Tropescilloscope: Central Theme

A philosophy, message, idea, or question at a story's core. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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