History Main / TheCoconutEffect

[[folder:Arts]]
* Traditional art usually depicted a horse at full gallop as fully outstretched like a greyhound. Of course it was futile to try to sit down and copy something moving that quickly, so what a horse's legs actually looked like in this state was a matter of guesswork. With the invention of a camera with a short enough exposure to capture them in motion, it was finally confirmed that there is a brief moment during the gallop cycle when all four hooves are off the ground, but this is when their hooves are directly underneath their bodies. At the height of the gallop when they are at their most outstretched, they still always have at least one hoof on the ground, and their legs are not parallel. The incorrect depiction was so fixed in people's minds that the authenticity of Eadweard Muybridge's first photos on the subject was actually treated with scepticism, and it persisted in art for several decades afterwards.
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** ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', the original UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation2}}S2 version of the game had film grain as the default. Notably, this was removed in the HD release and fans were ''pissed''.

* In modern cars, the "clunk" of a car door shutting isn't due to anything mechanical, it's added in because people expect it. Ditto "engine noise" in electric cars.

* Ironically, in a major sense-of-humour failure, Creator/MontyPython founder Creator/EricIdle threatened to sue an independent film-maker who used the "that's not a horse - you're using coconuts!" gag, claiming he had originated it for ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Saner counsel prevailed, when it was pointed out to him exactly how old the gag was, and that (for instance) a [[Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain radio comedy show Idle himself had written for]] had used this gag way back in the 1960s - ''ten years'' before the Holy Grail movie. And the BBC radio comedy archives preserved [[OlderThanSteam older examples still]]...

* The "clackety-clack" sound of trains travelling along the tracks come from the wheels travelling over small gaps in rail segments, which in the past were quite frequent. Today, with improvements to railway construction this noise is largely eliminated everywhere except when travelling over switches and other irregular imperfections in the track, but that classic sound is still the universal noise of 'a train is moving'.

* There is a parody of this concept similar to that in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' in one of the Swedish Chef sketches on ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. The Chef is trying to get his chicken to lay an egg and after it looks like she has, he angrily declares that the object [[NinjaProp is not an egg but a ping-pong ball]]. The humor is, of course, that the audience would expect the ball to double for an egg in the sketch, making it surprising when the Chef refers to what it really is.

* ''The Creator/ReducedShakespeareCompany Radio Show'' mentions the use of coconut shells as a character starts to ride away.

* ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir'' used the classic coconut effect in the first scene of its first episode, an adaptation of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', as Jonathan Harker's coach makes its way to Dracula's castle.

* Parodied in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': They didn't actually have horses, just the coconuts. Ironically, the producers actually wanted to use real horses [[RealLifeWritesThePlot but didn't have the budget]] and the coconuts did a better job at the whole RuleOfFunny bit.

* Characters/TheFlash has long been able to use his super speed to perform a great many feats which make absolutely no sense[[note]](and we're not just talking "man who can run at the speed of light" not making sense, we're talking "his speed is given as the explicit reason that he's able to do things that have nothing to do with how fast he's going" not making sense)[[/note]], but kind of ''feel'' like things a speedster should be able to do: he can vibrate the molecules of his body at super speed[[note]](unlike normal folks, who can only make their molecules vibrate at ''normal'' speed)[[/note]], to let him become intangible[[note]](in real life, this would be known as "evaporating" and would be fatal)[[/note]]; he can run across the ocean or up the sides of buildings as if he were running on the ground[[note]](which could maybe work if you assume he's actually launching himself at superspeed and hurtling up/across as opposed to actually running, except that (1) he can change direction while doing it (2) he doesn't require any kind of ramp or slope to transition from running horizontally to running vertically, and (3) he would hit escape velocity and rocket off into space if he moved that fast)[[/note]]; he can carry people at near-light speed without hurting them[[note]](the fact that he can do it without hurting ''himself'' is a {{Required Secondary Power|s}})[[/note]]; and he can catch bullets out of midair inches in front of their target without them punching through his hand or slipping between his fingers[[note]](it would make sense if he moved his hand at the same speed as the bullet as he caught them and then ''gradually'' slowed it down, but this would take more than a few inches to do)[[/note]]. Needless to say, every other speedster in Franchise/TheDCU has to be able to do all these things too. In fact, they've added a special [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]] to the Flash canon - the Speed Force - to explain the more impossible ones (it lets him absorb speed from bullets, impart it upon people he carries, and gives him total control of his body's molecules). Most non-DC speedsters won't be able to turn intangible, but they'll still be expected to be able to run across water and along walls and ceilings and to catch bullets as though their palms were armored - hey, the Flash can do it, why the heck can't [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]]!? The running across water is justified: it's been calculated that someone running at 100 kilometers an hour (more or less, depending on bodyweight and foot size) or greater would be able to run across water.

