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openEveryone gets a gift Film
Best exemplified in The Fellowship of the Rings: all members of the protagonist's band receive a personalized gift, often upon parting with their former hosts.
openScream VI YMMV Film
I originally had this under They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character and was told it didn't fit:
- While it didn't end up being surprising that Laura Crane (Samara Weaving) would be axed off almost immediately—to the point of indeed being the first victim as that implication would've come because of the minimal use of her in the trailer, the setup of her being a professor having studied Horror films and teaching the different things they've done over the years could've been a highly valuable asset to the group throughout the movie. Instead, her being tricked into the secluded, dark alley to be killed by a total Ghostface amateur indicates that she's not only not as clever as she seemed to be, but only ultimately just there as a glorified cameo due to both the particular actress and her previous film with the directors as well—same for Henry Czerny above.
I'm accepting of the idea it doesn't. Is there another trope it fits under instead? If so, I could put it there in lieu of the other trope.
resolved 'Don't shoot me, I'm the real one!' Film
Not sure if this trope is listed already or not, if it is I can't find it.
Basically the scene where there's two versions of the same person (one is an evil clone, or an android, etc...), one of the heroes has a gun and needs to shoot one of the two, but can't figure out which is which.
It usually leads to the two characters having to prove themselves to the one holding the gun, saying something like 'You know it's me, we did that thing together years ago, remember?' Or in comedic scenarios, the duplicate says something overly sappy and sentimental which the hero thinks 'they'd never say that' and shoots them dead for it.
openBig meaningless battle / Hidden "real" battle Film
At the end of an eventful, epic adventure, thousands of good-guy soldiers meet thousands of bad-guy soldiers in a huge, epic battle that will invariably involve lots of rousing speeches, war cries, bravery, and a heroic sacrifice or two. It will feel like it should be the climax of the story, except . . . the outcome of this battle will have little or no effect on the war. Somewhere away from the action there is a smaller, hidden duel happening between the main hero and the main villain, and it is the outcome of THAT smaller fight — the REAL battle — that will determine the course of the story. The big showy battle doesn't really matter. In fact sometimes the good guys ultimately lose the big battle, but nevertheless everything is okay because the hero prevailed in the smaller fight.
Examples of this troupe include: Return of the Jedi, Willow, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
openTrope where you see your desire everywhere Film
When a character starts hallucinating their obsession and/or person of desire everywhere they go.
Best examples I got of it is that one plane scene from Despicable Me 2
openA Phantom of the Opera Spoof Film
You know how some characters in fiction have become an archetype, and the Phantom of the Opera is one of them. Like a Fountain of Expies template?
It came to mind when I was playing a game and it had a "Phantom" but it's set in an asylum. Then you have Flying Rhino Junior High which is a high school, but it has a Phantom in the basement.
openCharacter slowly closes eyes in the face of certain death Film
A natural disaster or some kind of rushing wave of destruction bares down on the character.
The character sees this and just slowly closes their eyes (usually in a close up) like their accepting death. But they are always fine in the next scene.
Examples(may contain spoilers):
Spock in the new J.J Abrams star Trek stands before an erupting volcano and he can't escape. So he slowly closes his eyes only to be beamed out at the last second.
Gladriel in the Rings of Power. She stares down a rushing wall of volcanic ash, and slowly closes her eyes as if accepting her fate only to be totally fine in the next scene.
Anyone know what this trope is called?
openImitation or Irritation? Film
I've got this example that could fall under either Sincerest Form of Flattery (at which it would be in-universe, since that's a Trivia entry) and Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery. However, I'm not sure under which it qualifies best.
- Saw V: Discussed in-universe by John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer, to Mark Hoffman, who at the time had recently made a copycat Jigsaw scene as part of his plot to murder someone else for revenge. John utters the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" phase word by word before saying that he despises other murderers giving him credit for something he didn't do at all, much like how Hoffman did with his fake scene.
