This Is Reality: Difference between revisions

** Erika and Walker, as well. They're both complete Otakus and theorize on "if this was a manga" and "I'd like to go to the 2D world."

* ''[[Kaze no Stigma]]'' episode "Pandemonium":

'''Ren''': This isn't some kind of play, this is real life! }}

* In [[You're Under Arrest]] Full Throttle, in episode 10, Natsumi and Miyuki have to operate {{spoiler|robots}} designed for dangerous rescues. Upon being introduced to them, Nakajima points out that one of them doesn't feature a face nor legs to which the creator answers that {{spoiler|robots}} are designed that way only in anime and manga.

* [[The Firesign Theatre]] uses this trope extensively in almost their entire body of audio comedy work. The layers of trope-play become extremely confusing and interesting. See the quotes page for one example.

* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' audio drama "The Abergavenny Murder", Holmes announces that if a client doesn't come through the door soon, he'll go mad from boredom, then pauses hopefully.

*doorbell rings* }}

 

== Film ==

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

'''Paul:''' Why? }}

* A snippet of dialog from ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'':

'''Elliott:''' This is ''reality'', Greg. }}

* A good deal of ''The [[Last Action Hero]]'' plays on the differences between the real world and the Hollywood action movie version thereof. Unfortunately, even the supposedly "real" world has movie electricity.

* ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'':

'''Billy:''' Yes it is, Sidney. It's all one big movie. }}

** And in ''[[Scary Movie]]'', the relevant scene even has the guy pointing to the cameras, resulting in annoyed groans from the cameramen.

* Played with by the ZAZ movie ''[[Top Secret]]'':

(Awkward pause. Nick and Hillary [[Aside Glance|look toward the camera, embarrassed]].) }}

* In ''[[My Favorite Year]]'', washed-up actor Alan Swann (played, with magnificent appropriateness, by Peter O'Toole) proposes that he and his minder, Benji, use a fire hose to climb down the outside of a building and crash a party being thrown by the parents of the girl Benji likes. Benji protests to no avail, finally snapping.

'''Alan Swann''': What is the difference? }}

* Played straight in ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'':

** In a sense, this is an [[Inverted Trope|inversion]]. Usually, the character is contrasting [[Real Life]] and fiction, declaring that they are not in a work of fiction (and causing the audience to chuckle). Smecker, on the other hand, has just unwittingly ''likened'' [[Real Life]] to fiction (since a trope that only happens in "bad television" has just popped up). His intended point was that the killers were unprofessional--though if he followed his own logic, he might have realized that they are, in fact, in a work of fiction.

* Played straight in ''[[Star Wars]]: Attack of the Clones,'' where Padme tells Anakin that "we live in the real world; come back to it."

** Which is pretty much smashed to bits by her following line: "You're studying to become a Jedi Knight, I'm a senator."

* Played straight, but intended for subtle humor according to the filmmakers, in ''[[Star Trek]] III,'' where the following exchange takes place.

'''Uhura''': This isn't reality. [points a phaser at him] This is fantasy. }}

* In what may be case of the fiction [[Turkey City Lexicon|protesting too much]], the film ''[[The Bourne Series|The Bourne Ultimatum]]'' seeks to remind us again and again that "you couldn't make this stuff up", "this isn't some story", and so on.

* In ''[[Whatever Works]]'', the main character has [[No Fourth Wall]], which his pals doubt.

* Claimed by a character in ''[[Cube]] 2: Hypercube''.

* In ''Super,'' one of Sarah's friends accuses her of acting as if she lives in tv because she plans to marry Frank (who later dresses as a superhero from influence of tv and comic books).

* 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.

** It's also played with in other areas, such as in ''[[Good Omens]]'' where, when a character is looking for her lost book, she employs several tropes that, as the narrator notes, would work in any story worth its salt, but alas, not here.

** In ''Feet of Clay'':

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

** Used by the titular cat in ''[[Discworld/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents]]'', in dealing with the terminally [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] Malacia.

* In the [[Inheritance Cycle]], the character Roran has to come to terms with several issues after the destruction of his family, one of which being that, "Justice, the oldest stand-by in songs and legends, had little hold in reality."

* In ''[[Gone]]'', after learning that he had launched one of his henchmen into a wall, Caine asks if he's all right.

* In the [[Andrew Vachss]] Burke book ''Mask Market'', Wolfe tells Burke that "this is real life, not a TV show".

** In ''Terminal'', one guy Burke speaks to tells him that neo-Nazi prisoners on their way to death row can blame snitches, not undercover cops, as "those movies where they put undercovers in prison, never happen. ''Couldn't'' happen."

* Early in [[The Deed of Paksenarrion]], Saben, having just escaped captivity at the hands of a villain, with two of his friends, is excited to imagine bringing word back to the Duke, rescuing the rest of the company, and being "heroes in this tale". Canna replies, "this is no fireside tale, no adventure for a hero out of songs: this is real. We aren't likely to make it as far as the Duke, though we'll try".