* Whether or not ClarkKenting is used effectively, or if Clark doesn't change his mannerisms at all other than wearing glasses, it doesn't matter-every incarnation of Superman ''will'' use some variant of the classic trope. He is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, after all.
* The creators of ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' knew well that the ''Colosseum'' and other landmarks from the time of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire [[AnachronismStew didn't exist]] during the comic book series' time, the final years of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic (the era of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar). Rome just doesn't look as good without them.

[[caption-width-right:350:The reality tends to [[JustForPun color]] people surprised.]]

* Ironically, in a major sense-of-humour failure, Creator/MontyPython founder Creator/EricIdle threatened to sue an independent film-maker who used the "that's not a horse - you're using coconuts!" gag, claiming he had originated it for ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Saner counsel prevailed, when it was pointed out to him exactly how old the gag was, and that (for instance) a [[Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain radio comedy show Idle himself had written for]] had used this gag way back in the 1960's - ''ten years'' before the Holy Grail movie. And the BBC radio comedy archives preserved [[OlderThanSteam older examples still]]...

* Another horse-related example: traditional art usually depicted a horse at full gallop as fully outstretched like a greyhound. Of course it was futile to try to sit down and copy something moving that quickly, so what a horse's legs actually looked like in this state was a matter of guesswork. With the invention of a camera with a short enough exposure to capture them in motion, it was finally confirmed that there is a brief moment during the gallop cycle when all four hooves are off the ground, but this is when their hooves are directly underneath their bodies. At the height of the gallop when they are at their most outstretched, they still always have at least one hoof on the ground, and their legs are not parallel. The incorrect depiction was so fixed in people's minds that the authenticity of Eadweard Muybridge's first photos on the subject was actually treated with scepticism, and it persisted in art for several decades afterwards.

* There's another major example of this involving horses. Traditional art usually depicted a horse at full gallop as fully outstretched like a greyhound. Of course it was futile to try to sit down and copy something moving that quickly, so what a horse's legs actually looked like in this state was a matter of guesswork. With the invention of a camera with a short enough exposure to capture them in motion, it was finally confirmed that there is a brief moment during the gallop cycle when all four hooves are off the ground, but this is when their hooves are directly underneath their bodies. At the height of the gallop when they are at their most outstretched, they still always have at least one hoof on the ground, and their legs are not parallel. The incorrect depiction was so fixed in people's minds that the authenticity of Eadweard Muybridge's first photos on the subject was actually treated with scepticism, and it persisted in art for several decades afterwards.

* There's another major example of this involving horses. Traditional art usually depicted a horse at full gallop as fully outstretched like a greyhound. Of course it was futile to try to sit down and copy something moving that quickly, so what a horse's legs actually looked like in this state was a matter of guesswork. With the invention of a camera with a short enough exposure to capture them in motion, it was finally confirmed that there is a brief moment during the gallop cycle when all four hooves are off the ground, but this is when their hooves are directly underneath their bodies. At the height of the gallop when they are at their most outstretched, they still always have at least one hoof on the ground, and their legs are not parallel. The incorrect depiction was so fixed in people's minds that the authenticity of Eadweard Muybridge's first photos on the subject was actually treated with scepticism, and the less realistic depiction persisted in art for several decades afterwards.

* Digital cameras and cell phones still make a shutter sound when they take a picture, even though they're more than capable to taking photos silently. This is even an EnforcedTrope in some countries that have laws requiring cameras to make a sound when taking a picture, to prevent people from taking candid photographs of others without their consent.

