Tropescilloscope: Rule of Symbolism

Themes or imagery inserted for symbolic value. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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