Unreliable Voiceover/Playing With
Basic Trope: What we're being told doesn't fit what we're being shown.
- Straight: Bob is telling his friends how his date with Alice went: according to him, it went well. The accompanying Flash Back, however, shows that things went poorly.
- Exaggerated: Bob claims that he was a perfect gentleman who swept Alice off her feet for the most romantic night of her life. Meanwhile, the flashback reveals he really fumbled and bumbled his way through the whole thing while tossing out cheesy pick-up lines... at Alice and any other 'pretty girl' who crossed their path, until Alice finally had enough.
- Justified: Bob doesn't want his friends to know about any problems he had with Alice, because he knows they'll relentlessly mock him if they knew the truth.
- Bob honestly doesn't realize that the date went poorly; he went through the whole thing in a blissful, lovesick haze and failed to notice that Alice wasn't enjoying herself.
- Inverted: While Alice tells her friends the honest truth about the date, the audience is treated to her Imagine Spot of how wonderful/horrible it could have been...
- Subverted: Bob's retelling matches the Flash Back perfectly...
- Double Subverted: ...At first. Then it slips out of sync as he starts to exaggerate and stretch the truth...
- Alternately, it appears to match at first, but watching closely reveals several small-but-significant deviations.
- Parodied: Bob tells a blatantly exaggerated story about his absolutely perfect date, with limos and fancy restaurants and expensive presents for his girlfriend... when he really struggled to get his car through MacBurger's drive-thru.
- Bob is a habitual liar who spins some wild yarn about his date going horribly Off the Rails... while the Flash Back shows a perfectly normal date.
- Bob tells the above story about limos and fancy restaurants to his friends. They all assume that this trope is in effect. He isn't lying at all.
- Deconstructed: ???
- Reconstructed: ???
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: ???
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs: ???
- Played For Drama: Bob isn't as nice as he acts; while he tells his friends about his nice, normal date, the Flash Back reveals what he really did to Alice...
Back to Unreliable Voiceover.