* Every single swamp or river scene has dozens of Pacific Tree Frogs chirping away, ev3n if the location is nowhere near the Pacific coast of North America.

* Figures of Ben Reilly as the [[Characters/MarvelComicsScarletSpider Scarlet Spider]] invariably includes his hands in Franchise/SpiderMan's classic "web-shooting" pose. However, Ben never actually did that; he modified his web-shooters to fire without the pose. But the pose is so iconic that it gets included anyway.

* {{Static Stun Gun}}s produce bright electric arcs all over the target, sometimes accompanied with XRaySparks in more cartoony portrayals (and also [[ElectricityKnocksYouOut knock people out]]). [[note]]Real stun guns only produce visible arcing when they're not touching a target - when they are, the electricity is going ''through'' the victim, not around them. They also don't cause victims to lose consciousness - they fall down because of intense pain and/or uncontrollable muscle contractions.[[/note]]

* When a building's fire alarm system is activated (be it an actual fire, a routine fire drill, or someone creating a FireAlarmDistraction), in most cases the alarm signal sounds like a bell, similar to an older school bell. At one time, bells were a very common fire alarm signal, and still are in a few parts of the world (such as in Canada), but in the United States and much of Europe, fire alarm bells are becoming increasingly scarce in real life, as more are replaced with modern horn/strobe units or "voice evacuation" systems (the latter in larger "high occupancy" areas). Same with older electromechanical fire alarm horns (similar to scoreboard buzzers) being frequently replaced with newer alarms.

* {{Static Stun Gun}}s produce bright electric arcs all over the target, sometimes accompanied with XRaySparks in more cartoony portrayals (and also [[ElectricityKnocksYouOut knock people out]]. [[note]]Real stun guns only produce visible arcing when they're not touching a target - when they are, the electricity is going ''through'' the victim, not around them. They also don't cause victims to lose consciousness - they fall down because of intense pain and/or uncontrollable muscle contractions.[[/note]]

* {{Static Stun Gun}}s produce bright electric arcs all over the target, sometimes accompanied with XRaySparks in more cartoony portrayals. [[note]]Real stun guns only produce visible arcing when they're not touching a target - when they are, the electricity is going ''through'' the victim, not around them.[[/note]]

* TechnicolorScience: All chemicals are brightly colored. [[note]]in reality most chemicals range from clear to a milky grey-brown, only a handful of common laboratory chemicals have any sort of color at all. Intense color is rare, found only in certain crystals, organometallic compounds, complex organic molecules, and metallic oxides. This is why wars were fought over control of things like indigo flowers and lapis lazuli before the invention of synthetic pigments.[[/note]]

** Ben Burtt, the sound designer for all the films, says on a [=DVD=] extra that he decided to make the punches over-the-top on purpose as he felt they were making a comic book brought to life.

* Expect any crime anime that takes place in the United States during Prohibiton to exclusively use [[TheMafia Italian hoods]], [[TheIrishMob Irish]] and [[KosherNostra Jews]] be damned.

* Franchise/TheFlash has long been able to use his super speed to perform a great many feats which make absolutely no sense[[note]](and we're not just talking "man who can run at the speed of light" not making sense, we're talking "his speed is given as the explicit reason that he's able to do things that have nothing to do with how fast he's going" not making sense)[[/note]], but kind of ''feel'' like things a speedster should be able to do: he can vibrate the molecules of his body at super speed[[note]](unlike normal folks, who can only make their molecules vibrate at ''normal'' speed)[[/note]], to let him become intangible[[note]](in real life, this would be known as "evaporating" and would be fatal)[[/note]]; he can run across the ocean or up the sides of buildings as if he were running on the ground[[note]](which could maybe work if you assume he's actually launching himself at superspeed and hurtling up/across as opposed to actually running, except that (1) he can change direction while doing it (2) he doesn't require any kind of ramp or slope to transition from running horizontally to running vertically, and (3) he would hit escape velocity and rocket off into space if he moved that fast)[[/note]]; he can carry people at near-light speed without hurting them[[note]](the fact that he can do it without hurting ''himself'' is a {{Required Secondary Power|s}})[[/note]]; and he can catch bullets out of midair inches in front of their target without them punching through his hand or slipping between his fingers[[note]](it would make sense if he moved his hand at the same speed as the bullet as he caught them and then ''gradually'' slowed it down, but this would take more than a few inches to do)[[/note]]. Needless to say, every other speedster in Franchise/TheDCU has to be able to do all these things too. In fact, they've added a special [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]] to the Flash canon - the Speed Force - to explain the more impossible ones (it lets him absorb speed from bullets, impart it upon people he carries, and gives him total control of his body's molecules). Most non-DC speedsters won't be able to turn intangible, but they'll still be expected to be able to run across water and along walls and ceilings and to catch bullets as though their palms were armored - hey, the Flash can do it, why the heck can't ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}}!? The running across water is justified: it's been calculated that someone running at 100 kilometers an hour (more or less, depending on bodyweight and foot size) or greater would be able to run across water.

