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