Perspective Flip: Difference between revisions

* In the [[Expanded Universe]] of the ''[[Gundam]]'' franchise, there are myriad works told largely from the perspective of other characters and factions. One common tendency in particular is to [[Rooting for the Empire|frame the story from Zeon's side.]]

** A sizable portion of the flashback arc in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin]]'' (covering the events leading up to the One Year War) is told through Char and Sayla's perspective. And to an extent, Zeon's in general.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Subverted in that, at the end of the book, it's obvious Lex Luthor is the totally inhuman one. Even worse, he's an entirely human [[Complete Monster]].

* Subverted a bit in ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' #135, which has a perspective flip on "A Clue For [[Scooby Doo]]"'s fake monsters of the day, {{spoiler|Captain Cutler, and his villainous wife, without giving a good reason for their crimes.}}

 

== Fan Works ==

** Due to epic amounts of [[Hype Backlash]], quite a few readers have decided that the story actually makes Neville and crew into a [[Designated Protagonist Syndrome|Designated Protagonist army]] and Harry all the better by comparison...

* Extremely common in ''[[The Hunger Games|Hunger Games]]'' fanfiction, since the canon work is told in first person POV from Katniss' perspective. You can find the stories retold from the POV of [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4767311/1/bThrough_b_bAnother_bs_bEyes_b Peeta], Rue, Cinna, Prim, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5804480/1/Afterlife Haymitch], [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5325278/1/Love_is_a_Battlefield Clove], [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5052303/1/A_Foxs_View Foxface], [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6986943/1/Saving_Fire Johanna], [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6890493/1/The_Dream_of_Freedom Cashmere], [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6617690/1/Volts Beetee] even [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5336937/1/Cripple minor] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6499081/1/The_Flaw_in_the_Plan tributes].

 

== Film ==

* An early part of ''[[Ip Man]]'' films involves a newcomer challenging established martial arts masters. Thing is? In the first film it's a villain doing so, who Ip puts in place. In the second, it's Ip himself who's the outsider. Pity that it was never commented on.

* ''[[Maleficent]]'' retells the story of [[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]] from the "wicked fairy"'s point of view.

 

== Literature ==

** Not as far-fetched as it sounds. Set was originally a good god in the actual myth. He became unpopular during a time period when a foreign army took over Egypt and made him their patron god. Set being evil was a [[Retcon]] added afterward to justify his unpopularity.

** The entire principle of the Temple of Set is set around the concept of antinomianism - going against the dominating perspective of religious and philosophical views of one's culture in order to achieve a state where the artificiality of of such viewpoints becomes apparent. An extreme simplification, of course.

* K. Eskov's ''[[The Last Ringbearer]]'' also retells ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' from other perspective. The main point is that Mordor and Isengard were actually heralds of technological progress, which the Valar thwarted because it would cause the people to worship them less.

* [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Incarnations of Immortality|For Love of Evil]]'' is a perspective flip on the other books of the ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' series. Satan is the series' antagonist, and this book presents that [[Satan Is Good]], his previous conflicts with the other incarnation all stem from his desire to have God replaced by someone who's less complacent, so that good people don't accidentally wind up in hell when they die. The current god is too self-absorbed by his own magnificence to bother renegotiating the covenant with the devil. The book goes on to show certain good deeds the devil has done during his tenure - saving the Jews from the Holocaust by tricking the Incarnation of time into [[retcon]]ning that part of history (which cost him his friendship with all future Incarnations of Time, who were the only ones to like him to begin with), saving a country from the Black Plague (though he did trick Gaia into engineering it in the first place). In the end, Satan ends up giving up his job (and in doing so being sent to hell) for the love of a new Gaia. {{spoiler|He got better, and came back in time to succeed in having God replaced by his stepdaughter, who would be competent at the job. Only then did the other Incarnations realize Satan was on their side.}}

* [[Taylor Swift]] wrote ''Enchanted'' about meeting a guy at a party. [[Owl City]] did a cover of that song, revealing that ''he'' was the one she wrote the song for. Except, of course, the cover was Flipped. He did a really nice job, too.

* The song [//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqwR_0RFPJM "Little Red Riding Hood"] by ska band ''Voodoo Glow Skulls'' not only shows the tale from the perspective of the wolf, but also reveals that he only [[Beast and Beauty|wants to love]] [[Bodyguard Crush|and protect her]].

** The song is a [[Covered Up]] version of a song by Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs (of "Wooly Bully" fame), making it [[Older Than You Think]].

* The [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]] song "The Lady and the Tiger" is a take on Frank R. Stockton's classic short story "The Lady or the Tiger" from the perspective of the two eponymous characters, who are worried less about the possible consequences for the story's protagonists and more about how [[No Ending|no one will ever open either door and let them out]]. Also, the lady has [[Eye Beams]].

