Tropescilloscope: Serious Business

Treating something more seriously than necessary. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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