Tropescilloscope: Stepford Smiler

Happy on the outside. Unhappy on the inside. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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