first place.]]

* TheChosenOne: Has largely fallen out of favor due to how overused and cliche it is. One of the few ways to still use this trope so modern audiences accept it is to point out how much ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne. ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' in particular plays with, parodies, and deconstructs and then reconstructs this trope to kingdom come while not taking itself seriously in the slightest.

* CollisionDamage: Considered an outdated video game cliche, with many modern platform games discarding it due to improved technology allowing different and intricate enemy attack animations. It's still used due to GrandfatherClause by the older game franchises, and if modern non-{{Retraux}} games ever do use it, it's usually done by coating the enemies in something harmful like [[TheSpiny spikes]], [[ManOnFire fire]], or [[ShockAndAwe electricity]] to justify the contact damage.

* CommercialBreakCliffhanger: This trope was already considered to be an overused and tired cliche on televison, particularly in the live-action game and reality show genres, but it's particularly fallen on the wayside in the modern day as most TV shows made the jump to streaming, thus making this trope useless. ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' is about the only show deliberately using the trope these days.

* FairyCompanion: Overused to the point of being considered a cliche in video games.

* GottaCatchThemAll: In 3D platformers, the Collect-a-Thon format completely fell out of favor in the early 2000s due to how over saturated and cliche it became (and games like ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' going way overboard with the collecting aspect, [[GenreKiller turning people off the already tired trend as a result]]). It often got overused in lazily designed platformer games, particularly licensed ones, helping send the trend to an early grave. Even the Mario games, which kicked off the trend in the first place with ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', moved on to more standard platforming as of ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld''. This trope however [[PopularityPolynomial seems to be heading in the opposite direction]] in recent years as nostalgia for these kinds of games have been on the rise, as games like ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' and ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' have been released to critical praise, while [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy Crash Bandicoot]] and [[VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy Spyro the Dragon]] have both gotten trilogy remakes that have also been warmly received. However, these these kinds of platformers also tend to focus more on movement options than the collectables themselves. ''VideoGame/YookaLaylee'' attempted to be a [[GenreThrowback more deliberate throwback to those kind of games with a greater focus on collectables than anything else,]] with [[BrokenBase middling results]].

* HijackedByGanon: While still a valid trope in other mediums, in video games, this has become such an overused and trite way of attempting a shocking plot twist (with the trope naming ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''Franchise/MegaMan'' series, as well its follow ups such as ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' which likewise abused the trope [[StrictlyFormula ad nauseam]], being by far the most infamous abusers of this) that it's no longer considered even mildly surprising to use it in contemporary games. Modern games usually avoid the trope, save in [[GrandfatherClause series where it's practically expected]] (such as the aforementioned ''Mega Man''), and either play the villains straight, [[TheUnTwist subvert the twist]] or [[LampshadeHanging play the cliche for laughs.]]

* SassyBlackWoman: This characterisation is fast becoming cliched and is seen as lazy writing by many viewers who want to see minority characters given as much depth, individuality and nuance as white characters are permitted. When the first trailer for ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' made Patty Tolan appear to be one of these (the character in the film proper was far more nuanced, the trailer had only cherry-picked her loudest moments), people were not pleased.

* YouAllMeetInAnInn: While the trope is OlderThanPrint and used in the works of greats like Creator/GeoffreyChaucer, it has become a cliche that should be avoided due to overuse. Actually starting an adventure with the words "So, you all meet in an inn..." may be seen as roleplaying's equivalent to "ItWasADarkAndStormyNight..." Thus, a lot of sources advise against using it, and give pointers on how to avoid it. The 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', in a list of ways to bring a party together, dubs this "The Cliche". David Morgan-Mar, of ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' and ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' fame, provides a list of [[http://www.dangermouse.net/gurps/reject/tavern.html less overused ways]] to start an adventure, as do the folks at the [[http://diceofdoom.com/blog/2009/02/8-ways-to-start-a-campaign-thats-not-in-a-tavern/ dice of doom blog.]]
* YouMustBeThisTallToRide: Its prevalence in real life and general [=overuse=] of the zany kid shenanigans to work around it has turned a stock trope of kids' media into a near-cliché.

