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