Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – History

The creator of a work ignores historical inaccuracy in the interest of telling a better story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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