All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"
So you just heard about a new series or a film. You begin watching it, and tension is established, or the show tries to trick you, but you're not fooled. Why not? The thing that you aren't supposed to know (it may be a twist, or simply a spoiler) was the absolute first thing you learned about the show. If you hadn't been told, you wouldn't be watching it.
Contrast with It Was His Sled. It Was His Sled means everybody knows what the spoiler is. This trope means that the only thing most people know about the work is the spoiler.
See also Late Arrival Spoiler, when the company that makes it gives away a spoiler in the sequel's ads. Often a cause of Watch It for the Meme. If it happens on the first chapter of a series, it's a First Episode Spoiler. See also Everybody Knows That.
The Trope Namer is the 1992 film The Crying Game.[1] You likely already know that All There Is To Know About The Crying Game is that the main character's love interest is a pre-operative transgender woman. William Goldman noted that knowing the secret actually made the film a much better movie.
If you had no clue what this trope meant before, that is an example of Pop Cultural Osmosis Failure.
No examples please, for the same reason It Was His Sled doesn't have examples.
- ↑ And indirectly, the eponymous song.