Tropescilloscope: Meaningful Background Event

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

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