All Part of the Show: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"La commedia è finita!"''}}

The reaction of the audience at the sight of the havoc, mayhem and destruction: "Wow, what a great show!"

 

 

Can be great for keeping the people hilariously [[Masquerade|ignorant]] toward the supernatural happenings and beings that exist around them, but naturally, it can also be ''very'' disadvantageous to the characters trying to [[Cassandra Truth|convince]] them otherwise. It can also sometimes suggest the [[Viewers are Morons]]. Often forms part of a [[Concert Climax]].

When an "All Part of the Show" moment actually ''is'' all part of the show, then it becomes [[You Just Ruined the Shot]]. When a character is trying to appear part of the show by attempting to act out a real part in it, it's [[Pushed in Front of the Audience]]. When bad guys create the show specifically to cover their criminal activities, it's [[Film Felons]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': On stage in front of a [[Muggles|whole school]], Inu Yasha blows up a watermelon demon with his [[BFS]], then super-jumps out of the resulting hole in the ceiling while carrying Kagome. The audience just thinks it's the best special effects they've ever seen in a [[School Play|high school play]]. Particularly impressive because Inu Yasha, a half-demon time traveler, [[You Just Ruined the Shot|interrupted in the first place because he didn't understand that it was just a play]], forcing Kagome to ad lib wildly to keep things from falling apart in all directions.

** The funniest part is the '''actual''' [[Ordinary High School Student]] who challenges Inuyasha to a duel, drawing a prop sword. Inuyasha responds by drawing Tessaiga, complete with the flashy magic and becoming the [[BFS]].

* In ''[[Generator Gawl]]'', Gawl ends up performing superheroic feats on stage while fighting another Generator, all to the amusement of the [[Power Rangers]]-esque actors and the audience.

* In ''Nurarihyon no Mago'', there was supposed to be a staged Oni attack, after which a class president candidate would take credit, via pre-recorded video, for vanquishing the monster. The main character fought off the Oni that actually showed up, and the delivered video was timed so well that nobody caught on. [[Contrived Coincidence|Naturally.]]

{{quote|'''Akane''': "They're actually buying it. Way to sell 'em, Ranma!"}}

* Also happened in [[Detective Conan]], where the Murderer Of The Week killed an actress by discreetly poisoning a glass of water that she had to drink while reharsing a scene for a play. When the victim dropped dead, since her character was supposed to die in that same scene, everyone was all "Wow, you're a wonderful actress!" and cheered for her. Only when the other actor on-stage checked on the girl's well-being did they notice what happened.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' and her Sailor Warriors fight a clown Cardian who appears during a performance of ''Snow White''. The audience are at first a little confused, but when the Sailor Warriors go [[Up to Eleven]] with their introductory speeches, everyone decides it must be a ''Sailor Moon'' pantomime, and enjoys it anyway (especially Shingo, who is a big Sailor Moon fan!)

* The 11th episode of ''[[Burst Angel]]'' has Jo acting as guard for a show featuring a ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' [[Captain Ersatz]]. The villain turns into an actual monster and bursts out of his suit, and Jo fights him, while kids complain that the monster's transformation was different from that in the preview and wonder if Jo is part of a new plot.

* In the second season of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', when rogue Digimon attack a rock concert, the stage crew initially assume it's part of the show.

 

== Comic Books ==

* An old [[Superboy]] story features criminals ''using'' this trope. They bring movie cameras and pretend to film themselves robbing banks so that people passing by will simply assume it is all a movie and ignore the screaming bank employees. Luckily, Superboy notices they didn't bring any sound equipment, so guesses they are criminals. Luckily, he had apparently never heard of [[Looping Lines|looping]].

* Grant Morrison used the same idea when he wrote ''Marvel Boy''. The incredibly wealthy Dr. Midas sets up lights and cameras so no one will find it strange when his army lets loose on the title character with lasers and other assorted sci-fi gear.

