Drama Tropes

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Tropes that are primarily found in dramas, are not restricted to another category, and are not universal to all media.

Tropes:

• Abuse Escalation: Abuse that gets worse over time.
• Abusive Offspring: Children who bully and mistreat their own parents.
• Abusive Parents: Fathers and mothers who bully and mistreat their own children.
• Achey Scars: The scarring of a character hurts physically or emotionally.
• Achilles' Heel: The weakness of a character is exposed.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: A quiet scene in an action-genre work that gives it substance.
• Actor/Role Confusion: An actor gets mistaken for the fictional character they portray.
• Adaptational Achilles' Heel: When a character receives a new weakness or drawback in an adaptation.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: A benevolent character (especially a hero) begs for mercy.
• All Up to You: A character shows his full potential only when a loved one is in trouble.
• Always Murder: An episode of a series ends with a murder.
• Always Save the Girl
• Ambiguous Situation
• Anorgasmia
• Anti-Interference Lock Up
• Arc Number
• Arc Symbol
• Arc Words
• Armed Altruism: A character giving their sole weapon to someone they want safe in immediate combat.
• As Long as There Is One Man
• Attempted Rape: A would-be rapist tries to attack someone but ultimately fails.
• Backstory Horror
• Batman Grabs a Gun: A hero resorts to breaking their own rules.
• Beggar with a Signboard
• Berserker Tears
• Best for Last
• Big "NO!": Someone screams "NO" in response to seeing a misfortune they really didn't want to happen.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Yelling at a person to shut up.
• Big "WHY?!": Someone shouts "WHY" in response to a tragic event.
• Big Word Shout: Someone shouts a word for dramatic effect.
• Big "YES!": Someone shouts "YES" in response of an event they wanted to happen.
• Billy Needs an Organ
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Today being the person's birthday does not exempt them from peril.
• Black Vikings
• Blunt "Yes"
• Blaxploitation
• Boarding School of Horrors
• Body Bridge
• Bond Breaker: Someone manages to make close friends distrust each other and drift apart.
• Braving the Blizzard
• Breaking Out the Boss: A gang of criminals orchestrate a plan to free their imprisoned leader.
• Break the Badass
• Break the Comedian
• Break the Cutie: A positive character or Cheerful Child experiences an emotional breakdown.
• Break the Haughty
• Broken Pedestal: Someone becomes disillusioned toward their favorite hero after learning that their idol isn't exactly as good and noble as they thought they were.
• Calm Before the Storm: A brief peaceful moment before the action starts.
• Caper Rationalization
• Captive Date
• Caregiver Angst
• Casualty in the Ring
• Cerebus Call-Back: It was light-hearted or funny before, but in this situation, it's serious.
• Cerebus Retcon: An earlier light-hearted or inconsequential event is revisited, but now interpreted in a darker and more serious context.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: A story that keeps shifting from dramatic periods and light-hearted periods.
• Cerebus Syndrome: When the story's tone shifts from being mostly comedic to more dramatic.
• The Chain of Harm (usually as a subset of revenge, but it can also be used to show a down-on-their luck family being at the end of this chain)
• Chain of People
• Chains of Love: A romantic/love bond is symbolized by chains around the characters.
• Child of Forbidden Love
• The Chosen One
• Chaos While They're Not Looking
• Climactic Elevator Ride
• Comedic Work, Serious Scene: A dramatic, possibly emotional moment in an otherwise comedic work that gives it depth.
• Coming of Age Story
• Cope by Pretending
• CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable
• Clingy Jealous Girl
• Crazy Jealous Guy
• Creepy Physical
• Crowd Chant
• Crying After Sex
• Curiosity Killed the Cast
• Cut Himself Shaving
• Cycle of Revenge
• Dangerous Terrain
• Dark and Troubled Past: A character experienced great misery or traumatic events when they were younger.
• Darker and Edgier: A work that started out light and humorous is retooled to be more "adult".
• A Deadly Affair: An extramarital affair that ends in murder.
• Deadly Prank: A prank that results in someone getting killed.
• Death Is Dramatic
• Destination Defenestration: Crashing through a window.
• Destroy the Abusive Home
• Destroy the Evidence
• Destructive Romance
• Disturbed by Not Being Disturbed
• Domestic Abuse: Abusing your spouse, parent, etc.
• Don't Look Back
• Downer Beginning: The story begins on a tragic note.
• Downer Ending: The story ends on a tragic note.
• Down to the Last Play
• Drama Bomb
• Drama Bomb Finale: The finale of a story is much darker than the parts preceding it.
• Drama Panes: Someone walks over to a window at the height of drama.
• Drama Queen: A person who whines about and exaggerates every inconvenience that bothers them.
• Dramatically Missing the Point
• Dramatic Ammo Depletion
• Dramatic Choir Number
• Dramatic Downstage Turn
• Dramatic Drop: Someone drops something they were holding in shock.
