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And That Little Girl Was Me: Difference between revisions
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Compare [[You Know Who Said That]], where the anonymous example of some value turns out to be a historical figure. Also compare [[I Have This Friend]], [[Actually, I Am Him]], and [[Let Me Tell You a Story]]. For when the entire story turns out to have been one of these, see [[Narrator All Along]]. If the main character does this, it's [[Nostalgic Narrator]].
{{examples}}
==
* ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]] 2nd Gig'' includes an episode in which a woman who owns a shop tells the Major a story about a boy and a girl who were some of the first people to get cyborg bodies. It's implied that {{spoiler|the little girl is in fact the Major}}, which is all but confirmed at the the end of the episode when {{spoiler|the Major seems to know something about what happened that the woman didn't tell her}}. Also, {{spoiler|later episodes suggest that the boy was the season's [[Anti-Villain]] Kuze}}.
* In ''[[Monster]]'' A Kriminal polizei shot a fugitive that was just a foreigner and didn't do anything wrong. The old story teller never says it was him, but considering that both the story teller comes to forest to apologize, and Kriminal polizei has been apologizing for 60 years, it's pretty obvious they're the same person.
==
* In ''[[The Sandman]]'' miniseries ''Death: The High Cost of Living'', a young woman, in order to drive home the point that "ennui" is no reason to commit suicide, tells the story of a "friend" who was repeatedly molested by her father and his buddies the mayor and chief of police, so there was no one in her small town she could turn to. She attempted suicide by slicing up her arms, but survived and was glad that she did. When asked what happened to her in the end, she says "I expect she came out to the big city" (the miniseries takes place in New York). Furthermore, she's wearing long gloves...hint, hint.
* [http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/superhero2.jpg This] infamous [[Very Special Episode|Very Special]] ''[[Spider-Man]]'' Issue. To make things worse, "Skip" was originally supposed to be none other than ''Uncle Ben'', before executives nixed the idea. Who said [[Executive Meddling]] can't be used for good?
==
* In [[The Teraverse]] tale ''It's Just A Habit,'' the narrator's mother uses this to tell her daughter (who is a nun) that she's okay with her leaving her convent. Because she did, many years ago. It's even the same convent.
== Film - Animated ==
* ''[[Balto]]'' begins with a grandmother telling her granddaughter the story of Balto and how he saved all of Nome to help a little girl who cared about him. At the end of the story, Rosie, the girl Balto saved, tells him she'd be lost without him. At the end of the film, the grandmother turns to the statue of Balto and quotes Rosie, the granddaughter calling to her as 'Grandma Rosie', revealing she was Rosie from the story.
* [[Bolt]] has Mittens telling Bolt how they cannot trust humans while inevitably revealing her past to him. While Mittens never outright says it was her, it was obvious that she was talking about herself.
{{quote|'''Mittens''': "[People] pretend they're going to always be there for you, and then one day {{spoiler|they pack up and move away and take their 'love' with them, and leave their declawed cat to fend for herself! They leave her, wondering what she did wrong...."}}}}
==
* Played with disturbingly in Psychopathia Sexualis. A woman tells some girls a very morbid story of how a mute girl found her voice (via screaming) whilst being raped and then killed her rapists who she and her father had put on a shadow-puppet show for. The girls listening seem very disturbed and the woman narrating it seems sad and nostalgic. In the end she offers a disconcertingly weak "its only a story" to the girls.
* In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', Palpatine strongly implies that he served under a death-conquering Sith Lord in order to sway Anakin to his side. He also implies that Anakin was created by that same death-conquering Sith Lord, or possibly by Palpatine himself, who the Sith taught all his tricks to, after all.
* ''Where the Truth Lies'': The journalist tells the story of a little girl who was saved thanks to a call-in show. Of course, it turns out it's her.
* Subverted in ''[[Caddyshack]]'', with Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) telling the story about the guy "night putting" with the dean's daughter.
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'''Danny:''' You?
'''Ty:''' Ha ha... No, that guy was Mitch Comstein, my roommate. He was a good guy. }}
* The end of ''[[The Road Warrior]]'' reveals that the [[Narrator]] is none other than the Feral Kid.
* In ''[[Matilda (film)|Matilda]]'', the [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] describes how the [[Big Bad]] was her [[Evil Stepmother]] without mentioning either herself or the [[Big Bad]] by name. The [[Child Prodigy]] protagonist sees right through this, of course.
** In the novel, she doesn't use the pretense of third person at all and upfront states that the little girl in the story was her when she starts.
