Tropescilloscope: Mind Screw

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

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