Tropescilloscope: Serious Business

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

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