Tropescilloscope: Artistic License – History

The creator of a work ignores historical inaccuracy in the interest of telling a better story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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