Unreliable Voiceover: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8
m (Mass update links) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8) |
||
(16 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|"I am ''so'' glad I was unconscious for all of this.."|'''Kuzco''', "narrating" ''[[The Emperor's
So Joe Suspect is explaining to the cops where he was last night. As he speaks, we get a [[Flash Back]] showing us the events.
Line 10:
It can also be used for humorous purposes, to show how incompetant somebody is - they subtly alter the truth in their words and pretend they are very clever to the other, while we see they are ridiculously incompetant. However this can lead to continuity errors - if the writer forgets that the audience knows the truth but the listeners do not, the audience can be left wondering how somebody knows something they weren't told.
Related to [[Rashomon Style]], except that instead of someone else's version of events clashing, it's the cold, unvarnished truth. Unlike [[Unreliable Narrator]], we're led to believe that the visuals tell us what really happened. Unless there's a [[Mind Screw]] going on.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* There's something of an example of this (and a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]) in one of the late first season episodes of ''[[Darker
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]: Brotherhood'', when [[Butt Monkey|Yoki]] encounters the Elrics again, he gives this whole account of how things have went downhill for him ever since he met them, and it's all presented in silent movie style. While he tells of being a good leader who was unjustifiably tricked, and tells of his investments failing, we see him abusing his power and his "investments" are more along the lines of him conning people and gambling away the rest of his money. The funniest part is his narration about "borrowing money" from a noble family- it's actually a scene of him burglarizing the Armstrong home, and in a [[Mythology Gag]] referencing a manga omake and the first anime, he gets a piano dropped on him by the [[Moe]] and harmless-looking [[Cute Bruiser|Katherine Armstrong]].
* This is one of the major tricks of the anime version of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', where Kyon's on-screen actions often contradict his narration. So, for example, in the first chronological episode, Kyon tells us he's not interested in Haruhi, after having just spent several scenes very obviously checking her out.
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Slayers]]'' when Lina cheerfully [["Previously On..."|recaps previous episodes]]
{{quote|
'''Lina''': After bidding farewell to the grateful villagers... Gourry and I continue our journey... ({{spoiler|villagers chasing them with pitchforks}})
'''Lina''': Yeah, I know. But it's [[Half Truth|not a total lie]], okay? }}
* Anytime [[Ranma
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Batman: Year One]]'' features a corrupt detective talking about how he was busting some drug-dealers when the seven-foot bat creature attacked him for no reason, but he managed to fight it off. The art shows Batman breaking in on the detective taking his cut from the criminals the detective alleges he was apprehending. Batman does not approve.
** A similar sequence occurs in ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'', when a businessman describes the harrowing ordeals he went through during Gotham's blackout. The panel-images make it clear that his own every-man-for-himself callousness ''caused'' much of the violence he's complaining about.
* A really horrific example is in the first issue of Vertigo's ''[[House of Mystery]]'' series. The narration is a rather uneventful story about a girl who moves back to her hometown after her parents died, becomes a wife and mother, but doesn't love her children. None of this is actually untrue, but the art fills in minor gaps like the fact that {{spoiler|the other residents of the city are all [[Big Creepy
** Also used more humorously in the rather mundane tale a young man tells about his almost being late for work. And it IS mundane...to him. {{spoiler|He's so used to his world being overrun by supernatural creatures ranging from giant spiders to vampire cats (not a typo) that he doesn't even think the constant peril he has to deal with is worth mentioning.}}
* Used in ''[[Cerebus]]'' to introduce Astoria and her relationship to Moon Roach. Oddly subverted when, much later, another character tells a version of the story which doesn't match the art or narration of the first one.
* Played with in the ''[[
* The ''[[Thunderbolts]]'''s first annual (1997) works like this in comic book form. Citizen V is telling the story of how the heroic Thunderbolts were formed to their newest member, Jolt. As the Bolts are actually villains in disguise (and Jolt is not in on the secret), his narration shows the cover story while the actual pictures and dialog reflects what really happened.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Fables|Jack of Fables]]'', Jack's highly unreliable [[Marty Stu]] narration captions are placed right on panels showing exactly what ''really'' happened, and just ''how'' grossly Jack is exaggerating.
* One ''Future Shocks'' strip had a man in a bar telling his life story to a stranger. The teller told of how he was a loving husband and father whose family were abducted by a warlord, and so he took revenge by entering the warlord's services as a blacksmith and making shoddy weapons, then running off on the eve of a major battle. The panels show that he was actually a cruel miser whose wife ran away, taking her kids with her. He beat his son to death, and the weapons he made were of substandard quality due to incompetence rather than design. The strip ends with him lying in an alley in a pool of blood, the stranger standing over him with a knife.
