(Please note, on the site this text is full of links so that you can keep going and going and going …)
(Please note. This is not the rabbit hole. This is the breath of the thread that lures you to the rabbit hole. But fear not: you’re already lost. None leave here without their lives, jobs, relationships in peril.)
(Tags:The Order of the Stick meta-lampshades Lampshade Hanging.)
Sir Toby Belch: Is it possible?
Fabian: If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
— Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene IV
Lampshade Hanging (or, more informally, “Lampshading”) is the writers’ trick of dealing with any element of the story that threatens the audience’s Willing Suspension of Disbelief, whether a very implausible plot development, or a particularly blatant use of a trope, by calling attention to it and simply moving on.
The reason for this counter-intuitive strategy is two-fold. First, it assures the audience that the author is aware of the implausible plot development that just happened, and that they aren’t trying to slip something past the audience. Second, it assures the audience that the world of the story is like Real Life: what’s implausible for you or me is just as implausible for these characters, and just as likely to provoke an incredulous response.
The creators are using the tactic of self-deprecatingly pointing out their own flaws themselves, thus depriving critics and opponents of their ammunition. The Turkey City Lexicon refers to this flavor of Lampshade Hanging as a “Signal from Fred”, and reminds the author that if your characters are complaining about how stupid the latest plot development is, maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something.
On the other hand, Lampshade Hanging done well can make for an entertaining piece of Medium Awareness or momentary lack of Genre Blindness. It can also be used to take care of Fridge Logic, without having to actually do anything.
This practice is also known as “hanging a clock on it”, “hanging a lantern on it”, or “spotlighting it”. In the film industry it’s sometimes called “hanging a red flag” on something, after the screenwriting adage, “To hang a red flag on something takes the curse off of it,” meaning that to lampshade something decreases the negative effects it might otherwise have. We went with our title because it’s the one used in the Mutant Enemy bullpen.
Can also be combined with a Hand Wave, sometimes invoking an unreveal, to make explaining a plot inconsistency unnecessary. When breaking internal consistency is deliberate this trope can be used to show that, yes, it is deliberate instead of a plot hole. Can also be combined with an active attempt to avoid the trope, in which case the Lampshade Hanging turns into a Defied Trope.
Commonly seen in the self-aware shows that make up the Deconstructor Fleet; rarely used in the presence of a Drop-In Character. If large numbers of lampshades are hung, then the writers believe lampshades are Better Than a Bare Bulb, this trope’s Logical Extreme.
Hypocrisy Nod and Inspiration Nod are specific types of this. Meta Guy is the fellow who does this all the time. Sometimes takes the form of This Is the Part Where… Compare Discussed Trope, Post Modernism and Playing with a Trope. No Fourth Wall happens when characters not only discuss tropes, but the writers as well.
Not to be confused with Lampshade Wearing.
Once again, Lampshade Hanging is when attention is drawn to something that is so strange it threatens to break the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. Leaning on the Fourth Wall is for things which make sense in the story but also has a second meaning outside of the story. Try not to get these confused.
@conandlibrarian Be careful when you do, we may never see you again. Each page has dozens of links to other pages each of which have dozens of links and on and on and on and on…
But you’ll have an incredible time. You won’t miss us that much.
Warning, this site is way worse than Wikipedia. I once opened a browser and counted. I had several hundred browser tabs opened to tvtropes.com pages. I read some pages and closed them. After opening even more tabs to other tvtropes.com pages. (this is not uncommon.)
@Pamtha Well, I’m constantly crashing down a History of WWII rabbit hole and I read some tidbit about Teddy Roosevelt. Then I decided that the best course of action would be a Ken Burns epic.
Haha! My buddy @PSUClaus informed me that a link I sent him was a rabbit hole. I didn’t know what he meant, so I clicked my own link. I was still surfing some time thereafter!
If you visit any site with naked bodies, you are prone to falling down internet rabbit holes. And if you want to make a joke because I used the word ‘prone’ in reference to websites with naked bodies, you are better than that…maybe.
