'''Basic Trope''': A character is transported in the trunk of a car.
* '''Straight''': Alice is placed in Bob's trunk.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** Alice's mouth has been [[DuctTapeForEverything taped]] shut, and her hands and feet are taped behind her.
** Alice is dead.
** Alice and ten other people are put in Bob's trunk.
* '''Downplayed''': Alice is in the trunk, but it's one of those trunks that's contiguous with the main interior of the car, so she's got plenty of air and could easily get out just by climbing over the back seat.
* '''Justified''':
** Bob is carrying Alice off as a hostage.
** Bob has murdered Alice and is transporting her body to dispose of it.
** Alice is a fugitive, and Bob must keep her hidden.
** [[{{Yandere}} Alice is stalking Bob]], and hiding in the trunk to better facilitate this.
** Bob is driving a car full of other characters; [[Film/{{Grease}} the trunk is a convenient place to put a couple of them.]]
* '''Inverted''':
** Alice is riding in the front passenger seat, or at least the back seat.
** Alice is driving the car.
* '''Subverted''': A police officer stops Bob, searches the car for anything that shouldn't be there, and finds nothing unusual in the trunk.
* '''Double Subverted''': Because Alice's body is underneath a secret compartment in the floor of the trunk.
* '''Parodied''':
** A bunch of characters get out when the trunk is opened, like a clown car.
** The trunk ''is'' the passenger seat of TheAllegedCar.
* '''Zig-Zagged''': Some hostages are transported in the trunk, others in the car itself.
* '''Averted''': No people (alive or dead) are found in Bob's trunk.
* '''Enforced''': Alice's actress Carol needs a sick day right in the middle of a [[RoadTripPlot Road Trip Arc]]. So Alice goes missing for an episode and is discovered to have accidentally shut herself in the trunk once Carol returns.
* '''Lampshaded''': "I'm gonna stuff that bitch in the trunk when I'm through with her!"
* '''Invoked''': Bob kidnaps Alice, and needs a way to transport her covertly.
* '''Exploited''': Alice knows Bob's first choice is going to be the trunk, and it's all part of her escape plan.
* '''Defied''': Alice tries to push Bob into her trunk, threatening him with a knife, but Bob [[NeverbringaknifetoAgunfight pulls out a gun]] and [[AssholeVictim holds it to Alice's head]], telling her exactly where to go.
* '''Discussed''': AliceAndBob talk about how either of them might survive a trip in the trunk of any given vehicle.
* '''Conversed''': "That's a [[BiggerOnTheInside surprisingly roomy trunk]]. It's the kind of trunk you only see on TV."
* '''Deconstructed''': Many car manufacturers [[CrazyPrepared anticipate this very thing]] nowadays, and so there is usually a way for the person in the trunk to open it from the inside and escape. And if Alice is dead and Bob leaves her body in there (i.e. forgets about it), then she'll decompose, which will be a hell of a stench to clean up (and try to hide).
* '''Reconstructed''': Bob takes out the safety feature (or simply does not put one in), and either only transports live people this way, or makes sure to remove dead bodies.
* '''Played for Laughs''': Bob "kidnaps" his friend Alice from her job to "hold her hostage" someplace more fun.
* '''Played for Drama''': Alice's ride in the trunk is hell-like -- it's dark, hot, smelly, and the carbon monoxide in the exhaust inhibits her breathing (and may kill her).
* '''Played for Horror''': Bob is secretly a SerialKiller who prefers to kill his victims by driving them around in his trunk.
* '''Implied''':
** Bob seems to be the only person driving from Alice's house to his own after a party, but once he's at his house, Alice is inexplicably there and starts talking about her trip in his car, finishing with "Oh, by the way, your trunk's open."
** There are footprints leading to and/or from the trunk of Bob's car, but we don't see who made them.
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%%Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%* '''Plotted a Good Waste''': ???