Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

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

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