As You Know: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:recap.jpg|link=Don Rosa|frame|Uncle Scrooge [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall|tells it like it is]].]]

 

{{quote|'''Thetis:''' Why then, child, do you lament? What sorrow has come to your heart now? Tell me, do not hide it in your mind, and we shall both know.

 

 

{{quote|''"As you know, Jennifer, my Death Ray depends on codfish balls."''}}

* [[Tell Me Again]]

 

 

{{examples}}

* 80s anime series ''[[The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]'' employed this trope regularly. This was mostly because, unlike many other '80s cartoons, it featured an on-going storyline that frequently built upon events from previous episodes. Of course, [[Viewers are Morons|children couldn't be expected to watch a show that patiently]] so cue many long conversations with characters telling each other "Yes, you may remember the golden condor we discovered underneath the Inca ruins," etc., etc.

** This trope is only present in the English version however, in the original french (The show is a France/Japan co-production and the writing team was French) characters never use As You Know. At best it's them applying what they previously learned to new situations (If X was solar powered, then Y must also be!).

* In the first chapter ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', Sakura and Shaolan tell each other how they first met and for how long they've been friends, obviously to fill in the reader on their backstory.

* This way of recapping is constantly and irritatingly used in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' manga. A commander telling his fellow warriors about the great battle in which they all participated...

* [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!, [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|GX]], [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|and 5Ds]]. Every time an effect is activated, the player has to explain exactly what it does—sometimes more than once for the same card in the same duel in the same episode. [[Truth in Television|Of course, either this is caused by the fact that most players do this in real life, or it caused most players doing this in real life]]. The Chicken or the Egg?

** Given that the anime predates the game, it's probably the latter.

* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', when Lucy meets Natsu and Happy for the first time, she goes into detail explaining to them what guilds are and that she wants to join the most popular guild around (the titular Fairy Tail guild), and then laughs it all off as something the two wouldn't be interested in. She doesn't realize until later that the two are ''from'' the guild she's trying to join. Granted, Lucy doesn't refer to Fairy Tail by name in her description, and Natsu and Happy really don't seem very interested in what she has to say, but considering how ''everyone'' in the series seems to know what guilds are (in fact, there probably isn't a character in the series who ''hasn't'' heard of Fairy Tail), it just makes the fact that she's explaining it to the audience all the more obvious.

 

* The first issue of ''[[Mouse Guard]]'' introduces the three protagonists ([[Self-Demonstrating Article|Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon, as you know]]) along the lines of this:

{{quote|'''Lieam:''' ''(Captions next to him illuminates his and his two partners' names)'' So tell us [Kenzie], what were the three best of the Guard sent to do?}}

* Done endlessly in [[Silver Age]] comic books, particularly those involving Superman, where the villains would explain their plan to each other after they had carried it out. As often as not, Superman would overhear this conversation and swoop down to capture them, having had no clue prior to this what had been going on.

* Used all the time in ''[[Donald Duck]]'' comics, usually clumsily as anything; the picture at the top of the page shows a rare lampshading from [[Don Rosa]]'s ''The Last Lord of Eldorado''.

* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' largely avoids this, but two examples still stands out: one is the story of Madcoil told around a campfire, which allows the main character's love interest to find out about his [[Backstory]] (through eavesdropping). It's told because of tradition, and because the children present haven't heard it yet. A ''far'' more jarring example is found in the ''Discovery'' books (written by the same original author, but a good three decades later) in which the characters... well, talk like [http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/DISC/DisplayDISC.html?page=14 this].

** Another jarring example occurs in the first issue of ''Siege at Blue Mountain'', the second print series which began after a 2-year hiatus. In lieu of a synopsis, the Wolfriders explain the whys and wherefores of the story so far to each other, ostensibly as part of their decision-making process. Later series got a lot better at integrating the [[Backstory]] into the dialogue.

* Cleverly played in ''[[Deadpool]]: Wade Wilson's War''. Many times, Deadpool explains the context of the operation, and the senator cuts him saying that he knows. The brilliance is that every time, what Deadpool explained is true in the real world (America's implication in Soviet/Afghan war...), but readers may not know this stuff as a senator does.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comic "The Forgotten" by US publisher IDW, Turlough goes to the effort of explaining the rules of cricket to Tegan, who already knows them since she's Australian.

 

== Fan Works ==

{{quote|'''Yugi:''' Your brother's been kidnapped?

