troping

this brilliant sort-of-wiki explains the plot devices, terminology and errors that keep coming up over...and over..oh, and over again whether it be movies, music, advertising or TV.
for example, the French continually being referred to as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys",
a character being easily identifiable as British from their slightly obsessive devotion to a cup of tea ,
how in the Caribbean, no-one works - nope, they sit on beaches drinking cocktails out of coconuts
when you watch something and think, did they really just not care?!
and finally, the practice of "Lampshade Hanging"...