Caught on Tape: Difference between revisions

Often used to achieve an [[Engineered Public Confession]]. May be achieved by a [[Magical Security Cam]].

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Brutally subverted in ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex|Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]'', where the Tachikomas discuss the fact that video footage is practically useless as evidence due to how easily it can be tampered with. Indeed, the Laughing Man's MO relies entirely on this, as he hacks into any recording devices around him (including other people's cyberbrains) and edits himself out of the footage, effectively letting him become invisible.

* In the [[Grand Finale|series finale]] of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' the [[Main Characters]] are arrested because they watched an armed robbery take place and didn't call the police or do anything else to help. In court, footage that one of them shot themselves is used as evidence against them, showing them watching the robbery and, not only doing nothing to help, but actually ''mocking'' the victim as the robbery's going on.

* On ''[[Friends]]'' Ross and Rachel argue about which of them initiated the sex that resulted in Rachel getting pregnant. Ross insists that it was Rachel who hit on him, and shouts out that he can prove it because he videotaped the whole thing. This does not make the situation better.

* ''[[Square One TV|Mathnet]]'': The Karamasov brothers frame George for armed robbery by one of them [[Latex Perfection|wearing a George mask]] and robbing a bank. He stops to make sure the security camera has a clear view of him, even posing straight on and in profile like those pictures they take when the cops book someone.

* In ''[[Better Off Ted]]'' Veronica turns out to have a tape of the time Ted and her had sex, confiscated off a security guard who apparently had dozens of similar tapes. Ted ends up showing the tape to Linda, not because of the sex (which she already knew about), but because it revealed that the e-mail Linda swore she had sent Ted had been accidentally deleted during the act, explaining why Ted never received it.

* On ''[[American Dad]]'' a traffic camera records Roger running someone over and leaving them to die. However, he's wearing a [[Paper-Thin Disguise|paper thin]] [[Kevin Bacon]] disguise at the time, so it's the Hollywood actor who gets arrested. Even Bacon himself, who was thousands of miles away when the hit-and-run happened, believes he must have committed the crime and repressed the memory, because "it's clearly me on the tape!"

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' [[It's Been Done|did it]] when Homer was accused of groping a woman. Apparently [[Funny Foreigner|Groundskeeper Willy]], like ''all'' Scottish people, secretly videotapes random people in cars, and he uses his tape to prove that Homer was just trying to grab a piece of candy off the woman's butt.

* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' had an animated movie where a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] tried to demolish several homes and businesses to erect a shopping center and avenge an ancestor. The villain gloated to Arnold and burned a document that established the area as a historical site, thus making it illegal to demolish it. It was caught on the villain's own security tape.

* ''[[Wheel Squad]]'': Akim and Johnny were once arrested for robbery and a security tape from World Mart had been introduced as evidence against them. It turned out that [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Enzo]], the manager of World Mart, doctored the tape becaise his boss wasn't satisfied that the extra cameras had yet to diminish the place's theft rate.