The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.
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openGlass Breaking slowly before shattering dramatically Film
The thing I'm thinking of is like when the hero hits an attack and it's all quiet... then crack-crack-crack! The badguy's armor begins to break off because the attack landed true! They did it, they got the nat 20/critical hit.
openImpossible Photos Film
Not really limited to film but I have film examples. What's the trope where a medium (like the news for example) use an image of a character that like, it makes 0 sense for them to have access to or even exist in the first place. (probably because its like some stock image of the character in real life) An example is Scream (2022) in how the image that the television uses of Billy Loomis makes no sense for them to have as that photo never could've been or was taken.
openInches from the Villain Film
Trope exists in Inlorious Bastards where the protagonist is sitting at a table eating next to the villain that killed her whole family. This causes intense tention as the protagonist is afraid that the villain will figure out the protagonist true identity.
openFictional in Adaptation Film
Is there a trope for when an existing character in one story is made into a fictional character in an adaptation, like the Chao and Biolizard are in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) movie?
Edited by BigBadShadow25open"Senator Corruptington thanks you" Film
A crime drama. We see some henchmen doing something illegal, trafficking drugs, guns, laundering money. The criminal on the main bad guy's side says "Senator X thanks you" to the outsider criminal.
That, of course, is for the audience's benefit. Why would a criminal say his boss' name when the main reason the boss isn't there himself is so there's no evidence against him? The other guy might be a snitch, after all.
openShoulder checking Film
Usually film, could be TV.
I only found out today that there is a name for it. It’s called shoulder checking, and it works like this. Alice and Betty are in a confrontation. They might be members of rival gangs, or maybe they’re trying to out-bully each other for the title of Alpha Bitch, or maybe they just don’t like each other. They exchange their heated words and come to an uneasy resolution. Alice starts to walk away, but then in a final “screw you” act of disrespect, she bumps against Betty’s shoulder while passing by her. It’s just unsubtle enough to be obviously deliberate. You can see from Betty’s face that she is offended. Rightfully so, because she knows darn well, but can’t prove, Alice did it on purpose.
Shoulder checking is a dominance move meant to convey, “You’re so insignificant and so far beneath me, I’m not even going to bother acknowledging your personal space.”
It could just as easily be Andy and Bob, but not usually Alice and Bob.
So it’s a thing, and it’s got a name, but is it a trope?
Edited by UpFromAshesopenI Would As Soon Destroy a Stained Glass Window as an Artist Like Yourself Film
In "Film/The Princess Bride", after Westley beats Inigo in their duel, and Inigo expects to be killed, Westley instead knocks him unconscious, saying "I would as soon destroy a stained glass window as an artist like yourself. Please understand I hold you in the highest respect." Shortly after he knocks out the giant goon Fezzik and again, instead of killing him, tells him to "Dream of large women."
The trope of the pursuer (or victor) admiring the pursued is all through a lot of media — popular song ("Ringo"), other movies("Hopscotch" — the CIA Agent who has been pursuing Walter Matthau's character(Miles) throughout sees his plane blown apart on takeoff, and while the other agents take this as the moment of victory, shouting "the son of a bitch is dead", he walks quietly forward to where he has guessed Miles is hiding, and says in an ordinary tone, "The son of a bitch had better stay dead." Hannibal Lector lets Claire Starling live because "the world is more interesting with you in it" in "Silence of the Lambs". Subverted in "Breaker Morant" and Rohrsach's death in "The Watchmen" where the hero refuses the offer of being allowed to live.
There's also the handshake between Kimble and Gerard at the end of the TV series "The Fugitive", but that might not count because at that point Gerard knows Kimble has been innocent all along (or it might count because he has come to admire him). There's a whole chain of these at the end of Blade Runner, with everyone successively letting Decker go. There's the "Major Strasser has been shot, round up the usual suspects" moment in Casablanca.
And of course the archetype might be Javert in Les Miserables; he kills himself rather than arrest Jean Valjean, whom he recognizes as the better man.
This trope is very strongly there in John Davidson's poem "A Ballad of Hell", in which a woman has been tricked by her fiancee into killing herself, and so is sent to Hell, but refuses to accept it because of the sheer unfairness; defies the Devil and the gulf between Heaven and Hell, and makes it across to kneel at God's throne and demand justice. The Devil could stop her but he admires her too much to do that, and the damned all cheer her on.
"Seraphs and saints with one great voice Welcomed that soul that knew not fear. Amazed to find it could rejoice, Hell raised a hoarse, half-human cheer." (might be a good lead quote for this trope).
NOW: I can't believe I'm the first one to have noticed how many of these there are in how many different media. I've got to be missing something obvious. So does anyone know of a place where the trope already exists and has a name? As you can see, I'd like to add a bunch of examples! Or if nobody has really put a name on it, there's a ton of great quotes to title the new trope with, ne?
openNot quite a "literal metaphor" Film
I'm looking for a trope where someone legitimately uses a phrase metaphorically, but then the show or movie ends up using it literally.