* During the ''[[Batman]]: Hush'' storyline, Batman and Catwoman wind up fighting Harley Quinn in the middle of a crowded opera house. The opera-goers seem to think this is part of the show, even applauding after Batman manages to catch Catwoman in mid-air.

** The final fight of the first ''[[Batman]]/JudgeDredd'' crossover takes place at a [[Heavy Metal]] concert, on stage. The audience is not shown having any particular reaction to Batman appearing on stage, or a cop from another dimension, or for that matter a zombie cop from a third dimension who had killed half the band (Well, since Judge Death ''was'' singing while he killed them, there was some justification for assuming that it was staged).

* Played with in ''Astérix and the Cauldron''. [[Asterix]] and Obélix get hired in a Roman theater company whose avant-garde director proclaims [[True Art]] is "spontaneity", improvisation and offending the public. (Ironically, as is shown during the play rehearsal, basically everything is in fact minutely staged.) When the actual play is performed in public, the Roman city prefect does enjoy the controversial show, until the point where Obelix improvises the play's final line: "These Romans are crazy!" Now that pushes the prefect's [[Berserk Button]]: he is not amused and sends the troops on stage to arrest the actors. The military intervention is not part of the show, but the public does believe so:

{{quote|'''Spectator #1:''' Very well staged, that show!

'''Spectator #3:''' Now they're pushing it. It lacks realism.

'''Spectator #4:''' It's a new aesthetics. I, for one, dig it. }}

 

== Fan Works ==

* {{spoiler|After Kyon gets shot}} in ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'', [[Bavarian Fire Drill|Haruhi pulls this off on a crowd]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|convincing them a movie was being filmed]].

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]] and the Goblet of Fire'': Harry reappears in the arena after {{spoiler|facing Voldemort at the end of the labyrinth}}; the crowd immediately starts cheering but a hush spreads as they realize that {{spoiler|Harry is holding Cedric Diggory's dead body}}.

** Fleur Delacour takes it a step further by ''screaming'' when she realizes the truth.

* In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II]]'', the title characters fight a mutant wolf and a mutant snapping turtle in a night club and are mistaken for costumed dancers. Justified in that [[Vanilla Ice]], who was performing at the time, apparently improvises the very [[Suspiciously Apropos Music|suspiciously apropos]] "Ninja Rap".

** In fact, the only person to suspect something is up is the club's manager, who is outraged at the appearence of 'these extras'. He tells his assistant to call the police, only to relent later on when he finds that the club's patrons ''enjoy'' the battle taking place.

* Happens in ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'' with {{spoiler|Blind Mag's final song, ''Chromaggia''. As her performance comes to a close, she ''gouges out her eyes on stage'' so Rotti can't repossess them. This triggers Rotti's [[Villainous Breakdown]], and he cuts the ropes suspending her, causing her to fall onto a pointy piece of scenery and get impaled.}} The commentator announces cheerfully that it's all part of the show, as does Rotti.

{{quote|Stay tuned, folks!

* ''[[Hocus Pocus]]'' goes straight to [[Refuge in Audacity]] with this—not only are the witches invading the stage assumed to be performing, when they sing their spell the audience is convinced to ''sing along'' and enchant itself.

* In ''[[Interview with the Vampire]]'', the French Théâtre des Vampires troupe of vampires kill humans on stage, but the audience always believes the deaths to be part of the show.

* In ''[[My Favorite Year]]'', Variety show star King Kaiser is beat up on live television by goons of a gangster he regularly makes fun of. The studio audience thinks it's part of the sketch, as is movie swashbuckler Alan Swann swinging to his rescue.

* The ending of ''[[Night at the Museum]]: Battle of the Smithsonian''. It seems that the exhibits now involve [[Living Statue|all sorts of fancy new technology]] if you visit them during the new extended night hours…

* The infamous exploitation film ''[[Bloodsucking Freaks]]'' has Sardu's Theater of the Macabre, wherein Sardu and his assistant Ralphus torture and dismember various women on stage in Grand Guignol style. Of course, everyone thinks it's just stagecraft.

