Tropescilloscope: Meaningful Background Event

Something plot-relevant happens onscreen, but not as the focus (read more at tvtropes.org)

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