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Inspiration

We were tired of queerbait, tragic endings, and digging through Reddit to find WLW movies we could actually enjoy. We wanted a space where WLW stories are searchable by trope, tone, and truth — not hidden under vague “LGBTQ+” labels. So we built the platform we wished existed.

What it does

Trope to Truth is a WLW-first film discovery platform that lets users:

Search movies by name, trope, or emotional tone

See a full trope breakdown for each film (e.g., Slow Burn, Age Gap, Enemies to Lovers)

Filter by ending type (Happy, Tragic, Bittersweet)

Access trusted, crowd-sourced reviews with a credibility system

How we built it

We used:

React for the frontend

Node.js + Express for the backend

MongoDB for our initial film/trope database

TMDb API to pull basic movie data We also created our own dataset of WLW films tagged with tropes and emotional outcomes to power the search and filter logic.

Challenges we ran into

Tagging WLW films is messy — a lot of films have minimal queer rep or misleading tags

Building a consistent trope taxonomy that felt accurate but not overwhelming

Managing a large dataset without overwhelming the ML/NLP components

Designing emotional filters in a way that felt respectful and non-spoilery

✅ Accomplishments that we're proud of Built a working prototype with search by trope and tone

Created a scalable review credibility system

Developed a system to filter out emotionally unsafe content

Designed a product that feels both intentional and joyful for queer audiences

What we learned

Trope-based discovery is powerful AF when done with care

Users want more than “LGBTQ+” tags — they want emotional safety and transparency

Curating queer content takes nuance, and community input is crucial

A niche product like this solves a very real and under-addressed problem

What's next for Trope To Truth

Expand the WLW movie database and add more nuanced trope tags

Build out user profiles, gamified reviews, and personalized recommendations

Implement content warnings, streaming availability filters, and watchlists

Open up a community submission system for tagging, reviewing, and verifying films

Eventually: grow into a trusted queer media discovery hub — curated by queers, for queers.

Built With

• figma
• gemini
• nextjs
• tailwind
• typescript