Tropescilloscope: Ripped from the Headlines

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

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