* ''[http://www.songworm.com/lyrics/songworm-parody/Bandersnatch.html (Frumious) Bandersnatch]'', parody of ''Heretic Heart'' by Catherine Madsen. Another filk from Bob Kanefsky. As narrated by [[Alice in Wonderland|Bandersnatch]], and… well, [[Non-Malicious Monster|it happens to be hungry]], that's about it. Was sung by [[Leslie Fish]].

* ''[//www.stlyrics.com/songs/k/kathymar17024/grendel469657.html Grendel]'' by Kathy Mar — a part of ''[[Beowulf]]'' as narrated by Grendel's mother.

 

== New Media ==

** And [http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/32/pachinima another].

* ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [http://www.cracked.com/article_18881_5-reasons-greatest-movie-villain-ever-good-witch.html 5 Reasons the Greatest Movie Villain Ever Is a Good Witch] shows us why Glinda of ''The Wizard of Oz'' is not as good as she first seemed.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Once again, ''[[Perry Bible Fellowship]]'' provides [http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF106-Billy_the_Bunny.jpg an example] (in a way that is cruel even by PBF standards).

 

* [[Gnosticism]] contains many perspective flips of the Old Testament and Western Christianity. Yahweh is a tinpot cosmic dictator, the Serpent of Eden was a dispenser of wisdom, angels are violent Lovecraftian monsters, and the world is a transparent prison God uses to keep his human betters enslaved and confused.

** By the way, the whole "angels are Lovecraftian monsters" thing isn't the perspective flip; just the fact that they're untamed forces of nature rather than the good guys. Seriously, read some Old Testament/Torah/Kabbalistic descriptions of Seraphim, Cherubs, etc...

* Romans co-opted a lot of Greek Mythology, but changed it according to their own unique values and biases:

*** Actually, Mars was initially more important than Jupiter in the Roman religion. Only after some time did the god of sky become more important than the god of war.

** Greeks considered Odysseus as one of their distinctive heroes for his shrewdness. On the other hand, Romans preferred a more straightforward philosphy to soldiering, and considered Ulysses (Odysseus) an amoral [[Dirty Coward]]. This characterization is aided by the fact that Romans believed themselves to be founded by Aeneas of Troy, making Ulysses an ancient nemesis.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

{{quote|When the Gods tricked and bound me, Tyr looked me in the eye and smiled as he placed his hand in my mouth. He was the only God I trusted, and he ''lied'' to me. He ''betrayed'' me. So... ''why is he now God of Justice?''}}

** Note that in context, the players are given a chance to answer this question, and Fenris ''will'' accept good answers.

* ''[[Continuum]]'' has the supplement ''Narcissist: Crash Free''. In ''Continuum'', Narcissists are the villains of the setting, fools and madmen who imperil the Continuum's future society with their attempts to alter history to reflect their selfish desires. In ''Narcissist'', "crashers" (as they prefer to be called) are [[La Résistance]], bravely standing against the Swarm (their term for the Continuum), a soulless and regimented [[Dystopia]] that refuses to use its technology to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].

 

== Web Animation ==

* The Flash animation ''Ganon Knows Best'' features a heroic [[The Legend of Zelda|Ganondorf]], an evil Link, and Ganondorf's son...[[F-Zero|Captain]] [[Ice Climbers|Popo]] [[F-Zero|Falcon]].

* ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]'' stars [[Super Mario Bros.|Hal the Koopa and Jeff the Goomba]] and their [[Punch Clock Villain|attempts at a dishonest living]].

 

== Video Games ==

** ''[[Command & Conquer: Generals]]'' and its expansion ''Zero Hour'' have campaigns that follow chronologically from one another.

 

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', the protagonists meet Basil the Minotaur, a kind (though easily startled) soul whose birthday party was once ruined by drunk jerk named Theseus. Antimony realizes that the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur as we know it was "[[Shrouded in Myth|borne of the constant retelling and misinterpretation of [this] simple story]]."

* The ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' prequel book ''Start of Darkness'' contains elements of this trope for both the actual webcomic and ''Dungeons&Dragons'' with regard to goblinoid races, most notably in the opening scenes in which a village of goblins is slaughtered - women and children included - by the Paladins of the Sapphire Guard, for the most part heroic supporting characters in the comic strip. It subverts the trope with Xykon, however, by making it clear that even when his story is told from the very beginning, there's really no way of making him a sympathetic character.

- No wonder Navi tried to drive him crazy.

- [[Most Annoying Sound|HEY! LISTEN]] is [[Fridge Brilliance|the new danger whistle]]}}

 

== Web Original ==

* Actually used in [[Whateley Universe]], both with classical tales (As the Wiki states), and with actual Whateley stories. The Jadis focus story and the Jobe focus story overlap, one Chou story and Ayla story have the same incident from two different perspectives. Also overlaps with [[The Rashomon]]. In a twist, however, the villain stories USUALLY subvert the idea, keeping the villains 'bad guys'.

* [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=993 This] guest strip for ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'', by the author of ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''.

* ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'': Somewhat of a deconstruction of heroic/villainous stereotypes.

 

== Western Animation ==