'''Mokuba:''' Yes, that is exactly what I just finished telling you. }}

* Used in ''[[Ponies Make War]]'', when [[Mook Lieutenant|the Cadet]] begins a report to [[The Dragon|General Esteem]] with this exact phrase, and goes on to quickly sum up what happened during the one month [[Time Skip]]. The trope is then lampshaded by the narration, which points out that, yes, Esteem does know all this already.

 

* This was also going to be spoofed in the original script of ''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man of Mystery'', in which the film's [[Mr. Exposition]] (appropriately named Basil Exposition) tells the main character: "You're Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, and you're with Agent Mrs. Kensington. The year is 1967, and you're talking on a picture phone." Austin then replies: "We know all that, Exposition."

* Parodied and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the movie ''[[Spaceballs]]'', when Colonel Sandurz unnecessarily explains the evil plan to Dark Helmet, who turns to the camera and asks, "Everybody got that?" According to Mel Brooks, filmmakers are obliged to provide the audience with a Minimum amount of plot. That was it.

* In ''[[The Great Escape]]'' Ives reminds Hilts that in the art of tunnel-making the digging is not the problem but also the storing up with wood and getting the dirt out

* ''[[The Last Airbender]]'' puts on an As You Know clinic! Perhaps it's because, As You Know, they had to condense 20 episodes of show into 103 minutes of film....

* In ''[[Murder on the Orient Express]]'', Hercule Poirot tells Colonel Arbuthnott that in his opinion, the late Colonel Armstrong should have been awarded the VC, "which stands, as you may know, for Victoria Cross and is awarded for valor."

* ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'' journalists will explain things to characters who already know them.

'''Dooku:''' Don't be so sure. He was once my apprentice just as you were once his. }}

* In ''[[Spartacus]]'', Batiatus greets Crassus, Glabrus, and their consorts by reeling off their names and personal histories to them (and the audience).

 

== Literature ==

* Dicken's ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' and any parody/homages to it. Because of the time travel aspect of voyeuring into people's lives it somewhat requires them to explain the situation to each other in order to further the plot.

* Within the first chapter of the original ''[[Shannara]]'' book a character tells shares, quite literally, "As you know, [Entire history of the world]".

* This is lampshaded in ''[[Heimskringla|King Haralds Saga]]'' by [[Snorri Sturluson]].

{{quote|"I will believe in the banner's magic power," said Svein, "only when you have fought three battles against your nephew King Magnus and won all three of them." Harald retorted angrily, "I am well aware of my kinship with Magnus without needing you to remind me of it..."}}

** The scene with Dumbledore and McGonagall differs from most uses of As You Know in two ways: first of all, it's mostly gratuitous, in that most details in that scene relevant to that book are also covered later, being told to Harry directly; and second, it also refers to a lot of things that aren't apparent until later books, [[Chekhov's Gunman|like Sirius Black.]]

** This also shows up in a peculiar form (you might call it an inversion) partway through ''Philosopher's Stone'', when Hermione is telling Ron and Harry about the Philosopher's Stone, which can be used to achieve immortality. [[Parrot Exposition|Ron repeats the word "immortal" in surprise]], only for Hermione to explain "It means you'll never die," [[Viewers are Morons|just in case any of the kids in the audience don't know that word]]. Ron gets indignant and says "I ''know'' what it means," because there's really no reason for him not to.

*** In ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', Fudge mentions a team of "hit wizards" sent to arrest Sirius. In the next book, ''Goblet of Fire'', Harry is told these wizards are called "Aurors." In every case, once the actual term is explained to Harry, no character ever refers to them as anything else afterwards.

* Averted to an almost pathological degree in ''[[Catch-22]]'', where characters will often refer to major events like the {{spoiler|Loyalty Oath Crusade}} or the {{spoiler|Great Big Siege of Bologna}} [[Noodle Incident]] style for half the book before you get the slightest hint what they're talking about. It doesn't help that the scenes aren't in chronological order.

** It's the kind of book you might have to read a few times to understand. Luckily, it is good enough to be worth the effort.

* Justified in the ''[[Lord Darcy]]'' books, where Master Sean natters on about the underlying principles of whatever spell he uses to examine crime scenes and clues, even though Darcy's surely heard all this before. Darcy actually ''insists'' that Sean do this, as it helps him overcome his own innate [[Muggle]] mental blocks about how magic operates; plus, as Master Sean is also a professor, he performs best while in classroom-lecture mode.

