Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

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

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