Hollywood Torches

I was watching National Treasure with Nicolas Cage recently and was reminded of a cinematic oddity: the torch that never burns out. The particular scene was set in a once inhabited cave. The antiquated torches from previous occupants still hung there on the cave walls. The actors, like in so many movies, lit the torches which fired to life as if they were trailer park Tiki lamps. I wonder if the frequency of this "trick" in the movies has dulled our awareness of it's improbability? Please comment with your own epiphanies, for example, comment on things that have become so familiar to you that you have failed to question them. Our Civil Liberties is good example. There are so many cameras installed out and about that it is almost assured that you will be video taped at some point in your day. These cameras have become so common place that few question the issue of privacy. This is just an example of the comments I'm looking for. Please don't mistake my Civil Liberties comment as being in anyway sympathetic to the domestic Nazis at the ACLU.