* Subverted in the ''[[Dresden Files]]'' books. Harry has a spirit advisor who informs him of details of magic relating to the particular case he is working on. Usually, Harry either doesn't know about the juicy tidbits, or needs a little help remembering them. The origin of this character is from the author's writing class, where he was told not to make the research assistant he was thinking of a "talking head". His solution? A Talking Skull named Bob. The teachers response? "You think you're funny, don't you?"

* ''[[Codex Alera]]''.

** The fundamentals of furycrafting are presented by Tavi to Max as if it's a necessary refresher because he's such a bad student.

* Robert Jordan beat this trope to death with the copious amounts of exposition in his ''[[The Wheel of Time|Wheel of Time]]'' series to recap events already firmly established in previous novels in the series, many of which was delivered through character dialogue; somewhat justified by the Door Stopper size of the series and difficulty in keeping track of the myriad of dangling plot threads.

* Subverted in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' books, whenever the scene includes Richard and two other mages. On finding some kind of magical oddity or artifact, the two or more learned mages will start talking to one another, entirely leaving out the "As You Know" bits...until Richard, who barely knows a thing about magic, tells them to stop and explain in terms he can follow.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Mocked in an episode where House stops a surgery by spitting all over the sterile equipment; in case [[Viewers are Morons|the dimmer members of the audience]] didn't get the significance, [[Mr. Exposition|Nurse Exposition]] points out "There's no way we can do the surgery now!" The exasperated surgeon gives her a withering look and yells "YA THINK?!?"

** And then for some more metaphors. But these are lampshaded quite often.

** Pretty much the entire franchise does it, ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|SVU]]'' the most painful at it, almost always using it in an As You Know/[[Idiot Ball]]/[[Writer on Board]] combo.

** Somewhat justified—lawyers have to be able to distinguish the case's meaning from the facts, and then apply it to their particular situation. And they have to be able to challenge arguments that the case they just cited shouldn't apply. And in the case of the judges, it's often done as a method of interpreting the law based on the arguments of the lawyers (and playing Devil's Advocate in the process by challenging their interpretation), which is partly what judges are ''supposed'' to do.

* Mercilessly parodied in ''Brass'' whenever one of the characters needs to remind viewers of the plot.

* Used in the season 2 finale of ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', in which the [[Big Bad]] and Veronica take a 5 minute timeout before he tries to kill her, for them to confirm yes, she knows everything. [[Shout-Out|Veronica Mars is smarter than me]], so I was [[Tropes Are Not Bad|thankful and disbelief-suspending]], for the explanation

* ''[[Dollhouse]]'' has a scene with Dewitt explaining how a rich psycho got out of a bunch of crimes, followed by Boyd saying "And by that, do you mean..." and she responds with what she was actually hinting at. After he does it twice she hangs a lampshade on it with "There is no need to continue to translate me."

* Done a fair amount by Winston in ''[[Human Target]]'', although tends to be of the form "Now, remember..." or "Here's the plan..." although it's something the putative listener wouldn't forget or already knows.

* ''[[Star Trek]]''

{{quote|Spock: As we know, the value of pi is a transcendental figure without resolution. The computer banks will work on this problem to the exclusion of all else until we order it to stop.}}

*** In the episode "The Pegasus", Admiral Erik Pressman briefs Captain Picard and Commander Riker on the loss of his former ship, the USS ''Pegasus''. He chooses to open his briefing with the words "as you know..." and then proceeds to tell Picard and Riker ''what they already know''. Picard chimes in with an "I remember reading about that", and continues to tell the story of the ''Pegasus'' for the benefit of no one else in the scene.

*** Subverted in the episode "Code of Honour", where Picard starts to describe events in Earth history, before lampshading the fact that as the captain he's "Entitled to ramble on about something everyone knows"

* Played with in [[Yes Minister]]. Not having read the papers, Jim Hacker often seems to know as much as the audience, but tries to hide it from his officials. In "A Victory For Democracy", notably, neither Hacker, sir Humphrey or Bernard seem to precisely know what is happening (or where St. George's Island is). The trope's name is invoked during a conversation between Humphrey and the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, with Humphrey mainly making educated guesses and agreeing with whatever is said.

* In episode 2 of ''[[Luck]]'', Ace has a rather awkward monologue explaining why he was in prison. They actually try to sell us on the idea that the person he's talking to (his bodyguard and best friend) wouldn't already know this, but it's very hard to believe.

 

 

== Radio ==

'''Hamish''': Why did you say that?

'''Dougal''': Well, it doesn't do any harm. }}

* ''[[Warhorses of Letters]]'' used this extensively and knowingly.

