Tropescilloscope: Central Theme

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

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