39,327
edits
Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (Mass update links) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 2:
The lovechild of [[Law of Conservation of Detail]] and [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]], [[Hesitation Equals Dishonesty]] is ubiquitous to the point of being unnoticeable. Whether engaging in [[Blatant Lies]] or making sure to [[Let Them Die Happy]], any time a character visibly hesitates when relaying information (rather than, say, making an emotional appeal) to another character, it's even money or better that they're being dishonest, and are trying to barely avoid [[Saying Too Much]].
Since [[Viewers are Morons]], they probably won't know that the hero's family was in fact NOT... [[Released to Elsewhere
The trope extends to videogames, even to the dialogue of the player characters: Even if [[Statistically Speaking]] the PC is an excellent liar, there's a good chance the writers will mark his [[Blatant Lies]] with the all too subtle "Why, yes.... I AM the assassin you've ordered".
Line 10:
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* This is used in the unaired episode of [[Kodomo
* During the Mahora Festival [[Story Arc]] of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Haruna flatly asked Yue if she got jealous when the former kissed Negi. When Yue tried to deny that accusation, Haruna noted that she took a fraction of a second too long to answer and that the old Yue would have smacked her for being an idiot immediately. Busted.
* In Sound Stage X of [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]], Teana asks {{spoiler|Runessa}} if she {{spoiler|has heard of Toredia Graze}}, and after a surprised pause, she says no. Teana does some more investigation into this as a result of noticing {{spoiler|Runessa's}} reaction, and eventually {{spoiler|learns of her past connection with Toredia and eventually arrests her for her role in the Mariage killings}}, pointing out that the way she responded was what tipped her off.
* Mostly inverted in ''[[
== Comics ==
Line 25:
Later<br />
''Draco had listened carefully, but he hadn't detected any hesitation or tremor.'' }}
* Kyon does this in ''[[Kyon:
{{quote| '''Kyon:''' Well, I have to head back in anyway, since ... I forgot my shoes. Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, alright, Tsuruya-sempai?}}
== [[Film]] ==
* In the ending scene of ''[[Back to The Future]]'', Marty asks Doc if he and Jennifer become "assholes" in the future and the Doc says they both turn out fine. The sequel establishes the [[Retcon]] that Doc was lying to protect Marty from the [[Awful Truth]]. In ''Part II'', the refilmed version of that scene (refilmed to [[Flashback
** Doc hesitates, gives a squinty look out the corner of his eye, and stammers just a little on answering. In the original in Part I, the scene is shown from the rear of Doc; we don't see his face or his expression.
* This is actually reversed in ''[[Stranger Than Fiction]]''. After a disastrous first meeting, Harold encounters Anna Pascal on the bus, and stumbles his way through an apology, outright stating that he 'ogled' her and it was wrong. She accepts his apology... "But only because [he] stammered."
* [[Star Wars
* Averted in ''[[Inside Man]]''. When Jodie Foster confronts Christopher Plummer, asking him if it was true that he used to work for the Nazis in WWII, he hesitates for about four seconds...then smiles and says "Yes."
** Either he was a truly honest man, who was old and had nothing to lose, or he realized that hesitating that long before lying about it would make it obvious that he was lying.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[Murder
* Both played straight and averted in ((Discworld)). While pauses do often hint at lies, several characters, especially Sam Vimes, note that instant responses are even less honest.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Jon Lovitz's "The Liar" character from ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. "[[Blatant Lies|Yeah... that's the ticket!]]"
* From ''[[
* ''[[Smallville]]'''s Clark Kent is the king of this, pausing for years before delivering a [[Blatant Lies|horrible explanation]] for something that has even the slightest correlation to his being an alien. If you're going to pause that long, Clark, at least come up with a plausible explanation, will ya?
** This is likely done deliberately to characterize the upright and honest Kent as a particularly terrible liar, at least using TV-language.
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', when Matt tells Daphne he believes she's reformed, the poor guy is told [[Hesitation Equals Dishonesty]], with the extra twist that the amount of time he hesitated was only significant to someone with [[Super Speed]].
* Averted on ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'': characters point out that prepared lies generally cause people to answer ''more quickly'' because they have already prepared their story for questioning. The way to catch these people is to ask them to repeat their story ''backwards'': your average liar won't bother to practice enough to get this right, but someone telling the truth will obviously be able to draw on their memory to answer. It's also mentioned, however, that hesitating is [[Reality Is Unrealistic|a way to make people think you're lying]].
* In one episode of ''[[Monk]]'', Monk's assistant asks him if he saw some embarrassing pictures of her. He hesitates for about a minute (no exaggeration intended), refusing to meet her eyes, before he responds "no". Then, as he walks away, he wretchedly adds, "Yes."
* Pick a crime drama, any crime drama... Sometimes seems you can't go two episodes without this trope being the '''only''' reason a cop or prosecutor declares someone to be lying, no matter how logical or reasonable what the suspect says is.
Line 55:
{{quote| KITT: Where are we? Everything is so dark... is it night?<br />
Bonnie: ...Yeah. }}
* Explained on ''[[
{{quote| CHANDLER: Okay, well. Janice said 'Hi, do I look fat today?' And I, I looked at her...<br />
ROSS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You looked at her. You never look. You just answer, it's just a reflex. Do I look fat? Nooo! Is she prettier than I am? Noo! Does size matter?<br />
Line 61:
ROSS: And it works both ways. }}
* Invoked on ''[[Frontline]]'', when Brooke edits a pause into the interview of a priest accused of rape to make it look like he's thinking about his answer.
* In a season two episode of ''[[
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' - after Balthazar rewrites history by un-sinking the Titanic, and is then forced to reset things by a very angry Fate, Castiel and the Winchesters have this exchange. The boys think Balthazar did it because he's a chaotic headcase who hated the Titanic movie, but Castiel knows it was {{spoiler|to create fresh souls for his war in heaven.}}
{{quote| '''Dean:''' Did Balthazar really [[Cosmic Retcon|unravel the sweater]] over a chick flick?<br />
'''Castiel:'''....Yes. (not meeting Dean's eyes) Absolutely. That's what he did. }}
Line 72:
* ''[[Fallout]]'', and doubtless many other older [[RPG|RPGs]] without (much) spoken dialog, use this trope to quickly convey to the player that a particular dialog tree choice is... [[Hesitation Equals Dishonesty|the gospel truth, of course]].
** Fallout 3 takes a ...different... approach, marking the PC's [[Blatant Lies]] with the subtle tag <Lie> at the end. Surprisingly few of these <Lies> are Speech skill checks, many are simply accepted at face value by the NPCs, often to [[Narm|heartbreaking effect]].
** [[Planescape: Torment]] does the same thing, and in some cases you get dialogue choices that say the same thing, but have different tags.
*** e.g. if you want to force someone to tell you some information, you can tell them that you will kill them if they don't answer. Choosing the dialogue option "Lie" means that you're bluffing, while "Truth" means that you actually intend to carry out the threat. Usually, the only difference between two options like this is the effect on your [[Character Alignment]].
* Girl Stinky of ''[[Sam and Max]]'' does this constantly. {{spoiler|[[Red Herring|Typically when she's actually being honest]].}}
* The Porre ambassador in the ''[[
* [[
* [[In the 1st Degree]] definitely plays this straight. When you question the defendent Tobin and pin him about the phone message of him threatening Zack, he says "I was trying to...''persuade'' Zack to withdraw the claim." He's lying, you know it and the prosecutor you're playing as knows it.
* Eggman's [[Announcer Chatter|public announcements]] in [[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
| |||