Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – Law

Law and legal proceedings are presented in a way that isn't factually accurate. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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