Have you ever heard someone compare something to a movie? As if whatever was happening was too good to be true? Well, that’s because the reality on screen is not always an accurate representation of real life.
Take something as mundane as making breakfast. You’ve probably seen at least one movie—or an episode from a TV series—where a parent makes enough food to feed a family of six and members of the household barely touch anything before heading out the door. In real life, the parent would probably stop them dead in their tracks or make a fuss about spending all this time in the kitchen for nothing.
This, and many similar scenarios were discussed by members of the ‘No Stupid Questions’ subreddit when one of them asked fellow redditors about American things that are not that common but are often shown in Hollywood movies or TV shows. If you’re curious about what other misrepresentations netizens have spotted, scroll down to find their answers on the list below and feel free to upvote those you agree with the most.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interview with a professor of history at the University of Waterloo, expert in modern U.S. cultural and social history as well as the history of American popular culture, including film, Dr. Andrew Hunt, who was kind enough to share his insight on how reality is depicted in film.
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Moms making huge breakfasts and no one eats.
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Discussing what determines the extent to which the movie represents reality correctly, Dr. Andrew Hunt noted that that’s a complicated issue. “There are films that claim to be ‘based on a true story,’ but do not represent real situations or history very effectively. Conversely, there are films that are entirely fictional that accurately reflect real historical events, such as John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath from 1940.
“Films that convey verisimilitude effectively often do so because of the vision of the director and the screenwriter, who use their knowledge of events to recreate realities in compelling ways,” he told Bored Panda in a recent interview.
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Prof. Hunt suggested that different types of movies feature different levels to which reality is depicted accurately. “Some movies, such as comic book superhero films, offer escapism to viewers who want to leave behind the realities of life when they enter a darkened movie theater.
“Other films, such as the acclaimed American Fiction from 2023 or She Said from 2022, to name a couple examples, do an outstanding job of portraying contemporary American life,” he added.
“Films with realistic depictions of life in the United States do not always fare as well at the box office as escapist blockbusters. Still, some very accurate historical dramas can attract big audiences. The commercial success of Oppenheimer in 2023 shows that a very intelligent film that closely follows actual historical events can do well among moviegoers, which is a reason to be hopeful. The continued success of documentaries on streaming platforms like Netflix is also incredibly encouraging.”
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I think most Americans are much, much poorer than we are portrayed to be on TV.
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“As for what is misrepresented, oftentimes issues such as poverty, racism, and sexism are either not explored or examined in superficial ways in movies that attempt to be realistic,” the expert continued. “This is why movies that depict these themes effectively by weaving them seamlessly into the storyline are especially important and compelling.”
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Dr. Andrew Hunt revealed that the biggest challenges filmmakers face in trying to depict real life accurately usually relate to budget constraints. “This is especially true in films about earlier historical events; the movie Judas and the Black Messiah from 2021, an outstanding biopic about radical Black Panther activist Fred Hampton who was murdered by the Chicago police in 1969, is a perfect example.
“The director of the film, Shaka King, faced the daunting task of recreating the poor neighborhoods of Chicago from 1969, but he only had a $26 million budget to do so. That may sound like a lot of money, but it gets used up quickly on a variety of things, from the actors to the crew to the catering. So King had to utilize a lot of filmmaking tricks to present a depiction of Chicago from 1969 that seemed accurate to viewers. The movie, in my opinion, succeeded admirably in showing real life at that moment in history, despite its limited budget.”
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According to Dr. Hunt, films that are historically accurate are vital to our understanding of the past. “Movies—more than books or history classes—reach the largest number of people, and they teach viewers about real-life situations in the present and the past. Filmmakers who try to remain faithful to real-life situations are performing a vital function in society by showing that accuracy matters, and that reality can be captured on film if the movie is well made.
“Showing audiences real-life situations can educate the viewer, and deepen their empathy with other people who might be living dramatically different experiences than the moviegoer,” he added. “There is immense power in cinema.”
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The houses and apartments shown do not represent the living conditions of most folks.Aliens blowing up the white House. It happens all the time in movies, but rarely happens irl.Nobody ever has to ask someone to repeat themselves in a movie.
