Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / TitleDrop

Go To

1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1501458988016493900
2%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3%%
4[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TeamFortress2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teamfortresstitledrop.png]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:[[WebVideo/CinemaSins Roll credits! *ding*]]]]
6
7->'''Michael:''' Your average American male is stuck in a perpetual state of adolescence, you know, arrested development.\
8'''Narrator:''' Hey! That's the name of the show!
9-->-- ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''
10
11%% One quote on the main page, please. Additional quotes go to the quote tab.
12
13If a line of dialogue is the title of the episode, movie or book, it obviously must have some great significance. If it sounds completely random, that just means the true meaning of the title has yet to be revealed. So when a character is heard using the title in dialogue, the audience sits up and takes notice, because the scriptwriter has just planted a neon sign that flashes '''THIS CONVERSATION IS IMPORTANT.'''
14
15Note: If a series is named after a [[CharacterTitle central character]], [[ThePlace setting]], group, etc., it usually does not count as a Title Drop. The exceptions are when they are usually called by another name, or when the name is said in a different manner for dramatic effect, usually when introducing the namesake. Hence, ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', ''Series/TheWestWing'', ''Series/{{House}}'', and things like that don't qualify, and are better examples of the trope ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Often, the Title Drop will finally explain why the episode/book/etc is called that way to begin with. If this explanation comes by ''[[ShowDontTell showing instead of by telling]]'' (i.e. it is not actually spoken aloud by any of the characters), then it's TheNamesake.
16
17A second variety of Title Drop is the FinaleTitleDrop, occurs when the title of a work is used as the last line spoken or near its end. Here, it's not nearly as big and flashy and important as the first variety, but it still explains things to the audience a bit more. You can probably find these mainly in thriller works, where it makes you sit up and think (and adds a bit of drama to the ending). It's also common in plays that were written during the Victorian era. A third variety is TitleDropChapter, in which a chapter of a written work or an episode of a serial work has the same title as the whole work; this often is used for important developments. A fourth variety is the VisualTitleDrop in which the title may be represented visually, in a particular shot composition or by placing a particular object in the frame; this is most often used in the same way, to draw attention to something important or to emphasize a theme.
18
19Title Drops aren't always deliberate or premeditated (i.e. the writer takes the title and inserts it for effect). Sometimes the creative process runs the other way, and a phrase from the body of the work will be picked out and used as the title (sometimes [[WorkingTitle the title is the last thing to be nailed down]]). This often happens with a TitleDropAnthology, where the stories are often written months or years before they are collected in a single volume.
20
21Compare with JustifiedTitle, TitleThemeTune. See also ArcWords, AppropriatedAppellation, TitleScream, SingerNamedrop, and AlbumTitleDrop. Often combined with a LiteraryAllusionTitle. The opposite of this trope is NonAppearingTitle, but see also NonindicativeName and WordSaladTitle for titles that are very obscure, confusing, or abstract, with little obvious connection to the subject matter. When a title of a series was once accurate and descriptive, but has since become obscure or out-of-date, it has an ArtifactTitle.
22
23See a video collection of Title Drops [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V1sYNvKZt8 here]], and a channel dedicated to them [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmpYHgbyXwgBvVaAHHGo1bQ/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0 here]].
24----
25
26!!Example subpages:
27[[index]]
28* TitleDrop/AnimeAndManga
29* TitleDrop/ComicBooks
30* TitleDrop/ComicStrips
31* TitleDrop/FairyTales
32* TitleDrop/FanWorks
33* [[TitleDrop/AnimatedFilms Films — Animated]]
34* [[TitleDrop/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
35* TitleDrop/{{Literature}}
36* TitleDrop/LiveActionTV
37* TitleDrop/{{Music}}
38* TitleDrop/{{Pinball}}
39* TitleDrop/{{Radio}}
40* TitleDrop/{{Theatre}}
41* TitleDrop/VideoGames
42* TitleDrop/WebAnimation
43* TitleDrop/{{Webcomics}}
44* TitleDrop/WebOriginal
45* TitleDrop/WesternAnimation
46[[/index]]
47
48!!Other examples:
49
50[[AC:{{Advertising}}]]
51* "Advertising/VictoryByComputer": When all is said and done, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} states that "[Luthor]'d probably never believe his scheme was done in by a class of sixth graders... who gained a victory with the help of microcomputers!"
52
53[[AC:{{Manhua}}]]
54* ''Manhua/MyBelovedMother'' does this in the (chronologically) last page, when Sinbell places a carved stone plaque with the book's title on the foot of the statue he dedicates to his mother... after spending the past 17 years of his life disowning her.
55
56[[AC:{{Podcast}}s]]
57* Near the end of the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' game of ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable''. After Kimmi finds the stash of high-quality fuel rods, she declares that they've found "the Motherlode", which also happens to be the name of the pre-made story being played.
58* In the ''Podcast/EscapeFromVaultDisney'' episode discussing the film ''Film/TheGhostsOfBuxleyHall'', Tony makes fun of the one present that film, in which the title is dramatically exclaimed followed by another character they see as an Italian stereotype exclaiming "Mamma Mia!", immediately cutting to commercial break. Tony then says every title drop in film should be structured the same way, playing a clip where Doc Brown says the title of ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' followed up with another "Mamma Mia!".
59* Invoked in episode three of ''Podcast/MysteryShow'', which starts with Starlee and her client naming the episode:
60-->'''Carson:''' Okay, so, what two words do you know about my mystery?\
61'''Starlee:''' Belt Buckle.\
62'''Carson:''' That is a good title for it.
63* In episode 12 of ''Podcast/{{Sequinox}}'', Sid cites the title of that and the previous episode during her internal monologue.
64-->'''Sid (transatlantically):''' The trouble with dames is that dames is trouble.
65* Towards the end of the first episode of ''Podcast/SporadicPhantoms'', Robin calls their concerns about The Sharing "a sporadic phantom of a thought".
66
67[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]
68* Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard did this on every Wrestling/RingOfHonor show they did commentary on if it had a title that could be dropped.
69* A more literal case happened during the "8 Mile Street Fight" at the [[Wrestling/{{TNA}} 2006 "Bound For Glory"]] when Wrestling/ChristianCage hit Wrestling/{{Rh|yno}}ino with an 8 Mile street sign.
70
71[[AC:TabletopGames]]
72* ''TabletopGame/AllFleshMustBeEaten'' is both the title of the game and the default feeding option in zombie creation.
73* In the dice/word game ''Crashword'', spelling the word "Crashword" on your turn is an InstantWinCondition.
74
75[[AC:VisualNovels]]
76* ''VisualNovel/NoCaseShouldRemainUnsolved'': One of the reasons the Adjudicator is pushing the protagonist to revisit ThatOneCase and finally solve it is because she believes that no case should remain unsolved.
77----
78-> [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Welcome to... TITLE DROP!!!]][[note]][[RunningGag Roll]][[WebVideo/CinemaSins Credits!]]*Ding*[[/note]]

Top