Tropescilloscope: Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism

Right Makes Might vs. Might Makes Right (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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