Ambulance Cut/Playing With
- Basic Trope: A character does something dangerous, but rather than explicitly show it, we Gilligan Cut to an ambulance racing down the street
- Played Straight: Bob asks Alice, "What could possibly go wrong?" Next scene or panel is an ambulance with lights and sirens on.
- Exaggerated: The next panel shows paramedics working frantically inside of the ambulance to keep Bob in stable condition.
- Justified: Bob is doing/has done something so dangerous that a visit by the EMTs is necessary.
- Inverted: The ambulance rushes by, then Bob suggests doing something stupid.
- Subverted:
- The ambulance doesn't have Bob in it.
- The scene cuts to Alice using her car (or borrowing Bob's car) to drive Bob to the hospital.
- Double Subverted: Bob still gets hurt and the ambulance now has two patients inside.
- Parodied: The paramedics are racing down the street -- to get dinner at the local pizzeria. Bonus points if Bob is in the ambulance, with no one noticing or caring that he needs immediate medical attention.
- Lampshaded:
- "Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to be in an ambulance in the next five seconds?"
- "Before you start on your latest handyman project, let me call the paramedics to give them a heads-up."
- Averted:
- We see Bob get injured and the ambulance doesn't come for him.
- Bob isn't injured, but the ambulance races by anyway for another reason.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny
- Invoked: Bob suffers an amusing injury
- Defied:
- The paramedics have been taking Bob to the hospital so many times, they just don't bother coming anymore.
- Bob doesn't get injured and therefore, the paramedics are not needed.
- Played For Laughs: See "Played Straight," "Exaggerated," and "Parodied"
- Played For Drama: Bob's injuries are serious and there's slim chance that he may survive.
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