I once wondered what a hit-or-miss engine was and youtubed it. It was cool. There were more. There were steam engines, and diesels the size of warehouses, locomotives, walking beam ship engines, a car with a flat mounted radial engine, a V-12 engine that was a desktop accessory… just damn! How freaking inventive are we humans!
I also fell down a muffler rabbit hole. Tried to find recordings of a car with Walker Continental glasspaks and spent hours trying to find just the right mufflers/sound for the Challenger. For those who don’t know, Walker Continentals were not anything like cherrybombs or Thrush; they had a wonderful mellow sound.
Don’t even let me near tvtropes.org or there will go the whole day.
@TheTexasTwister I’ve lost a week to tvtropes!
@TheTexasTwister
@SSteve
@TheTexasTwister
@HemlockTea
If TVTropes gets to me, I’m a goner.
Here, I’ll help ruin you day, everyone.
(Please note, on the site this text is full of links so that you can keep going and going and going …)
(Please note. This is not the rabbit hole. This is the breath of the thread that lures you to the rabbit hole. But fear not: you’re already lost. None leave here without their lives, jobs, relationships in peril.)
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging
(Tags:The Order of the Stick meta-lampshades Lampshade Hanging.)
Sir Toby Belch: Is it possible?
Fabian: If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.
— Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene IV
Lampshade Hanging (or, more informally, “Lampshading”) is the writers’ trick of dealing with any element of the story that threatens the audience’s Willing Suspension of Disbelief, whether a very implausible plot development, or a particularly blatant use of a trope, by calling attention to it and simply moving on.
The reason for this counter-intuitive strategy is two-fold. First, it assures the audience that the author is aware of the implausible plot development that just happened, and that they aren’t trying to slip something past the audience. Second, it assures the audience that the world of the story is like Real Life: what’s implausible for you or me is just as implausible for these characters, and just as likely to provoke an incredulous response.
The creators are using the tactic of self-deprecatingly pointing out their own flaws themselves, thus depriving critics and opponents of their ammunition. The Turkey City Lexicon refers to this flavor of Lampshade Hanging as a “Signal from Fred”, and reminds the author that if your characters are complaining about how stupid the latest plot development is, maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something.
On the other hand, Lampshade Hanging done well can make for an entertaining piece of Medium Awareness or momentary lack of Genre Blindness. It can also be used to take care of Fridge Logic, without having to actually do anything.
This practice is also known as “hanging a clock on it”, “hanging a lantern on it”, or “spotlighting it”. In the film industry it’s sometimes called “hanging a red flag” on something, after the screenwriting adage, “To hang a red flag on something takes the curse off of it,” meaning that to lampshade something decreases the negative effects it might otherwise have. We went with our title because it’s the one used in the Mutant Enemy bullpen.
Can also be combined with a Hand Wave, sometimes invoking an unreveal, to make explaining a plot inconsistency unnecessary. When breaking internal consistency is deliberate this trope can be used to show that, yes, it is deliberate instead of a plot hole. Can also be combined with an active attempt to avoid the trope, in which case the Lampshade Hanging turns into a Defied Trope.
Commonly seen in the self-aware shows that make up the Deconstructor Fleet; rarely used in the presence of a Drop-In Character. If large numbers of lampshades are hung, then the writers believe lampshades are Better Than a Bare Bulb, this trope’s Logical Extreme.
Hypocrisy Nod and Inspiration Nod are specific types of this. Meta Guy is the fellow who does this all the time. Sometimes takes the form of This Is the Part Where… Compare Discussed Trope, Post Modernism and Playing with a Trope. No Fourth Wall happens when characters not only discuss tropes, but the writers as well.
Not to be confused with Lampshade Wearing.
Once again, Lampshade Hanging is when attention is drawn to something that is so strange it threatens to break the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. Leaning on the Fourth Wall is for things which make sense in the story but also has a second meaning outside of the story. Try not to get these confused.
Examples:
(and onward it goes)
@TheTexasTwister I have never heard of that site before, I am going to have to check it out.
