Tropescilloscope: Ripped from the Headlines

A recent or ongoing news story is the basis for the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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