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