r/TopCharacterTropes • u/MammothPenguin69 • 16d ago

Hated Tropes Stupid Contrived Survival Stories

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  1. 12 Feet Deep - Two idiots decide they absolutely positively MUST go swimming in a pool after it's closed. An incredibly contrived sequence of events happens so they get stuck in a pool. So the movie can happen.

  2. Frozen (not that one) - Three idiots decide they absolutely positively MUST get on a ski-lift after it's closed. To the point of bribing the operator who for some stupid reason doesn't say anything. Do the movie can happen. Also, Wolves are not that aggressive. They are typically shy and avoid humans.

  3. 47 Meters Down- Arguably the most believable scenario on this list. It's still really stupid.

  4. Fall- Two idiots decide to climb an abandoned radio tower without proper equipment that would make escaping their predicament trivially easy. Stop me if you've heard this one before

so the movie can happen.

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417

u/EnderBookwyrm 16d ago

I'm still just in awe at the level of logistics-tracking the writers pulled off in able to make the situation happen without feeling contrived. Everything lined up just right to leave Kevin home alone.

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u/zrice03 16d ago

I feel like it's a good example of the "swiss-cheese" model of disasters. Yeah, lots of things had to go wrong for the accident to happen...just that occasionally they do all line up, and you never hear (or make movies about) the times when they didn't.

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u/Jccali1214 16d ago

I like that term. I want to watch movies like that. 

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u/SagaSolejma 15d ago

Chernobyl-esque, if you will

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u/FuyoBC 15d ago

I watched a lot of real-life airline disaster stories and this is often a feature: any 1 of the things that went wrong could have been solved but it is when 2 or 3 go wrong in a short time that things go badly wrong.

Piper Alpha for example apparently occurred at the beginning because 2 bits of paper were not in the same place at the same time as they were doing maintenance, it was not complete, but "Because of the way in which work permits were organised on Piper Alpha, the operators would not have known that the pressure relief valve for pump A was missing."

https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/piper-alpha-the-disaster-in-detail/

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u/grendus 16d ago

It's one of the things that really strikes me when I watch the movie (the other is "wow, Kevin's family are all complete assholes").

They legitimately cover all the obvious plot holes:

  • Kevin was sleeping in the attic on the hide-a-bed

  • When Kevin shoves Buzz he spills milk on their tickets and one gets swept into the trash, so they don't realize they have an extra.

  • Kevin's mom, as the only kind thing she does for him in the entire fucking movie, moves Fuller to a different bed.

  • The power outage turns off their alarms, causing them to oversleep and leave in a panic.

  • The neighbor kid was browsing through their bags and gets "counted" as Kevin.

  • The kids are flying coach while the parents fly first class, so they didn't notice Kevin was missing.

Then you have the other plot holes covered pretty well:

  • All their friends are on vacation. The entire street is. A little contrived, but they are pretty wealthy and live in a wealthy neighborhood.

  • The cops suck, drive by once, and decide that she's being hysterical. "Tell 'er to count 'er kids again."

  • Kevin accidentally shoplifts from the corner store (when he's terrified of his neighbor), and with 8-year-old logic decides that he's now a wanted criminal so the cops won't help him. Which, to be fair, with the previous point they probably wouldn't have.

  • A blizzard shuts down all the flights back home so she has to take a van with John Candy (fun fact - almost all of his lines in that movie were ad-libbed, he was supposed to be a throw away cameo).

There are definitely some contrivances to the story to make everything line up, but all of them are things that could reasonably happen.

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u/Miserable-Tractor 15d ago

Another small detail I like is that there was supposed to be one van with 7 people and one with 8 (since there were 15 people and two vans), so part of the reason why nobody realized the numbers weren't adding up was because both groups thought the other van was the one with 8 people. If it'd been an even number like 16 or 14 someone would have probably realized they were one short.

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u/Axl4325 15d ago

They really thought of everything lmfao

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u/dryelbow 15d ago

Another detail, when the powerlines got cut off the phonelines went as well and it was explained it would take a couple of days to repair them, meaning they simply couldn't just call home and talk to Kevin.

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u/whynaut4 15d ago edited 14d ago

Also, "why doesn't Kevin call the cops?" Because Harry disguised himself as a cop and freaked Kevin out. Also the power outage not only knocked out the power, but all the phone lines too, so they couldn't call Kevin either

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u/chris10023 15d ago

Kevin was freaked out because he saw Harry's gold tooth, and also saw him driving a plumbers van, like a day or two later after Harry almost runs him over while not paying attention.

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u/Horatio786 16d ago

Or, at least, they are all things that could have feasibly happened before 9/11.

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u/gamachuegr 15d ago

theres only 1 thing i want to add. kevin is also an asshole, dont get it twisted.

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u/AgitatedStranger9698 15d ago

The only plot hole IMO is the not creepy, creepy old man.

Hes shown to be a very loving, kind, and gentle Grandpa. There is zero chance he would allow things to go a far as they did with the burglars.

Him not bugging Kevin I can see. Who's he to judge the parents? But hes not letting the wet bandits do that shit long before Kevin gets snagged.

However, it does explain why he rushes in so quickly in the finale.

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u/grendus 15d ago

My take is that he didn't know what was happening, and then he had to find his shovel and sneak up on them. Remember, he's an old man, while he was in good shape for his age he didn't want to risk an actual fight with Marv and Harry.

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u/chris10023 15d ago

Yeah, Kevin didn't tell him about it while they were talking in the church. So it's more likely that while he was out doing his shoveling/salting, he saw Kevin run into a neighbors house and then saw Harry and Marv running after him and figured out what was going on, then went go save the kid.

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u/Deseretgear 12d ago

As someone who grew up in a family with 5 siblings and who has a bunch of aunts and uncles and cousins you better believe kids do get left behind at random places a lot. I got left at church and the library, my brother got left at a gas station bathroom…you usually do get remembered but honestly a mom not noticing until they are on the plane does make sense with that many people haha. I think I had to get another grown up to call my parents at home one time and ask them a bit cheekily to “count the kids” before they realized I hadn’t come home with them lol

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u/Beepus666 12d ago

The whole neighborhood on vacation thing honestly makes sense. I do landscaping in a rich neighborhood and genuinely so many of the people living there go to Florida for the winter.

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u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 16d ago

As the youngest and brattiest, it’s entirely plausible imo lol. They do headcount but they count the neighbor kid instead.

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u/Wise-Dust3700 15d ago
  • Kevin's airline ticket is accidentally thrown in the trash during the cleanup after the drink is spilled
  • Kevin was sent to sleep in the attic after arguing
  • A storm causes a power outage during the night so the alarm clocks reset, so the family oversleeps
  • Everyone wakes up late and have to rush to get ready for the airport
  • The family is divided into buddy pairs to help keep track of the children
  • Buzz was assigned as Kevin's buddy, but the system wasn't properly checked during the rush
  • The family's headcount is wrong because a neighbor boy is accidentally counted among the children
  • Nobody physically checks Kevin's room/attic before leaving
  • The family rushes into the vans and leaves for the airport, each thinking the other taxi has 8 people
  • They rushed through the airport, and because Kevin's ticket was thrown away there isn't a separate ticket for him to be scanned at the airport
  • Only after they are on the airplane does Kate realize Kevin is missing

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u/No-Scarcity-Reborn 13d ago

Hey, that’s the name of the movie!😁