Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

Themes or imagery inserted for symbolic value. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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