The Trope-ification of Film and Cinema through Social Media

With the rise of social media and platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, film and cinema has increasingly become more and more “trope-ified” in order to appeal to certain audiences. This phenomenon of trope-ification refers to the categorization of movies and books based only upon their most basic genres and plot points. Thirty second videos and reels with the hashtag “#filmtok” have exploded in popularity, contributing to the simplification and overgeneralization of films to nothing more than their genres and tropes.

Similar to the equally popular hashtag “#booktok,” filmtok has taken over the “for you pages” of millions of viewers, who receive a quick preview of a movie in the simplest terms possible. Using specific color schemes and aesthetic photos that correlate with key plot events, filmtok creators hope to draw in the attention of viewers enough to garner interest in a movie.

At first glance, the idea of these reels might seem interesting and perhaps even beneficial for movies and the film industry. However, by collapsing an entire film and subsequently an entire story into a bite-sized chunk, these clips diminish films to their most basic states. The prominence of tropes and genres such as “enemies to lovers” and “high fantasy” on filmtok make constant appearances in the descriptions of films.

Take, for example, the Harry Potter franchise. Filmtok reels might flash pictures of cozy fireplaces and Baroque style castles to create a magic-like atmosphere, with key tropes such as “the chosen one” and “dark academia” in the description. For anyone who has watched the Harry Potter movies, these base descriptions neglect the deep-rooted friendships, generational war, and overarching theme of finding one’s own place in the world that are conveyed in the movies but cannot possibly be revealed in the span of thirty seconds.

What filmtok does is create a false sense of understanding within viewers who come away with a simplistic and often misaligned vision of what a film is actually about. This also creates a movement within the film industry to align with tropes and hashtags that prove successful on social media. Film and cinema marketing has shifted to focusing on ensuring that viewers are able to watch the tropes they want, often drawing upon subplots and minor details to justify their trope-ification. This marketing strategy not only overlooks the larger picture of the movie as a whole, but it also encourages the perpetuation of trope-ification. Social media algorithms feed on the tropes viewers enjoy, further continuing this cycle of misinformation and oversimplification.

As more and more movies get relegated to nothing more than their tropes and genres, we see an influx of movies garnering popularity online that otherwise wouldn’t be considered cinematic masterpieces. Because of the inclusion of certain popular tropes and plots, particular movies have become box office successes that can only be attributed to their rampant success online. Whether or not these explosions of popularity are beneficial or detrimental for the future of film and cinema proves to be seen as social media continues to permeate all aspects of the industry.

The use of these labels also overlooks the technical composition of movies. For example, the telltale signatures of movie producers and directors such as Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and Quentin Tarantino are partially what make films so fun to watch. A screenplay itself can be told in a million ways, but the directorial choices and signature editing styles of each cast and crew are what draw emotions out of us as viewers and leave us thinking about the movie and its story for hours and even days afterwards. By diminishing the stories told within each movie to their tropes, the effects of color grading, slow motion shots, soundtracks and scores, and costumes and set design are downgraded.

The extremely high emphasis placed on tropes and genres removes the individuality of movies and lessens the magic of cinematic storytelling. Filmtok sorts movies into boxes and slaps an overgeneralized label onto each, providing viewers with a vague enough idea of the box’s contents for them to sift through it.

Another question filmtok has caused is if the quality of movies will continue to be of high caliber if producers are simply looking to reuse popular tropes instead of adopting new techniques and screenplays with a unique spin. Even with the ups and downs of using social media for the promotion of films, the phenomenon of filmtok continues to grow with a fervor, reaching audiences worldwide.

Filmtok, which is a relatively new phenomenon that blew up during the pandemic, has taken social media by storm. Reels depict short snapshots of select films and omit the larger picture of the story and its plot, reducing cinematic stories to their most basic building blocks. The intermingling of social media and cinema have produced effects that have been felt by audiences, filmmakers, and critics alike, but whether or not the film industry is, or will be, significantly changed by filmtok’s popularity is yet to be determined.