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.
Find a Trope:
resolved Grabbing the sheets Film
A sort of discretion shot to imply sexual activity.
A character's hand, and maybe their bare forearm but no more, is shown on top of a sheet on the bed the character is lying on. The hand is palm down with the fingers spread and the character is implied to be lying supine.
As we watch, the hand grabs the sheet in its fingers and squeezes it tight. Then cut away to another scene entirely.
This doesn't seem to be listed at Hand Tropes.
Edited by marnanelresolved So short, the camera misses him (SOLVED) Film
Is there a trope for when a character is depicted as comically short, so the camera pans to him, he's nowhere to be found, then the camera pans down? Can be inverted, where the camera pans up to see his face.
A variation is when all characters are standing side by side, but we can only see the short character's hat.
Edited by Mac_Rresolved '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.
resolved Blueprints-dropping future villain Film
Is there a trope for a geeky character who's carrying around a bunch of papers (of their own inventions and/or research), who drops them awkwardly, being humiliated by the boss? I noticed it happening with Cheetah in the new Wonder Woman movie, and the same thing happened with Electron in Amazing Spider Man 2, and Catwoman...
resolved Dreary real world, colorful otherworld? Film
For works where the real world setting is portrayed as lifeless through a washed or monochromatic color palette; the otherworld is contrasted with bright and vivid colors to make it more appealing and inviting in comparison. (e.g. Coraline, The Wizard of Oz)
resolved Takes Place In Present Day, But Lots of Anachronisms For Flavor Film
What trope is this?
SUMMARY: A horror film clearly takes place in present day, but it is peppered with anachronisms (vintage cars, paper maps) only going as far back as 1968, plays 80's-style (esp. The Thing-style) background music, and only uses practical effects (no CGI or green rooms) This is done purely for the sake of aesthetics/feel and as a form of shout-outs to other horror movies that heavily inspired it. It doesn't take place in an alternate timeline or universe, either.
LONG EXPLANATION: The setting clearly takes place in the present, because everyone has a cellphone, but there are many anachronisms, such as vintage cars (though most are modern ones), faux-vintage attire (one character has yellow-tinted aviator sunglasses, sideburns, and a fedora, but thankfully it's not a 70's-style fedora, and he doesn't wear 70's era jeans) Everyone uses the radio for news (this example is a shoutout), and several characters use paper maps or 1980's and/or 90's AM/FM radios. One character drives across a wooden covered bridge. Also uses lots of "The Thing"-like drones of dread and exclusively uses practical effects (animatronic models and makeup, no CGI or green rooms) It's a horror movie and this is clearly done intentionally for aesthetic appeal and shout-outs. The Anachronisms doesn't go back further than 1968, with the possible exception of a silent movie playing on a flatscreen TV in the background (the TV has no audio or is on mute)
I assumed it was Anachronism Stew, but that trope is about historical inaccuracy or time crash. Ambiguous Time Period doesn't work, because it's clearly the present day. I looked at Purely Aesthetic Era, but this doesn't seem to work, either, because from the sound of it, this can't take place in the present day unless it's schizo tech.
resolved Resurrection undoes Character Developemnt Film
I'm looking for a trope where a character dying and resurrecting undoes any Character Development and essentially resets their personality.
It shows up in the Wreck-it Ralph fanfic Filling in the Empty Spots
where Vanellope is killed in a racing accident. Despite saying outside her game she does regenerate, but the but the process essentially performed a personality factory reset on her that erased her memories of the other characters and her Character Development from her rejection at the others' hands.
resolved Everything Was Old in the Past Film
A Period Piece will feature props and sets appropriate to the time period, except the props already look old - the prop designer forgot that something that looks old now was once brand new.
Usually that means movies taking place in Ancient Greece assuming those temples were already ruins back in III B.C., broken statues, unpainted columns and walls, dirt everywhere, not a pillow or sheet in sight. More recent fare will feature newly-released silent movies looking damaged, phonograph cylinders sounding scratched, and newly-developed pictures looking yellowed and brittle.
resolved big dumb object Film
"big dumb object" - there's probably already a trope for this. Described in scientific and science fiction circles, objects such as Dyson Spheres, the Monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey", the "whale caller" in Star Trek IV, etc. There is an article on Wikipedia covering this topic.
Edited by mentummikeresolved fourth act Film
Many films follow a Three-Act Structure. But sometimes, after what seems to be a resolution, it looks like the protagonists are safe and can go home, and the film should be almost over.
