Tropescilloscope: Deconstruction

Analyzing a trope to expose its realistic assumptions, flaws, consequences and/or origins. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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