Tropescilloscope: Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism

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

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