Double Subversion: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

These let a writer have their cake and eat it too: get the trick of a [[Subverted Trope]], without abandoning the plot-furthering nature of that [[Trope]].

 

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', Mytho is a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] but isn't evil at all. But {{spoiler|then the second season comes around}}...

** Alternately, we are first introduced to her as [[The Ditz]]. But then, she proves herself to Light, having even the power he doesn't and finding him out by just staying in a hidden place, which would make even Light applaud and making us thing we'll have a third [[Chessmaster]] in the show. The twist? She's still [[The Ditz]], [[What an Idiot!|directly going to his house and having lengthily talks about the Death Note in a non-secure environment]], [[Too Dumb to Live|telling him the secrets she promised not to which would have kept her alive and less of a tool much longer]], and what not.

** Which may have saved her considering that Light was going to find and kill her anyway if she stayed in the darkness. She also had Rem watching over her and the fact that she thought Light woudn't murder her if she could prove to be useful, and he doesn't.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' has {{spoiler|Isshin training Ichigo in the precipice world, letting him learn a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]]. They could only do this because Aizen destroyed the cleaner that goes through the precipice world. Seems to be [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]], but Aizen said that [[Magnificent Bastard|he planned that so that Ichigo could become stronger.]] Ichigo [[Up to Eleven|went even further]], [[Physical God|ascending to another state of being]], making his reiatsu undetectable by normal Shinigami and letting him shrug off attacks that would have decimated Isshin or Urahara. [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]] indeed.}}

 

* ''[[Quantum and Woody]]'' double subverts the [[Scary Black Man]] trope with Eric Henderson (Quantum). While he ''is'' a tall, muscular, and physically intimidating black man, his full-body costume and articulate speaking pattern means he's inevitably assumed to be Caucasian. People don't ''really'' freak out until they find out he's black underneath.

 

 

 

 

* In ''[[All About Eve]]'', Karen thinks about [[The Only Way They Will Learn|tricking Margo to help her understand]], and justifies it to herself that Margo will like it, and there's no reason not to tell her..."in time."

* [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] likes to play these in the [[Final Destination]] movies. Think that chain of events will kill our sure victim? Nope, he barely made it. But another trigger kills him anyway.

* ''[[Megamind]]'' double subverts a [[Troperiffic|huge slew]] of [[Superhero Tropes]]

* At one point in ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'', the heroes are wearing [[Paper-Thin Disguise|Paper Thin Disguises]]. Unfortunately, one of the enemies sees right through them... wait, scratch that. He only saw through ''one'' of them. The rest of the disguises seem to be working just fine. He even helps the heroes "arrest" the one he spotted.

* In Buster Keaton's [http://www.archive.org/details/OneWeek "One Week"] (1920), a couple of newlyweds is given a portable house and a piece of land. Towards the end of the film, they discover that they have built the house on the wrong lot, and have to tow it across railroad tracks; predictably, the house jams on top of the tracks. The couple attempts to make it budge while arguing. Cut to footage of speeding train. Cut to train whistle letting off steam. Cut to couple jumping and looking past the house. Cut to larger plan of the couple making, in vain, a last-minute effort to move the house with the speeding train in the background, before stepping aside. Just as the train is expected to hit the house, the camera pans right, revealing the train passing on the tracks just next to the house. Cut to sighs of relief of the couple, who resume their arguing. Cut to ''another train running through the house from the other direction''.

* The climax of ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'' double-subverts [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]: {{spoiler|Jack misses his knife-throw at Lo Pan by half a mile. When the villain sends the knife flying at him with magic, though, Jack [[Catch and Return|catches it and throws it right between his eyes]]. "It's all in the reflexes."}}

 

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* The novel ''The Dragons of Babel'' subverts the [[Rightful King Returns|the long-lost heir trope]] by having a con man successfully pose as the heir to the throne. {{spoiler|And then the one completely infallible test proves that he really ''is'' the heir to the throne.}}

** Stephenson loves this trope - the same thing happens in ''[[The Diamond Age]]''.

 

 

* ''[[Golden Palace]]'', pilot: Involving a robbery incident. See [[The Ditz]].

* ''[[Six Feet Under]]'' actually got a few of these into the opening sequences involving the deaths each episode revolved around.

* In the ''[[News Radio]]'' episode "Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Shot", Jimmy tells the WNYX staff that in order for Matthew to get his job back, someone from the station will have to enter and win the upcoming corporate talent show. Matthew repeatedly tries to tell the group that he has a talent he can use, but everyone ridicules or dismisses him. Finally, when all hope appears lost, Matthew finally informs the group that he has a ventriloquist act and has been competing in ventriloquist competitions for ''years''. A [[Genre Savvy]] viewer would expect that at this point, Matthew goes on stage, knocks them dead, and wins his job back, right? But that's not what happens. Matthew sucks... really badly. But... he ends up winning the competition ''anyway'', on a pity vote.

