Basic Trope: A dangerous shark shows up to menace the characters.
- Straight: While swimming in the ocean, Bob is suddenly attacked by a huge shark.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is attacked by a horde of sharks.
- Bob is attacked by a megalodon.
- Downplayed: Bob is attacked by a smaller shark.
- Justified:
- Bob is swimming in shark-infested waters; he's bound to see one.
- Bob is bleeding, and the shark is following the tail of blood.
- Inverted:
- Subverted:
- Bob sees a shark fin on the water surface ... But it turns out to be a dolphin.
- … it turns out to be a plastic effigy pulled along the surface by a submerged Charles.
- Bob sees a shark at the bottom of the sea, it turns out to be a Zebra Shark, which is an Extreme Doormat.
- A gigantic shark approaches Bob, but it turns out to be a Whale Shark.
- Double Subverted:
- After the dolphin appears, an actual shark shows up as well.
- Bob himself is a Great White Shark, and then he eats the dolphin.
- But then Bob grabs the shark's tail...
- But then a horde of Whitetip Shark appears from behind.
- Bob is a plankter...
- Parodied:
- A guy in a shark mask who bites people's butts for the purpose of humor.
- A shark approaches Bob who happens to be swimming in the water. Bob runs out, terrified, while the shark looks at the camera, confused and upset.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob is threatened by a large shark, but gets away from it only to find a dogfish, which he thinks is cute and harmless. Then it still attacks him.
- Averted: Even though the story takes place at sea, there are no dangerous sharks.
- Enforced: Sharks are a major fear of many people, so the writer includes them to scare the audience.
- Lampshaded: "Oh no, a shark! It's a shark!"
- Invoked: A Mad Scientist breeds sharks specifically for their aggression.
- Exploited: To get rid of Bob, the villain throws him overboard in shark-invested waters and throws a bucket of chum after him.
- Defied: A scientist develops sharks that would never attack people.
- Discussed:Bob: I'm going for a swim.Alice: Don't, there might be sharks lurking.
- Conversed: "This story takes place at sea, so a shark will probably show up at some point."
- Implied: Only the aftermath of the shark attack is shown.
- Deconstructed: The shark does initially attack Bob out of curiosity, but does not eat him because he's not its preferred prey.
- Reconstructed: This shark is hungry enough to eat Bob anyway.
- Played for Drama: Bob is alone, increasingly tired, cold, over ten miles from shore, and a shark has just spotted him.
Back to Threatening Shark
