Tropescilloscope: Framing Device

Story within another story... (read more at tvtropes.org)

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