Anything Goes : Cliché or not? by Mike Chinea

Actually in India Regional films have the punch dialogues and the sudience appreciate it but here people call it cliche

That's interesting Padma. Thanks for sharing.

What maybe a tired old cliché to me might be something new and brilliant to someone else. That’s how we old buzzards get over sometimes.

I believe a cliché is any phrase that when read by a well-read reader causes the reader to yawn and disengage.

A cliché is an idea or expression that is overused to the point where it has lost it's original meaning to the point of being irritating. I think that cultural differences can help decide what is cliché. Something in England may not be familiar to me as a Canadian so while a Brit may scoff at something, it may be new and hence not a cliché to me. I have written an 1897 revenge western. In the script I have the town folk exiting a saloon to watch a deputy ride off to chase a villain. I truly think that the scene is a cliché in every culture but what's another option? Do they stay seated? I have written a few features and many shorts and try to avoid clichés at all costs yet they can be fun if you are poking fun at them and breathing new life into them. Cheers!

I get an accent on cliché for two reasons: 1) I'm in Canada and 2) I pay for a premium Stage 32 Membership. Just kidding... I don't really know why and there's no such thing as a premium membership. I wrote a retelling of Goldilocks and the three bears. It's a short zombie script called Three Brains. It takes the cliché of this one's too soft, this one's too hard and this one's just right to a whole new level. And it's about brains for all of the people thinking about male anatomy. Playing with clichés can be fun just like Jacqueline mentions in movies like Airplane..

I risk life and limb and expulsion from the Inner Sanctum for divulging secrets but I live for danger on the bleeding edge of life. CRTL + ‘ and the letter. And Jacqueline use your new found power for good and not for evil.

Randy, there's no premium membership because charging for membership is a cliche! See what I did there? :)

Excellent point Mr. B!

Thank you, Mr. C!

Are you using a PC or MAC? On a PC holding the CRTL down, press the ' (apostrophe key) let go and then press the letter then it should give you an accént. It may not work on all browsers so you may have to type it in Word and then copy and paste. The things we go through for art.

Welcome to the Inner Sanctum, that's almost as good as being an SNL 5 Timer!!

Clichés can be your friend if you use them right. Example: In a science fiction film, blowing up iconic monuments is pretty cliché. Find something else to blow up. At least that is what they did in the remake of WAR OF THE WORLD. Perhaps you may choose not to blow up anything at all. One thing I like to do in my comedies is to set up an overused cliché, and then do just the opposite or at least go off in an unexpected direction. The most important thing concerning clichés is to be aware of them.

What do we do when EVERYTHING is cliché?