Tropescilloscope: Dramatic Irony

The audience knows something the characters don't, and this is Played for Drama or Laughs. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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