Mirror Routine: Difference between revisions

* A recent{{when}} McDonald's commercial plays with this trope with a young teenage girl who apparently approaches a mirror and performs a dance routine before "reaching through" to pick up the "reflected" drink, at which point it becomes apparent that this trope was being performed with twin sisters.

* A variation of this is done in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]''. The Mirror card [[Invoked Trope|deliberately]] [[Captain Obvious|mirrors]] Sakura's actions in order to reveal its identity.

* ''[[Naruto]]'': [[Brilliant but Lazy|Shikamaru and the rest of the Nara family]] pull this off by way of their [[Shadow Pin]] ninjutsu. To paraphrase an enemy, "You got ahold of my shadow, so now we marry each other's movements."

* The [[Marx Brothers]] did definitive version that everyone copies in ''[[Duck Soup]]''. To be honest, the gag was old when the Marxes did it, dating from vaudeville and being used in several silent comedies in the '20s, though they subvert it niftily at one point when Groucho and Harpo ''walk around each other'' but continue imitating each other afterward.

* A variation shows up in the [[Buster Keaton]] film ''[[Sherlock, Jr.]]''—Buster stands in front of what appears to be a full-length mirror, then steps through, revealing that it's a door connecting two identical rooms.

* [[Roberto Benigni]] does a quick mirror routine with an [[Identical Stranger]] in ''Johnny Stecchino.''

* In the unused script for "Back to the Future II", old Doc Brown travels to the sixties and has to avoid being seen by young Doc Brown by hiding behind an empty mirror frame. ''"Great Scott! I look terrible!"''

== Literature ==

* Inversion: In ''Ares Express'' by [[Ian McDonald]], Sweetness searches through a mirror maze for one image that doesn't match her every move, because it's an independent virtual-reality copy of her.

* In ''[[Disney Fairies|Fawn and the Mysterious Trickster]]'', Fawn pranks Beck by dressing up as her and pretending to be her reflection.

== Live-Action TV ==

* Parodied in a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch parodying ''[[The Swan]]'' in the episode hosted by the Olsen twins. One twin played the contestant looking at herself in the mirror; the other played the mirror image, deliberately off-sync with the other. The "image" even hands the other a tissue when she starts crying!

* In the first episode of ''[[Sister, Sister]]'', Tia and Tamara simultaneously brush their hair a bit (like, out of one eye) while standing on either side of an empty frame. Neither knows about the existence of the other until later in the episode.

== Puppet Shows ==

* In an episode of ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Kermit checks his appearance in an empty frame; on the other side is Scooter's wind-up TV show host that looks exactly like Kermit, except for the wind-up key in the back.

== Video Games ==

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'': The battle against Shadow Link starts off like this and goes on for about a minute or so before he starts attacking on his own.

* ''[[Sonic Generations]]'': Before fighting the Death Egg Robot, Classic and Modern Sonic both walk up to a glass window in the wall separating them and perform this gag. The perspective the player sees it from depends on which Sonic they used to enter the boss portal from the hub world. In Classic Sonic's perspective, he realizes the trick after Eggman speaks. In Modern Sonic's, he doesn't notice until Classic Sonic runs off.

== Web Comics ==

{{quote|'''Kaalinor:''' Wow! That was totally awesome! I can't believe I stayed in sync with you for so long!}}

* The protagonist of ''[[Chopping Block]]'' [http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20001003.html once did this] with [[Friday the 13th|Jason]] (both wear hockey masks.)

== [[Web Original]] ==

* When the title character of ''[[Ruby Quest]]'' leaves a room and returns, what was a window into another room seems to have changed into a mirror—at least, the figure on the other side perfectly mimicks Ruby. When she's forced to smash the glass, however, the figure remains, and its face [[Body Horror|distorts]] as it squeezes into the room.

== Western Animation ==

{{quote|'''Finn:''' Come on, Jake, I ''know'' this isn't a mirror! What the-- You're [[Lampshade Hanging|doing it WRONG, even!]]}}

* Rainbow Dash from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' does this in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E26 A Canterlot Wedding Part 2|A Canterlot Wedding Part 2]]" with {{spoiler|the first Changeling to take her appearance}}, complete with a subtle lag in the latter's movements.

== Real Life ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209113241/http://www.metacafe.com/watch/876063/hilarious_mirror_prank/ Done as a prank.]

* [http://improveverywhere.com/2008/07/06/human-mirror/ Another prank], done by [[Improv Everywhere]].

* ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [http://www.cracked.com/article_19369_the-6-most-mind-blowing-ways-your-brain-can-malfunction.html The 6 Most Mind-Blowing Ways Your Brain Can Malfunction] mentions a mental disorder called mirrored-self misidentification, in which someone looking into a mirror believes that the [[Mirror Monster|monster in the mirror]] is an intruder performing a Mirror Routine, not oneself.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Reflective Tropes]]