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