* Happens twice during the pilot episode of ''[[Castle]]''. Mystery writer Richard Castle is informed that, in [[Real Life]] police investigations, fingerprint matches can take up to a week to get done, and the most likely suspect usually ''is'' the person who did it. Castle than proceeds to sweet talk the mayor into giving their fingerprint search priority, getting it done in under an hour, and proves that the most likely suspect was actually framed.

* Comedy double act ''Lee and Herring'' used this trope a lot. In the first series of This Morning With Richard Not Judy, Richard Herring would describe some disgusting act (often involving bestiality) he had partaken in. For example in one episode he described going to the sewage works and swimming in the sewage. Stewart Lee would then accuse Rich of being sick, prompting Rich to say "But who is the real sick man in this so-called ''society''. Is it the man who regularly has harmless pleasure swimming in sewage, or is ''the business man in his suit and tie'' who goes to the toilet and thus produces the sewage in the first place?" Stu would then point out that in that example it was the first man because the business man hadn't done anything wrong. It was triply subverted in the final episode of series one, a business man who wears a suit and tie turned up to complain, Rich was suitably apologetic, but then the as the business man walked away they saw that the back of his suit was missing and he was wearing bondage gear underneath. Rich was delighted to find out that the business man was the sick one after all.

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* At the start of ''[[Secret of Mana]]'' the main character pulls a [[Only the Chosen May Wield|sword out of a stone]] signaling that he is probably the [[Chosen One]]. However, soon after that, he is told by Jema that he is too young to be a hero, and he was only able to remove the sword because the power of Mana is weakening. Much later in the game, it turns out that he was definitely the Chosen One all along. Of course, a [[Genre Savvy]] player wouldn't believe Jema's explanation for one second.

 

 

** More commonly, the comic itself is just a subversion, while the [[Alt Text]] comic contains the double subversion, [http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1407#comic like this] (mouseover the red circle to see it).

** You may have doubted its existence, or even the possibility of its existence, but ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... the legendary [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=176#comic quadruple subversion.]

* Also in [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1727 this] ''[[Questionable Content]]''.

 

* In [http://inkblort.deviantart.com/#/d2fmn8y this] short, the viewer is led to believe {{spoiler|that Arthur has been using Excalibur to cut up people.}} Then, it turns out he was cutting lasagna. {{spoiler|Then it turns out that yes, he was cutting up a person. [[I'm a Humanitarian|And eating them.]]}}

 

 

* ''[[House of Mouse]]'': [[Donald Duck]] has set up his computer. A viewer would tend to expect that the computer would take all day to start up. Just 15 seconds after he turns it on, however, the screen reads "Startup Done", just long enough for the viewer to think "Huh?" before the word "Almost" is added to the screen, and it ends up taking all day after all.

** Joker Wins. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebyzaB8KfLw&feature=related FATALITY!]

*** This is based on a scene from the comics, in "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker!" (Batman #321).

* In the animated movie ''Anastasia'', Anya is conned into posing as the long-lost Russian princess... and it turns out she really ''is'' the long-lost Russian princess.

* [[Porky Pig]] double subverts the [[Precision F-Strike]] in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P49sLoe6H8 this clip] not meant for general audiences.

** Later in the same episode, Roger has this:

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' is fond of double subversions in general, possibly because it's a sneaky way to get [[Rapid-Fire Comedy|two jokes for the price of one]], or a way to sneak a joke in an otherwise mundane transition. One example is in "A Hero Sits Next Door" with their double subversion of [[Eye Scream]]. Lois mentions that someone "lost an 'eye' (I) during Bingo". We see a [[Flash Back]] of a scene of the MC calling out an "I" number, then dropping it on the floor and losing it. Just when we think the gag is over, he bends over to look for it and slams his eye into the corner of the table.

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Here Comes the Neighborhood" where many extremely rich black people were moving into South Park Mr. Garrison exclaims that "their kind" is taking over the place. When one asks what he means, he states because they are "'''rich'''". However at the end, when they successfully drove all the rich people out of Town, Mr. Garrison exclaims they can sell the houses and become rich. When it is pointed out to him that doing so will make them the same as the people they just drove out, Mr. Garrison replies, "''well at least we got rid of those damn [[Curse Cut Short|nig...]]''".

 

 

* The [[Brick Joke]] is a double subversion of the [[Chekhov's Gun]] principle.

* [[Voodoo Shark]] is possibly a double subversion of [[Plot Hole]].

 

 

* The Todd River Race in Alice Springs, Australia, is a tongue-in-cheek subversion of conventional river regattas in which the "rowers" must carry their boats along the dried-up riverbed. Nature sometimes sabotages the event by inconsiderately filling the river with water, subverting the intended subversion.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Trope Tropes]]

[[Category:Bait and Switch]]