* During the Broadway opening of the play in ''[[Bullets Over Broadway]]'', {{spoiler|a pair of mobsters shoot and kill [[Author Existence Failure|Cheech]] backstage. The audience thinks the gunshots were all part of the show. In fact, the show gets rave reviews because of the "symbolic" gunshots in the ending.}}

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Anne Rice]]'s novel ''[[Interview with the Vampire]]'' (and its [[Interview with the Vampire|film adaptation]]), the French Théâtre des Vampires troupe of vampires kill humans on stage, but the audience always believes the deaths to be part of the show.

* Done ''straight'' in Bernard Cornwell's ''[[The Warlord Chronicles]]'' (a serious version of the [[King Arthur]] story). The Saxons know that the Celts have a series of beacons ready to light as soon as Saxon invaders are sighted. So they wait for the Beltane festival, when every Celtic community has a bonfire anyway...

* In ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' during an opera, as a distraction, the stage light fused out. Even though the actors ran, people thought it was just symbolic.

* This is pretty much the climax of ''[[Snow Crash]]'' within the Metaverse.

* The final battle against [[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Maleficent]] in the first ''[[Kingdom Keepers]]'' book is dismissed as [[Disney Theme Parks|Disney World's]] best light show ever.

* Alistair MacLean's ''Caravan to Vaccarès'' uses this when the villains decide to murder Neil Bowman by forcing him into a bullring where he'll be gored and/or trampled in front of an innocent crowd. The audience isn't expecting classic Spanish bullfighting, but something more akin to the performance of an American rodeo clown, so they're shocked when they see Bowman is up against a huge, bad-tempered Andalusian bull the bad guys brought in for the purpose. Then Bowman, desperately trying to avoid death, accidentally convinces the crowd that he knows exactly what he's doing and is one of the greatest comedic performers ever to grace the bullring. When he finally escapes, the audience laughs and cheers wildly.

 

* ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]?'': A guy turns into a banshee onstage and goes after his young male co-star, who is transformed into a toad and saved by a leprechaun friend. Not only is the audience sitting back and watching while he's begging, "Somebody help me! This is really happening!", but the confused stage hands are flipping through the script backstage, wondering, "Did we miss this in rehearsal or something?"

* The climactic scene in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Shakespeare Code" takes place at the end of a performance of Shakespeare's play "Love's Labours Won", the ending of which was written by the evil aliens to call the rest of their race to take over the world. After the villains are defeated, the audience stands up and applauds. Martha assumes that they think it was all special effects.

* ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'': Larry David's performance in Mel Brooks' production of [[The Producers]], when he {{spoiler|forgets his lines and proceeds to perform an off-the-cuff standup routine and break the fourth wall}}

* Inverted in an episode of ''[[Blackadder]]'', where Prince George believes that everything that happens on stage is real, and attempts to have the actors arrested for murder whenever a character is stabbed on stage. Played straight when Prince George finally grasps the nature of theatrical illusion... only to believe that a bomb thrown at him by an interrupting anarchist is part of the show.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* One guy getting beat down by 2, 3, or 8 other guys? People using trash cans, steel chairs, and sledgehammers on each other? All part of the show. Someone's bleeding profusely ("the crimson mask")? Probably part of the show, unless it's WWE, then it's an accident.

 

== Radio ==

* Used repeatedly in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Big Finish]] audiodrama "The Scapegoat": the Scapegoat being killed ([[Immortality|repeatedly]]) ''is'' part of the show - the Doctor resuing him ''isn't'', but the crowd just think the story is taking too long to get to the good bit. When the theatre gets raided by [[It Makes Sense in Context|Gestapo agents searching for a time machine disguised as a morris column]], they conclude it's actually a comedy.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* This is one of the stranger methods suggested for getting people to believe in your magic in ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'': set up cameras and make it look like you're filming, and it'll all be attributed to special effects.

** In ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'', this is actually a special power of the [[Prestige Class|Legacy]] known as The Blank Badges. Their third Attainment allows them to literally explain away [[Weirdness Censor|Paradox]], with explanations ranging from "We're filming a movie" to "We're doing a pyrotechnics demo" to [[Cassandra Truth|the utterly blatant]] "We're calling down magic from the Supernal Realms."

