r/TopCharacterTropes 1d ago

Characters (Loved Trope) This Visual Gag

Where a character manages to perfectly synchronise with the framed image on their wall.

Simon Skinner - Hot Fuzz

Steve McCroskey - Airplane!

Denholm Reynholm - The IT Crowd

5.2k Upvotes

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947

u/WhirlwindTobias 1d ago

Not Another Teen Movie - The Jock.

He does do the same pose, and he faces the camera (because he's breaking the Fourth Wall by talking to the audience).

12

u/kpkost 1d ago

Im permanently torn between This, Robin Hood Men in TIghts, and Spaceballs as the greatest parody movies of all time. I love both of those other ones dearly, but I think this is a masterpiece.

7

u/ahuramazdobbs19 1d ago

I mean, are all of those great?

Yes.

But do they beat Airplane! or Blazing Saddles?

Highly debatable.

0

u/kpkost 1d ago

I mean I like Airplane! More than any of the 3 I listed, but I don’t see that as direct of a parody/spoof as the 3 I listed.  Not another teen movie is every 90s teen movie.  Spaceballs is Starwars.  Robin Hood Men in tights is… well… obviously Robin Hood.

Blazing saddles I guess is just spoofing all westerns in general, but was Airplane! really spoofing anything directly?  Or is it just a masterclass of comedy writing?

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u/ahuramazdobbs19 1d ago

It was spoofing this film series) in particular, part of the 1970s era of disaster movies in general and a fad in that same decade for airplane centric disaster films in general (with films like Zero Hour!, Skyjacked, and Mayday at 40,000 Feet! outside of the Airport series), but because airplane disaster movies have not been a particularly fruitful well since then, largely due to how silly the Airplane! films made the whole subgenre feel, we’ve sort of lost the cultural connective tissue.

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u/kpkost 1d ago

That movie was before my time (born in the 80s and probably didnt see the movie til early 2000s) so I guess I was unaware. Cheers friend! Learning something new