History Film / Submarine

* WhatTheHellHero: Jordana calls Oliver out for being insensitive by not visiting her mother in the hospital, first sarcastically in a break-up letter, and then to his face.

* StalkingIsLove: Oliver, although he just stalks anyone that interests him.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Oliver certainly seems to think so.

* GilliganCut: After Jordana kisses Oliver, she tells him she plans on distributing the pictures she took of them kissing around school, and says, "Now there's conclusive proof that you're maybe not gay." Cut immediately to a scene the next day with a crowd of people chanting "gaylord" in a circle around Oliver while Mark demands Oliver admit that he's gay.

** Oliver wishes that life could be like American soap operas, because "whenever things got dramatic, you could just fade the picture down and pick things up again later." The scene [[FadeOut fades out]] immediately afterwards.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Jordana is somewhat of a Manic Pixie {{Jerkass}} early in the movie to the introspective and inward Oliver, in that her influence isn't necessarily positive, such as motivating him to join in on [[ButtMonkey Zoe]]'s bullying because it entertains her. [[spoiler:Subverted in that most males want the [=MPDG=] to reciprocate their feelings; Oliver breaks up with Jordana when he's worried she'll get too "gooey." Oliver is interested in her as long as she's livening up his life, but once he sees some depth and realizes that she has feelings and a personality too, he loses interest, which could be something of a deconstruction of the trope.]]

* ThisIsThePartWhere: Oliver attempts to win Jordana back (while she's next to her new boyfriend, no less) by giving a brief rationale/apology, and outright says, "This is the moment where you leave him and come with me." Unsurprisingly, Jordana says no.
* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Set in TheEighties, made in the 2010s.
* WhatTheHellHero: Jordana calls Oliver out for being insensitive by not visiting her mother in the hospital, first sarcastically in a break-up letter, and then to his face.

** When he confronts Jordana after they've broken up, he says "This is the moment where you leave him and come with me," while she just stares at him.

* DearJohnLetter: Jordana formally breaks up with Oliver via a letter informing him that she's seeing someone else.
* BookWorm: Oliver is given a dictionary and thesaurus as presents, and further gives Jordana three books as a present.

* ButtMonkey: Zoe Preece gets bullied at school "because she's overweight and won't accept notes in class", and an early scene where a group of kids including Oliver and Jordana play "keep away" with her bookbag in the woods ends with her falling into a pond. She ends up moving schools due to her unhappiness from being bullied.

* EightiesHair: Surprisingly averted for a film set in TheEighties. Most of the characters have long, straight hair more befitting the 2010s. The only exception is Graham, who has a spectacular mullet.

* MaybeEverAfter: In the final scene of the film, Oliver and Jordana find each other on the beach. Jordana says that Oliver was "horrible" to her, and Oliver admits that he "made a mistake", but they end the film walking into the sea and standing side by side. What will come of their interaction is ambiguous, but it shows that at the very least, they don't mind each other's company.

** On a meta level as well. In the book, she has a bigger role, having lost weight and enjoying her life in a new school after she's bullied out of her old one, and her success is contrasted with Oliver's immature victim complex. In the film, she's not shown again after Oliver and Jordana bullying her brings them together, and Oliver never gets comeuppance for his actions.

* GilliganCut: After Jordana kisses Oliver and tells him she plans on distributing the pictures over the school, she tells him "Now there's conclusive proof that you're maybe not gay." Cue an immediate cut to a scene the next day with a crowd of people chanting "gaylord" in a circle around Oliver while Mark demands Oliver admit that he's gay.

* SexAsARiteOfPassage: Oliver makes it a goal to lose his virginity and clearly sees this as a key part of his coming of age narrative. After doing the deed, he's no more mature, and it doesn't advance his relationship. Subverted with Jordana-- she's only willing to sleep with him after he tells her she should just "get it[[note]]losing her virginity[[/note]] over with", avoiding the meaning and ritual usually associated with the event.