** “You must remember that all horses are arbitrarily given the same birthday, January 4th. Oh wait...you do not have to remember, as you are also a horse.”

 

* Spoofed as early as [[Plautus]]'s ''[[Miles Gloriosus|The Braggart Soldier]]'' (2nd century BC): Palaestrio insists on explaining the plan to Acroteleutium again; she repeatedly protests that she's not an idiot and not only does she understand the plan, she actually devised much of it. Similarly, the exposition in ''The Brothers Menaechmus'' is presented in such a ludicrous manner (essentially, "Tell me, Menaechmus, what have we been doing for the last six years?") that it's obviously a big wink to the audience.

* The classic instance is in the [[Play Within a Play]] in [[Sheridan]]'s ''The Critic''. Hatton asks Raleigh what the military preparations for the Spanish attack mean, and Raleigh replies in a series of speeches all beginning with the assertion that "You know...", while Hatton agrees that he indeed knows. Finally Mr. Dangle interrupts to ask "as he knows all this, why does Sir Walter go on telling him?" Mr. Puff retorts that "the audience are not supposed to know anything of the matter, are they?..... Here, now you see, Sir Christopher did not in fact ask any one question for his own information."

* In ''[[Forbidden Planet|Return to the Forbidden Planet]]'' the second act starts with a news reporter giving a recap of the first act. After the recap the action really starts with a repeat of the last scene from act 1.

* Happens a few times in ''[[Medea]]''. Mostly for the audience's sake, although at one point Medea and Jason have an argument where they each recount the backstory again from their point of view.

 

== Video Games ==

* In the ''[[Babylon 5]]: I've Found Her'' game tutorial this was deftly [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]]: engineer filling in (instead of instructor) explained controls to presumably experienced pilot as introduction to new craft, with implications of Newtonian dynamics smuggled in as reminder about consequences of said craft's propulsion superiority.

* In a (deeply failed) attempt to reduce this in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', Kojima came up with the idea of making the player character a character who ''didn't'' know, allowing the other characters to tell the player things that the main character would already know. For the segment where the main character ''was'' the one receiving the exposition, it was compensated for by the fact that the person giving the [[Info Dump]] was a compulsive nag. The whole thing failed miserably, however—partly because [[Replacement Scrappy|everyone hated the new guy]], and partly because Kojima infodumps are so [[Author Tract|turgid]] that As You Know actually makes them more accessible.

** Also of note is the Imperial Guard mission, where a Commissar tries to pull this on General Vance Stubbs and fails miserably.

{{quote|'''Commissar:''' Tank crew, munitions, and parts are arriving on schedule sir. As you know, it takes only the most highly trained crew to properly operate a--

** Justified a bit more in the Gnome starting area. A couple characters give you some pointers about Gnomish culture and the more important Gnomes around, then mention that they're telling you this because the radiation in the city you had just escaped from could have resulted in memory loss.

* ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'': The main character was a sheltered aristocrat that had never seen outside the walls of his mansion, thus forcing the other characters to explain to him the most basic information on the universe.

* ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' has this due to how much continuity piles up in [[Telltale Games]]. [[Lampshaded]] in "The Penal Zone", when Grandpa Stinky complains about Sam doing this.

{{quote|'''Sam:''' Max is all short term memory; I occasionally have to bring him back up to speed.

'''Max:''' Aah! GIANT TALKING DOG! }}

 

== Web Animation ==

'''Caboose:''' Uh, Red Base, no, I'm in the ship. }}

* Parodied in the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' cartoon "A Decemberween Pageant". It opens with Homestar talking to Marzipan about how the night of the titular pageant has arrived "After all the weeks and weeks of rehearsing and practicing and memorizing lines," when Marzipan tells him "Homestar, I don't think those are your lines." A [[Reveal Shot]] shows Homestar and Marzipan are standing on the stage, and [[The Ditz|Homestar]] has been delivering his exposition in the middle of the performance.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Spoofed/lampshaded repeatedly in the webcomic ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''. At one point, [[Genre Savvy|Elan]] compliments Roy for working the exposition into his angry tirade so smoothly. (He also cries at weddings, but only when there's really good exposition.)

* Lampshaded in ''[[Starslip Crisis]]'':

{{quote|'''Admiral:''' I know what it is! There was no reason for you to say that out loud!}}

"Uh, obviously I already know that, we live in the same universe! Duhhh..." }}

* As you know, ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on its use of tropes, and then gives us a [[Shout-Out]] in the [[Alt Text]]. And [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2374.html they've done it again].

