Tropescilloscope: Broken Aesop

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

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