''Submarine'' is a 2010 British [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] [[{{Dramedy}} comedy-drama film]] written and directed by Creator/RichardAyoade in his directorial debut. It was adapted from the 2008 novel of the same name by Joe Dunthorne, and features an original soundtrack by [[Music/ArcticMonkeys Alex Turner]]. Craig Roberts, Creator/YasminPaige, Creator/NoahTaylor, Creator/SallyHawkins, and Creator/PaddyConsidine star.

* BookWorm: Oliver is given a dictionary and thesaurus as presents, and gives Jordana three heavy novels as a present.

* ButtMonkey: Poor Zoe Preece... On a meta level as well; In the book, she has a bigger role, having lost weight and enjoying her life in a new school after she's bullied out of her old one, and her success is contrasted with Oliver's immature victim complex. In the film she's not shown again after her bullying brings Jordana and Oliver together, and Oliver never gets comeuppance for his actions.
* TheCameo: Executive Producer Creator/BenStiller has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as an actor in a soap opera.

* DearJohnLetter: Jordana formally breaks up with Oliver via a letter informing him that she's seeing someone else.
* EightiesHair: Surprisingly averted for a film set in TheEighties. Most of the characters have long, straight hair more befitting the 2010s. The only exception is Graham, who has a spectacular mullet.

* FallingInLoveMontage: Subverted; the first scene at the beach ''seems'' like this, but Jordana will freely admit to not loving Oliver. Although the "Hiding Tonight" sequence shows some shades of this, as when Jordana gives Oliver a LongingLook when he's not looking.

* FireWaterJuxtaposition: A central motif. The pyromaniac Jordana is strongly associated with fire, while Oliver and his father are associated with water, symbolizing depression and emotional distance. Scene transitions where Oliver is close to Jordana are given a red filter, while ones where he's not have a blue filter. Jordana's fire livens up Oliver's life, but they're not very compatible, fitting with the symbolism. The film also has a lot of shots of flame next to the ocean.

* HeroicBSOD: Oliver [[spoiler:after breaking up with Jordana]]; he copes with the pain in ways including going to the beach alone and "[waiting] till the sky catches up with my mood" and submerging himself into several bodies of water in a full suit.

** Oliver wishes that life could be like American soap operas, because "whenever things got dramatic, you could just fade the picture down and pick things up again later." The film [[FadeOut fades out]] immediately afterwards.

* RedOniBlueOni: The capricious Jordana is a PyroManiac and dresses in red; introverted, thoughtful Oliver is surrounded by blue and images of water. This becomes important later in the film, where Oliver can tell that Jordana read his note because of her red markings.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Oliver muses during one scene that, in a film of his life, he'd want the camera following him as he walks away, but all he could afford would probably be a zoom-out. Cue a hilariously clunky zoom-out.

* PaintingTheMedium: Parts of Oliver's InnerMonologue show that he envisions his life as a movie, and at several points, cinematic techniques that he thinks his movie would use are then used by the actual film itself.
** Oliver wishes that life could be like American soap operas, because "whenever things got dramatic, you could just fade the picture down and pick things up again later." The film [[FadeOut fades out]] from the scene immediately afterwards.
** Later, after Oliver gives a pamphlet for Zoe to her friend Big Gene, he says, "I imagine the camera craning up as I walk away. But, unless things improve, the biopic of my life will only have the budget for a zoom out." The camera does indeed zoom out on him as he says this.

** In Oliver's disclaimer in the American release, he cites Creator/CatherineZetaJones and Music/TomJones as examples of famous Welsh people.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jordana HatesBeingTouched and shrugs off Oliver's attempts at putting his arm around her. After he meets her ill mother, however, she's seen hugging her upset father, and afterwards she shocks Oliver when she initiates a hug -- showing how much she needs him [[spoiler:and making it hurt all the worse when he breaks up with her for that exact reason.]]

* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The first half of the movie involves the development of Oliver's romance with Jordana. The second half involves him investigating his mother's infidelity, and the plots have little to do with each other.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Jordana is somewhat of a Manic Pixie Jerkass early in the movie to the introspective and inward Oliver; JerkAss in that her influence isn't necessarily positive, such as his joining in on [[ButtMonkey Zoe's]] bullying because it entertains Jordana. [[spoiler:Subverted in that most males want the [=MPDG=] to reciprocate their feelings; Oliver breaks up with Jordana when he's worried she'll get too "gooey." Oliver is interested in her as long as she's livening up his life, but once he sees some depth and realizes that she has feelings and a personality too, he loses interest, which could be something of a deconstruction of the trope.]]

