Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – Military

Inaccuracies in military training, procedures, command structure, or practices are ignored in favor of telling the story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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