Subverting expectations
lame excuse for a really bad plot twist in a movie or series
- Dude, that last season of Game of Thrones was a real letdown. I expected something deeper.
- Yeah, it's called "subverting expectations" these days.
- Yeah, it's called "subverting expectations" these days.
subvert expectations
To behave contrary to an established belief or assumption for the purpose of being fresh and interesting. Usually used in the arts when analyzing the reaction of the audience to a performance or piece of writing. Sometimes mistakenly used as a positive when the result in neither fresh nor interesting.
A. Star Wars: The Last Jedi did a great job of subverting audience expectations!
B. No, it was just a narrative mess.
A. Your report written in crayon was very unprofessional.
B. Come on! I was just trying to subvert expectations!
B. No, it was just a narrative mess.
A. Your report written in crayon was very unprofessional.
B. Come on! I was just trying to subvert expectations!
Subvert Expectations
To destroy a great TV show with out-of-character actions and inconsistent logic for the sake of unneeded twists. Usually associated with Game of Thrones, but can be applied to Lost, Dexter, and other TV series.
Did you watch the last episode of Game of Thrones? D&D love to subvert expectations. Yesterday, they transformed Jon Snow into a wolf and made him eat Sansa.
subvert expectations
A term best described as adding 'out of character' behaviour and lines to the characters and unnecessary plot twists for the sake of drama and shock value. Exc. Game of Thrones S8.
"We kind of forgot about good writing and logic so we decided to subvert expectations this season because, you know, shock value."
D&D on GoT S8
D&D on GoT S8
subverting expectations
Taking established points of previous installments in a franchice belowed by billions of people and completely destroying it to un unrecoverable state, deforming the most miniscule details as well (e.g. how gravity works in space), just because you have the power to do it while NOT taking any accountability your actions.
The Last Jedi is subverting expectations of the Star Wars fans.
Subversion of Subverted Expectations
A double whammy subversion of expectations, in particular in regard to film and television, where the audience is led to believe that a scene will follow through with a subversion of expectations regarding theme or humor before the opposite happens. May not always work- relies on the assumption that the audience is expecting the unexpected, but not expecting the expected.
As an example, we can take the Wheel of Fortune scene with Randy Marsh in South Park. In it, he must spell out the word which means "people who annoy me". He manages to by dumb luck fill out every single other letter in the answer leaving him with N_GGERS. The expectation by the audience is that at the last second he will answer with the word "Nagger" rather than "nigger", however at the last second the build-up to the joke concludes with a subversion of the audience's subverted expectations and the joke plays out as it would normally: with Randy answering "NIGGERS!".
As an example, we can take the Wheel of Fortune scene with Randy Marsh in South Park. In it, he must spell out the word which means "people who annoy me". He manages to by dumb luck fill out every single other letter in the answer leaving him with N_GGERS. The expectation by the audience is that at the last second he will answer with the word "Nagger" rather than "nigger", however at the last second the build-up to the joke concludes with a subversion of the audience's subverted expectations and the joke plays out as it would normally: with Randy answering "NIGGERS!".
We were led to believe that the punchline would be changed at the last minute, but the movie did a Subversion of Subverted Expectations by continuing the joke on as normal.