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* In the opening of the first ''[[Spy Kids]]'' film, Ingrid (the mother) tells Carmen and Juni a bedtime story about two enemy spies who were [[In Love with the Mark|assigned to kill each other and fell in love instead]]. It is, of course, Ingrid and Gregorio's actual [[Backstory]].
==
* The entire [[Frame Story]] for Mark Helprin's ''Swan Lake'' turns out to be setting up one of these: {{spoiler|the little girl who is treated to the story turns out to be the young Queen.}}
* In ''Larklight'', after Jack tells them the story of how his parents died, Art asked "Was that you?", to which his sister replies that obviously it was him, or else what was the point of telling them the story?
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* In "Father Brown's Story" a priest tells of a man, disillusioned by the death of his beloved sister, who turned to atheism and hated everything religious. Then one night he had a dream of a mysterious woman who he followed to the edge of the sea. It was his sister, who pointed at the ocean and said "It is the holy blood.". The man awoke with tears on his cheeks and changed his ways. As they are leaving the priest stops one man and tells him "I was that man."
==
* Arguably subverted in an episode of ''[[Monk]]''. Sharona has a fear of elephants that culminated when she was a little girl. She tells a story of how when she was little, a small girl ended up in the elephant cage at a zoo. As the girl didn't actually get hurt, the audience waits for her to say "I was that little girl", but nope, she was apparently traumatized because some other girl was in that predicament.
* In ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', Sophia often ends her "Picture it..." stories like this.
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{{quote|'''Nichole''': Wasn't that ''[[Carrie]]''?
'''Margaret''': It's all I've got. I was really popular at school. }}
* In the Christmas episode of ''[[Glee]]'', [[Brawn Hilda|Coach Beiste]] has to dress up as Santa Claus, to convince Brittany (who still believes in Santa Claus) that even Santa's magic can't grant her wish: for Artie, who is paraplegic, to be able to walk. Beiste does this by sitting down Brittany on the couch and telling her a story about another little girl, just a little younger than herself, whose only Christmas wish every year was [[Huge Schoolgirl|to be petite and slender instead of "a little husky".]] And how she never got it, but she did get the gift of patience. Subverted in that Brittany never gets
* Parodied by [[Chris Rock]] in a commercial for one of his HBO comedy specials. The ad consists of him telling us about a little white girl growing up in a convent in the Alps, who would "sing her heart out whenever things looked bad." He then informs us that he was that little girl. "And now I'm an adult black male," he says, with no further explanation.
* Quasi-subverted on [[Hill Street Blues]] when the [[Cloudcuckoolander|eccentric]] vigilante "Captain Freedom" spins Detective Belker a long story about a boy growing up neglected and abused with only the heroes of comic books and TV shows to relieve his horrible existence. However, when Belker is moved to tears by the story the Captain assures him that the little boy grew up to be a business leader and that he read about him in ''Reader's Digest.'' It's unclear if the Captain was actually talking about himself or not.
* The pilot of ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'' has Nucky Thompson get a group of [[Moral Guardian
==
* In [[Metallica]]'s "The Unforgiven", the narrator switches between first (in the chorus) and third person. The last verse ends with:
{{quote|''The old man then prepares
''To die regretfully -
''That old man here is me. }}
* [[Eminem]] used this in 'Criminal,' as part of another rant against his mother:
{{quote|''My mother did drugs, hard liquor, cigarettes, and speed
''The baby came out - disfigured, ligaments indeed.
''It was a seed who would grow up just as crazy as she.
''Don't dare make fun of that baby, 'cause that baby was me.}}
* [[Britney Spears]] has done this with 'Girl in the Mirror.'
{{quote|''I can't believe it's what I see''
''That the girl in the mirror''
''The girl in the mirror''
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''so that she can forget that she's me'' }}
* The chorus of Lindsay Lohan's "Drama Queen (That Girl)" from the similarly-named film ''[[Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen]]'':
{{quote|''That girl was a one-time teenage drama queen,
''A hot, tough everyday wannabe,
''But she'll have changed her destiny, now she's a somebody.
''That girl was a wild-child dreamer but she found herself.
'''Cause she believes in nothing else,
''And you'll look back and you won't believe
''That girl was me. }}
* In Jim Croce's "Box #10", the narrator sings of "a down home country boy" who has a rough time of it in the [[Big Applesauce]]. The verse ends with, "Oh well [[Lampshade Hanging|it's easy for you to see]] that that country boy is me".
* [[Mary J. Blige|Mary J. Blige's]] song "Take Me As I Am" ends the second verse describing a girl's life before the bridge with "ask me how I know, cause she is me(eeeeeee)."
