Tropescilloscope: Broken Aesop

A story's narrative defies its message. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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