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Questions tagged [trope]

Something recurring across a genre or type of literature, such as the ‘mad scientist’ of horror movies or ‘once upon a time’ as an introduction to fairy tales. Similar to archetype and cliché but not necessarily pejorative.

Something recurring across a genre or type of literature, such as the ‘mad scientist’ of horror movies or ‘once upon a time’ as an introduction to fairy tales. Similar to archetype and cliché but not necessarily pejorative.

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Origin of movie trope where impaled character pulls/pushes blade/spear further into body?

Over the years there have been a number of films where the villain (e.g., Artemisia in 300: Rise of an Empire) or the hero (e.g., Arthur in Excalibur) have been impaled with a spear, blade, etc. following combat, then deliberately force/pull the…
RobertF
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Who was the oldest actor to play a teenager?

There's a common trope in Hollywood where teenagers are played by adult actors. But which TV show or movie set the absolute record in terms of the age difference between the role and the actor? To clarify: The character played must be a teenager,…
JonathanReez
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Has there been a movie or a TV show where an abortion was portrayed without negative connotations?

There is a common trope about abortion in movies, where the main characters either completely disregard abortion as a possibility, mention it and never go through with it (e.g. Juno) or do it and then regret it. But has this trope ever been…
JonathanReez
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What is the point of the Red Thread/Tape around evidence or newspaper clippings?

I have seen in a lot-lot of movies that the person who searches for a crime or another person creates a web of red tape or wire around the newspapers and evidence he acquires. I never guessed its usefulness and am therefore asking why do they do…
Aditya ultra
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What exactly is an Anti-Hero?

In the trailer of "The Foreigner", is Jackie Chan considered to be an anti-hero? My friend said that an anti-hero does not care about anything and would kill innocent people. Anti-heroes are only in as comic book heroes. However, in "Law Abiding…
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A "groundhog day" world of animated series. Does this trope have a name?

There are quite a lot of series (usually animations, because doing it for something live-action would be rather hard, I presume) with one common trope: the timeline never progresses forward. "The Simpsons" has aired for 28 seasons (almost 30…
Mr Scapegrace
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Is there a specific "convenient parking" trope?

Is there a name for the trope where the characters in a car always just so happen to get a spot exactly in front of whatever location they're driving to? It's certainly the norm in movies, and I'm just wondering if a name has ever been given to it.
Johnny Bones
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Is there a name for this illogical sequence of events that often shows up in movies?

Here's something that I see over and over again in movies. It seems very illogical and forced to me, and I am wondering if it is a known cliche with a name? Basically, it's where two people have leverage against each other. However, the one who…
ewfoeo
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What is the name of this "backup plan of last resort" trope?

You know the old trope of how the person has a "backup plan of last resort" where in case of the person going missing or turning up dead, they have info that will be released. How many scenes have we saw where the person says "If I do not call in…
saunderl
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Name of trope where the character briefly defies laws of nature/physics?

Is there a trope for when a character defies the laws of physics/nature, but doesn't realize it for a moment, and so, because of this, the laws of nature don't take effect immediately, but only until after the character becomes aware of their…
Charles
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TV Trope where the first words spoken of a scene are the exact same as the last words of the previous scene

Is there a TV Trope that describes where the beginning dialogue of a scene is the exact same as the last words spoken in the most previous scene? Often, the beginning dialogue of the second scene occurs almost immediately after the shot begins, to…
Charles
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Is there a name for the “last henchman that runs away” trope?

There’s a somewhat common trope, largely in movies, where the hero fights a horde of henchmen and defeats them all. All but a single weak one that is left shivering and eventually runs away (the hero allows). Typically done for comedy, though its…
user137369
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What is the first instance of the "Saving humans from themselves" trope

After watching Age of Ultron (in which, ridiculously reduced, Ultron, tasked with saving humanity, decides that to save it, he must destroy it, because it is its own worst threat) I thought of I, Robot (the movie) in which the robot master decided…
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What is the name of this "character suddenly has expert knowledge" trope?

What is this called? The trope where, in some episode, a character suddenly has advanced, expert knowledge in a field that they have never mentioned, especially something almost out of character for them, and especially it is never mentioned again…
chiliNUT
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Is there a trope for a pile-on fight?

Is there a trope about one person being tackled and piled on and the hero uses tremendous strength to get up and the multiple opponents go flying? Here is what I am talking about from The Matrix Reloaded: I want to see if rare human beings actually…
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