Tropescilloscope: Lampshade Hanging

Pointing out something within the story, to strengthen the audience's Willing Suspension of Disbelief. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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