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Hourglass Plot: Difference between revisions
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Compare: [[Prince and Pauper]], [[Perspective Reversal]], [[Freaky Friday Flip]] for an especially literal case, and [[Perspective Flip]] for when it's a [[Retcon]] instead of a plot development. Compare and contrast: [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]], [[You Kill It You Bought It]], and [[Not So Different]].
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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== [[Film]] ==
* A two-parter in ''[[Trading Places]]''. In the first half, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy swap lifestyles. In the second half, they team up to bankrupt the decadently rich Duke brothers and get rich in the process.
* In the film version of ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'', after his [[Et Tu, Brute?|betrayal of his best friend]], Fernand is set up with a beautiful wife and an inherited fortune and noble title, while Dantes is locked away in a prison for 16 years. After his escape and subsequent execution of his [[The Plan|plans for revenge]], Dantes is now the one with titular noble title, beautiful woman, and nigh-limitless fortune, with Fernand's fortune completely lost, his woman gone, and under threat of imminent arrest for murder and conspiracy.
* 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]].
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** Arguably, Clark and Lex fit the description, given their destinies. Clark is usually the meaner of the two in the show.
* Attempted in the first two seasons of ''[[Friends]]''. First Ross pines after Rachel as she dates [[The Paolo|Paolo]]. Then Rachel pines after Ross as he dates Julie. How well this works is debatable, given that Julie was a wonderful person and Paolo was a jerk.
* In ''[[Carnivale]]'' Brother Justin is a preacher who slowly turns to the darkside upon the realization that he is [[The Antichrist]], and also suffers from an unfortunate case of [[Bad Powers, Bad People]]. Ben, an escaped criminal on the lam from the law, makes a parallel journey as he comes into his own powers as [[The Messiah]].
* ''[[Supernatural]]'' brothers Sam and Dean swap positions on moral limits in season 4 - {{spoiler|Sam's demon blood leads him to kill humans for power, whereas he previously was always insisting they avoid "means to an end" sacrifices. Dean, previously a hedonist who expedited the hunt with an apathetic battleax approach, starts setting limits to the point that he'd rather let he and Sam both die rather than be possessed and possibly injure others in a blunt force strategy of the angels.}}
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' features a [[What Could Have Been]] example. Originally, it was planned to bring Faith back at the end of Season 6 and have her, [[The Atoner]] fight with Evil Willow. As it was, they didn't fight, though Faith still gat an [[Oh Crap]] moment where she saw Willow at full power.
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* ''[[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.
** That should be general ''level'' of nastiness: the one who starts poor stays nasty and unsympathetic after gaining wealth, and the one who starts rich stays likeable after losing his wealth.
* ''[[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.}}
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