* A scene in ''[[Gentleman Bastard|Red Seas Under Red Skies]]'' has the two protagonists, Locke and Jean, discussing the relative merits of romantic fiction and non-fiction. The two characters make their living through elaborate grifts and confidence games, pretending to be people they aren't. Thus the phrase "we've made it our meal ticket" is an amusing double entendre: the characters mean their profession as thieves, but the readers could take it as a reference to the author's book sales.

'''Locke:''' I live in the real world, and my methods are of the real world. They are, just as you say, a profession. A practicality, not some romantic whim. }}

* Subverted in the first book of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', Mat says "It isn't much like the stories," to which Perrin disagrees -- "I don't know... Trollocs, a Warder, an Aes Sedai. What more could you ask?"

** In one episode, Chole asks Clark if he can fly. Clark goes, "I'm an alien, not a cartoon!"

* Reversed in the last aired ''[[Firefly]]'' episode, "Objects in Space":

'''Wash:''' So? }}

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' [[Take That|slammed]] [[Dueling Shows|its competitor]], ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', this way:

* Kevin Shinick, the host of the game show ''[[Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?]]?'', was billed as "the Squadron Leader". His mother appears in one episode, and the two get into an argument about his job, but she's satisfied by the end, saying, "At least he's not a game show host."

* Factual television example: [[Narrator]] Robert Lee points out in an episode of ''[[Myth Busters]]'': "If this were a movie, you'd know something terrible was about to happen. But this is ''Mythbusters''. Factual television. Real life. ...Like I said, real life, real results. In this case, an awful lot of nothing." (This contributor wonders, how long before we hear it in a [[Reality TV]] show?)

* On ''[[The Sopranos]]'', Tony attempts to make Carmela less leery of his gambling habit by arguing, "Hey, I was shot. I almost died, but here I am. That's tremendous odds. I'm lucky!"

* In the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "Tangent", when Daniel assumed that ''[[Star Trek]]'' tropes would carry into the "real world", this exchange occurred:

'''Jacob:''' Beam them out? What am I, [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|Scotty]]? }}

** ''SG-1'' also has its very own [[Show Within a Show]], ''Wormhole X-Treme'', created by an alien (who doesn't know he is one) from not-entirely-suppressed memories and used by the USAF/SGC as part of their ongoing coverup of the Stargate program; rumors of the "real" thing can be dismissed as inspired by the television fantasy. ''Wormhole X-Treme'' is also an excuse for the SG-1 writers to merrily [[Lampshade Hanging|hang lampshades]] on everything.

* The ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "Poisoning the Well" has this exchange:

'''Sheppard:''' The TV character that Dr. Beckett plays in real life. }}

* [[Running Gag]] in the ''[[Charmed]]'' episode "Chick Flick", which revolves around movie characters coming to life. "This is the world of illusion, and you girls are reality."

* Done once in ''[[Greg the Bunny]]'', when Sarah Silverman's character explains to Seth Green's why she's not interested in him. She compares him to the quirky guys who always get the unattainable beauties in romantic comedies, then reminds him that "this is the real world" -- at which point a six-foot tall muppet stumbles past the camera.

* ''[[Space Cases]]'' in the [[Evil Twin]] episode:

'''Harlan:''' But this is reality. }}

* Subverted somewhat on the show ''[[Big Wolf on Campus]]'' where almost every plot is immediately recognized by Merton as being 'like that movie'. The characters almost always end up using a modified version of the movie solution with nary a care for the fact that they're using movie logic.

* ''[[Farscape]]'''s main character, [[Genre Savvy]] John Crichton, often pointed out how the science fiction that he was living was much more difficult compared to TV. (These comments were used by the writers to [[Lampshade Hanging|point out]] that ''Farscape'' was subverting tropes.)

* The '60s ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' used it once, after the Dynamic Duo escape the latest cliffhanger [[Death Trap]], and Robin starts musing rather close to the fourth wall:

'''Batman:''' Things like that only happen in the movies Robin. This is real life. }}

* On ''[[Lost]]'', when Hurley believes the island, plane crash, lottery, etc. are all part of his hallucination, Libby tells him that their experiences are real, and she's real. "And don't tell me you made me up. It's insulting."

* Happens at least twice on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'':

** This exchange with the [[Girl of the Week]] in the episode "Monster Movie":

'''Dean:''' No, ''[[The X-Files]]'' is a TV show. This is real. }}

** Said by the Trickster/{{spoiler|Gabriel}} in 5.08 "Changing Channels":

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': In "Rise of the Cybermen", trapped in a parallel universe:

'''Doctor:''' Not in the real world. }}

** Ten episodes later, they were beaming back and forth between alternate worlds a dozen times an episode using Staples "Easy" buttons.

