Tropescilloscope: Meaningful Background Event

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

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