Problem is, it's stated in the page for Sincerest Form of Flattery that any related in-universe example should go under Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, yet Hoffman didn't look up to or praise John at all with his copycat murder. Tropes Are Flexible might be in play here with either entry, but there's no proper description regarding them on the Administrivia page. So, what's the exact difference between the entries and under which could the example fit best?
openA production location/office used as a filming location. Film
I'm looking for a Trivia item for live-action media wherein a location used for the work's production (such as a director's office) is also a place where the work was filmed. It's based on this potential example I have for Saw V:
- During filming, David Hackl's office for the film's production was drastically modified and used as the set for Hoffman's office. As a matter of fact, the hallway Hoffman walks into led to the production studio, and the background people present weren't cast members at all.
openArming sequence where guys grab guns off a rack Film
I feel like I see this one a lot but I can't find a trope specifically about it. An alarm is raised and the guards are called to their posts. A shot shows a rack with weapons (rifles, spears, etc.) and as the guards pass by they grab a weapon one at a time or there's an armorer who is passing out the weapons from a rack. Is there a trope for this already?
openToned Down For The Trailer Film
You've probably seen several examples where a trailer uses a milder version of a line than appears in the actual movie. For instance: "My days of breaking into buildings and stealing stuff ("shit" in the movie) are over."—Ant-Man. "Oh, I just looked at his crotch. ("penis")—What Women Want. I'm sure there are more that I can't remember.
openClassroom Orchestra Film
When a group of people are together in a room (usually students in a classroom) and they start making idle sounds (I.e. tapping feet, tapping pencil, clicking tongue, etc) which slowly turns into a rhythm and then a full blown song. My best example is that one scene in the Lemonade Mouth movie.
openRespectability Meltdown Film
Is there a trope for when a film or TV show is about a character who starts the story with what appears to be a contented and usually quite middle-class life only for the plot to be all about how they lose their social standing for one reason or another?
Edited by SuperTroperopenApologizing To The Grave Of A Departed son, nephew, friend... Film
I'm not sure if this is a single trope or a mix of two or more, but here goes. Pretty much what happens is : a father-figure apologizing to the grave of his departed son, nephew, friend, et cetara because said son, nephew, friend, et cetera belonged to a group the father-figure did not like or understand. (Though, usually, it's because the son, nephew, friend, et cetara was homosexual and the father-figure was homophobic.).
openBeginning-Improvement-Crisis-Resolution Film
Is there a name for this commonly used structure for movies? It's pretty common in comedies. I'll try to explain it better. The movie starts with a character in a standard/mediocre situation, then in the first part it improves. About two/thirds through there's a big crisis (with ensuing depression/drama), to finish it all with an happy ending (mostly). Hope that's clear enough.
openWait... He's mine! Film
Our Hero has been brainwashed by the bad guys. OR SO WE THINK! When they're about to kill The Sidekick, he intervenes (usually saying the above line) then the two hatch a plot to escape (starting off by killing a couple of mooks who were caught off guard).
Indiana Jones did this in Temple of Doom. Does it have a name?
opennot as dirty as it sounds Film
What is it called when it sounds like something dirty is happening, then it's revealed to be more innocent? It happens in The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, but on that page it's just under Getting Crap Past the Radar, which is kind of the opposite.
Edited by maarvarqopenTreats correction as addendum Film
Do we have a trope for when Alice corrects Bob and Bob acts as if the correction is an addition? Like this: "I want a bottle of Jaggermaster, Alice." "Jägermeister." "I want one of those too.
Is there a Trope or maybe even a Trivia item for whenever something depicted in fiction becomes so widespread that it's generally accepted as Truth in Television, even though it actually isn't very truthful at all?
One specific example I can think of is how Bugs Bunny and other similar cartoons have popularized the concepts that rabbits are rodents who love to eat characters, when in fact, rabbits are not rodents, they're lagomorphs, and they actually aren't really into carrots - they much prefer leafier greens, and even fruit in many cases.
Another, less specific example is that many times in fiction, the idea that lightning never strikes twice in the same place is brought up, and is even regarded as a note of safety for characters caught in a storm, when in fact, lightning very much can strike not only twice in the same place, but even several times in short succession.
Even a far more general example, of how Canada as a whole is often depicted as basically being a frozen tundra of a country, and while yes, it's not unusual for much of Canada to see more than its fair share of snow during the winter, many parts of the country do indeed experience the other three seasons, and even other parts, such as Vancouver, are actually springlike almost yearround.
I don't know if this would even really count, since this example is far more exclusive to just one incident, but after Finding Nemo noted that all drains lead to the ocean, many kids were reported to have flushed their live fish down the toilets to set them free and back into the ocean - so much so that Ellen De Generes (the voice of Dory) ended up having to do some PS As to inform kids that in fact, not all drains lead to the ocean, and they needs to stop flushing their fish under the belief they're setting them free into the ocean as a result.