* ShoutOut: Graham's persona is reminiscent of Creator/TomCruise's character from ''{{Film/Magnolia}}''.

** When he confronts Jordana after they've broken up, he says "This is the part where you leave him, and come with me," while she just stares at him.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SUBMARINE_QUAD_8282.jpg]]

''Submarine'' is a British dramedy released in 2010. It's the coming-of-age story of Oliver Tate, a teenage boy living in Swansea, Wales in the 1980s. He falls in love with Jordana, a fellow school student and committed mischief-maker, and at the same time starts to worry about his parents' health and marriage.

It's based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Joe Dunthorne, was the directorial debut of Creator/RichardAyoade, and featured an original soundtrack by [[Music/ArcticMonkeys Alex Turner]].

* TheCameo: Executive Producer Creator/BenStiller has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo.

* ComingOfAgeStory: Played with. The film has the typical arc of a coming of age story, with a teenage protagonist who gets his first girlfriend, and has some adventures, but he ends the movie with less self-assurance and sense of place in the world than he had the beginning. Oliver certainly seems to think he's the star of a coming of age story.

* GilliganCut: After Jordana kisses Oliver and tells him she plans on distributing the pictures over the school, she tells him "Now there's conclusive proof that you're maybe not gay." Cue immediate cut to a scene the next day with a crowd of people chanting "gaylord" in a circle around Oliver while Mark demands Oliver admit that he's gay.

* HeroicBSOD: Oliver, [[spoiler:after breaking up with Jordana.]]

** Oliver, already one from the start, [[spoiler:[[TookALevelInJerkass takes a level in Jerkass]] later on, when he's the one pushing Jordana away when she needs him.]]
** Chips is a much straighter example, a school bully with no redeeming features.

* ShoutOut: Graham's persona is reminiscent of Tom Cruise's from {{Film/Magnolia}}.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Set in TheEighties, made in the 2010's.

* PlayingGertrude: Sally Hawkins was only 34 when the film was made, a bit young to be the mother of a teenager, especially given the bourgeois setting.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Jordana Bevan, nicknamed by classmates as "Banana Heaven".

* BrainyBrunette: Oliver and Lloyd.

** Jordana becomes ''slightly'' more sympathetic to others[[spoiler: following her mother's tumour. This causes Oliver to distance himself from her]].

* CloudCuckooLander: Graham, a psychic who thinks he can see colors in everyone's personality.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Oliver.

* HeroicBSOD: Oliver, [[spoiler:after breaking up with Jordana]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Almost everyone in the movie, with the exceptions of Llyod and Zoe.
** Jordana, even after her CharacterDevelopment; Oliver states that she likes to bully "in moderation" despite not being popular herself. She's a lot less so in the novel. She may be considered a JerkWithAHeartOfGold... Well, not a golden heart, perhaps, but a softer side. The scene where Oliver has an "early Christmas" dinner with her family shows her tender side, first by hugging her upset father and later showing some emotion to Oliver, hugging him first. [[spoiler:When Oliver breaks up with her, it's also obvious how hurt she is by him]].

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Jordana is somewhat of a Manic Pixie Jerkass early in the movie to the introspective and inward Oliver; JerkAss in that her influence isn't necessarily positive, such as his joining in on [[ButtMonkey Zoe's]] bullying because it entertains Jordana. [[spoiler:Subverted in that most males want the [=MPDG=] to reciprocate their feelings; Oliver breaks up with Jordan when he's worried she'll get too "gooey." Oliver is interested in her as long as she's livening up his life, but once he sees some depth and realizes that she has feelings and a personality too, he loses interest, which could be something of a deconstruction of the trope.]]

* BlackComedy

* TheFilmOfTheBook

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Jill gives Graham a hand job in his van, though that was the end of it.]]