History Main / AppealToAudacity

* A memorable scene in ''Charade'' involves the male and female leads claiming to a police officer they had not committed a murder the previous night, but each only offering the alibi that they had been in bed, alone, in their own hotel room. The officer quipped: "Clearly you must be telling the truth-" significant glance at the obviously-falling-in-love couple - "for why would you invent such a ridiculous story?"

Or, what happens when a GenreSavvy character realizes that the incredibly absurd story he's just been told ''has'' to be true -- for the simple reason that no one in his right mind would make up such a ridiculous fabrication ''unless'' it were true.

* In ''TheITCrowd'', Roy's girlfriend tells him a ridiculous, incomprehensible story about the death of her parents. When Jen asks if she could have been lying, Roy answers, "Why would she lie? And if she was going to lie, why would she use this one? A ''fire'' at a ''Sea Parks?!'' It's wrecking my head! I mean if... if she had said that her parents had drowned, I'd be the happiest man in the world!"

After all, think about it. What happens to someone in movieland who claims that aliens are taking over people's bodies and passing themselves off as the originals to act as a prelude to an alien invasion? Loony. And then, of course, the aliens come and kill us all. So considering the risk and reward of making an outrageous claim, why would anyone in his right mind say such a thing unless he had good reason to believe it? This doesn't even get into the fact that if someone is trying to manipulate you with lies, it is obviously in his best interest to come up with more plausible ones.

* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach's reaction to Moloch's story about the Comedian [[spoiler:breaking into his room to sob about Ozymandias' plan]] is, "Sounds unbelievable. Probably true."

* A rather innocuous example in ''{{Ghostbusters}}'':

* In PennAndTeller's movie ''Invisible Thread,'' aliens plan to destroy the human race because there is nothing unique about us. Penn demonstrates Earth's uniqueness by performing the "invisible thread" magic trick, and the aliens actually leave at once. The kicker is that they privately inform Penn that [[spoiler: they weren't fooled for a second, but Penn still proved humanity's uniqueness because no other species would have told such a ludicrous lie.]]

* This is how [[ASongOfIceAndFire Brienne]] manages to convince several people that she was not the one who killed King Renly despite being one of the only people in the room with him when he died. If she were the culprit, wouldn't she come up with a better story than "evil demonic shadow did it?"

** At that point, in Seska's perspective, the universe really * is* that weird...

* This trope is also the theory behind the propaganda technique known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie the Big Lie]]. According to Hitler and Goebbels, if you are going to lie, don't say something that sounds like it might be true. Say something so outrageous that people will think that it must be true, because no one would make a story like that.

After all, think about it. What happens to someone in movieland who claims that aliens are taking over people's bodies and passing themselves off as the originals to act as a prelude to an alien invasion? LoonyBin. And then, of course, the aliens come and kill us all. So considering the risk and reward of making an outrageous claim, why would anyone in his right mind say such a thing unless he had good reason to believe it? This doesn't even get into the fact that if someone is trying to manipulate you with lies, it is obviously in his best interest to come up with more plausible ones.

See ChickenLittle for the variant of this where all claims, however ridiculous, are treated as the norm.

* An episode of ''JonathanCreek'' has Jonathan defending the accused in this episode mostly due to this trope. The man is accused of kidnapping a young girl who was seen entering his house by several witnesses. His defence is that he was in that room staring at the door the entire day (after being robbed and tied up in the room) and didn't see anyone come in. Jonathan points out that this is such an incredibly stupid defence that he can't possibly be making it up. [[spoiler:Of course, he's right. The truth is that after being knocked out during the robbery, he was taken to a nearby farm where a cult had recreated the interior of his room so he thought he was in it all day (later knocking him out and taking him back as he slept) so they could kidnap the girl and pin it on him, all in an attempt to get rid of the man's wife who had been critical of (and then stopped) his funding of the group.]]

Or, what happens when a GenreSavvy character realizes that the incredibly absurd story he's just been told ''has'' to be true -- for the simple reason that no one in his right mind would make up such a ridiculous fabrication ''unless'' it was true.

* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach's reaction to Moloch's story about the Comedian [[spoiler:breaking into his room to sob about Ozymandias's plan]] is, "Sounds unbelievable. Probably true."

* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach's reaction to Moloch's story about the Comedian [[spoiler:breaking into his room to sob about Ozymandius's plan]] is, "Sounds unbelievable. Probably true."

[[Bong milk is good for the brain.:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/werewolf_9693_8856.jpg]]

But you can't tell your boyfriend about it! He'd freak out and leave you, or worse. But then, you can't keep it a secret forever, either. At some point, one of your supernatural incidents will inevitably happen exactly when you were having a romantic dinner. Or maybe your relationship has simply reached the next level, and you feel that you need to be completely honest with him.

