History Main / ThingsAreMoreEffectiveInHollywood

* '''{{Bulletproof Vest}}s''': Zig-zagged, strangely enough. Fully clad soldiers will die to a pistol round in the chest, while someone wearing a lightweight covert vest will get up after even magnum sniper rifle hits, sometimes in the same movie!
Also of note is most TV shows, despite a single pistol round dropping someone, apparently life is a video game, because body armor limits damage, so whether its one or ten, you always get up with broken ribs, even through a short burst of bullets should have punctured your lungs since a single one broke ribs.
It's somewhat worth noting that hard armor turns you into iron man against pistol rounds and more or less leaves bruises at most with rifle ammunition, while soft armor will put you down and out. Sometimes. Humans are strange.

* '''[[MagicalAntibiotics Antibiotics]]''': In fiction, humans have apparently managed to create a pill that can cure any disease save from the really big ones, like cancer. Real life antibiotics though are much less effective: a certain type is only good for some, but never all, bacteria. Oh yeah, it's also limited to bacteria only - they're completely useless against any other type of microorganism.

Also of note is most TV-shows, despite a single pistol round dropping someone, apparently life is a video game, because body armor limits damage, so whether its one or ten, you always get up with broken ribs, even through a short burst of bullets should have punctured your lungs since a single one broke ribs.

* '''[[InstantSedation Chloroform]]''': In fiction, this substance can be used to knock out anyone almost immediately. In reality, they would need to breathe it in for a good minute or two before it kicks in. It is also far from harmless, since these substances take careful dosing to be effective without overdosing on them, which is not possible with the method usually seen in fiction. There is a reason anaesthetist is a full time job.
* '''CoolGuns''' (including all trope sub-types like the HandCannon): If a fictional character, be it hero or villain, expect it to be a million times more practical (and reliable) in a gunfight that it would actually be in RealLife. The weapons will inevitably (unless it's a plot point PlayedForDrama[=/=]"realism" or PlayedForLaughs) have BottomlessMagazines, be totally unable to jam, have very manageable recoils, and can be purchased over the counter even by people who can barely feed themselves or wouldn't pass a firearms exam ''ever'' (and some who can HandWave part of this, like military or cops, just ''wouldn't'' have access to them still because of standardization).

* '''[[MagicalDefibrillator Defibrillators]]''': Like above defibrillators are treated as magical devices that can revive anyone, regardless of circumstances. In reality, they are only useful for a heart that is beating irregularly and completely useless for one that has stopped.
* '''[[GasolineLastsForever Gasoline]]''': In fiction, as long as it's established that gasoline is lying around and it's not explicitly said that it's gone bad, it can be years or even decades and its effectiveness would have not degraded a bit (same for lubricants). In reality, gasoline only lasts a few months even with the best preservatives and lubricants only last a few years, tops, both depending on factors like temperature.
* '''[[HollywoodSilencer Gun silencers]]''': In fiction, gun silencers can make any gun more or less completely silent. In reality though, ''suppressors'' can only reduce the sound a little and are for reducing hearing damage rather than being discreet.

* '''[[GunsAreWorthless Swords In General]]''' are portrayed as much more effective than firearms in most pieces of work. Guns are objectively better in almost every aspect. However, in fiction, they're often [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] to allow those fighting with swords a chance. RuleOfCool demands it.
* '''Noise Cancelling Headphones''': Fictional headphones can cancel all noise, creating complete silence. In reality they can only cancel continuous emitting sounds such as buzzing or humming and is ineffective at almost any other sound such as people talking, music playing and so on.
* '''[[PerfectPoison Poisons]]''': Real-life poisons are slow to act and effective only when the victim is given enough of it (which is hard, since most poisons taste horrible and they'll likely spit it out). In fiction, though, one drop is enough to make anyone drop dead immediately, or slowly have very visible and dramatic veins spreading across the body.
* '''[[SoftWater Water]]''': Water can be useful at reducing fall damage both in real life and in fiction, but only ''up to a certain point''. Due to water tension you might as well be landing on concrete if you jump into a body of water from many stories above, but in fiction there is no limit to how high you can fall from - the water will still stop you from going ker-splat.
'''[[InstantDeathBullet Firearms in general]]''': Humans are surprisingly durable. Small caliber gunfire can fail to incapacitate most humans, with most bullets not in fact spreading demonically charged instant death energies into the body, but rather putting people down through sheer pain of OH GOD THERE'S A HOLE IN MY CHEST! and other such things related to being... y'know, shot. With a gun. There's enough blood in the human body however, that being shot even in the heart, one can remain up under adrenaline for over ten seconds, plenty of time in a gunfight. The FBI found in fact, that it takes 10-15 seconds for someone to die after their heart is completely destroyed, so imagine how long someone might stay up after anything less?

