Lingo Cards
Trope = Overused plot device
Quotes
A trope is a convention. It can be a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom… you know it when you see it. Tropes are not inherently disruptive to a story; however, when the trope itself becomes intrusive, distracting the viewer rather than serving as shorthand, it has become a cliché.
– tvtropes.org
Elsewhere on the Web
tvtropes.org – Lampshade hanging
urbandictionary.com
Headlines
Introducing a New Way to Think About Female Characters in TV and Film
Wanted: Clichés in Scripts
Recommended Listening
How racist tropes inform the present – From noble savage to helpless victims locked in unending tragedy, racist tropes from the colonial archive persist today and are invoked in contemporary politics.
Wikipedia
Trope (literature)
Examples
Planeta.com