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