Tropescilloscope: Chiaroscuro

One bright light source leaves everything else in shadow. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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