Tropescilloscope: Serious Business

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

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