Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – Law

Law and legal proceedings are presented in a way that isn't factually accurate. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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