* In the fourth season premiere of ''[[Chuck]]'', Chuck tells Morgan something to the effect of "This is real life, not the opening of a spy show!"

** And in season 2 when Ellie asks Chuck what he wants to do with his life:

'''Ellie:''' This is what happens when you sit in front of the television too long. }}

*** The last one is, of course, the correct answer.

* An indirect version occurs in [[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]: After trapping a sentient holographic Professor Moriarty (long story) in a small device meant to simulate him living out his life in the universe, the following dialog takes place at the end of the episode:

''Nothing happens. Barclay looks around and leaves the room. Cue shot of Enterprise traveling through space and end credits.'' }}

** Sadly, this is ''completely'' in character for Barclay. (Especially given his Holo-addiction problems.)

* In the first episode of [[ALF]], the son (Brian) wants ALF to live with them, just like E.T.; his mother (Kate) explains, "E.T. was a movie. This is real. This is on our coffee table!"

* ''[[Community]]'' had Jeff mocking Abed for not knowing the difference between reality and TV. Abed responds with a combination of this trope and [[What the Hell, Hero?]].

* In ''[[Father Ted]]'', Dougal starts to swear. Ted admonishes him and claims that people don't talk "like that in the real world!"

* From the ''[[Hustle]]'' episode "The Delivery", in which Cool Hand Cooper is being chased by [[The Mafia]]:

'''Cooper''': Yeah, not as cuddly in real life. }}

* On ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', Cory gets caught in a [[Two-Timer Date]] scenario and Shawn teaches him to play it out like Fred did in one episode of ''[[The Flintstones]]'', leading to this exchange:

'''Cory:''' Shawn, that was a cartoon, [[Cartoonland Time|time was compressed]], we're real, we're in real time. <br />

'''Shawn:''' Trust me, [[Medium Awareness|it's the same thing]].<br />

* In ''[[Urinetown]]'', one of Officer Lockstock's many meta lines is: "Well, now, Little Sally, dreams only come true in happy musicals -- and a few Hollywood movies -- and this certainly isn't either one of those. No, dreams are meant to be crushed. It's nature's way." However, he and most of the characters are [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know that they're characters in a show.

* ''[[Mary, Mary]]'', when Mary is trapped in a locked closet:

'''Dirk''': In the movies the door is pieced together by the prop men so all you have to do is blow on it! }}

* ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'' introduces the [[Last-Minute Reprieve]] for its [[Villain Protagonist]] by commenting that since the work is fictional, there will be a [[Happily Ever After]] ending.

*** There ''is'' one time the "message in blood" is real (in ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]''), but that time it's not used to point out the killer, but to a crucial fact about the ''victim''. As one might expect to happen in a real case, the killer attempted to smear it out.

* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'':

* In ''[[Animal Crossing]]: Wild World'', one of the things Resetti says when you [[Save Scumming|reset the game]] is something along the lines of "You can't reset to solve all your problems. That kind of thing only happens in video games," except with more all-caps.

** This is not really an example; as he acknowledges he's in a video game from the start. His point is that "you can't reset real life when you screw up, why should you be able to do so in a video game?"

* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer tries to get rid of a trampoline by tossing it off a cliff that looks like scenery from Coyote and Roadrunner Cartoons. The trampoline catches on a mesa and rockets upward, falls on Homer, and hammers him into the cliff. He then comments on how if this was a cartoon, the cliff would break now. It eventually does but not until after a long wait well into the night.

** "Three Men and a Comic Book":

** "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington":

** "Lisa the Beauty Queen":

** "Bart vs. Australia":

'''Bart:''' Ew! It's not like in cartoons. }}

** "Lisa the Vegetarian":

* In the ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' episode 'Film Flam', Darkwing takes Gosalyn to see an animated feature at the local cineplex. Dismayed by the violent themes, he hastens to explain the difference between [[Lampshade Hanging|cartoons]] and [[This Is Reality|reality]].

** Another ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' episode has Darkwing meet a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[James Bond]] named Derek Blunt, who turns out to be very different from the way he is portrayed in the movies. In particular, he is unimpressed by and dismissive of Darkwing's various gadgets, calling them "gimmicks" and declaring "A real agent works with what's at hand." Darkwing, [[The Knights Who Say Squee|a fan of the movies]], is [[Fan Disillusionment|disappointed by the reality of the situation]], but, as is typical of these stories, they end up as friends anyway by the end of the episode.

* Also used in ''[[Disney Animated Canon|Cinderella]]'' by The Grand Duke, ribbing the King for setting up a ball in hopes that the Prince would find a bride. The scene plays out exactly according to The Duke's description, to the point where he finishes with "...a fine plot for fairy tales, but in real life, it is foredoomed to failure!"