But something new happens: a threat comes up or the protagonists remember they still have an important thing to do, causing new action scenes to follow.
resolved Older Woman Finds Herself Film
Is there a trope for the type of plot in movies like Shirley Valentine or How Stella Got Her Groove Back where an older woman who’s overlooked her own needs ahead of others makes some sort of life change where she starts putting her own needs first?
resolved On The Search For A Certain Chistmas Movie That's Bugging Me Because I Googled Everywhere Film
Looking for the name of a specific Christmas movie with a little girl who is named Alexandra who I think is from the orphanage and making short bread cookies with her mom or the one she was living with was speaking Spanish and Alexandra the little girl was singing along with the song "Mamacita Dónde Esta Santa Claus" and then she went to her room to get a Christmas gift for her Mom or the one she was living with and the police show up with a warrant for her arrest and gets arrested and the little girl who is named Alexandra ends up on Main St. with a dog named Chico and looks through the dumpster and finds a blanket and sleeps by the dumpster for the night and then a woman named Chloe after ordering a Latte at a coffee shop stumbles upon the little girl and the woman calls her friend that works at Child and Family Services and gets Alexandra registered into the system and then as the movie goes on Chloe decides to take Alexandra in to be part of her family along with her new boy friend. If anyone out there could please tell me the Title name of the movie it would be sincerely greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
resolved Trope name for when a work is required to watch for the rest of the sequel to make sense? (Not Cont) Film
I remember that the page quote is from someone who claimed that Ant Man fans were vindicated since it turns out Ant Man 2 is required to understand Endgame.
It isn't continuity lockout, as it doesn't have the quote that I mentioned above.
Edited by FullmetalRenkinjutsushiresolved Ending dissonance Film
Story ends on a clearly and obviously bad note: Bob the main character, after navigating through all kinds of trouble, is found dead by a pair of gabage men. We don't even know which of his countless enemies got him. Chet, Bob's protege, becomes a full-blown The Gambling Addict, who just lost everything in a high-stake game. On top of that, Alice, Chet's wife, is to return from a trip any minute now, only to find out Chet is missing (he's on the other side of the country) and their flat sold out to the local mogul. The last scene of the film is Chet buying a pack of cards for the literal pocket change he is left with in his life, walking away into uncertain fate.
Despite of that, the ending tries to sell itself as "Ray of Hope" Ending, with music swelling in its "happy times" riff, while both director and script-writer insisting this is actually optimistic.
Is this just Allegedly Optimistic Ending (except nothing about it is optimistic nor even implies to be optimistic), or do we have some specific ending trope where audience and creators interpret the conclusion of the story differently.
Edited by Tropiarzresolved Dub that is exclusively in the language the characters actually speak Film
Hello, Is there a trope for when a work offers, or exclusively features, a dub where every character speaks their canonical language? An example would be the war movie Joyeux Noël, where there is a dub where the German characters speak German, the French characters speak French and the Scottish characters speak English. Another example is Video Game/Tchia, whose only voice option is in Drehu and French. This differs from just selecting the original language as the characters really speak the languages they're supposed to speak. If you, say, watched a Mexican movie in Spanish and there was a scene taking place in the US, and its dialog between Americans was still in Spanish because it's the language of the movie, it would not be this trope. Thank you in advance!
Edited by Iyionakuresolved It can't be that easy! Film
Does this trope have a page yet? I've tried a few searches and can't find it.
Alice and Bob need to accomplish something very important but seemingly very difficult. While scouting the situation, they notice what appears to be a very easy way to achieve their goal. One or both of them say, "It can't be that easy!" Then they try that method and learn that, yes, it really is that easy.
Examples:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: When trying to sneak into the Kingpin's headquarters during a black tie dinner event, the spider-crew notice the waiters are all wearing SpiderMan costumes. SpiderMan-Noir says, "It can't be that easy!" Smash cut to a few minutes later as they're all just walking right in and blending in perfectly.
WarGames: Main character David is trying to log into the WOPR computer system to undo the damage he's done, using Dr. Falken's backdoor access, but he doesn't know the password. He learns that Dr. Falken lost his son, Joshua, years ago, and says, "It can't be that easy." He still tries typing Joshua as the password, and it works.
Possibly a sub-trope of "Eureka!" Moment? But even if it is, I still can't find it.
Edited by Mr_Mathresolved Pacifist Objector gets killed Film
A minor character in edgier stories, usually ones where "good" people are forced to do something immoral.
Although not the hero, there's this one character who refuses to compromise his morals, and ends up facing death bravely. He's there to show that, despite how bad things are, there are still people who refuse to sell their souls to a violent system.
And, of course, the hero will eventually avenge him.
resolved Acting out the plan Film
A scene best seen in the Mission: Impossible Film Series (the one I remember being in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and other films depicting The Caper or some other operation, where a character is walking their team through the plan, usually with the characters performing their parts in the target location. It is usually a best-case scenario used as a Bait-and-Switch, often cutting back to other characters interrupting with a Didn't Think This Through and the planner then incorporating those changes in an alternative version of the scene.
Filled with Unspoken Plan Guarantee.
resolved Enemies Playing Lovers Film
Alice and Bob are actors playing a romantic pair. But, once the director yells cut, they hate each other - either because they're Horrible Hollywood backstabbers, or, in a romantic comedy, because of all the Unresolved Sexual Tension.
Since that's a ROCEJ-heavy trope, I'm looking for in-universe examples.

Hey everyone, out of curiosity, what's the name of the effect when there is a strip of light over a character's eyes? For example, in the 1991 Addams's Family film and its sequel 'Values', there are many scenes where Morticia Addams eyes are accentuated (to mimic old vampire movies where this technique was used.
It was also used in the Harry Potter movie on Lucius's Malfoy, 007 with Daniel Craig and so on.