 

== Theater ==

* Vaclav Havel's ''Temptation'', an adaptation of the Faust story set in Communist Czechoslovakia, subverts this trope. It ends with one of the actors catching fire following what appears to be a special effects accident, at which point firefighters run up onto the stage and put it out.

* Real life example and possible inversion: Warner Le Roy's play ''Between Two Thieves'' concerns a small traveling company of Jewish and Christian actors who "improvise" a trial debating the life, works, and existence of Christ. At several points in the play the discussion onstage becomes so heated that members of the audience stand up and join in the argument. Of course, all of these audience members are plants, actors who are part of the play (and the whole thing is completely scripted), but during productions it's not uncommon for ''actual'' audience members to stand up and begin making comments as well, requiring the actors to, in turn, actually begin improvising in order to address the real audience member's point in such a way as to get him or her to sit back down, then steer things back the the script. Ironically, the better the actors are the more ''likely'' unscripted audience participation is, because they're more like to think it's ''not'' All Part of the Show and feel free to break in as well.

* In the first scene of ''[[Show Boat]]'', when a jealous Steve assaults Pete in full view of the town's finest, Captain Andy tells them it's just another preview of the melodrama he's presenting (having already introduced Steve as the leading man).

 

 

* The picture up top is from the intro to ''[[Brutal Legend]]''. The crowd seems to think a [[Heavy Metal]] [[Physical God]] bearing the likeness of a stage prop showing up, killing the [[Take That|Linkin Park-like band]], and threatening a roadie is all part of the act. The crowd goes absolutely wild with joy, jumping, screaming and throwing Devil Horns in approval as he roars and spews flame everywhere. It's the game's first [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* The opera scene in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' culminates in an on-stage battle that begins when the heroes and the monster, Ultros, fall out of the rafters and onto the stage. Having previously promised ''not'' to ruin the show, Locke attempts to play the battle as part of the performance (although he turns out to be a hilariously bad actor). And for his part, the conductor plays along and leads the orchestra for a special Boss Theme. At the culmination of the fight, Setzer shows up out of nowhere and abducts Celes, and the entire main cast pursues—leaving the opera house director, whose show has been completely derailed, with no option but to promise the audience the plot will be resolved in "Part Two".

* ''[[Thwaite]]'' has two sets of cut scenes: one normal and one for a [[No Damage Run]]. In the latter, one of the villagers thinks the action is just an elaborate fireworks show, and another has a hard time convincing him [[Not a Game|otherwise]].

 

* In [http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_319.php this] ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'' strip, Dan picks up an Incubus bear that Aaryanna tried to give him to make him behave himself. He asks it, rhetorically, what he should do with it - whereupon a loud, creepy-sounding voice answers, "YOU SHALL SURRENDER TO THE DARKNESS!" It turns out that the rats are playing a video game, and they have it hooked up to surround sound. (Interestingly enough, Potophie comments that Dan's screams "sound almost real!")

* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' had Brooke explaining away {{spoiler|a vampire going feral and drinking blood on public, then an enchanted doll exploding in fireworks}} as "a live movie trailer for an awesome monster movie that'll come out the next Halloween". It helps that Tabitha is such a cheerful [[Drama Queen]] it's hard to see her as a victim when she obviously isn't serious about it herself.

 

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', unable to admit that they could not catch the terrorists behind the tragedy, the [[Eagle Land|US government]] convinces the American public that the show they watched, where teenagers murdered each other, was just that: a show, designed for shock value and drama. This works, until V2 of Survival Of The Fittest starts, and the public realize they were lied to.

 

== Western Animation ==

* An episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' features Sideshow Bob trying to murder the Simpsons in the middle of an Italian opera - naturally, it was a parody of Leoncavallo's tragic opera Il Pagliacci.