* UnionsSuck: While not perfect, their decline in America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has shown that unions were the main line of defense regarding poorly treated workers. This has made anti-union messages increasingly unpopular in TheNewTwenties. Furthermore, people have begun to realize that much of anti-union propaganda tends to come from the overly wealthy business executives who are refusing to pay their workers in the first place, meaning punching down on unions only plays right into their hands.

* {{Macekre}}: This has become discredited as syndicated television has lost its luster following [[TechnologyMarchesOn the rise of cable]] and on-demand streaming. Likewise, companies that were prominent for heavy anime edits between the 1970s and 2000s have either closed their doors or left the industry while anime distributors who produce faithful dubs, even for children's television, have taken their place.

* GrossOutShow: Overexposure of this in the 90s and 2000s lead to many rejecting this style of comedy. Nowadays, most people find gross-out humor to be childish at best and [[{{Squick}} genuinely disgusting at worst]]. Not helped by works that place a greater emphasis on funny dialogue and/or SurrealHumor that became prevalent in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties. ''WesternAnimation/SecretMountainFortAwesome'' in particular failed so badly that grossout shows started to die out.

* HighTimesFuture: This is somewhere between being discredited and a ForgottenTrope these days, what with DrugsAreBad having been {{enforced|Trope}} in recent years.

* RapIsCrap: Similar to DiscoSucks, younger generations have grown up with hip-hop as a mainstream genre of music and largely afford it the same level of respectability they do to pop, rock, and other genres. Its critical appraisal has improved, too, with a greater respect for the role of hip-hop in Black culture in the US in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Straight uses of this trope have grown rarer, with people who hate rap largely portrayed as being extremly old-fashioned at best or at straight-up racist at worst.

* RealMenLoveJesus: The decline of RatedMForManly as well as the broad decline of religion in the west has made this trope largely extinct outside of parodies, although it's still very much alive in Evangelical media, for obvious reasons.

* SadistShow: At least for media at kids. As overexposure of this in the late 90s and much of the 2000s started taking the shine off it. Nowadays, most people find shows with constantly miserable casts to be rather cringeworthy and even childish, especially with more wholesome and (ironically) sophisticated kid's media coming into prevalence in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties. Modern shows aimed at adult such as Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhilidelphia are able to [[UndeadHorseTrope get away with this trope]], somewhat due to GrandfatherClause, but also due to how [[LoveToHate hilariously unlikable the main characters are]].

* SadistShow: Overexposure of this in the late 90s and much of the 2000s started taking the shine off it. Nowadays, most people find shows with constantly miserable casts to be rather cringeworthy and even childish, especially with more wholesome media coming back into prevalence in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties. ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' in particular was once a massive success, but its final two seasons (and [[Series/TheFairlyOddParentsFairlyOdder sequel series]]) proved so bad that it has long faded from pop culture. Meanwhile, the massive success of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' with its sweet-hearted but self-aware tone started the downfall of totally cynical kids' cartoons.

* SelfAbuse: A horribly-outdated idea based on old-wives' tales and religious beliefs that largely died out after the sexual revolution of TheSeventies.

# While a variant of the trope can be discredited, that doesn't mean the entire trope is. For example, usage of ThirdPersonPerson to denote [[ItsAllAboutMe a selfish or egomanical personality]]. On the flip side: While the trope itself may be discredited, that doesn't mean all versions of the trope are.

# Just because a trope is discredited doesn’t mean can’t be used ''at all''. It can be parodied, subverted, deconstructed, etc. And in the appropriate context, can even still be played straight.
# Just because one version of the trope is discredited doesn't mean the the entire trope isn't. On the flip side: While the trope itself may be discredited, that doesn't mean all variations of that trope are.

# A trope itself may be discredited, but that doesn't mean all variations of that trope are. On the flip side: Just because one version of the trope is discredited, doesn't mean the entire trope is.

* {{Rotoscoping}}: Derided as a lazy, cheap substitute for actual animation by both animators and critics (thanks in part to [[UnintentionalUncannyValley another trope it inevitably invokes]]), it is almost never used in modern hand-drawn animation anymore. Some modern works have used rotoscoping mainly for stylistic purposes (such as ''intentionally'' invoking the Uncanny Valley) but almost never for the sake of keeping costs done. Its more modern equivalent, MotionCapture, is still used in CGI, but often to equal derision and is now rarely seen outside of live-action films.

