Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

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

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