* '''[[PerfectPoison Poisons]]''': Real-life poisons are slow to act and effective only when the victim is given enough of it (which is hard, since most poisons taste horrible and they'll likely spit it out). In fiction, though, one drop is enough to make anyone drop dead immediately.

* '''{{Bulletproof Vest}}s''': Likely the most (in)famous one, bulletproof vests are effective at stopping any bullet (and any ''amount'' of bullets) in fiction though in reality most of them are only good for stopping one or two handgun rounds. They also completely negate all injury in fiction, whereas in reality they tend to still leave large bruises or even break ribs, since you're still getting hit with the same amount of force, it's just distributed across a larger area.

[[quoteright:350:[[Website/CollegeHumor https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/49p8zpy.jpg]]]]

* '''[[InstantSedation Chloroform]]''': In fiction, this substance can be used to knock out anyone almost immediately. In reality, they would need to breathe it in for a good minute or two before it kicks in.

* '''{{Bulletproof Vest}}s''': Likely the most (in)famous one, bulletproof vests are effective at stopping any bullet in fiction though in reality most of them are only good for stopping one or two handgun rounds. They also completely negate all injury in fiction, whereas in reality they tend to still leave large bruises or even break ribs, since you're still getting hit with the same amount of force, it's just distributed across a larger area.

** This also depends on vest. Some armor vests issued to aircrew like the SARVIP can stop armor piercing incendiary .50 bullets, while military plates can absorb at least three tungsten armor piercing 7.62 NATO hits.

* '''[[KatanasAreJustBetter Katanas]]''': This sword is often portrayed as the ultimate versatile weapon, capable of slicing through anything, including bullets out of thin air. Of course, this is very much ''not'' the case in real life; trying to cut a bullet that's flying towards you is next to impossible unless you're lucky or it's a special gun designed to fire slow moving bullets.

* '''[[HollywoodSilencer Gun silencers]]''': In fiction, gun silencers can make any gun more or less completely silent. In reality though, ''suppressors'' can only reduce the sound a bit are for reducing hearing damage rather than being discreet.

* '''[[MagicalAntibiotics Antibiotics]]''': In fiction, humans have apparently managed to create a pill that can cure any disease save from the really big ones. like cancer. Real life antibiotics though are much less effective, a certain type is only good for some, but never all, bacteria. Oh yeah, it's also limited to bacteria only - they're completely useless against any other type of microorganism.

* '''{{Bulletproof Vest}}s''': Likely the most (in)famous one, bulletproof vests are effective at stopping any bullet in fiction though in reality most of them are only good for stopping one or two handgun rounds.

Compare AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe. See also MugglesDoItBetter, which is when ordinary weapons are portrayed as far more effective than the {{Phlebotinum}} used in the show. May overlap with TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs.

Compare AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe. See also MugglesDoItBetter, which is when ordinary weapons are portrayed as far more effective than the {{Phlebotinum}} used in the show.

* '''[[HollywoodSilencer Gun silencers]]''': In fiction, gun silencers can make any gun more or less completely silent. In reality though, ''suppressors'' can only reduce the sound a bit. (And honestly, the noise of the gunshot isn't reduced by very much.)

** Actually - '''[[GunsAreWorthless Swords In General]]''' are portrayed as much more effective than firearms in most pieces of work. Guns are objectively better in almost every aspect. However, in fiction, they're often [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] to allow those fighting with swords a chance. RuleOfCool demands it.

