Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – Biology

Inaccuracies in biological fact in a work of fiction, in the service of the story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Deliberate Values Dissonance Funny Foreigner Heroes Want Redheads The Starscream Twist Ending Gone Horribly Right Laughing Mad Four-Temperament Ensemble Every Car Is a Pinto Not So Stoic Pet the Dog Half the Man He Used to Be Stuff Blowing Up Fantastic Racism Adaptational Heroism Bowdlerise Sinister Minister Even Evil Has Standards 20 Minutes into the Future Gold Digger Older Than They Look Action Girl Adapted Out Extreme Doormat Amoral Attorney Curse Cut Short Psycho for Hire The Alleged Car Getting Crap Past the Radar Historical-Domain Character Spanner in the Works Setting Update Match Cut Chekhov's Gunman Never My Fault Laser-Guided Karma Nice Hat He Knows Too Much Married to the Job Self-Deprecation Unusually Uninteresting Sight Hypocrite Mind Screw Mood Whiplash Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Calling the Old Man Out Continuity Nod Adults Are Useless Show Within a Show Line-of-Sight Name Rule of Symbolism Final Girl Dirty Coward Fiery Redhead Camp Gay Politically Incorrect Villain Video Credits All Just a Dream Heel–Face Turn Disguised in Drag Animal Motifs A Father to His Men B-Movie Blackmail The Faceless Badass Longcoat Despair Event Horizon Crazy-Prepared Beard of Evil The Quiet One Action Prologue Motor Mouth Gorn Naked People Are Funny The Chessmaster La Résistance One Steve Limit Overly Long Gag Evil Plan Film Noir Index Interrupted Suicide After the End Cold-Blooded Torture Protagonist Title Jump Scare Thriller Imagine Spot The Casanova Horror Comedy Lighter and Softer Face–Heel Turn Loads and Loads of Characters In Name Only Ominous Latin Chanting Insistent Terminology Hair-Trigger Temper Bunny-Ears Lawyer Slap-Slap-Kiss Missing Mom Only a Flesh Wound An Axe to Grind Meaningful Background Event Asshole Victim Loophole Abuse Big "NO!" Air-Vent Passageway Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Slasher Smile Body Horror Brainless Beauty Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Red Herring Bitch in Sheep's Clothing The Hero Dies Mr. Exposition Slasher Movie Daddy's Girl A God Am I The Sociopath Shown Their Work Animal Title Index Cain and Abel Adaptation Distillation Hollywood Darkness Jitter Cam Canon Foreigner Chewing the Scenery Death Seeker Left the Background Music On Deliberately Monochrome Random Events Plot Evil Laugh Freudian Excuse Mooks Took a Level in Badass Poor Communication Kills A Date with Rosie Palms Genre Shift The Dragon Dirty Old Man Alliterative Name Real Life Oh, Crap! Dying Moment of Awesome Demoted to Extra Nice Guy Reality Ensues Accidental Misnaming Our Vampires Are Different Ambiguously Gay Greater-Scope Villain Badass Bookworm Reckless Gun Usage Police Brutality Pimped-Out Dress Hero of Another Story Groin Attack Skewed Priorities Fan Disservice Spell My Name with an "S" Naïve Newcomer Bury Your Gays Heterosexual Life-Partners Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Needs Wiki Magic Love Authority Equals Asskicking Suspiciously Similar Substitute Small Name, Big Ego Exactly What It Says on the Tin Italian Films Vomit Discretion Shot "The Reason You Suck" Speech Super Strength Rousing Speech Honor Before Reason Intergenerational Friendship The Un-Reveal Freeze-Frame Bonus Betty and Veronica Ms. Fanservice Adorkable Would Hit a Girl Take That! Fun with Acronyms Never Found the Body Adaptational Attractiveness "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Bloody Hilarious Gender Flip It Will Never Catch On Bottomless Magazines No-Sell Fat Bastard Large Ham Determinator aka: The Determinator Karma Houdini Hope Spot German Films Lampshade Hanging Red Shirt Reality Is Unrealistic Punny Name Badass Boast Japanese Films Hidden Depths The Bully Sanity Slippage Composite Character Evil Sounds Deep Blatant Lies Humiliation Conga How We Got Here Vomit Indiscretion Shot Index of Film Westerns Artistic License – Military '80s Hair Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Bound and Gagged Downer Ending Shut Up, Hannibal! Cool Old Lady A Minor Kidroduction Tap on the Head Demonic Possession Adaptational Badass The Alcoholic Stealth Pun Rule of Cool Sadistic Choice Sci-Fi Horror Alas, Poor Villain From Bad to Worse Grievous Bottley Harm Pragmatic Villainy Obfuscating Stupidity Funny Background Event Redshirt Army Break the Haughty Kick the Son of a Bitch Not Quite Dead Darker and Edgier Black Best Friend Age Lift Big Damn Heroes Word of God What You Are in