Laugh at bad film tropes with the 'Hello, I'm a professor in a movie' meme

Write one word on the board, then underline it.
 By 
Chloe Bryan
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Some of the most egregious character tropes in film -- the professor who underlines a word on the board to start class, the writer who never pitches anything but is somehow always working -- have found their way into a meme.

On Tuesday, Rory Turnbull, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaii in Manoa tweeted about a film trope he'd noticed -- one that you have also noticed, probably, in every single movie with a classroom scene. "Hello, I'm a professor in a movie, I only reach the point of my lecture right as class is ending," he wrote. "Then I yell at students about the reading / homework as they leave."

Sound familiar?

After Turnbull's tweet, dozens of people shared other character types that aren't necessarily lazy, per se -- they just allow for shocking narrative expedience and probably wouldn't fly IRL.

Okay, fine, some of them are very lazy.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we're off to take six months to write a sprawling personal essay about our love lives. The budget is unlimited.

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Chloe Bryan

Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.

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