1387: Clumsy Foreshadowing

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 08:17, 27 June 2014 by 103.22.201.225 (talk) (Explanation)
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Clumsy Foreshadowing
'... hosts were unexpectedly fired from ABC's 'The View' today. ABC will likely announce new ...'
Title text: '... hosts were unexpectedly fired from ABC's 'The View' today. ABC will likely announce new ...'

Explanation

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If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Many action/thriller movies, during the first few minutes, have a background news report that foreshadows the onset of some kind of danger, such as shark attacks, nuclear warfare etc.

Randall suggests taking the same approach to random news articles from real life, in order to make them more ominous.

Transcript

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Discussion

There is a trope for this kind of thing. --Koveras (talk) 08:11, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

I think the news tropes [1] and [2] are more specific to this scenario. 108.162.223.29 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I almost made the following edit: "that foreshadows the onset of some kind of danger, such as shark attacks, tornadoes, shark-tornadoes" with the last part linking to the Sharknado article on Wikipedia. Is explainxkcd allowed to be this silly? I think we should be this silly. 108.162.237.161 09:21, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Why not? It is a legitimate movie. Also, that towel might be a "Hitchhiker's Guide..." reference, if it is indeed a towel and Cueball is the main character. But it might be a cape or something else. 103.22.201.225 11:51, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

No, the towel signals that he is going swimming, as the background TV predicts shark attacks. Rtanenbaum (talk) 12:53, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

What does the stuff with The View have to do with foreshadowing? Unless it's implying that Ms. McCarthy is going to try to drown herself in shark infested waters while our protagonist tries to save her... --Andyd273 (talk) 13:48, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

It doesn't. The explanation needs to be changed to read 'the title text' instead of 'the title' in the paragraph talking about The View. I'll fix it. --Dangerkeith3000 (talk) 15:04, 27 June 2014 (UTC)
"Unless ... Ms. McCarthy is going to try to drown herself in shark infested waters" We should be so lucky. 199.27.133.39 16:15, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Is there a Jaws reference here? Or does Randall just really love sharks?173.245.52.163 19:06, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

por_que_no_los_dos.jpg? 108.162.237.161 18:20, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Why does the movie reference have to be action/thriller? The 'news report in the background' has been used for all types of movies to foreshadow something that will happen later in the film. It's also used in other media, though it probably is most popular in movies. --Ima420r (talk) 03:36, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

My first guess after reading the comic was that all the news stories appeared related. North Korea threatening the USA, possibly by attacking them with a shark invasion. Then a rocket to take out the sharks. Tharkon (talk) 22:17, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Should we be ruining people's lives like that? 188.114.99.189 12:44, 18 November 2015 (UTC)