the Dark The X of Y The Lost Lenore Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Wrong Genre Savvy Spiritual Successor Karmic Death Very Loosely Based on a True Story Meaningful Echo It's Personal Dutch Angle Sealed Evil in a Can Noodle Incident It's All About Me Creator Cameo Wounded Gazelle Gambit Butt-Monkey Pyrrhic Victory Captain Obvious Not So Different Red Oni, Blue Oni Not Even Bothering with the Accent Public Domain Feature Films Horror Films Irony Red Eyes, Take Warning Adult Fear Pretty in Mink Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Storming the Castle Dissonant Serenity Annoying Younger Sibling Easily Forgiven Kill It with Fire Once More, with Clarity! Pay Evil unto Evil Parental Neglect Wicked Cultured French Films Silence Is Golden Beta Couple Trailers Always Spoil The Load Visual Pun Kids Are Cruel He Who Fights Monsters Punch-Clock Villain Call-Forward Eureka Moment Mystery and Detective Films Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Villain Opening Scene Malevolent Masked Men Credits Gag Cool Guns In the Back Ship Tease Fanservice Extra Abusive Parents You Killed My Father Mr. Fanservice Call-Back Daylight Horror Leave the Camera Running Ass Shove Same Language Dub Military and Warfare Films Hooker with a Heart of Gold Failed a Spot Check What Happened to the Mouse? Crucified Hero Shot Superhero Improbable Weapon User The Voiceless Due to the Dead Corpsing Shipper on Deck The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Soundtrack Dissonance Truth in Television Have a Gay Old Time Improbable Aiming Skills Big Brother Instinct Artistic License – Law Crazy Jealous Guy Works Set in World War II Overprotective Dad Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Advertised Extra The Bad Guy Wins Bring My Brown Pants The Dreaded Enemy Mine The '90s Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Crapsack World Auto Erotica The Musical Silent Movie For Want of a Nail Woman in White The '50s Sacrificial Lion Expy Foil All for Nothing Eagleland Cool Shades Your Head A-Splode Coming-of-Age Story Love Triangle Chekhov's Skill Ambiguous Disorder Properly Paranoid Market-Based Title Leaning on the Fourth Wall Artistic License – Physics Cruel and Unusual Death Cool Car Eldritch Abomination Drugs Are Bad Wretched Hive "Awesome McCool" Name Stalker with a Crush Camera Abuse Brother–Sister Incest Book-Ends Disappeared Dad Dies Wide Open Aside Glance Villain Song Sassy Black Woman Yandere Soft Glass Driven to Suicide Wham Shot Actually Pretty Funny Rasputinian Death The Stoic Adaptation Name Change Agony of the Feet Romantic Comedy Paper-Thin Disguise Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Batman Gambit Tranquil Fury Dropped a Bridge on Him My God, What Have I Done? Chase Scene Flipping the Bird Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Rich Bitch Exact Words Informed Ability Jerk with a Heart of Gold Dark Reprise Gainax Ending Damsel in Distress Playing Gertrude Toplessness from the Back The Remake Instant Death Bullet The Hero Ragtag Bunch of Misfits And Starring Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Moment Killer The Chick Unusual Euphemism Cat Fight I Need a Freaking Drink Let's Get Dangerous! Aluminum Christmas Trees Retcon Bad Boss Shout-Out Too Dumb to Live Big Applesauce Shoot the Shaggy Dog Rape as Drama Berserk Button Anachronic Order No Ending Shell-Shocked Veteran Smoking Is Cool Amusing Injuries Race Against the Clock Happily Married May–December Romance Make It Look Like an Accident Canadian Movies Domestic Abuse Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Comically Missing the Point Disney Villain Death She's Got Legs Stealth Hi/Bye Broken Bird Gory Discretion Shot Dark Is Not Evil Evil Brit Villain with Good Publicity Apocalypse How Monumental Damage Artistic License – Biology Beware the Nice Ones Deal with the Devil Evil vs. Evil Cloudcuckoolander Parental Incest Frame-Up Combat Pragmatist Hate Sink Redemption Equals Death Femme Fatale Bland-Name Product Sir Swears-a-Lot Dramatic Gun Cock Unresolved Sexual Tension Important Haircut Only Sane Man Knife Nut Didn't Think This Through Psychopathic Manchild My Beloved Smother Broken Aesop As You Know All Girls Want Bad Boys Bullying a Dragon Eiffel Tower Effect Ungrateful Bastard The Smurfette Principle Developing Doomed Characters N-Word Privileges Bad "Bad Acting" Those Two Bad Guys Author Avatar Male Frontal Nudity Country Matters Dramatic Irony Lock and Load Montage Villain Protagonist Empathic Environment Russian Films Totally Radical Historical Hero Upgrade Black Comedy Rape Good Is Not Nice