Tropescilloscope: Mind Screw

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

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