* SchoolIsForLosers: The opposite belief has, if anything, become more prominent nowadays due to modern evidence showing that people with higher levels of education have a better quality of life, even during economic downturns. Also the "drop-out tycoon" rarely shows up anymore, as only extremely intelligent and socially-able (if not incredibly lucky) people can dodge regular education (at least) and become successful (as lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', years later it named this very trope).

* DieForOurShip: By the later half of TheNewTens it became increasingly rare for characters to be bashed ''entirely'' for shipping reasons, due to increasing awareness of misogyny in fandoms and how much it influenced this mentality (as it disproportionately affected female characters). It's now more common for detractors of a pairing to target the relationship itself, arguing that it's RomanticizedAbuse, an UnequalPairing, involves QuestionableConsent, or other problematic elements. Many former victims of this trope have undergone CharacterPerceptionEvolution over time.

* TontoTalk: Due to the racist nature of it, you'll never see this being played straight in contemporary media, and it only occasionally pops up for gags that subvert it. The fact that many modern Native Americans have become integrated by not only living in both urban/suburban areas and reservations, but going to university (both of which would bring Natives into greater contact with non-indigenous Americans who speak English as a first language), might have helped discredit this trope, as such developments have undermined the "isolated, primitive Native American" stereotype that birthed this trope in the first place.

* ConsummationCounterfeit: It is now known that many women ''don't'' bleed during TheirFirstTime. Also, virginity is not, at least in most of Western society, seen as a prerequisite for marriage. Still alive and well in places where the truth about the hymen is not known and/or where a high value is placed on a bride's virginity.

* SamusIsAGirl: Overused and now the revelation that a girl can be as strong and badass as men is no longer subversive.

* CuteSportsClubManager: Discredited in Western works, but not elsewhere.

* TurnBasedCombat: At least in video games and not tabletop games. Unless ActionCommands are important to the gameplay to do and/or avoid any lasting damage (see ''VideoGame/PaperMario'', ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'', and ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''), it is very repetitive, no skill is required, you're forced to watch your characters just stand there and get hit, said characters (and their enemies) just look like idiots when they just stand there when it isn't their turn and attack one at a time, especially with advanced graphics, and the strongest attacks are just instant kills without anything special. Case in point: ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', which popularized this trope in the first place alongside ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', has ditched turn-based gameplay completely in later installments. Meanwhile, the latter has gotten a lot of flak for sticking to its aging turn-based battle system.

* {{Padding}}: The technique used in British adventure serials (''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Series/BlakesSeven'' being the two most notorious abusers) of having the hero get captured at the end of one part ({{Cliffhanger}}), spend the next episode escaping and get captured again at the end of ''that'' episode [[DiabolusExMachina by the same people]] ({{Cliffhanger}}). The fact that the mainstream, cliffhanger-laden adventure serial is a dead format, how the age of just shoving an episode out in a week ("so just write some stuff where everyone's running about to fill up minutes, who cares if it's good") is gone forever thanks to the increased complexity of special effects, and the fact that shows like this tend to be aimed at cult audiences who are very sensitive to this kind of plotting mean that this is never done nowadays, and if it does show up it's usually in spoofs.

* CausticCritic: While comically scathing reviews of bad media is still alive and well, the “Angry Reviewer” sub-trope that was [[FollowTheLeader popularized]] by the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd in the mid-2000s to early-2010s has fallen off sharply in popularity due to oversaturation from a glut of poor quality AVGN clones and changing preferences for other, more professional methods of review. The only creator that really plays it straight is the aforementioned AVGN due to GrandfatherClause and newer attempts to play it straight are met with scorn.

# A trope can be considered [[ValuesDissonance discredited in some parts of the world, but not in others]], due to differing intellectual and moral commitments between cultures. For instance, StayInTheKitchen is outdated within Western liberal areas, but raises far fewer eyebrows in African and Asian countries, and some variant on such was widely-held throughout most of history even in the West.

# Just because a trope is discredited does not necessarily mean it's not TruthInTelevision, or that it's necessarily a ForgottenTrope.