** Played with ([[Inverted Trope|inverted]]?) in another episode when one of Fat Tony's mobsters is trying to kill the mayor at a dinner show (coincidentally, ''Guys And Dolls''), but while hiding backstage one of the performers sees him and, assuming he's an actor, pushes him on stage. The mobster sticks his knife in his teeth and nervously starts tapdancing.

* The Blunder Years episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' (where we see the death of Smithers' father) includes a scene where The Simpsons are in Burns' office, watching a security tape from that day. After the history is revealed, Waylon Jr. appears in the room to confront Mr. Burns. Homer (eating popcorn, believing that this is All Part of the Show) says: "Now the movie's turned into a play! Still good, though."

* During the in-universe "filming" of the [[Gorillaz]] music video {{spoiler|"El Manana", in which Noodle gets attacked by helicopters and shot at, nobody noticed that she was in actual danger until the ''real'' stunt helicopters showed up, by which time Noodle was missing and her attackers were gone}}.

 

== Real Life ==

* See [[Fatal Method Acting]] for real life incidents involving death on stage.

* Health food enthusiast Jerome Rodale died onstage during a taping of ''[[The Dick Cavett Show]]'' in 1971. Rodale had been Cavett's first guest, and he remained on the guest couch when newspaper columnist Pete Hamill came on as the second guest. Rodale made a loud snoring sound and his head fell back. Hamill said "This looks bad", and the audience laughed. Legend has it that Cavett said “Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?”, but Cavett denies this. The episode was being taped, and thus never aired.

* In one tragic incident, an accident with pyrotechnics lit the ceiling of a Rhode Island club on fire during a performance by the band Great White. The performers didn't notice for a while, and the audience thought it was all part of the show. Eventually, the band noticed and fled, the crowd panicked, and the club collapsed, resulting in the deaths of over 100 people.

* In 1987, comedian [[wikipedia:Dick Shawn#Death|Dick Shawn]] was playing a politician reciting cliches. One of them was "If elected, I will not lie down on the job." He then fell down and didn't get up. The audience thought it was part of his act. When he didn't get up, there were actually catcalls from people who thought he was dragging it out too long. Finally someone went on stage, examined him and said "[[Is There a Doctor In the House?]]" Another audience member performed CPR on him, but it was to no avail. The audience didn't know if the people coming on stage to examine him were part of the act or not. They weren't: he died of a massive heart attack on stage. There is sad irony in the fact that he had played Lorenzo St. DuBois (the actor playing Hitler) in the scene in ''The Producers'' described above.

* British comedian [[wikipedia:Tommy Cooper#Death on a live television show|Tommy Cooper]] died of a heart attack during a performance on live television. The audience thought his falling down was part of the act and laughed, until they realized he was seriously ill.

* A stage show in Australia had a tragic example of this. There was a scene where a character was supposed to get shot. When the apparent prop gun was fired, the actor really did get shot... fatally through the heart. The other actors continued their parts, believing he was just acting, followed by an applause after the scene was done. After the scene was over and the lights went dark (so the next scene could be set up) the man continued to lie on the stage without moving. A prop organizer checked his pulse and called out: "We need a doctor! Now!" causing the spectators to laugh as they believed it was just a joke to keep them entertained during the break. A few moments later, as more and more people went up to check on the body, they started to realize that something was wrong. The actor had died instantly when shot.

* Part of the reason Per Yngve [[Meaningful Name|"Dead"]] Ohlin's suicidal behavior went untreated was that most [[Mayhem]] shows featured gore and self-mutilation routinely. When Dead slashed his wrists and almost bled to death in one show, the audience assumed that once again he had meant to simply draw blood from elsewhere. It also didn't help that fellow bandmate Euronymous wanted Dead's self-mutilation to go to even more ridiculous lengths to build Mayhem's reputation and infamy, and he lied frequently about the state of Dead's mental health to prevent intervention as well as frequently egging him on.

* The military uses the phrase, "Real world," in order to avert this during drills. Anything that is not part of the drill will be declared "Real world."

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Older Than Steam]]

[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]