So what now? How will he react? Well, it turns out he's perfectly okay (well, for the most part he's perfectly okay) and understanding with it! That's right, as a reward for your sacrifices, the PowersThatBe will make sure that you end up with a truly noble and loving soul who loves you for who you are and doesn't care what you are. So no worries!

This trope is a DoubleStandard, in that wives and girlfriends are pretty much automatically accepting of their ActionHero husband/boyfriend's actions, whereas the number of husbands/boyfriends who automatically accept that their significant other is an ActionGirl are pretty thin on the ground. For the guy who is a super and needs a girlfriend, his powers are often a plus for her (because AllGirlsWantBadBoys). For women, finding a guy who truly doesn't have a problem with dating someone with superpowers when he's a {{Muggle}} is the bigger issue, because, well, NoGuyWantsAnAmazon.

Compare ButYourWingsAreBeautiful, when a disguise forms part of the powers. Compare to ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend for the ActionGirl [[InvertedTrope variant.]] Compare and contrast BoyMeetsGhoul, for the guy/girl who is on the other end of this trope. See also TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife, which is an aversion of this trope.
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!!Examples:
[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* The central premise of ''[[NogizakaHarukaNoHimitsu The Secrets of Haruka Nogizaka]]''. The titular girl is an otaku.
* Ditto with ''[[OreImo My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute]]''. Except that the guy is not a boyfriend, but the big brother... [[{{Squick}} yeah]].
* Austria from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', in regards to his VictoriousChildhoodFriend Hungary. While he's concerned for her well-being, in the end he knows that if she wants to fight, he better lets her... since she will go [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] and destroy the enemy. Considering their childhood, [[LoveAtFirstPunch he knows it beforehand]]!
* [[ShamanKing Keiko Asakura]] had been dumped by ''every'' single boyfriend she had when they learnt she was able to see spirits. Until the last JerkAss left her and a penniless musician with similar abilities comforted her. That guy was Mikihisa, and she would marry him.
* Horribly deconstructed with [[spoiler: Shiso and Ceres]] in ''AyashiNoCeres''. [[spoiler: Shiso started like this, but being left helpless when he and Ceres got attacked [[IJustWantToBeSpecial made him very frustrated]], so he asked Ceres to give him a part of her powers [[IWillProtectHer so he wouldn't be a burden on her.]] But then, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity said powers turned out to be too much to handle]], and ItGotWorse...]]


[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]
* [[NiceGuy Kong]] is this to [[XMen Kitty Pryde]] in UltimateMarvel, even going so far as to yell "You're welcome!" at AllOfTheOtherReindeer for not thanking her when she saves their lives.
* Back in the GoldenAge, Steve Trevor was this for WonderWoman (a remarkably progressive move for the times), and not at all threatened by the idea of getting rescued by or mooning over a woman who was twenty times stronger than him. The Silver and Bronze Age characterizations of him were...[[TooDumbToLive unfortunately]] [[JerkAss less so]], which probably led to him being deleted from continuity PostCrisis.
* In an old What If comic, Jimmy Olsen married Supergirl because of amnesia. Once she recovers and lets him know, he's totally fine with being married to Superman's cousin.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''InnocentBlood'', FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Marie has her understanding CopBoyfriend Joe.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* Elend in Brandon Sanderson's ''{{Mistborn}}''. At least [[spoiler:until he gets superpowers himself.]]
* Seth in ''WickedLovely''. When Aislinn tells him that she can see faeries, he has exactly one moment of "Is this a joke?" before accepting it and trying to help her with her faery situation.

