Tropescilloscope: Central Theme

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

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