* ''[[Ace Lightning]]'' -- Mark actually says this trope, word for word, to the titular character. Along with such lines as:

* In the ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' episode "Urban Ed", Eddy and Ed are on the top of a cardboard "skyscraper" pretending to be pigeons and dropping spoonfuls of yogurt onto the people below. Ed [[Anvil on Head|drops an anvil]] off the building, and Eddy tells him "You're gonna hurt someone! This ain't a cartoon!", at the same time seemingly oblivious to the fact that Ed has just [[Hammerspace|produced an anvil from nowhere]].

** Later episode got straight into [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]], which the characters referencing people working on the show and the fact that their lives are a TV show.

* One episode of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' had Spidey try to make Rhino trip on bowling balls, stating that it always works in cartoons. When Rhino's steps merely break the balls, he concludes that television can't be trusted.

* ''[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]'': ''Thieves' Gambit''

'''Gambit:''' Heh, only in the world of cinema. In real life, they never hold. }}

* In the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'' episode "Night of the Ninja", the titular Ninja makes it very clear to Dick Grayson that "This isn't the movies, boy!"

* An episode of ''[[The Weekenders]]'' has Tino muse that he and his friends are real people, not the stereotypes seen on television... ''{dramatic angle}'' '''"Or are we?"'''

* In ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!]]'', when the Sun Riders (Who at this point are Evil) have taken over the Super Robot and forced the Hyperforce to flee. Chiro suggests that they instead use the Sunriders old fighting Mecha and they head to where they've been told it's stored... only to find out that it is only 20 feet Tall (Compared to the Super Robots Skyscraper) and is in disrepair, at which point the following Exchange Takes place:

'''Sprx:''' If this was just some TV show, Kid, We could give up. [[This Is Reality|But THIS is ther REAL WORLD!]] }}

* An episode of ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' detailed the replacement of Dee Dee with a [[Dumb Blonde|Blonde]] [[Brainless Beauty]]. After Dexter expresses frustration at her failures to recapture Dee Dee's naivete and mischieviousness, she exclaims, "What kind of crazy show is this, anyway?" Noticing Dexter's confusion at this outburst, [[Fourth Wall Observer|the blonde asks him if she truly has entered]] "''[[Fourth Wall Observer|Dexter's Lab]]'', [[Fourth Wall Observer|the TV show"]] only for Dexter to respond, "This isn't a TV show! I'm a real little boy, and this is my lab!"

* [[Ren and Stimpy|Ren]] was once spazzing out at Stimpy about his love of [[Show Within a Show|Muddy Mudskipper.]] To whit: "Cartoons aren't real! They're, uuuuh, puppets! Not flesh and blood like ''WE''!" Which also gets dumped on his head later when Stimpy ''meets'' Muddy and gets to be on the show.

* [[Adventure Time|Finn]] claims that imagination land is boring and calls himself "a kick-butt reality master" (in a post-apocalyptic world gone magically RIGHT), because he prefers adventures over easy stuff... until he burns his foot from Jake's imaginary lava.

'''Jake''': I WAS JUST USING MY IMAGINATION! Then everything got intense. }}

* In ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' on the episode 'A Real Boy' Doofenshmirtz [[Discussed Trope|discusses]] how [[Poor Communication Kills|mishearing things is something that happens in a sitcom]], but this is real life.

* Subverted in ''[[Kim Possible]]'' when Kim's gamer [[Geek]] cousin Larry says he has an idea for dealing with the current sitch: "This isn't one of your stupid science fiction games, Larry! Ron's facing [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|a kung fu mutant with bio-engineered hands, and mystical monkey powers, and]]..." At that point, Kim decides that Larry might be on to something and hands him the Kimmunicator.

* In [[Turtles Forever]], the 2003 Turtles are baffled by the 1987 Turtles' occasional asides to the audience ("Who are you talking to?!") and {{spoiler|original comic-book Leonardo's [[Narrating the Present|comic-book style narration]] of the fight scene.}}

* In the ''[[The Garfield Show|Garfield: Pet Force]]'' special, Garfield berates Nermal for getting so into his comic book. When Nermal wonders aloud if it could be really real, Garfield scoffs:

 

 

* 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]]'':

<nowiki>* </nowiki>exposits*

'''Fulcrum''': It's science ''fantasy''. }}

* ''[[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]]:

-- Perhaps, but am I not speaking to a [[Fish People|fish man]]?|Technically, I am crustacean.}}

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In the second RP of ''[[Darwin's Soldiers]]'', this exchange occurs:

'''Aisha''': Uh, yeah this isn't like the Oceans 11 movies }}

* The [[Genre Savvy]] characters of ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'' frequently remind each other that their story is not like the [[Magical Girl]] manga and anime that they're used to.

* In [http://www.spacetree.com/ Space Tree], [http://spacetree.keenspot.com/spacetree50.html this exchange]: