Third-Act Misunderstanding: Difference between revisions

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Line 1: {{trope}} [[File:~~graph_9958~~graph 9958.jpg\|link=Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal\|frame\|If there are zombies involved, it ends with the man eating the woman's face.]]▼ {{quote\|I'm torn, because on one hand, I want to share something important that happened to me while we were apart... But on the other hand, [[Genre Savvy\|bardic tradition demands]] that I withhold it all so that at some later point, you can accidentally learn an incomplete version and jump to all the wrong conclusions--thus leading to entertaining dramatic conflict later in our relationship.\|'''Elan''', ''[[~~The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)\|~~The Order of the Stick]]''}} ▲[[File:graph_9958.jpg\|link=Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal\|frame\|If there are zombies involved, it ends with the man eating the woman's face.]] Alice is keeping a secret, perhaps even a hidden agenda, from Bob<ref>(though gender flips are commonplace)</ref> and his [[True Companions]]. She may benignly want to befriend or romance him, or less scrupulously steal something from him, or gain his trust as [[The Mole]] and betray him. Regardless, she's holding back key facts about her background which would make him doubt her honesty or outright hate her. But before long she [[In Love ~~With~~with the Mark\|genuinely develops feelings for him]], and may find she's [[Becoming the Mask]]. This being drama, her secret comes out in the third act and Bob and Co. [[Reformed but Rejected\|reject her]] utterly. [[Emotional Torque\|For extra pathos]], it'll be at an important event like their wedding or after winning some award. [[It Meant Something to Me\|Protests to the contrary]] are chalked up to "[[Was It All a Lie?\|more of your lies!]]" Of course, this revelation comes [[Poor Communication Kills\|just as Alice]] [[Cassandra Truth\|needs Bob to believe her]]. [[The Reveal]] can come in the form of a friend or enemy from [[Dark and Troubled Past\|their past life]] who [[We Want Our Jerk Back\|doesn't want to let go]] or [[Forgiveness\|forgive]], a randomly found memento or internet search. Line 10 ⟶ 11: Often, Alice [[We Could Have Avoided All This\|could have avoided]] this situation if she'd [[A Tragedy of Impulsiveness\|thought things out]] and revealed her secret earlier when it wouldn't be as damaging. On the plus side, this is one narrative circumstance in which it is all but guaranteed that [[The Reveal Prompts Romance]]. [[Rom Com\|Romantic comedy]], as a genre, [[Omnipresent Tropes\|abuses this trope]]. Most [[Chick Flick~~\|Chick Flicks~~]]s need to have the characters break up without losing audience sympathy, so some sort of misunderstanding usually drives the third act. Compare with [[Third-Act Stupidity]] and [[Second Act Breakup]]. Line 22 ⟶ 23: * The Adam Sandler remake of ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town\|Mr. Deeds]]'' features Deeds learning that his love interest Pam, whom he's about to propose to, is actually a reporter named Babe Bennett who was helping a network smear his name. Babe initially wanted to help smear Deeds, but found he was so nice to her and generous with his money, she fell in love with him. She goes to try and explain... just as a report about the whole story is broadcast on TV. Not only does a heartbroken Deeds leave New York City, he signs away his $40 billion dollar fortune. * In the first ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'' movie, Dave writes a letter explaining why he wants them to leave, which he ''immediately'' throws out because he realizes he cares too much for them. Of course, a few weeks later they find the crumpled piece of paper (I think it fell behind the bed?) and assume he really does hate them. This despite their marked improvement in their relationship. You can probably guess what's spoilered here, but {{spoiler\|they eventually reconcile.}} The moral of the story? ''Always'' destroy hatemail you don't intend to send. * In ''[[Avatar (~~Film~~film)\|Avatar]]'', the thing where [[The Mole]] is revealed at the point where he's already past [[Becoming the Mask]], and he tries to explain to his teammates that he's on their side now, but they don't believe him. Seems to be different from [[Reformed but Rejected]] as the character has already switched sides, but is rejected in light of past events. * ''[[Legally Blonde]]'', when Vivian sees Callahan hitting on Elle, and Vivian assumes she's using her looks to get ahead. * ''[[She's All That]]'' and ''[[~~Ten~~10 Things I Hate About You]]'' both use a variant where a bet is placed and after [[The Hero]] ends the bet or stops following it, the [[Love Interest]] only then finds out and rejects him. * The first ''[[Shrek]]'' movie has the eponymous ogre overhearing a conversation between Princess Fiona and Donkey about "who could ever love something so hideous." {{spoiler\|She's talking about herself, as she turns into an ogre at nightfall, and changes back in the morning.}} Shrek, however, creates his own misunderstanding after telling Fiona he heard everything, even though he hadn't. {{spoiler\|This makes Fiona believe that Shrek won't accept her for what she is, and she accepts Lord Farquaad's marriage proposal.}} * Parodied in ''[[Not Another Teen Movie]]'' where the guy revealing the truth goes into almost excessive detail. Line 42 ⟶ 43: == Theatre == * In ''[[~~Philoctetes (Theatre)\|~~Philoctetes]]'', Neoptolemus is pursuaded by Odysseus to lie to Philoctetes in order to force him to come to Troy. Once he meets Philoctetes, he begins to feel genuine sympathy for him. As Neoptolemus begins to contemplate doing the right thing, Odysseus shows up, the lies are revealed and Philoctetes becomes very bitter and angry towards Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus does make it up to him in the end, even at the risk of [[The Trojan War]] ending in failure for the Greeks. == [[Web Comics]] == * [[Lampshade Hanging\|Lampshaded]] in ''[[~~The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)\|~~The Order of the Stick]]'' by Elan (see page quote). Elan talks about her affair with Therkla to Haley in the [[Denouement]] (also lampshaded in that very same strip) of the 4th book, and mentions this. He finally tells everything. == [[Western Animation]] == * ''[[Teen Titans (~~Animation~~animation)\|Teen Titans]]'' had Terra experience this in the aptly named "Betrayal". Just as she's about to confess to Beast Boy, Slade shows up and reveals it instead, taunting and baiting him with the news that {{spoiler\|not only was Terra working for him as [[The Mole]], but his robots were attacking Titans Tower ''at that very moment'', while BB was distracted by their date}}. She didn't take BB's rejection well. ** Which leads to a moment of [[Fridge Brilliance]] when you think about the episode's name. Yes, {{spoiler\|Terra betrays the Titans}}, but just moments before finding out the truth, Beast Boy had promised that he would be Terra's friend no matter what. So it refers to ''his'' betrayal as well. * Towards the end of ''[[Mulan]]'', Mulan's true gender is revealed. Fortunately, Shang's life debt to her saves her life; but when she tries to tell her friends that there are Huns still alive and heading for the city, they disbelieve her both on account of her deception and her gender. Line 56 ⟶ 57: {{reflist}} [[Category:Romance Arc]] ~~[[Category:Poor Communication Kills]]~~ [[Category:Drama Tropes]] [[Category:~~Example~~Third-Act ~~As a Thesis~~Misunderstanding]] [[Category:~~Third~~Example ~~Act~~as ~~Misunderstanding~~a Thesis]] [[Category:A Failure to Communicate]]