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