Tropescilloscope: Mind Screw

A work looks weird due to its alleged symbolism. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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