* The first strip in ''The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the Dead Left in His Wake)'' uses this is bit. The narrator says he heard that Ichabod's introduction to killing was when he killed 20 horsemen, but we see him killing one man in a duel. Later, the narrator relates a story about how Ichabod had a secret love who was able to calm his insane rage and dismisses it as nonsense, but the images show that that's exactly the case.
* In a [[Marvel]] UK ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' story, Octane tells Ratbat about how he bravely stood up to the vast Autobot onslaught only to be pushed back by overwhelming numbers. The images show him running like a coward from just two Autobots.
* ''[[
* Detective Richard [[Fell]] "[[Police Brutality|cleverly negotiates]] with the [[Crazy Homeless People|king of Yaakistan.]]"
* The 2010 [[Iron Man]] annual features [[Super Villain|The Mandarin]] describing his life story to the director he's forcing to adapt it. The captions are what the Mandarin [[Blatant Lies|claims]] happened while the images are what really transpired and they paint the Mandarin in a considerably [[Jerkass|less]] [[For the Evulz|flattering]] light.
== Film ==
* One of the most striking uses of the unreliable voiceover is in Terence Malik's ''[[
* The naive Forrest in ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' plays this trope straight. Played for humor (and sometimes for drama), you'll see Forrest describing the upstart Apple Computers as a fruit company; Charlie, the codename for the Vietcong, as some guy the Army was looking for; and in one scene, he describes Jenny's father as a "loving man, always kissing and touching his daughters." The line pretty much sums up the real truth of Jenny's situation.
* Don's narrative on how he became a Hollywood star in ''[[Singin' in
{{quote|
* The ''[[Mission: Impossible (
* This was used early in the movie ''[[Cube]] 2: Hypercube''. One of the characters said he was a plumber, but his flashbacks showed he was actually a secret agent.
* Agent Smecker does this the other direction during the scene that leads up to the Il Duce shootout in ''[[The Boondock Saints]]''- he's an investigator and not a suspect, and describes what he concludes happens as we watch what really happens such as the moment when he pegs Rocco as a "real sicko" who wanted his victim to
* ''[[The Princess Bride (
* In ''[[Superbad]]'', this is used when one of the lead characters describes their previous evening to their love interest. While they describe going to a elegant club, the audience sees them trying to gain admission to a seedy strip club. Similarly, their account of celebrating with a drink is matched by them vomiting violently from cheap booze.
* The obscure comedy ''Sorority Boys'' used this when one of the characters is describing how he discovered a plot-important hidden camera, leading to a VCR in a lockbox. He fudges the details of the discovery to cover his invasion of his roommate's privacy as if everything was already in the open, while it shows him actually stumbling drunkenly into the hidden camera, yanking on cables, and finally shooting open the lockbox with a revolver.
* ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' does this, but it isn't the narrator's fault. When {{spoiler|Ennis finds out Jack died}}, he calls his widow to know what happened. She tells him {{spoiler|Jack}} was fixing a flat tire when the hubcap blew off in his face and he choked to death on his own blood, but while she's talking, we see soundless clips of {{spoiler|Jack beaten to death with a crowbar by a man the couple met at a party, whom Jack presumably came onto later}}. [[Humans Are
** In the case of the short story the [[Adaptation Expansion|film was based on,]] the trope applies, as the majority of it was from Ennis' point of view. A reoccurring theme for Ennis is what his dad made him witness when he was young, and something in Lureen's voice makes him think "So it was the tire iron."
* In the Mexican comedy movie ''Matando Cabos'', the father of a girl narrates how he walked in on his daughter and her boyfriend holding hands and kissing (while we see them screwing like animals), asked the boyfriend to stop (gave him a swirly), saw the boyfriend get rude and belligerent (raise his hands in terror), and politely asked him to leave (beat him senseless and threw him out of the house).
* A variation in ''[[
* ''[[Beowulf (
* [[The Usual Suspects]] primarily uses [[Unreliable Narrator]], but the flashbacks are ''slightly'' closer to reality than the narration. Eg, his story involves a man named "Kobayashi", but the flashbacks show an obviously non-Japanese man in that role.
* In the film ''[[Walker]]'', which details the 1856 conquest of Nicaragua by an American soldier sponsored by a cadre of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|industrialists]] (most prominent of whom is Cornelius Vanderbilt), the protagonist's
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]''. When Bowler Hat Guy is [[Mr. Exposition|ranting to a captured Lewis]] about [[Motive Rant|why he has a grudge against him]], he says several things that flatly contradicts what is seen on the screen. For instance, he claims that everybody at school hated him after we see a couple of kids being friendly to him and inviting him to hang out, and that he and the evil robotic hat Doris retreated to their "[[Supervillain Lair|villainous lair]]" to make their [[Evil Plan]] - while the actual footage shows them going to an [[Sugar Bowl|adorable]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|kiddy restaurant]].