@conandlibrarian Be careful when you do, we may never see you again. Each page has dozens of links to other pages each of which have dozens of links and on and on and on and on…
@HemlockTea Oh my… you are worse than I am. Good luck to you, sir.
@SSteve Yes! That’s it exactly!!
@conandlibrarian
We’ll see you in a few years then. Or not.
But you’ll have an incredible time. You won’t miss us that much.
Warning, this site is way worse than Wikipedia. I once opened a browser and counted. I had several hundred browser tabs opened to tvtropes.com pages. I read some pages and closed them. After opening even more tabs to other tvtropes.com pages. (this is not uncommon.)
Enjoy.
Safer down rabbit holes than into rabbit caves.
@narfcake Rabbit chasm?
@MehnofLaMehncha No. Cave.
/youtube rabbit of caerbannog
@narfcake *thanks for making me smile. *
Just watched all 14~ hours of the Ken Burns’ The Roosevelt’s because I tripped on a Teddy sidewalk crack.
@vanslaterco What is a Teddy sidewalk crack?? Asking for a friend…
@Pamtha Well, I’m constantly crashing down a History of WWII rabbit hole and I read some tidbit about Teddy Roosevelt. Then I decided that the best course of action would be a Ken Burns epic.
… but now I really understand type Ia Supernovae.
In 1991, I read Tim Berners Lee’s WWW announcement post, one thing lead to another, and I’ve been stuck here ever since. Help!
@awk
You are lost to us.
We would remember you, but we’re too busy reading at tvtropes.com
Haha! My buddy @PSUClaus informed me that a link I sent him was a rabbit hole. I didn’t know what he meant, so I clicked my own link. I was still surfing some time thereafter!
FYI: it was Postize.com’s Facebook page.
@SirLouie oh look - a link…I’ll just click here for a minute or two…
I forgot that my friend’s name was @PSUClaus1, not @PSUClaus. Now some stranger is like, “I don’t even know SirLouie!”
I’ll let you know just as soon as I pull myself up out of this one.
I fall into YouTube holes more often than webpages… Especially now.
Oh look at this random Halloween craft…
This one is even cooler…
A whole series about Harry potter crafts? Ok, neat.
Why is this video related? I dunno, but it’s up my alley…
Oooh, look at what you can do with paper, knife, and a glue stick!
So on, so forth.
@RiotDemon Pinterest alone will do that to me.
For me, it’s less of a rabbit hole, and more of a K-hole.
@sanspoint Kangaroo?
@compunaut Ketamine
If you visit any site with naked bodies, you are prone to falling down internet rabbit holes. And if you want to make a joke because I used the word ‘prone’ in reference to websites with naked bodies, you are better than that…maybe.
@elimanningface
/giphy prawn naked
@f00l I wonder what transparent tastes like
@ELUNO Ever bite down on plastic wrap? That.
@OldCatLady Great idea! BRB!
@ELUNO
Not quite a rabbit hole, but a comfortable rabbit burrow, meh.com/forums trapped me in it for more than a couple of months now…
@ELUNO aww you know you love it here in this cozy little corner of the internet.
@CaptAmehrican
@ELUNO No that would be a meh quicksand trap LOL
@Kidsandliz
/giphy "love trap"
Reddit must be a time singularity or something.
@JoetatoChip
Time is a singularity
/giphy singularity
I’m in one now.
I once wondered what a hit-or-miss engine was and youtubed it. It was cool. There were more. There were steam engines, and diesels the size of warehouses, locomotives, walking beam ship engines, a car with a flat mounted radial engine, a V-12 engine that was a desktop accessory… just damn! How freaking inventive are we humans!
I also fell down a muffler rabbit hole. Tried to find recordings of a car with Walker Continental glasspaks and spent hours trying to find just the right mufflers/sound for the Challenger. For those who don’t know, Walker Continentals were not anything like cherrybombs or Thrush; they had a wonderful mellow sound.
With such wonderful entries as ‘A014614: Numbers that are products of 5 primes (or 5-almost primes, a generalization of semiprimes)’, who can resist falling down the hole that is the On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences?
@brhfl
Math Is Without Beginning Or End.
/giphy endless math
