Hourglass Plot: Difference between revisions

* You may have to squint a bit, but this was part of the [[Character Development]] between Neo and Smith in ''[[The Matrix]]'' and its sequels. Or so the directors say, anyway: Smith picks up human emotions and independent goals (which he doesn't like) while Neo finds himself as a "cog in the machine" with a pre-destined goal (which also proves to be a bit of a drag).

* ''[[Juno]]'' and Mark. She keeps going over to his and Vanessa's house to get to know them better and see what kind of family her baby will have ("I just like being a piece of furniture in your weird life"), while his exposure to her and her teenage flippancy gives him second thoughts about his adulthood and eventually causes him to bail on his wife and the coming baby, to Juno's shock and dismay. His regression triggers her [[Coming of Age Story|coming of age]].

* In ''[[Primer]]'', Aaron starts off as a family man and rather risk-averse (note the scenes where he worries about needing eye protection and warns his wife against using the first batch of ice from the new fridge). Abe starts off unmarried and rather more devil-may-care. Over the course of the film, access to a [[Time Travel]]-powered [[Reset Button]] makes Aaron become more aggressive and willing to take risks, and he eventually leaves his family. Abe, on the other hand, becomes increasingly worried about the side-effects of time travel and oddly protective of Aaron's family.

* The entire plot of [[She Devil]].

* In William Faulkner's ''A Light In August'', this happens to Lena Grove and Byron Bunch. Not that any Faulkner book is comprehensible the first ten times you read it, but it's there.

* ''Sister Carrie''

* Used light-heartedly in the A.A. Milne poem "Twice Times". There are two little bears, a bad one and a good one..."And then quite suddenly (just like Us)/One got Better and the Other got [[Painful Rhyme|Wuss."]] Milne then reveals that he's using this as an allegory, since he just realized that his son has finally learned all his times tables, while he's getting so old that he can no longer remember where he put anything.

* [[Older Than Steam]]: In the first part of the novel, [[Don Quixote]] is a [[Daydream Believer]] [[Mad Dreamer]] and Sancho Panza has [[Simpleminded Wisdom]] and represents realism. Both are [[Static Character|StaticCharacters]]. At the second part, Sancho is influenced by [[Don Quixote]] and becomes more and more of a [[Daydream Believer]], while at the end, Don Quixote will become [[Bored with Insanity]] by Sancho’s influence. The relevance is that they maybe were the very first characters in literature to become [[Dynamic Character|DynamicCharacters]]

** To be fair, Melanie was the one who told a teacher about Kathleen's anorexia, so she could get help, and was also the one who told her she had to leave Scott.

** The fifth season of ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' has Emma swapping moral positions with her entire circle of friends and family. They screw up their lives one by one, Emma redeems them all—and then she snaps under the pressure, becoming worse than any of them ever were. The climax is them trying to reason with her, as Emma threatens them and says they have no moral right to criticize her. ("You take advantage of drunk girls. You ''are'' the drunk girl...")

* The Narn and the Centauri in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' are caught in an apparently endless cycle of invasion, occupation, liberation and revenge.

** G'Kar starts out as the arrogant jerk seeking power and advancement while Londo is humbled and accepting of his position in life and the lack of any real power. A couple seasons later G'Kar is humbled and powerless while Londo has become one of the most powerful men in the Centauri Empire with the arrogance to match it. By the end of the series they start flipping again though they lose their arrogance for good.

* The play ''[[Pacific Overtures]]'' has two friends, a samurai and a peasant with knowledge of the west, exchanging places. The samurai, who becomes an ambassador of sorts with the foreign powers as Japan is forcibly opened to trade, becomes increasingly westernized, while his friend, angry at the exploitative actions of the West, becomes a reactionary after being made a samurai. Tragedy ensues.

* [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Henry IV]] Part I''.

* In Shakespeare's ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', Antonio saved Sebastian's life after a horrific storm, when they were both mired in a strange country. Antonio grew very close to Sebastian, and even got into a duel in Sebastian's defense. When Antonio was placed under arrest by Orsino, his old rival, he expected that Sebastian would help him out—only for Sebastian to act like he's never met Antonio before. Antonio is heartbroken—but {{spoiler|fortunately he had really met Sebastian's [[Half Identical Twin]], and the ''real'' Sebastian is perfectly happy to help Antonio once he finds him again.}}

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: The Wind Waker'' features one of these; a rich man and a very poor man both have their daughters kidnapped, and the circumstances surrounding their return swaps them over, including general nastiness.

* ''[[Suikoden IV]]'' has this with [[Heroic Mime|Lazlo]] and [[The Scrappy|Snowe]] [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Vingerhut]]. The worse off one gets, the higher the other rises. While Lazlo [[The Stoic|copes with whatever hand he's dealt]], Snowe never seems to learn from his mistakes. {{spoiler|Eventually, though, he ''finally'' makes his [[Heel Face Turn]] and actually starts learning from his experiences in retrospect. It just takes nearly the whole game to ''get'' him to that point.}}

* Delita and Ramza in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', who serve as foils to each other throughout most of the game. By the end of the story, {{spoiler|Ramza has abandoned his ties to the nobility entirely, while Delita has assumed the highest position of power within the aristocracy.}}

* The plot of ''[[Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders]]'' episode "Dreamfields." Kale and Gwen are hit with some magic that causes them to hallucinate they've swapped places. It's enough to ''almost'' get Kale to [[Heel Face Turn]]...but not quite.

* This happens in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' episode aptly named "Crossroads of Destiny" between Aang and Zuko. Aang is [[The Chosen One]] who up to that point had successfully fought off [[The Empire]], while Zuko was a banished, disgraced prince abandoned by his father, the [[Evil Overlord]] of said empire, [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|after repeatedly failing to capture Aang]]. {{spoiler|The episode finally sees Aang defeated with Zuko's help, and the following episode brings out that Zuko is now accepted as a prince again in his home country with the approval of his father and famed for killing [[The Hero]], while Aang is thought to be dead after having failed to defend the capital of the one country that could fight against [[The Empire]]}}.

{{quote|'''Jon:''' What have I--[[Ironic Echo|what have]] ''[[Never My Fault|they]]'' [[Never My Fault|done to you?!]]}}

 

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