Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

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

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