==
* Svetlana has a song like this in ''[[Chess (theatre)|Chess]]''. Though everyone in the audience has figured it out by then, it ends:
{{quote|''And if that girl I knew should ask my advice
''While I wouldn't hesitate, she needn't ask me twice
''Go now
''I'd tell her that for free
''Trouble is, the girl is me. }}
* "The Barber and his Wife" in ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]''.
* In ''Phantom'', Gérard Carrière tells Christine all about the Phantom's childhood and his relationship with his father; when Christine asks him how he knows all this, he reveals that ''he'' is the Phantom's father.
==
* A similar approach was taken in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yWAUNqJ-0k this] ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|Wind Waker]]'' commercial.
* In ''[[Touhou|Cage in Lunatic Runagate]]'' Yukari explains what happened in her last attempt to invade the moon this way. Ran actually figures it out immediately, but Yukari denies this being the case.
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* Rosalina in the storybook from ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]''.
==
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] by ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]'' [http://nonadventures.com/2011/08/05/w-for-wonderita/ here].
{{quote|'''Rita:''' Are you that young girl?
'''Dana:''' Nope, ''you'' are! Bye now! }}
==
* In ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-
==
* On ''[[American Dad]]'', Roger uses this as part of a convoluted back story for his made-up detective persona.
{{quote|'''Roger:''' My name is Braff Zeckland. I was an international race car driver. One day a baby carriage rolled onto the tracks, so I swerved into the retaining wall to avoid it. The car burst into flames, but the baby miraculously survived. ''I'' was that baby.}}
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* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Otto tells a bedtime story to Lisa, the [[Urban Legend]] of a woman outrunning a driver who seems to be stalking her, but was actually trying to warn her of the [[Ax Crazy|axe wielding]] [[Danger Takes a Backseat|maniac in the back seat]]. He then asks her if she wants to know how he knows the story: <small>"I....was that maniac"</small> Cue Homer and Marge hearing Lisa's screams.
* Played with in an episode of ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' when Arnold is complaining about Helga. Grandpa Phil tells Arnold about a little girl named Gertie in his class that was horrible to him and spent the school year making him miserable. At the end of the episode Arnold's Grandma states that she was that very girl - though Arnold doesn't here it. Which leads to some [[Fridge Logic]] when you realize that Arnold probably knows his grandmother's name, and so he should've have made the connection that Gertie was his grandma, especially since it's a really uncommon name.
** Gertie sounds like a nickname. Which means that maybe she isn't called by that by anyone except Phil anymore.
* In an episode of the ''[[Madeline]]'' animated series, Madeline is humiliated when she messes up during a ballet recital. She's then told a story by a professional ballerina about another girl who messed up, but got back out there and kept trying. "That little girl...was me!"
* Inverted in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Katara goes to find the leader of the Fire Nation raiders that killed her mother. Yon Rha reveals via flashback that he was sent to kill the last waterbender of the tribe. Kya, seeking to protect the tribe and her daughter, who had interrupted the conversation moments before, falsely confesses to being that waterbender.
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'''Yon Rha:''' What? Who?
'''Katara:''' ... '''ME!''' *cue badass yet terrifying display of using waterbending to suspend the rain* }}
* On ''[[Metalocalypse]]'', Pickles once took his bandmates on a tour of the sleaziest parts of [[Los Angeles]], in an attempt to teach them about the drug-fueled excesses of 80's glam rock (and why he thought they were awesome.) He concluded the tour in an alleyway where he once saw a famous male singer performing oral sex on a guy. "And that guy...was me," he says. The others are shocked, and then Pickles laughs at them and says he was just kidding.
* In the
* In an episode of ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', Ratchet tells Raf how the field medic who saved Bumblebee after Megatron had tortured him wasn't able to fix Bumblebee's voice box. {{spoiler|He was speaking about his OWN inability to completely fix Bumblebee since he was that field medic.}}
{{quote|'''Ratchet''': Yes, well... the medic could have done better.}}
* The first ''[[Care Bears]]'' movie had the old man who head of an orphanage tell a story about a possessed magician's apprentice named Nicholas who was saved by the Care Bears. In the end, his wife calls him by name, which is, of course, Nicholas.
* Subverted by Granny in [[Squidbillies]] when she explains how Gaga Pee Pap ran out on their family:
{{quote|'''Granny''': He done married me, got me pregnant, ran off with some floozie bitch and had a baby. And that baby grew up to be... [[Mind Screw|me.]]
'''Early''': She don't fully recollect her connection to the man.
'''Granny''': What man? }}
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[[Category:Speeches and Monologues]]
[[Category:And That Little Girl Was Me]]
[[Category:Identity Index]]
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