Tropescilloscope: Ripped from the Headlines

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

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