• Dramatic Incontinence
• Dramatic Necklace Removal
• Dramatic Shattering
• Dramatic Sit-Down
• Dream Reality Check
• Dustbin School
• Emergency Cargo Dump
• Emotional Hospital Visit
• Estranged Soap Family
• Everybody Lives: The story ends with no one dying.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The events of the entire story occur in a rather short amount of time.
• Face Death with Despair: A character death often played for drama.
• False Friend
• Family Disunion
• Feuding Families
• Finger-Twitching Revival
• First Day from Hell
• Forced from Their Home
• Force Feeding: Forcing people to eat something they don't want to.
• Freudian Excuse: A dysfunctional character's current behavior is the result of bad things that happened to them in their past.
• Friendship Favoritism
• Friends Turned Romantic Rivals: Friends start fighting over a shared love interest.
• Funeral Banishment
• Gaining the Will to Kill
• Gaslighting: Emotional manipulation taken to the extreme.
• Gasp!
• Generational Trauma: Conflict arises due to unresolved baggage passed down from generation to generation.
• Give Him a Normal Life
• A Glass in the Hand
• Glory Days
• Good Doc, Bad Doc
• G-Rated Drug: An ordinary substance is treated as if it were a drug.
• Grave-Marking Scene
• Grew a Spine: An Extreme Doormat learns to stand up for themselves and make their own decisions.
• Gut Punch
• Hanging by the Fingers
• Hard Truth Aesop: An aesop that is good but not one that a character would like to accept.
• Hates Their Parent
• Healthcare Motivation
• Heel Realization: A character realizes they have become the bad guy.
• Held Back from the Carnage: Someone tries to approach a dangerous situation, but is held back from others.
• He's Back!: A character who's been in a fit of depression snaps out of their funk and gets back in the game.
• Heroic BSoD
• Hey, Let's Put on a Show
• Hollywood Heart Attack
• Hope Spot
• Hope Springs Eternal
• I Can Change My Beloved
• I Just Want to Be Normal: A hero or an extraordinary person wishes that they could have a normal life.
• Ignorance Is Bliss
• Ignored Epiphany: The villain considers redeeming themselves, but decides not to and continues being bad.
• I Will Wait for You
• Impromptu Fortress
• Improvised Imprisonment
• Informed Self-Diagnosis
• Initiation Ceremony
• The Inspector Is Coming
• Instant Drama, Just Add Tracheotomy
• Instant Sedation
• Intentionally Self-Inflicted Disability
• Inverse Dialogue/Death Rule: A dying, important character gets several lines of dialogue before kicking it.
• Ironic Birthday
• It All Ends in Tears: The story ends with someone or more crying.
• It Gets Easier
• It Never Gets Any Easier
• Justified Criminal
• Kill the Cutie
• Kirk Summation
• Knight of Cerebus: An antagonist whose introduction or rise in prominence heralds the story becoming darker in tone.
• Last-Second Chance
• "Leave Your Quest" Test
• "Lesson of the Day" Speech
• Libation for the Dead: Pouring a drink onto the ground to honor the deceased.
• Life Will Kill You
• Limited Advancement Opportunities
• Linked List Clue Methodology
• Literal Cliffhanger: Someone is left dangling off a cliff or ledge over a very high descent where the fall could result in death.
• Little "No"
• Lonely Piano Piece
• Loved I Not Honor More
• Loving Parent, Cruel Parent: One parent is loving, the other is abusive or violent.
• MacGyvering
• Magical Defibrillator
• Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal
• Masquerade Ball
• Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: When a mother dies giving birth, the resulting child is blamed for causing their mother's death.
• Meaningful Background Event
• Meaningful Funeral
• Melodrama: Dramatic situations depicted through unsubtly exaggerated emotions.
• Metaphorical Suicide: A despondent character willingly resigns themself to a fate similar to death without actually dying.
• Milking the Giant Cow
• Moral Dilemma
• Mob War
• Montage Out
• Must Let Them Get Away
• Mysterious Parent
• Narm: When a dramatic moment intended to be serious turns into accidental comedy instead, due to poor writing and/or acting.
• Near-Rape Experience: Someone has to deal with the aftermath of almost getting raped.
• Notable Non Sequitur
• Not in My Backyard!
• Off the Table
• Offering a Hand: Someone reaches their hand out to a villain or anti-hero, convincing them to change their ways.
• Only the Leads Get a Downer Ending: The main characters get a bad ending while the rest of the cast are let off the hook.
• Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: The main characters get a happy ending, but the rest of the characters are screwed.
• Operation Game of Doom
• Orphanage of Fear: An orphanage where the orphans are abused and tormented by the people running the place.
• Ostentatious Secret
• Parental Favoritism: The parent has one child they favor over the rest.
• Penultimate Outburst: After several disturbances, the judge threatens to kick the offender out of the courtroom.
• Phony Newscast
• Pick on Someone Your Own Size
• Player Death Is Dramatic
• Please, I Will Do Anything!
