This one is going to be a bit different from my usual Trope Shark article because someone else is doing the talking instead. But as I was getting ready to put this together, it just felt like it should be under the Trope Shark banner.

Every now and then YouTube will recommend a video that it almost demands I watch. Like, it will keep coming up and it gets on my nerves. Sometimes I’ll click to no longer recommend it, but every now and then the idea does at least merit watching and I’ll watch it so YouTube will stop shoving it in my face. I have a subscriptions list for a reason and it’s tough keeping up with that between everything else I do in my life you know, Google!

One such video was a response to a commentary about people complaining about plot holes. TVTropes defines a plot hole as “those gaps in a story where things happen without a logical reason. When a Plot Hole involves something essential to a story’s outcome, it can hurt the believability, for those who are bothered by such things. Hitting a Plot Hole at high-speed can damage your Willing Suspension of Disbelief.” Although to be fair, that should be extended to “without a logical reason within the universe of the story or at least doesn’t contradict events and characterizations shown earlier in the story. Nobody watches a Looney Tunes short and points out plot holes. Although I do remember a joke about it on an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. If something makes sense within the rules of that world then it isn’t a plot hole, just something illogical by our world’s standards. That’s why the whole “Indy hides in a refrigerator” thing doesn’t bother me, because even as someone who doesn’t watch the movies I know it’s not the most unbelievable thing in this franchise. If something contradicts a rule seen earlier, that’s a plot hole. I do wonder why Bugs is so worried about being shot when for Elmer and Daffy it just seems to be an annoying inconvenience and not a death sentence, but at least it’s consistent through the series. Bugs only dies via lightning bolt from a magic helmet in an opera.

The original video comes from Patrick (h) Willems, in which he rants (with some impressive visual editing mind you) about why he’s sick of people talking about plot holes in movies. However, I think there’s some stuff he doesn’t quite get, and the responder, the host of Cynical Reviews, points out a lot of them. But I do have a few thoughts to add on my own. Note that there are by necessity going to be spoilers for various movies.

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