High Altitude Interrogation/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Alice seeks to get information from a stubborn Bob by dangling him from the top of a skyscraper and threatening to let go of him if Bob doesn't comply.

  • Straight: Bob is willing to comply with Alice and tell her everything she wants to know after being threatened this way.
  • Exaggerated: Alice dangles Bob from a jet plane that is flying high above any buildings.
  • Justified: Alice's method of interrogating suspects is based on an existing technique, which the law enforcement/government agency her character is associated with practices in Real Life.
  • Inverted: Alice ties Bob to helium balloons, and threatens to release him into the atmosphere if he doesn't talk.
  • Subverted: Bob would rather die than tell Alice anything, anyway, so he refuses give up the information Alice wants after being threatened with death in this manner.
  • Double Subverted: Alice then drops Bob, catching him just before he hits the ground with a grappling hook and bringing him back up to ask him again. He is now willing to talk.
  • Parodied: The "great height" Alice dangles Bob from is less than half the height of the average human being. Bob is terrified and reveals everything he knows.
  • Averted: Alice's interrogation methods neither involve fear of heights nor death threats.
  • Deconstructed: Any information or confession Bob gives Alice is considered unreliable. Anything Bob says may just be anything Alice would want to hear and not necessarily the truth.

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