• Plethora of Mistakes
• Police Brutality
• Police Brutality Gambit
• Politically Correct History: A work taking place in the past ignores or whitewashes aspects of the past that might offend modern audiences.
• Post-Support Regret: A character has always vouched for their Jerkass friend against haters, only for them to regret they did when they realize the jerk is just as bad as everyone says they are.
• Power at a Price
• Proxy Breakup: Alice wants to break-up with Bob, so she has Cindy do it for her.
• Pull-the-Trigger Provocation: A character is wavering over doing something irrevocable when they are suddenly goaded into committing.
• Present Day Present Time
• Promotion to Parent: When the parents for some reason can't take care of their children, the responsibility falls on a relative or legal guardian.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone
• Punch a Wall
• Pushover Parents: Parents who are easily manipulated into letting their children have their way.
• The Queen Will Be Watching
• Rape as Backstory: A person's past involves being sexually abused or assaulted.
• Rape as Drama: Someone suffers sexual violence, and it is portrayed completely seriously.
• Real Time
• "The Reason I Suck" Speech: Someone confesses their own flaws.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Someone goes on a rant where they list another person's flaws.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Someone gets upset upon learning that their idol isn't the flawless hero they assumed them to be but likes them again after their idol redeems themselves or proves that their imperfection does not make them any less noble as their fan assumed them to be.
• Red Spider Lilies of Mourning: A flower used to portray a tragic death or loss.
• Remembered Too Late
• Reunion Vow
• Revenge Is Not Justice
• Reverse Cerebus Syndrome: A story goes from being really dark to really lighthearted.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat
• Roadside Surgery
• Rooftop Confrontation
• Runaway Train
• Sadistic Choice
• Sarcastic Clapping
• Self-Harm
• Self-Harm–Induced Superpower: Causing self-damage activates this type of power.
• Serious Work, Comedic Scene: A comedic moment in an otherwise dramatic work that gives it some levity.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: The Plucky Comic Relief is absent from the story just before the serious or emotional parts begin.
• Shot to the Heart
• Shower of Angst: Taking a shower when in a bad mood.
• Slow "NO!"
• Small Town, Big Hell
• Smoking Gun Control: Easy methods of solving a crime aren't available because of the Rule of Drama.
• Soap Opera Disease
• Soaperizing
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: A character becomes older between appearances with no explanation.
• Sorrowful Stutter
• Stern Parent, Doting Parent: One parent is strict and the other parent is doting to their child.
• The Stool Pigeon
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: The hero finally returns home, but the place has changed so much that it's no longer the place it was before the hero left.
• Strike Me Down
• Sudden Downer Ending: A dark, depressing ending to an otherwise upbeat work.
• Sugary Malice
• Suspicious Missed Messages: If a person hasn't replied to phone calls, emails or letters in a while, it's a sure sign that something is off.
• Take Back Your Gift
• Take My Hand!
• Talking the Monster to Death
• Tarnishing Their Own Beauty
• Tears of Fear
• Teen Drama
• Teens Are Monsters
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Teammates who openly dislike each other.
• Televisually Transmitted Disease: In fiction, medical diagnoses tend to be of rare conditions.
• These Hands Have Killed: A person gets upset at the realization that they just killed someone.
• Things Get Real
• Third-Act Misunderstanding
• This Is My Side
• Timmy in a Well
• Toilet Seat Divorce: A couple divorce over something trivial.
• Too Desperate to Be Picky
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth
• Too Upset to Create
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: When an unfortunate outcome befalls a character because they acted on their emotions without considering the ramifications of their actions.
• The Tragic Rose
• Trauma Swing
• Troubled Fetal Position: Someone curls up with their hands wrapped around their legs when upset or in fear.
• Twisted Christmas
• Unable to Cry
• Unconfessed Unemployment
• Underestimating Badassery
• Unexpectedly Dark Episode: An unusually dark episode of a light-hearted series.
• Very Special Episode: An unusual episode in a light-entertainment series that suddenly tackles a serious issue, such as drugs, alcohol or gangs.
• Vigilante Injustice: Vigilantes are problematic because they interfere with investigations and can kill innocent people.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: Someone regains conscience in a place somewhere other than the place they got knocked out.
• War Is Hell: Warfare and violence are inherently emotionally-distressful experiences for most people.
• Warts and All
• We Can Rule Together: The villain tries to make the offer that the hero can join them in their conquest.
• We Do Not Know Each Other
• We Used to Be Friends
• Where Did We Go Wrong?
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?
• With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
• Witness Protection
• The Woobie
• Worst Wedding Ever
• Wound That Will Not Heal
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Manipulating people by tricking them into thinking the other guy hurt you.
• Wounded Gazelle Warcry
• You Didn't Ask
• "You!" Exclamation
• You Should Have Died Instead: Someone wishes a person they hate had died instead of a lost loved one.