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