Supercut Movie Clichés

Supercut Movie Clichés (a.k.a pop culture megamixes) are video montages of overused movie (or TV) platitudes. Very often, they are meant to highlight how certain hackneyed lines have lost all meaning due to their continuous employment by lazy screenwriters.

The term “supercut” was coined by blogger Andy Baio on April 11th 2008. In the original post, Baio described a supercut as:

(A) genre of video meme, where some obsessive-compulsive superfan collects every phrase/action/cliche from an episode (or entire series) of their favorite show/film/game into a single massive video montage.

The first popular supercut to deal specifically with clichés was compiled by Rich Juzwiak, an entertainment blogger who goes by the YouTube handle Richfofo on July 2nd, 2008. The video, titled “I’m Not Here To Make Friends”, is a 3 minute 20 second video of reality TV contestants exclaiming how they’re “not here to make friend”, they’re “here to win”. It was a hit across the internet, and has spawned several sequels.

This was followed by the “We’ve Got Company” montage by Guy Bauer on April 10th 2010.

Script Clichés

“It’s Gonna Blow!”

Uploaded by YouTuber Jesperc20 on May 4th, 2010:

“Get Out of There!”

Uploaded by YouTuber hh1edits on May 4th, 2010:

“I Could Tell You But I’d Have To Kill You”

Uploaded by YouTuber Bartoscar on August 6th 2010:

“You Look Like Shit”

Uploaded by The Hufftington Post on November 12th, 2010:

“Not In Kansas Anymore”

Uploaded by YouTuber Richfofo on December 15th, 2010:

“He Didn’t Make It”

Uploaded by The Huffington Post on December 16th, 2010:

“It’s Show Time!”

Uploaded by YouTuber hh1edits on January 26th, 2011:

Production Cliché

Not all Movie Cliché Supercuts focus on quotes. Some, such as “Mirror Scare”  deal with the familiar visual clichés in horror films.

Mirror Scare Scenes

Action Movie Clichés

Similarly, this video of action movie clichés, posted to Vimeo by Jacob Bricca on May 29th 2010, highlights how many action films are made up of the same visual components.

Spit-Take Clichés

Even comedies are guilty of resorting to familiar visual territory, as this “Spit-Take Supercut”, posted to The Huffington Post on January 21st 2011, shows.

Movie Titles Said in Movies

On March 17th, 2011, YouTuber Honsco uploaded a Supercut mashup “Movie Titles in Movies,” a montage of eighty memorable scenes wherein each character quotes the title of the film.

Wilhelm Scream

On June 17th, 2006, YouTuber christofduke posted a video compilation of movie scenes that sample the “Wilhelm scream,” a popular stock sound effect often heard in TV shows and George Lucas films. The video was originally put together by Pablo Hidalgo:

Arnold Schwarzenegger Screaming

Although not clichés, per se, some supercuts focus on familiar themes in one actors repertoire, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger Screaming by FilmDrunk.Com.

Natalie Portman Crying