* '''[[PerfectPoison Poisons]]''': Real-life poisons are slow to act and effective when the victim is given enough of it (which is hard, since most poisons taste horrible and they'll likely spit it out). In fiction, though, one drop is enough to make anyone drop dead immediately.

* '''BulletProofVest'''s: Likely the most (in)famous one, bulletproof vests are effective at stopping any bullet in fiction though in reality most of them are only good for stopping one or two handgun rounds.

* '''[[HollywoodSilencer Gun silencers]]''': In fiction, gun silencers can make any gun silent. In reality though, they can only reduce the sound a bit (and relatively speaking not that much).

* '''[[InstantSedation Chloroform]]''': In fiction this substance can be used to knock out anyone almost immediately. In reality they would need to breathe it in for a good minute or two before it kicks in.

** Actually - '''[[GunsAreWorthless Swords In General]]''' are portrayed as much more effective than firearms in most pieces of work. Guns are objectively better in almost every aspect, however in fiction they're often [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] to allow those fighting with swords a chance. RuleOfCool demands it.

In television they'd have you believe that many things are extremely effective at their purpose, when in reality they can only do it some of the time or only partially. Partly this is because the name of the product portrays its usefulness much more than it actually is, for example "bulletproof" objects which are usually simply bullet ''resistant''. The other part is because if they were portrayed realistically [[RuleOfDrama it would likely]] [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality ruin the story]]. If "bulletproof" things weren't actually bulletproof and the protagonist got shot either that's the end of your movie or the next 40 minutes would be spent at the hospital watching them recover. Some of the most notable ones are:

* '''[[MagicalAntibiotics Antibiotics]]''': In fiction humans have apparently managed to create a pill that can cure any disease save from the really big ones like cancer. Real life antibiotics though are much less effective, a certain type is only good for some, but never all, bacteria. Oh yeah, it's also limited to bacteria only - they're completely useless against any other type of microorganism.

* '''[[CPRCleanPrettyReliable CPR]]''': In fiction CPR (or mouth-to-mouth) is portrayed as 100% effective and can revive anyone. In reality though, the success rate for a typical bystander doing it is only 8%, and even with proper equipment chances only increase to 37%.
* '''[[MagicalDefibrillator Defibrillators]]''': Like above defibrillators are treated as magical devices that can revive anyone regardless of circumstances. In reality they are only useful for a heart that is beating irregularly and completely useless for one that has stopped.

* '''[[HypnoFool Hypnosis]]''': In fiction hypnosis can put someone into a trance almost immediately (even if they're resisting) and can make them do anything the hypnotist wants, including post-hypnotic suggestion. In fact, it takes considerable time to put a subject under even if they're cooperating, doesn't work on everyone and [[IntrinsicVow can't make someone do something they don't want to do]].

* '''Noise Cancelling Headphones''': Fictional headphones can cancel all noise creating complete silence. In reality they can only cancel continuous emitting sounds such as buzzing or humming and is ineffective at almost any other sound such as people talking, music playing and so on.
* '''[[PerfectPoison Poisons]]''': Real life poisons are slow to act and effective when the victim is given enough of it (which is hard, since most poisons taste horrible and they'll likely spit it out). In fiction though, one drop is enough to make anyone drop dead immediately.

[[quoteright:350:Website/CollegeHumor http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/49p8zpy.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/49p8zpy.jpg]]

* '''[[HypnoFool Hypnosis]]''': In fiction hypnosis can put someone into a trance almost immediately (even if they're resisting) and can make them do anything the hypnotist wants, including post-hypnotic suggestion. In fact, it takes considerable time to put a subject under even if they're cooperating,, doesn't work on everyone and [[IntrinsicVow can't make someone do something they don't want to do]].

* '''[[SoftWater Water]]''': Water can be useful at reducing fall damage both in real life and in fiction, but only *up to a certain point*. Due to water tension you might as well be landing on concrete if you jump into a body of water from many stories above, but in fiction there is no limit to how high you can fall from - the water will still stop you from going ker-splat.