* In one chapter of the Fanfiction ''[[Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse Nightmare Night And Nyx]]'', Princess Luna decided to tease her older sister by wearing a Nightmare Night costume... of Celestia as a "Pretty Pretty Pony Princess." Along with deliberately ridiculous levels of girly accoutrements and shades of pink, it featured its own cloud of twinkling lights-- that made actual tinkling noises and even, on occasion, said the words "twinkle twinkle" in tiny voices...

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Elastigirl rides an electric-engined motorbike -- but it sounds like a petrol-engined bike. This is probably because most people wouldn't know what an electric vehicle sounds like, and because they expect a bike to sound like, well, a bike. This could be justified if the bike is specifically programmed to make artificial engine noises.
** This is in fact, a thing in real life, where some electric vehicles "play" a sound like a "normal" engine, to alert pedestrians who are unfamiliar with the electric vehicle's presence. As discussed ''[[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/americas-best-selling-cars-and-trucks-are-built-on-lies-the-rise-of-fake-engine-noise/2015/01/21/6db09a10-a0ba-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html here]]''

* The [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman film franchise]] on a whole is guilty of this; despite the fact that blue and grey are much better urban camouflage colors, he always retains his black rubber armor in Live-Action Films [[Film/BatmanTheMovie (save for the Adam West one)]].
** The sound effects in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' are deliberately "one up." Minigun sounds for machine pistols, howitzers for shotguns, etc. More a stylistic choice, but still the trope.

* An intentional example in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' has the jet liner in the movie sounds just like it has propellers instead [[RuleOfFunny for comedic effect.]] The creators originally wanted to use a propeller-driven DC-4 (the one from ''Film/ZeroHour1957'', the movie on which its based), but ExecutiveMeddling forced them to use a jet. ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel'' has a similar effect, but [[RecycledInSpace on a space shuttle]].

* The {{Death Trap}}s from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' tend to feature digital timers. These timers make an audible beep every second, but it's not actually the case for most real-life digital timers, such as the ones in microwaves.

* Figures of Ben Reilly as the ComicBook/ScarletSpider invariably includes his hands in Franchise/SpiderMan's classic "web-shooting" pose. However, Ben never actually did that; he modified his web-shooters to fire without the pose. But the pose is so iconic that it gets included anyway.

** For that matter, the idea that radioactive waste is a glowing green liquid which sloshes out of barrels when they're tipped over also owes The Simpsons for its popular acceptance. In reality, the core nuclear waste produced by a power plant takes the form of solid gray cylinders: the expended fuel rods. They are indeed stored in barrels, but if tipped over, the contents aren't getting very far unless a flood or tornado manages to lift and carry them somewhere.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Being a setting populated by sentient equines, the show uses the old "two coconuts banging together" sound effect in interesting ways. For example things that would normally involve hand sound effects are replaced by the coconut sound effect (Or something somewhere between a real hooffall and the coconut) to reflect the fact that the characters are hoofed creatures who are using their forelegs as a substitute for hands.
** As for walking, the sound effects fairly realistically use the coconut-ish sound on pavement but a duller thud on soft ground.

** The onboard television crew in ''LightNovel/StarshipOperators'' mentions that they have to add explosion noises to satisfy the viewers at home; ordinarily, the fights would be silent.