Tropescilloscope: Central Theme

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

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