Tropescilloscope: Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism

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

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