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