Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

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

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