* In the film ''[[One True Thing]]'' the main character, Ellen, is shown discussing her mother's death with a detective. Her voice-over narration seems at first to match up with what is shown on the screen, but as the film progresses it becomes clear that she is not giving the detective the full story, and has glossed over her family's problems.
* Happens throughout ''[[
== Literature ==
Line 73:
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' uses this with a twist: in some cases, the voiceover ''is'' unreliable. However, so are the images shown, even if we know the image not to be true. For instance, when Ted recalls a night in college when he smoked a joint, he called it "eating a sandwich", and we see him, Marshall and Lily sharing a very large sandwich (and acting high).
** Sometimes played straight though, such as when he claims he and Victoria spent their last day together going all over the city and going to fabulous places, but we see that they actually spent the whole day having sex.
* Used in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' in the episode "The Usual Suspects" (ironically, not a trope from the film, ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'').
* ''[[The Last Detective]]'' uses this on ocassion, as suspects will give accounts of happenings to Dangerous and co. In one episode, dealing with a murder at a college reunion, one character describes the interaction between the chief suspect and the eventual victim as heated but not really violent, but the audience sees a very vindictive interaction on the brink of coming to blows.
* Used for comedic effect in the TV series ''[[Police Squad!]]'', where the show would open with a Quinn Martin [[Police Procedural]] style title card: "Tonight's Episode," followed by some title, only the title that was announced was a totally different title from what was shown on the screen.
* Trivial and mildly amusing instance in ''[[
* A favorite comic device on ''[[Top Gear]]'': Jeremy Clarkson's narration frequently contradicts events on screen, usually to deny responsibility for what he did or to claim responsibility for what he didn't do.
* In a variation, unreliable subtitles are used in an episode of [[Law and Order SVU]]. The aunt of two young girls found alone in their apartment comes into the interrogation room and asks the girls what happened in Chinese. The subtitles reflect what the girls actually said but the aunt lies to the detectives. Fortunately, Dr. Huang was there to call her out on it.
* ''[[
== Theatre ==
Line 85:
== Web Comics ==
* Used in [http://thewotch.com/index.php?epDate=2003-09-10 this strip] of ''[[The Wotch]]''.
* [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0083.html This strip] of ''[[The Order of the Stick
** That or she had considerably different standards on what constituted niceness.
* Early in ''[[
* [http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2010-05-09/comic/team-scramble/suddenly-words-thousands-of-them/ Wildfire's letter] in ''[[Exterminatus Now]]''. It does not help that Rogue knows ''exactly'' how full of crap she is.
* "How [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-24 Tedd met Elliot], abridged version" by Tedd in ''[[
* ''[[Magick Chicks]]'' on a few occasions - Faith's mention of "discussing the student body" with someone [[Inconvenient Summons|before being summoned]] (which is probably technically true - as in, she needed someone to return bra) and Anastasia narrating her youthful misadventures reaching the part about the "[[Off with His Head!|generous severance package]]".
▲* "How [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-24 Tedd met Elliot], abridged version" by Tedd in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]''.
* ''[[Power Nap]]'', when Drew [https://web.archive.org/web/20161101202809/http://www.powernapcomic.com/d/20110715.html talks about his previous job]. "Nothing. For a while, at least." The next page implies he did explain how he [[Going Postal|flipped out]], however.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Batman:
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' used this in the episode where he posed as a gangster. Jack describes how he set up the hit and blew up the target's house, while visuals show him quietly evacuating the inhabitants.
** Made even better by the fact that the words he chose actually were true [[From a Certain Point of View]].
* The Monarch of ''[[The Venture Bros]].'' once had to narrate his first use of his super villain persona because it turned out his tribunal didn't have "[[Surveillance
** Before that, when on trial, he lied about his reaction to a tell-all book about him also containing various things about Dr. Girlfriend, claiming he reacted calmly, forgave the henchman that wrote it, and amicably broke up with Dr. Girlfriend when he really was in inconsolable rage, killed the one blamed for writing the book [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|in an incredibly over the top manner]], and kicked Dr. Girlfiend out loudly right before crying into his pillow.
* As indicated by the page quote, Kuzco in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove
* On ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Lucky is telling the guys about buried treasure in a forest, and how his grandfather left it there in his youth. He talks about how his grandfather, a pastor found the treasure while on a church trip and "went on to be with the Lord" before he could recover it. The flashbacks show that his grandfather was a criminal who found the treasure while fleeing from [[Working
* Waspinator explains how he left [[Beast Wars
* ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Narrator Tropes]]
[[Category:Example As a Thesis]]▼
[[Category:Truth and Lies]]
[[Category:
|