This Is Reality: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Marco:''' "You know, [Cassie] is just not getting the whole superhero thing. Would [[X-Men|Wolverine]] look things up in the phone book?"

 

A sort of [[Lampshade Hanging]] affirmation of the [[Fourth Wall]], with a subtle joke and a bit of dramatic irony rolled in. Basically, one character tells another, "This Is Reality", "This is not a movie", etc. in order to get them to divorce themselves from an unrealistic notion—only, little do they know, it indeed ''isn't'' reality. This phrase is often used when [[Defied Trope|defying]] a trope.

* Phoebe of ''Phoebe and Her Unicorn'' once told another little girl that she'd changed her hair style because, "It's a different day. It's not like I'm a cartoon character."

 

* {{spoiler|Tsuruya}} dismisses using their prodigious anime collection as a basis for a confession, reasoning that real life is more complicated than that in ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]''.

* ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'' has Dumbledore compare the war against Voldemort {{spoiler|(which he thinks has restarted, thanks to a badly calculated action on Harry's part) }} to [[The Lord of the Rings]], and then state that Tolkien has no idea how a wizarding war would really go, and that {{spoiler|Gandalf should have taken Frodo and the Ring to Rivendell immediately, as soon as he suspected Frodo might have the Ring, as even if Gandalf was wrong, the magnitude of the danger he suspected Frodo and Middle-Earth were in outweighed the inconvenience to Frodo, and the potential massive embarrassment to Gandalf.}} He also states that that wasn't Gandalf's only mistake, just his worst.

* This trope is the ultimate theme of, and pretty much the [[Arc Words]] for, the ''[[RWBY]]'' fic series ''[[Emergence]]''.

 

* The English remake of the movie ''[[Funny Games]]'' has this dialogue between two characters:

{{quote|'''Paul:''' You can see it in the movie right?

* Near the end of ''[[Hugo]]'', Papa Georges sadly states that {{spoiler|he knows his automaton was destroyed}}, because "happy endings only happen in the movies". Cue Hugo running off to get it, because of course, this ''is'' a movie, and there ''is'' a happy ending.

 

* In ''[[The Dresden Files/Blood Rites|Blood Rites]]'' Henry states that the book's Big Bad is to cliche to be a Hollywood movie villain. Well, The ''[[Dresden Files]]'' is a book series, not a movie, so maybe he's right.

* ''[[Animorphs]]'' often contrasts the characters' experiences with video games, movies, and comic books.

{{quote|'''Carrot:''' Maybe we can reason with it--

'''Angua:''' Attention! This is the ''real'' world calling! }}

* In ''[[Christine (King novel)|Christine]]'', there's a scene where one of the main characters, the scrawny, eternally-victimized Arnie, decks his longtime tormentor. The narrator comments that if it had been a movie or a book, the punch would have knocked him out; unfortunately, this was not the case.

** Most of [[Stephen King]]'s works are rife with this. In ''[[Misery]]'' Paul Sheldon contemplates how to kill the crazy woman holding him captive, only to shoot down every idea he comes up with with "well, maybe in a book that would work, but here, no."

* The very first of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''Black Widowers'' mysteries involves a [[Private Detective]] telling the Widowers about a case he had years before: something was stolen, but the victim had no idea what had been taken. At last, there was only one thing the detective could do. His listeners are at a loss to guess what that thing is; he explains that this is because they're used to stories in which a detective always solves the mystery. '''He''', on the other hand, was forced to admit he '''couldn't''' solve it. But Henry, the Black Widowers' waiter, '''can''' {{Spoiler|— because Henry was the "culprit" all those years ago}}.

 

* The ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode "My Life in Four Cameras" has J.D. fantasizing about what life would be like if he were in a [[Sitcom]]—completely oblivious to the fact that ''he already is''. (To be fair, though, he's thinking of the more conventional sitcom style than the style ''Scrubs'' uses.)

** Also used by Dr. Cox, when he claims that medical mysteries that happen in TV medical dramas are unrealistic. Cue the entire episode being ''full'' of said medical mysteries, and the good doctor even walking with a cane a la ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''.

 

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

 

* [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[The Mikado]]'' includes the line, "I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances." Needless to say, virtue does indeed triumph eventually.

* In [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'', new managers Andre and Firmin watch their star soprano throw a fit and comment, "You'd never get away with all this in a play/But if it's loudly sung and in a foreign tongue/It's just the sort of story audiences adore/In fact, a perfect opera!"

* In ''[[Space Hulk|Space Hulk - Vengeance of the Blood Angels]]'', your squad regularly report on what they can see or hear (or smell). One of the lines is admonishing another marine, telling them that "this is not a game".

 

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' one of the french immortals ''[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-02-27 mentions it]''

* Employed in ''[[Templar, Arizona]]'', when [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/spike/Templar/series.php?view=single&ID=72321 Reagan is disappointed] that Red Eric isn't ... good looking.

* Shows up a few times in ''[[Megatokyo]]'' used by Yuki or her friends. Ironic (subverted perhaps?) because later on, {{spoiler|Yuki becomes a ''[[Magical Girl]]''}}.

* Subverted in ''[[Killroy And Tina]]'':

* ''[[Weregeek]]'': [http://www.weregeek.com/2010/10/01/ This is real life, not a shoujo manga!]

* [[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]] is not a Magical Girl manga. Or so Hermod believes anyway.

* ''[[Shadowgirls]]'' [http://www.shadowgirlscomic.com/comics/i-am-providence-pt-4/ had] it [[Played for Laughs]]:

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Phrases]]

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Fourth Wall]]