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