History Film / Zoolander

* ChekhovsGag: Derek's initial brainwashing from Mugatu involves cardboard cutouts of "beautiful celebrities," including [[Music/NSync Lance Bass,]] Music/LilKim, [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]], and..... [[spoiler: [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Garry Shandling]]. Sure enough, when it comes time for the assassination attempt, the celebrities lining the stage are all the celebrities from the former sequence. ''Including'' Garry Shandling.]]

* CaptainOblivious: The runway competition.

* HiddenDepths: Derek can speak Malay.

* IdiotSavant: Derek knows everything about the modeling world and is an expert in many modeling-related skills. He recognizes J.P. Prewitt's hand from a specific catalog in the 70s even though hand modeling isn't Derek's specialty.

* MrExposition: J.P., the former hand model turned conspiracy theorist, who explains how the fashion industry is behind every political assassination in history.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: While all of the celebrities cameos play themselves, Derek's surname is an amalgam of Calvin Klein models Mark Vanderloo and the Johnny Zander (it was originally "Zanderloo," but Stein and the other writers found it too obvious).

* {{Wedgie}}: Derek Zoolander accidentally gives himself one.

** Ben Stiller is a notorious Trekkie, no wonder the villain is named after a monster of the week from "Series/StarTrek"

* AdaptationExpansion: Justified, in that the original Derek Zoolander skits make up a combined six-and-a-half minutes. The movie takes the character of Derek and puts him in at the center of a political {{conspiracy theor|y}}ist story.

* AdaptationExpansion: Justified, in that the original Derek Zoolander skits make up a combined six-and-a-half minutes. The movie takes the character of Derek and puts him in at the center of a political {{conspiracy theory}} story.

** A cover version of "Call Me" by Music/{{Blondie}} plays during the Opening Credits Montage, which introduces all the main characters.

* DisneyAcidSequence: The drug-fueled orgy, which involves two midgets, a monk, and lots of spinning.

* IdiotHero: Derek Zoolander, as outlined everywhere else on this page, it not the sharpest tool in the shed, frequently mispronouncing words, ComicallyMissingThePoint on multiple occasions, and generally getting some basic facts plain wrong.

* ManipulativeBastard: Mugatu. He offered Derek to participate in a runway show, brainwashing him to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia so they can maintain child labor in that country. In short, he attempts to make Derek's life miserable.

* {{Wedgie}}:Derek Zoolander accidentally gives himself one.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Derek temporarily retires from modeling and tries to join his father and brothers in the mining field. It doesn't go over well. When Derek reveals Magnum at the end of the film, however, his father is genuinely amazed and announces to the whole bar "That's my son!"

* CatchPhrase: Mugatu's variations on Hansel being "so hot right now."

'''Prewett:''' You're goddamn right he wasn't, but those two lookers on the Grassy Knoll sure as shit were!

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zoolander_poster.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:Derek Zoolander: Really Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking[[TradeSnark ™]] ]]

* FashionDesigner: Mugatu designs many of the clothes modeled, and he is credited with creating the piano necktie.

* FashionModel: The main character is a male supermodel.

* StupidGood: Putting it lightly, Derek isn't the sharpest tool in the shed as shown how he thought a small model was the actual building for the "Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good". That being said, he isn't maliciously stupid and genuinely wants to help the illiterate and educate kids on how to develop the skills to be a model.

%%* IdiotHero: Derek.