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