Tropescilloscope: Wrong Genre Savvy

A character thinks they're in a genre with different rules than the one they're actually in. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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