The Cameo Catch-Phrase Evil Is Hammy Bare Your Midriff Bar Brawl Expository Hairstyle Change Big Bad Extremely Short Timespan Stock Footage All There in the Script Creepy Child Morality Pet Blood from the Mouth Rated M for Manly Artistic License – History You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Shower Scene There Is No Kill Like Overkill Biopic Belligerent Sexual Tension Children Are Innocent Made of Iron Bavarian Fire Drill Put on a Bus Manly Tears Reasonable Authority Figure Spiteful Spit Serial Killer Scenery Porn Deconstruction Heroic Sacrifice Running Gag Only One Name Curb-Stomp Battle Idiot Ball As the Good Book Says... Retirony The Great Depression The Ace Boom, Headshot! Character Development Early Installment Weirdness Really Gets Around What the Hell, Hero? Central Theme Drives Like Crazy Adaptational Villainy Anguished Declaration of Love Covers Always Lie Stylistic Suck Major Injury Underreaction Be Careful What You Wish For Narrator Did Not Get the Girl Christmas Movies Index The Film of the Book Sole Survivor The Reveal The Place Translation Convention Hypocritical Humor Hong Kong Films Artistic License – Gun Safety Chiaroscuro Death of a Child Men Are the Expendable Gender I'm a Humanitarian Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Flashback Everyone Has Standards Fish out of Water Reality Has No Subtitles Pretty Little Headshots Ascended Extra Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Darkest Hour Obstructive Bureaucrat Disproportionate Retribution Scare Chord Friend to All Children Your Cheating Heart Bi the Way Training Montage Light Is Not Good Only in It for the Money Took a Level in Jerkass Cat Scare Unreliable Narrator Bond One-Liner Death by Sex Fantasy Films Title Drop Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Meaningful Name Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Made of Explodium O.O.C. Is Serious Business Time Skip Shirtless Scene No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Cowboy Cop Spared by the Adaptation Becoming the Mask Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Tempting Fate Only Known by Their Nickname Casting Gag Fanservice Rule of Three Victoria's Secret Compartment Henpecked Husband The Dog Bites Back Retired Badass Double-Meaning Title Villain Ball A.I. Is a Crapshoot Pre-Mortem One-Liner Arch-Enemy Department of Redundancy Department Parental Abandonment Ambiguous Ending Big Bad Duumvirate Blood Knight Badass Grandpa Ironic Echo The Mafia Homage And the Adventure Continues Offscreen Moment of Awesome Breaking the Fourth Wall The Brute Historical In-Joke Not What It Looks Like Earn Your Happy Ending Famous Last Words Mistaken for Gay Badass in a Nice Suit BFG Defrosting Ice Queen Off-into-the-Distance Ending Abhorrent Admirer True Companions Ax-Crazy Anachronism Stew Red Right Hand Establishing Character Moment Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Author Appeal Outrun the Fireball Chekhov's Gun Re-Cut Stepford Smiler Mugging the Monster Film Series Plot Hole Kubrick Stare Foreshadowing Ghost Fiction timeperiod Bloodier and Gorier Anti-Hero Fire-Forged Friends Kick the Dog Diabolus ex Machina And I Must Scream Even Evil Has Loved Ones Sports Stories Fainting Suddenly SHOUTING! Vitriolic Best Buds Corrupt Corporate Executive Green-Eyed Monster Those Two Guys Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Slashed Throat I Have Your Wife Affectionate Parody Recycled IN SPACE! Danny Peary Cult Movies List Knight Templar Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane The Ghost The '60s Epic Fail Deadpan Snarker Mercy Kill Tagline Drill Sergeant Nasty Better to Die than Be Killed Hell Is That Noise Drowning My Sorrows Mighty Whitey Straight Gay Conspicuous CG One-Man Army Police are Useless Worthy Opponent Accidental Murder Awesome, but Impractical Award-Bait Song Well-Intentioned Extremist Dramedy Ripped from the Headlines Madness Mantra Mythology Gag Papa Wolf Nothing Is Scarier Action Genre You Have Failed Me Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Rewatch Bonus Roaring Rampage of Revenge The '70s Bilingual Bonus Bait-and-Switch Would Hurt a Child Faking the Dead Male Gaze Sequel Escalation Up to Eleven War Is Hell Villainous Breakdown Posthumous Character No Celebrities Were Harmed Maybe Ever After The Power of Love Riddle for the Ages Early-Bird Cameo Based on a True Story Serious Business Humans Are Bastards Animated Credits Opening The Ditz In Medias Res Names to Run Away from Really Fast Manipulative Bastard No Antagonist Adaptation Expansion Love at First Sight Dark and Troubled