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