Author Filibuster: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Matrix]]'' sequels, ''The Matrix: Reloaded'' and ''The Matrix: Revolutions'' were heavily criticized for being full of lengthy philosophical pontifications by several characters, including Councillor Hamann, The Oracle, The Merovingian (twice), Agent Smith, and Morpheus.

* Cecil B. DeMille's ''The Greatest Show on Earth'' (1952), which was ostensibly a backstage drama about a season at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, keeps interrupting itself with various segments that have little to nothing to do with the characters, including unself-conscious circus performances (with many, ''many'' in-universe audience reaction shots that tend to undercut the fourth wall) and pure documentary scenes showing what carnival workers do, the latter of which are accompanied by verbose and frankly pompous descriptions by a "voice-of-God" narrator. The movie in general can't seem to decide what it wants to be, making it a fine mess. (Of course, it won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1953, so it's a little hard to gripe.)

** Well, maybe it did. [[Wes Craven]] supposedly claimed that watching this movie made him a vegetarian, so maybe Hooper did have some success.

* ''[[The Human Centipede]]'' was originally conceived as a way for the director to express what the proper punishment for child predators should be, and to show what notorious Nazi doctors like Adolph Eichmann would be doing if they were still in business in modern times. When that factor is added in, the message isn't subtle...

* In Joseph Heller's novel ''Good as Gold'', the narrative stops dead for about forty pages while the author delivers a massive rant about Henry Kissinger, how he's a lying, murdering scumbag and how, worst of all, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|he isn't even really Jewish]].

* Joseph Conrad's ''[[Heart of Darkness]]'' (1902) is a psychological thriller masquerading as an African adventure story, but even before the psychological element takes center stage, the novella's protagonist, Charlie Marlowe, veers away from pure narrative at times to talk about his spiritual awakening (or spiritual death, as the case may be) while in the Congo. For several pages at a time, we come upon extensive philosophical treatises that were considered long-winded and dull even in Conrad's time. Partly justified by the fact that Marlowe is actually, in-story, speaking to a group of friends on a boat, and it is an unnamed first-person narrator listening to Marlowe who both opens and concludes the whole thing.

* The book version of ''[[Emanuelle]]'' gets bogged down with these, especially the "Laws of Eros" conversation. The mouthpiece character goes on about how one can't simply replace bad laws with chaotic anomie, then goes on to make the bald assertion that anything man-made is more aesthetically pleasing than anything created by nature.

* Very common in American TV cartoons and sitcoms during the 1980s and well into the '90s, with the characters (or, sometimes, the actors portraying them) [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] at the end of the episode to advocate on behalf of a cause with which the episode had fictionally dealt. For more on this phenomenon, see [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]].

* When ''[[Brookside]]'' was canceled, the show's creator Phil Redmond had his final say in a rebellious scripted rant about how 'TV and society's not like it was' voiced by its longest-running character.

** Not to mention that Kushner is a huge fan of Brecht, and the subtitle of ''Angels In America'' is ''A Gay Fantasia On National Themes''. So really, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

* This happens a ''lot'' in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series. As a sly apology, more often than not it's the ''villains'' blathering on, and the protagonist greets their speeches with irreverence, frustration or bewilderment as appropriate. Not to mention that you get to ''beat the crap out of them'' once the cutscene's over.

** That said, in the final cutscene of each game, there's a character that always espouses for Hideo Kojima for a while. In MGS1 it's Naomi Hunter, in MGS2 it's Snake, and in MGS3 it's EVA (sort of, she doesn't nearly break the fourth wall). And you never get the chance to beat any of them up, because it's the final cutscene.

*** That's because the Villainous filibusters are actually [[Character Filibuster]]s, with the later Author Filibuster at the end being a disagreement with it. He's generally not wanting you to agree with the villains, which is why their plans fall apart at the end and you get to cream them.

** As a side-note, Nastasha Romanenko would like you to know that [[Anvilicious|nukes are bad]].

* In ''[[Deus Ex]]'', JC can match wits with a Hong Kong bartender who has a '''lot''' to say about the nature of government and the consent of the governed. The monologue of the NSF leader met in the Statue of Liberty also qualifies.

* A summary of ''[[The Last Resurrection]]'' would read like this: "Dear Christians, fuck you cunts. Hate, Sean".

* ''[[Sonichu]]'', especially during the troll-influenced issues, usually have the eponymous character or the [[Author Avatar]] complaining about stuff the author hates, mostly trolls and homosexuality. Issue 10 is the worst of the bunch, with at least three filibusters and, at one point, Sonichu even tells Chris to stop and get on with the story!

* The ''[[Camp Camp]] Holiday Special - A Camp Camp Christmas, or Whatever'' ends with the characters breaking the fourth wall and lecturing the audience. It's not exactly clear how compelling someone that thought climate change was a hoax would be swayed by this, and any viewers that believed it's a hoax could very well feel insulted (and thus admitting being wrong could feel like it comes with the extra baggage of validating the insults. And thus be counter productive to the Rooster Teeth's intent). Mercifully, this was at the very end of the episode, so it didn't grind the plot to a screeching halt as the plot was already wrapped up.

* A mild example occurs in ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'', when at one point Shin bursts into a long rant about DVD regional lockout and copy protection. This is actually pretty much exactly in character for her, given the situation, but it's a little jarring and has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever.

* [[Moviebob]] has a ''really'' long extended rant on [[Megan Fox]] in ''[[Jennifer's Body]]''- it isn't until the two-minute mark that he starts talking about the actual film because he feels he has to get off his chest his annoyance at how overrated she is as either an actress ''or'' a sex symbol.

** His ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' review also included a long rant against the Tyler Perry cameo.

* [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] has a tendency of interrupting his comic reviews to remind us of how very much he hates ''[[One More Day]]'', and at one point adds a caption saying he will not be getting over it any time soon. He has the decency to make it funny.

** Justified in that ''[[One More Day]]'' ''is'' a comic, so at least he's still doing his job as a reviewer. Come for one review, get another one free!

* Animated web series ''[[Broken Saints]]'', steeped as it is in political and religious themes, comes dangerously close to this several times.

* Alpharius from ''[[PRIMARCHS]]'' spends an entire chapter doing this at the end of the 2nd arc. Not only is this lampshaded by the stage directions ('''Alpharius'''...'''Alpharius again'''...'''Alpharius still isn't shutting up''') but the chapter itself is titled "[[Invoked Trope|I Think This Qualifies As An Author Filibuster]]".

{{quote|"Like, for instance, if you're watching a TV show and you decide to take your values from that... you're an idiot. Maybe you should take responsibility for what values your kids are getting. Maybe you shouldn't be letting your kids watch certain shows in the first place if you have such a big problem with them, instead of blaming the shows themselves. [long pause] Yeah."}}

* ''[[South Park]]''. Although sometimes with mocking, many episodes are about what Trey Parker and Matt Stone find wrong in the world.

** This has become increasingly apparent in recent seasons. In a scene from "Whale Whores", the in-universe Larry King breaks character and diverts attention from the scene just to talk about how much he (that is, Matt and Trey) hates the host of ''Whale Wars''. A previous episode had a scene that made fun of ''Ghost Hunters'' [[Overly Long Gag|by repeating the same joke over and over again, that did not contribute anything to the plot of the episode and was basically a throwaway gag for something like five whole minutes]]. In other words, [[South Park]]'s instances of author filibuster have not only become more jarring and (even) less subtle, have become increasingly-focused upon more minor topics (such as currently-popular TV shows or trends).