I probably say "what?" about 60 times a day.We can’t traverses buildings through duct work. Just ain’t gonna happen.Women having sex while wearing a bra the whole time. Thats the first or second thing I take off of her.Empty parking spaces on city streets.Being able to talk and have a conversation in a loud bar with music playing.Shoes on the bed.Leaving a bunch of beer bottles or shot glasses on the bar so we know that they're drunk. In real life, the bartenders take away the emptys.People in a bar ordering a “beer”. In real life, the server would be likely exasperated and ask about brand/kind and quantity.On Law and Order, when the police come and people keep doing their drone jobs. Sorry, but the most exciting thing in my day is a visit by the police, so I’m stopping everything, offering coffee, asking lots of questions, and ratting out my neighbors on unrelated things!The unexplained ability of characters being able to afford houses or apartment way out of their league.Abrupt endings to conversations or phone calls without saying bye.Someone coming home with groceries that are in a brown paper bag with a loaf of French bread and a bouquet of flowers sticking out of the top of the bag.I notice that on TV no one has screens on their windows. Where I live the bugs would carry you away.This is kind of the opposite. In media set in the US people always seem to live in small towns, with town squares and historic homes, or big cities, with tall buildings and condos. The reality is that much of America is a copy-pasted suburb that has some chain restaurants, big box stores, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and 2-3 chain grocery stores. There’s some regional differences and likely a few local shops renting space in the same plaza as the chain stores.
That’s not every city, but if you pick a US city at random, that’s most likely what you’ll see on Google maps.Classes last longer than for the teacher to say something pithy, ask someone a question, and then hear the bell ring.
School busses don't honk for your lollygagging a*s. If the bus stop is empty they keep driving.Every attic does not have a mannequin, giant mirror and old bird cage.A breakfast spread covering a 14 seat dining table and someone in a rush runs down stairs, grabs and apple; kisses someone, then heads out of the door because they’re running late.No one keeps their car keys in the sun visor, yet in movies that’s the first place everyone looks.Inclusivity and diversity.
Not every group of friends or employers are made up of the perfect mix of LGBT, male/female, mixed races. Most groups are very much made up of similar people.Cars exploding in a crash.Level of attractiveness is an obvious one.
One thing I live about British television is that the actors look more like someone you might actually pass on the street.
And do other countries have teens in media who are obviously adults? Like not even passing for actual teens.
I recently watched that new Nightmare On Elm street from some years ago and there was this blond grown a*s woman who looked like she had a starter mortgage and car payments playing a teenager. Like why is this junior sale rep for a pharmaceutical company playing someone 16?Presents where the box lid is wrapped separately from the rest of the box.I know this is dated, but there’s no way Al Bundy could afford a big house in a nice Chicago suburb and support a wife and two kids just selling shoes at the mall, even at that time.In real life predominantly black neighborhoods don't have hip hop music playing faintly in the background to let you know you're in "the hood".Halloween party costumes are much more elaborate on TV compared to real life.At schools, teachers give assignments like normal people and don't shout it at the class as they're departing after the bell rings.When growing up our Norwegian exchange student asked us where our swimming pool was. Apparently he said everyone in America has one. I wish!When I was working in China, my colleague couldn’t believe that I had never seen someone shot and killed by a gun. Her response was, “but the movies show it happening all the time.”.High schoolers living exciting edgy high drama adult lives.
Very few 16 year olds are getting drunk and hooking up every weekend. That's a freshman year of college thing.American high schools don't typically hold classes on courtyard-style campuses with open-air walkways between disconnected buildings. Most high schools are enclosed structures where everything is under a single roof. It's just that like 90% of all movies and TV shows shoot in California, where that's possible due to the mild climate. But the rest of the country actually has real weather.
So there *I* sat in Wisconsin in January, seething with envy, while kids on TV strolled around casually in the sunshine between classes.Mean rednecks.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some, but if you watch a Hollywood movie you get the idea that traveling into a rural area is like entering a post apocalyptic wasteland where mutant cannibals are lurking to spring on you.
I’ve lived in Appalachia for my entire life and nobody’s ever made me squeal like a pig or anything. Rural parts of the USA are actually really safe in terms of crime and that sort of thing. .Twenty something women living in a beautiful New York City apartment with a glamorous job as a magazine editor etc
I mean it happens but it’s not as common as it is in every 2000s rom com.Fruit stands that speeding cars crash in to.Most families I know do in fact have a big turkey on Thanksgiving. That said, what doesn't happen is the mom getting up early everyday and making a huge breakfast spread for the family, only to have the dad late for work and the kids late for the bus only grabbing a piece of toast.Two people find that they like eachother. Next shows them eating eachother's face off while running into and slamming their bodies into the hotel corridor wall because OH BOY they are horny, and they have to kiss while they are removing their keys and their shoes and tie, because there is only one single way to film a sex scene and goddamnit they're gonna stick to it.A black van is ALWAYS a FBI mobile unit.