The best examples I can think of are the Upside Down in "Stranger Things," which began as a cute metaphorical phrase to refer to the alternate world, but turned literal in season 4 when the characters had to climb through an opening into it; and how the metaphorical idea of Thanos snapping his fingers in the Avengers movies (i.e., 'it would be that easy for him to do it') became his *literally* snapping his fingers to make the infinity stones work.
Is there such a trope? "Literal Metaphor" isn't quite it, because I'm referring to a situation where the metaphor was (probably) not intended to be literal at the beginning, but then the showrunners or writers decided to make it so later.
openObviously fake winter Film
Is it a specific trope when a live-action movie or show takes place in the middle of winter (usually Christmas) but was clearly filmed in a warm climate and/or another time of year?
My wife and I just watched Christmas With the Kranks and it’s supposed to take place in Chicago, but was clearly filmed in Southern California and probably not in winter: the grass is still green (with just a bit of snow around the edges of the lawns), the shrubs are still leafy, and certain daytime scenes look far too sunny.
Another example is Jack Frost (the low-budget horror flick, not the Michael Keaton one): far too sunny and warm-looking.
Edited by BatteryPoweredAmpopenRed Hand on side of body facing away from character, but not a reveal Film
Which trope is this? Character A has a clearly visible red hand, bleeding zombie bite, or other foreboding feature on the side of his body opposite to the one which Character B is facing. Character A is not trying to hide this feature; it's just a convenient or contrived coincidence that Character B just so happens to have only seen his "normal" side thus far. In addition, in this particular instance, it is not a reveal, because the audience already knows about it; it's just the character(s) that are unaware.
It's possible that the trope in question is more or less restricted in definition (e.g. may apply to objects, or may be restricted to a danger/hazard on the side of Character A on the opposite side from the one facing Character B)
openA short time before disaster strikes Film
What's that trope called where there's some sort of catalyst that sets the plot off in an action or disaster movie, but the beginning of the movie is set shortly before the catalyst happens?
open“Someone should make a trope about this” Film
So there’s this trope I’ve seen a lot where at the end of the film one of the characters cheekily says “someone should make a movie about this” not knowing they are in a movie Pretty basic trope but I want to know if it has a name because I’m genuinely curious
openPanning near the end of a next shot before the character goes back to more or less the same spot Film
Something I've seen plenty of times in some films, indie animation and recently anime. Tried looking into Camera Tricks but didn't really get me anywhere.
openDifferent language dub changes an aspect that's changed back in the local release of that dub? Film
Title may be wordy but let me explain (I'm making this page in More Ani MY Films).
In Mechamato Movie, there's a scene where someone says "Bismillah" (In the name of Allah) before engaging in a fight. In the Japanese dub, this invocation was replaced with "Kakugo Shiro" which means "Prepare yourself".
Animonsta worked to revert that line, but it wouldn't be in time for said Japanese version's release in Malaysian cinemas on Jan 25th.
The social
media post
, translated:
We only just knew about this a few days before the premiere's release date. Nothing could be done because the recording process takes a long time to be arranged.
When asked why the line couldn't be kept intact, the Japanese dub team said it would be more appropriate to use "Kakugo Shiro" so that the audience in Japan would understand the context better.
I understand their decision but I also understand that this scene is a highlight in Mechamato Movie.
After being told about this matter, we contacted our recording studio and voice actor. Insya Allah (if God wills) it will be reverted to "Bismillah", but it won't be in time for the cinematic release this upcoming 25th January.
It will be restored to "Bismillah" in releases on other platforms.
openCharacter Needs To Get Cellphone, but his actor has one in his pocket Film
A subplot at a certain point in the film is that a character left his cellphone somewhere and needs to retrieve it. The problem? You can make out the outline of what is clearly a cellphone in the actor's front pants pocket throughout the entire scene.
openSneaky truck / car crash jumpscare Film
Hi, do we have a trope about that (arguably annoying) type of jumpscare where protagonists are in a car (usually in the middle of a heated argument), then a car or truck (but more often a truck, because its inherent larger size and mass makes it a better danger) comes out of nowhere as if it was 100% silent and invisible before that, and crashes loudly into the characters' vehicle?
I see it often in movies but I only got aware of it a couple of years ago and maybe I wondered if I could add it if we don't have it already?
Thanks!
openWhen the screenplay for a movie explains something the movie doesn't. Film
So there's a tiny inconsistency in a movie where an explanation of how a character knew something is left out. It turns out this is explained in the screenplay, but for some reason, it was left out of the movie proper. Does this count as Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole? I took that as referring to when a book or comic is turned into a movie, not simply the translation from a movie's screenplay to the movie itself. Does Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole still count, or is there a different trope for this?
openThrowing glass into fireplace Film
A character's talking near a fireplace, and drinking something - usually whisky, cause fireplaces are fancy. Something will cause him to, either in anger or excitement, throw the not-yet-empty glass into the fireplace, igniting a stronger fire for a brief moment.
It's usually a metaphor for something.

Is there a trope for when a character is so over-the-top upset, so mind-fried by what has happened, that when they go to cry, they can't seem to squeeze out tears. Instead, they release a long strand of drool, for a convincer.
I have seen this several times, in film and streaming media. (Most recently, Eggers Nosferatu).
Edited by Cscisme