* [[Played for Laughs]] in a ''[[Precocious (Webcomic)|Precocious]]'' strip, aptly titled [http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2010/03/17 "Relive those memories"].

{{quote|'''Alien:''' Hey, Boss? We know all this.

'''Head Alien:''' Hush. I enjoy this. }}

"Sorry, I thought we were supposed to explain things we already knew to each other." }}

* ''[[Exterminatus Now]]'': Sometimes it's because your co-conspirators just [http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2005-07-29/comic/facilitating-your-demise/distracting-derriere/ weren't] paying [http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2005-08-02/comic/facilitating-your-demise/too-long-didnt-listen/ attention].

 

== Web Original ==

* In the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEFxSOVd6A first episode] of ''[[Cause of Death]]'', it seems the killer is about to tell the audience and the man why he's come to the house, but then simply drops the subject and then {{spoiler|kills him. Brutally.}}

{{quote|“There are more people going to San Francisco today than I would have expected,” he remarked.

“Some of them may in fact be going elsewhere,” she answered. “As you know, it’s expensive to provide airplane links between all possible locations. We employ a hub system, and people from smaller cities travel first to the hub, and then to their final destination. Fortunately, you found us a flight that takes us straight to San Francisco.” }}

* In [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]]'s review of ''Uncanny X-Men #424'', he mentions how the Church of Humanity decides the best time to discuss their plan even though they would undoubtedly know about it is just before the X-Men arrive.

* How [[Honor Harrington|David Weber]] [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=635193 orders pizza].

 

== Western Animation ==

'''Comic Book Guy:''' Yes, thank you for talking to all of us like we just tuned in. }}

** One of the comics had Bart telling Lisa what had happened as exposition for the reader. When Lisa asks why he's telling her what she already knows, Bart says he's filling in the readers, which confuses Lisa until he further explains [[Fourth Wall Psych|he's filling in their new neighbors, whose last name is Reader, on the situation]].

* This comes up rather often in ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' Season 1, since the series starts [[In Medias Res]]. Jérémie is usually the one stuck with frequently reminding his friends about information that they would already know—like the basic properties of the world of Lyoko, the monsters' stats, the fact that they couldn't let anyone die before a Return to the Past or that their main goal is to materialize Aelita.

* On ''[[American Dad]]'' Francine is talking to her sister while Stan eavesdrops and calls her "sis", then remarks how strange it is for her to call her that, then mentions her age and where they grew up for no reason.

{{quote|'''Hayley:''' You saved Roger's life? I guess you guys are even now.

'''Stan:''' "Even"?

'''Francine:''' I understand too, Hayley, but would you explain it anyway? I love to hear things summarized. }}

* ''[[Sealab 2021]]'' has a similar [[Double Subversion]]:

{{quote|'''Captain:''' You know what that means Stormy? ''(Stormy nods)''

'''Someone else:''' But I don't know, Captain, what does it mean? }}

* ''[[Family Guy]]'', Quagmire's "That one was also sexual" line. Initially it looks like [[Don't Explain the Joke]], but according to the DVD commentary, it was a spoof of characters saying things that no one would really say to explain the plot, like "I can't wait for the bake sale this afternoon!"

* ''[[Futurama]]'' lampshades this by having Bender defeating Elzar on an episode of ''[[Iron Chef]]'', then pulling back to show him turning off the TV as his win is being broadcast.

'''Leela:''' We know. We were there. And we just got done watching it again on TV. }}

** [[Played for Laughs]] in "Bender's Game":

'''[[Genius Ditz|Amy]]:''' ''[[Future Slang|Guh]]!'' Stop patronizing us! }}

** [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] by Cubert: "As you probably already DON'T know..."

* On ''[[The Boondocks]], Huey sets up a [[Noodle Incident]] as to how "because of [Ed Wuncler Sr.], [Huey] gave a girl a 'permanent and severe limp'". Grandad even says "Look, nobody needs to be reminded of that tragic day you gave that girl a 'permanent severe limp'" right before telling the story.

* The ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' recap episode "Grill" gives a decent justification. Agent Fowler is being interrogated for what happened with Nemesis Prime, and he's giving a report not only to his direct superior, but is also being recorded for the sake of those higher up the chain of command. The guy he's speaking to knows what's going on, but the people who would be watching the video wouldn't necessarily.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Exposition]]

[[Category:Rule of Perception]]

[[Category:Stock Phrases]]

[[Category:Index]]

[[Category:Show, Don't Tell]]