A white van is wether used by a lone sexual predator and serial killer or by two degenerate racist hillbillies brothers
Vans do not exist in any other colour.The lifestyles are super exaggerated. The houses, cars, clothes, free time, etc are romanticized and idealized versions of reality that only truly exist in Hollywood, or perhaps the 1%. Most people have jobs, messy homes, car payments, and don’t dress to the nines every single day.The popular kids in high school being mean and evil. The popular kids in my high school were outgoing and polite. They did only really socialize with each other, but if you had one in a group project or gym class or something they were nice to you. That is why they were popular, because they were nice.The idea that you could be like six months behind on rent before they threaten to evict you, or six months behind on the power bill before they cut off your electricity. Maybe it used to be like that, but it sure isn’t anymore.A waitress can afford a nice apartment but across the hall the guy with a PhD and working at a university needs a roommate to pay the bills.
Groups of friends can drop everything and meet up whenever. In my world I can rarely plan anything short notice if I want five people to be there let alone more than that.Food fights. Nobody does that in real life.I am not an American but if my missus makes me eggs , bacon and pancakes for breakfast i am not going to just take a piece of toast and run out of the door .. i am eating every scrap, have a coffee and damn the work if i am late.Kids dressed up for school. Most teenagers today wear a baggy sweatshirt or a large T-shirt to school.People just being home when somebody shows up. It could be an FBI agent and they happen to be home, oh and no prior phone call to say they're coming, just out of the blue there they are.
Men being clean shaven no matter the situation. Stuck in a jungle for two weeks, clean shaven. Panicking on a stricken ship, space station, oil rig, clean shaven.
Women waking up with perfect hair, full make up and supposedly fresh breath.
People having a steamy night of passion then just getting out of bed, dressing and heading to work or wherever.
People getting an urgent call and saying they'll be there in ten minutes. Could be the other side of a major City but they get there in ten minutes.High school students having tons of time before class starts in the morning. Look at TV shows or some films and you see these kids going all around town, stopping in at a place to eat, or doing whatever before the first class of the day.
In my experience (where class started at 7:40 AM in high school) you barely had enough time to quickly eat a small breakfast, get ready in the morning, and then drive to school and hopefully get a decent parking spot.
Oh, and high school kids always have some sort of "meeting spot" (which could be anything from a diner to a coffee shop to an arcade to whatever the hell a "juice bar" is supposed to be because I've never seen one of those), when in reality that rarely, if ever, happens.
And while we're on the subject of food... high school students are actually allowed off-campus for lunch. Now maybe this is something left up to individual schools, but again, in my experience the staff wouldn't even allow us out of the cafeteria, let alone go off the campus somewhere to eat.I'm not American, but one trope I always wonder about:- Are newborn babies, born in hospital really put in a room with other newborns, so that the father / relative needs the baby pointing out to them?
I get that this might have happened in the 60s, does it still happen today?
In the UK this seems really odd, but is a media US thing.Everyone has a bottle of booze in their desk drawer & they sit at their desk and drink. Even cops! People would just get fired for that kind of behavior at work. I have had occasion to go for a margarita at lunch time, very occasionally but rarely, because after one drink I’m like “Hell with work. I’m going home!”.Being able to park right in front of the big building you’re headed to during business hours in a major US city. There usually isn’t parking there because most places zone those as passenger drop off areas.If we see ourselves discussed on television, we don’t turn off the TV before they are done talking.Every woman seems to be constantly wearing high heels, wedges, stilettos, court shoes. Even teenagers on teen shows. I always wondered if was this normal in American society.Wearing shoes inside. Some people do, but it is far from ubiquitous. Most people I know wear socks, slippers, or go barefoot indoors.No, we do not have glasses of orange juice and stacks of pancakes left on the table as we head out for the day. We grab a snack bar or a piece of fruit and rush out the door.The amount of lighting, props, fancy backgrounds, costumes and talented kids in the school plays?.People are not that good looking or that well dressed or that fit.The ~~populous~~ populace is far less attractive and much fatter. And stupider. There are way more old people.People leaving a front door wide open when entering a home. I see it on sitcoms all the time. Like AC/Heat or bugs don’t exist.
Also, people using windows to sneak in and out of habitually.
EDIT: I understand. I get it. A bunch of you snuck out windows. I was just responding with what’s not common in my personal world. Your telling me your tale doesn’t change that.Back alleys in Manhattan. Afaik, there's about half a dozen, but only one, Cortlandt Alley, ever appears in films.That weird clique s**t that everyone is trapped in and group of like 3 popular people the school worships. Istg gen x script writers went through it and literally would not stop writing highschool shows like that. Now you can see it tapering down as the newer gen gets in the room and is able to give more references.The foil swans for take-out leftovers. (It's apparently a thing one SoCal chain did that spread around Hollywood, but isn't done outside of there.)
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I think a lot of the places elsewhere around the country started doing this after seeing it done as far back as the D**k Van Dyke show.