Past Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor The Big Guy Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Evil-Detecting Dog Meet Cute Evil Is Petty Death Glare Taking the Bullet Peek-a-Boo Corpse This Is Gonna Suck Artistic License – Geography folderlabel Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Token Minority Five-Man Band Eyepatch of Power Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Brick Joke Those Wacky Nazis Historical Villain Upgrade The Oner Fatal Flaw Alpha Bitch "Well Done, Son!" Guy Creative Closing Credits Dwindling Party Bittersweet Ending The Vamp Genre Throwback Woman Scorned Mama Bear Logo Joke Jerk Jock No Name Given As Long as It Sounds Foreign Dark Action Girl Real Life Writes the Plot Star-Crossed Lovers Car Fu The Atoner Sexy Discretion Shot Big-Bad Ensemble No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Obviously Evil It Can Think Epic Movie Take a Third Option Bald of Evil Smug Snake World of Ham Whole Plot Reference All There in the Manual Break the Cutie Does Not Like Shoes Heroic BSoD Neck Snap Defiant to the End As Himself Does This Remind You of Anything? Heel Realization Fake Shemp Rule of Funny Actor Allusion Beauty Is Never Tarnished My Greatest Failure Insult Backfire Refuge in Audacity Off with His Head! Armor-Piercing Question Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Offscreen Teleportation Mundane Made Awesome No OSHA Compliance Vacation Films Genre Savvy Antagonist Title Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Action Survivor Dual Wielding Guns Akimbo I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Anti-Villain Facial Horror Fate Worse than Death Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Plucky Comic Relief Room Full of Crazy Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! More Dakka Fourth Date Marriage Brutal Honesty Foregone Conclusion Faux Affably Evil From Nobody to Nightmare Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Scenery Gorn MacGuffin Fingore Adaptation Dye-Job Dogged Nice Guy Grey and Gray Morality Destination Defenestration Parental Substitute The Mole Neck Lift Bond Villain Stupidity Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Improvised Weapon Film Noir Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Captain Ersatz Back from the Dead Precision F-Strike Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Last-Name Basis Gilligan Cut Australian Movies Arranged Marriage Suspiciously Specific Denial Black Comedy You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Big Eater Mad Scientist Costume Porn Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Cool Old Guy Jerkass Has a Point British Films Big Fancy House The End... Or Is It? An Aesop Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Together in Death Bloodless Carnage Distracted by the Sexy Race Lift Dull Surprise One-Word Title Hollywood Law Evil Counterpart Black Dude Dies First Closed Circle Here We Go Again! Not Using the "Z" Word Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Manic Pixie Dream Girl Almost Kiss Pragmatic Adaptation Undying Loyalty Implacable Man Product Placement Dressing as the Enemy Death by Irony Attempted Rape The Cavalry The Stinger Zombie Stories Face Death with Dignity Our Zombies Are Different Gratuitous English Guile Hero Unspoken Plan Guarantee Card-Carrying Villain Jerkass I Did What I Had to Do Hero Antagonist Leitmotif Insane Troll Logic Psychological Thriller Dirty Cop Say My Name The Lancer Badass Normal Non-Indicative Name Mexican Standoff Vampire Fiction Scary Black Man Kill 'em All Not So Above It All Affably Evil Contrived Coincidence Celebrity Paradox Television Movie Index Cluster F-Bomb Framing Device Babies Ever After An Arm and a Leg Decoy Protagonist Martial Arts Movie Science Fiction Films Catapult Nightmare Man on Fire Throwing Your Sword Always Works Killed Mid-Sentence Broken Pedestal Determinator NO INDOOR VOICE Handicapped Badass Immune to Bullets Deus ex Machina Unwitting Instigator of Doom The Stoner The '80s Anyone Can Die Black and Gray Morality Manchild Taking You with Me Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping All Men Are Perverts The Smart Guy Intrepid Reporter Revenge I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Death by Adaptation Wham Line Novelization She Cleans Up Nicely Disney Death Never Trust a Trailer Eye Scream For the Evulz Depraved Bisexual Romantic False Lead Arc Words Cassandra Truth "Shaggy Dog" Story Sequel Hook Dumb Blonde Get Out! Music Stories Bolivian Army Ending Hoist by His Own Petard Fatal Family Photo Documentary Double Entendre