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Basic Trope: The title of a work tells you exactly what the work is about.

  • Straight: A film called Bob Becomes a Zombie is about Bob becoming a zombie.
  • Exaggerated:
    • The film is called A Guy Named Bob Is Bitten by a Zombie and Turns into One Himself … which is literally all that happens in the film.
    • The film is titled Three Hundred Twenty-five Zombies Escape from Eternal Imprisonment under the Island of Java, Two of Which Bite a Lawyer Named Bob, Causing Him to Turn into a Zombie Himself, Whereupon He Rampages through New York City and Destroys Two Gift Shops, a Supermarket, Blows up an SUV, and Doesn’t Brush His Teeth Afterward, Forcing His Friend Alice to Chase after Him for an Hour until She Defeats All of the Other Zombies Using a Magical Sword She Found at a Strange Antique Shop and Returns Bob to His Original Form.
    • The title is literally the entire script of the film.
  • Downplayed: Zombie Adventures is a fairly Self-Explanatory title, but you have to watch the film to learn just what those adventures entail.
  • Justified: Bob is a very important figure and the film wants to document and inform the masses about this transformation perfectly.
  • Inverted:
    • The film is actually about a zombie becoming a guy named Bob.
    • Non-Indicative Name
    • The film is called Bob Becomes a Zombie, but it includes neither zombies nor characters named Bob.
  • Subverted:
    • Bob goes through several stages of the transformation, but then turns into a tomato.
    • Bob Becomes a Zombie begins with a scene where Bob is bitten by a zombie, but it turns out to be Bob’s dream and the rest of the movie is about something else.
    • Artifact Title
  • Double Subverted:
    • …and then he turns into a zombie. The tomato form was just an odd stage of the metamorphosis.
    • Bob lives In a World… where Your Mind Makes It Real, and the first time he appears on camera again, he has begun transforming into an undead being.
  • Parodied:
  • Zig-Zagged:
    • ...Actually, a zombie was just one of the later stages of the complete metamorphosis. Bob then turns into a potato.
    • Some scenes revolve around Bob’s infection while others are about something completely different.
  • Averted: The film is named Bob. The title is related to the film, but you wouldn’t be able to tell what it’s about without watching it.
  • Enforced:
  • Lampshaded: “The title clearly states ‘Bob Becomes a Zombie!’ What did you think would happen?”
  • Invoked: “We want to make sure the audience isn’t confused when watching this … Let’s give it a descriptive name!”
  • Exploited: Alice has an ironclad excuse to keep her gun pointed at Bob all day long.
  • Defied: “Damn it, no! I won’t let that stupid title be true!”
  • Discussed: "So, there is the movie Bob Becomes a Zombie and the plot is what the title says.” “Yup. Real genius idea for a title, people.”
  • Conversed: “I love when movie titles say exactly what the events of the movie are.”
  • Deconstructed:
    • Bob was the Sole Survivor of a Zombie Apocalypse and has just been bitten; the film goes into detail about how tragic living like a zombie is as he struggles through his infection.
    • Bob doesn’t turn into a zombie until the very end, making the title a spoiler.

Back to Exactly What It Says on the Tin, the trope in which a name or title of something that tells you all about on what it's about.

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