As You Know: Difference between revisions

|''[[The Iliad]]'', Book I}}

 

 

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

* [[IGPX]] does this at the end of episode one. As Team Satomi prepares to race Team Sledgemamma in the first race of the IGPX-1, equivalent to the major league, the announcer Benjamin Bright explains the rules of IGPX to thousands of fans, and the racers. In the English dub, he actually says, "Let's recap the rules of the IGPX for those two or three of you who don't know."

* 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.

 

== Comic Books ==

* 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 ==

* 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.

'''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 ==

* 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.

* Susanna Clark's ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]'' has an [[Footnote Fever|unending supply of footnotes]] stuffed with as-you-know facts about the world of British magic, as well as strange anecdotes, discussions of magical theories and other "as you might already know but may well find interesting" divergences from the main story.

* 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.

* 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.

* The novelization of the film ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]]'' employs the conceit that it is just the latest volume of a large series of such books, and uses variations on this trope ("As faithful readers will recall from ''Bastardy Proved a Spur''...") to make bogus [[Continuity Nod]]s to events in the prior (non-existent) books.

 

== 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.

* 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.

* ''[[Sunset Beach]]'' in absolute spades. "Since you were almost killed by that tidal wave you've been... preoccupied, to say the least."

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Frequently turns up in extremely early ''[[Doonesbury]]'' comic strips. "Well, here I am..."

* In the newspaper comic ''[[Sally Forth]]'', the title character asked her daughter what she was doing "for Earth Day next week", and was told that was the most obvious bit of exposition she had pitched since "As you know, Hilary, you are my daughter".

 

== 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 ==

{{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 ==

"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 [[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 ==

* 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]]