"Gift of the Magi" Plot: Difference between revisions

This is a [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Whole-Plot Reference]] and a multiple person subtrope of [[Two Rights Make a Wrong]].

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* [[Ditzy Genius|Miyako]] of ''[[Hidamari Sketch]]'' invoked this as [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|Hiro and Sae]] exchanged gifts... [[Cultural Cross-Reference|Of course nobody understood what she said.]]

* In chapter 4 of ''[[Franken Fran]]'', a high school couple unknowingly swap genitals. The girl [[Rape as Backstory|was raped as a child]] and has an irrational reaction to being touched by a man, and the boy swaps genders for her sake. So does she, and [[Black Comedy|it's all treated as a joke at the end.]] {{spoiler|Namely, the girl catches on that intention, and so Fran gives them each other's organs.}}

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', this is part of Hiei's backstory. One of the conditions the demon surgeon made Hiei agree to before implanting Hiei's [[Evil Eye]] was that Hiei could never reveal his true identity to his [[Separated at Birth]] sister. The same sister that Hiei wanted to find using the [[Evil Eye]]. When Hiei meets the surgeon again and has to duel him, the surgeon agrees to rescind the condition if Hiei wins. While Hiei claims that he had no intention of ever revealing himself to his sister, the surgeon believes that actually meeting her might have changed Hiei's mind.

* In an [[Archie]] story, Betty gives up the money she's saved all year for a new dress to buy Archie snow tires for his car. Archie decides to buy Betty an expensive diamond pin to go with her new dress, but ends up forced to sell his car to afford it. Fortunately, Veronica realizes what is going on, and when Christmas comes presents Betty with the dress and Archie with his car. Moral of this story: have a millionaire friend.

** Another story starring Cheryl Blossom's family, Cheryl's dad, fed up with the 'who-can-buy-the-most-expensive-gift' contest Cheryl and Jason have going on between each other, refuses to fund their Christmas shopping, telling them to sacrifice something for the holiday. After some initial confusion on the definition of sacrifice, the Blossom siblings get to it. Since Cheryl loves bossing people around so much, Jason gets her a staff for a beach home she owns, selling his new car to pay them. cheryl, meanwhile, sells that very home to buy a tricked-out garage for Jason's new car. In the end, the kids simply ask their father for new things to replace the stuff that was sold.

 

 

* In the Steve Martin short-short story ''Gift of the Magi Indian Giver'', Carolyn sells her cuticles to buy Roger shinbone polish, while Roger of course sells his shinbones to buy Carolyn cuticle frames.

* In ''[[The Princess Diaries]]'', Mia sells one of her Buffy figurines to get her boyfriend something. Her boyfriend sold the thing that her present to him was supposed to compliment to get her the last figurine in her collection. Whoops.

* An odd variation in [[Christopher Moore]]'s ''[[The Stupidest Angel]]''. At the start of their relationship, Molly finally agreed to stay on her antipsychotic medication, which among other things prevents delusions of being an [[After the End]] [[Hot Amazon]] ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]), and in return Theo finally gave up his pot habit. But when Christmas comes Theo wants to get her a priceless antique sword that would be absolutely perfect for her [[Hot Amazon]] persona. To afford it, he starts growing pot again to sell it, and falls off the wagon. Meanwhile, she's getting him a massive, elaborate bong. To afford that, she stops taking her meds.

* Subverted in ''[[Discworld|Hogfather]]'', when the Dean gives the Bursar a box to keep his dried frog pills in. The Bursar, naturally, doesn't have any pills to put in it ... because the Dean already swiped them from the Bursar's room, so he wouldn't have to shell out any more money to give him a ''full'' pillbox.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* An episode of ''[[The Single Guy]]'' has the single guy and one of the female characters encountering this situation, the exact gifts being a Russian Doll and a comic book. At the end, the single guy makes a quip that [[I Should Write a Book About This|someone should write a book about this]]. [[Lampshade Hanging]], anyone?

* Bert and Ernie did this in the 1978 TV special ''Christmas Eve on [[Sesame Street]]''. Bert trades his paperclip collection to Mr. Hooper for a soap dish for Ernie to put his rubber duckie in. Ernie meanwhile trades his rubber duckie for a fancy box to hold the paperclip collection. Of course, Mr. Hooper stops by the apartment on his way home and gives them back the items they traded.

* In the 3rd season [[Christmas Episode]] of ''[[7th Heaven]]'', Eric sells his old records to buy a chain for a cross Annie's mother left her, while Annie sells her cross to buy Eric a jukebox. In the end, the pawn shop owner comes over on Christmas morning to set things right.

* ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House On the Prairie]]'' had a Christmas episode where Charles bought Laura a saddle for her horse and worked refurbishing a set of wagon wheels to buy Caroline a stove. Before he could pick up the stove, Laura sold her horse to pay for it. Laura does get the horse back, a year or two later.

** The opening sketch for a [[Christmas Episode]] in the early 1990's centered around Donald and Ivanna Trump exchanging their Christmas gifts to one another. Donald got Ivanna a gold-plated, bejeweled door for her mansion, and Ivanna got Donald a gold-plated, bejeweled anchor for his yacht. Shortly afterward, Ivanna breaks down in tears, explaining that she had to sell her mansion to afford the anchor, to which Donald says that he had to sell his yacht to afford the door.

* One episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', "The Long Morrow", has a variation of this: A young couple is faced with the issue of the man having to go on an 80-year-long space mission that involves [[Human Popsicle|suspended animation]] which will keep him young while she ages back on Earth. The woman decides to put herself into suspended animation so that she will still be young when he comes back, only to learn that he took himself out of his own suspended animation so that he would be as old as her when he came back.

 

* [http://countyoursheep.com/d/20030808.html This ''Count Your Sheep'' strip] is an interesting variation on the trope.

* ''[[Xkcd]]'' turns it inside-out [http://xkcd.com/506/ here].

* A transformation-based version happens in ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' . Euryale, a gorgon, pays a wizard to turn her into a human so she won't turn her boyfriend to stone, but at the same time he's paid someone else to turn him into a rock-skinned being so she wouldn't have to worry about doing the same.

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Torg and Riff buy each other a flannel shirt and a new overcoat... but they both sold their shoulders to medical science to pay for the others gift.

* ''[[Wonderella]]'' gives us [http://nonadventures.com/2009/12/19/where-the-toys-are/ half a gift.] The other half involves toy hamsters.

* [[Nedroid]] knows [http://nedroid.com/2008/12/beartato-135/ exactly] what to make of this.

 

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** [[Fridge Logic|Zoidberg is usually impoverished. How did he buy a comb and 2 hair pieces while Amy, daughter of billionaries, and Hermes, an accountant, had to sell their hair to afford combs?]]

*** [[Rule of Funny]]

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Christmas Tropes]]

[[Category:Whole-Plot Reference]]

[[Category:Shout-Outs Index]]