Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

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

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