Tropescilloscope: Meaningful Background Event

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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