[[AC:{{Live Action TV}}]]
* The ''GhostWhisperer'' features Jim the Understanding Husband.
* Both [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] and played straight in ''{{Bewitched}}''. The original Darrin (Dick York) was less than understanding, to the point of being downright hostile to Samantha when she used her magic. TheOtherDarrin (Dick Sargeant), on the other hand, tried his hardest to be understanding, the point that it was more the fault of Endora and the rest of Samantha's family that TheOtherDarrin didn't get along with witches.
* Played with in the ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' TV series. Harvey ''does'' leave Sabrina when he finds out she's a witch, not out of intolerance but because she'd been using magic to mess with his life for years. He eventually does come back to her, though, and says he never had a problem with her being a witch per se.
* Zack was the "gay best friend" equivalent of this in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', at least until ExecutiveMeddling got in the way.
* Unless she's dating one of the undead, Buffy never got this on ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (even Riley, who was himself a demon fighting super-soldier, had an inferiority complex due to dating a genuine superhero). It's Willow who hit the boyfriend jackpot with Oz; upon being told the truth about the supernatural world she runs in, he replies, "Actually, it explains a lot," and just goes with the flow from there.
* Tyler Ford in ''TheMiddleman'''s unaired season finale (released as a comic)...[[spoiler:at least, until MM pushes the ResetButton]].
* Allison's husband Joe on ''{{Medium}}'' believes in her powers and is understanding and accepting of them.
* In ''{{Series/Merlin}}'', 2x09. Merlin discovers [[spoiler: Freya turns into a bastet at night, but he isn´t afraid and stills takes care of her. He even pets her cat´s head...]]
[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/understanding/ this]] ''WapsiSquare'' comic. Also the page quote.
* {{Subverted}} (although this may be a retrospective way of seeing it) in ''SluggyFreelance''. Leo seems to be accepting of all the weird things Zoë tells about happening to her - but it turns out that was only because he thought she was lying. In the words of another jerk he hangs out with, "You've got to respect a girl who realizes romantic relationships are based on lies and goes to town with it!" As soon as Leo finds out it was all true, he feels betrayed, and they eventually break off.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* [[PhineasAndFerb Candace]] seems to have this with Jeremy. Despite all of Candace's attempts to put a stop to PhineasAndFerb's projects, the guy never, ever seems to lose his cool, and they're still an item.

Or, what happens when a GenreSavvy character realizes that the incredibly absurd story he's just been told ''has'' to be true -- for the simple reason that no one in his right mind would make up such a ridiculous fabrication ''unless'' it was true.

After all, think about it. What happens to someone in movieland who claims that aliens are taking over people's bodies and passing themselves off as the originals to act as a prelude to an alien invasion? LoonyBin. And then, of course, the aliens come and kill us all. So considering the risk and reward of making an outrageous claim, why would anyone in his right mind say such a thing unless he had good reason to believe it? This doesn't even get into the fact that if someone is trying to manipulate you with lies, it is obviously in his best interest to come up with more plausible ones.

See ChickenLittle for the variant of this where all claims, however ridiculous, are treated as the norm.

[[AC:{{Advertising}}]]
* [[YouFailLogicForever If Extenze didn't do something amazing, could we afford to do all this?]] Yeah, {{Seanbaby}} had a field day with [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/if-penis-enlargement-ads-told-the-truth/ this one]].

* In ''DeathNote'' when Mello tells Near about the killing notebook and the shinigami, the SPK asks Near if he could really believe such a story and he says that if Mello were lying to them he wouldn't tell such a ridiculous story so it must be true.

[[AC:ComicBook]]
* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach's reaction to Moloch's story about the Comedian [[spoiler:breaking into his room to sob about Ozymandius's plan]] is, "Sounds unbelievable. Probably true."

* In the ''SherlockHolmes'' story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", this is what leads Holmes to believe that the young man who has been arrested may be innocent after all -- the statement he gave the police is too stupid to be a lie.
* In the first book of ''TheWheelOfTime'', Queen Morgase chooses to believe Rand's story because it is simply too absurd to be a lie. She notes at the same time that a clever liar would take advantage of this trope, but decides not to act on that impression.
* In TamoraPierce's TortallUniverse, Ally (of the ''Trickster'' duology) explains to her friends that she [[spoiler: wasn't there to stop Sarai from eloping]] because [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext she was being held captive by a god]].]] She points out that, since she's a spymaster, "You forget I like to tell lies that will be believed."
* In ''TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', Professor Kirke uses this as the reason for why he believes Lucy's story about the wardrobe - if she had been lying she would have hidden for long enough that people started looking. (There's also the fact that he's been there himself, but Lewis didn't know that yet).
* ''ArthurCClarke'''s "Tales From The White Hart" series of short stories concerns a "scientist", Harry Purvis, that tells scientific tall tales at a London pub called the White Hart. His outrageous stories' scientific logic is often called into question, but he is kept around for entertainment's sake. The exception is one story, "What Goes Up", totally made up to deal with an annoying conspiracy theorist. [[spoiler: The end reveals Harry's obvious bullshit is taken ''totally seriously'' by the conspiracy theorist, and poor Harry gets bombarded with mail by other nutjobs-turned-fans. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard In other words, the one story he never wanted anyone to believe was the only one people actually believed.]]]]
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* When an anomaly causes all parts of the ship in ''StarTrekVoyager'' to shift into random time periods in the ship's history, Chakotay finally comes up with a solution. Unfortunately, putting the solution into action requires a deck currently under control by Seska, Chakotay's old LoveInterest turned villain. He reasons that the only way he can get her to cooperate is by being honest with her. While her subordinates are incredulous at the story, Seska declares it too implausible to be a lie.
** At that point, in Seska's perspective, the universe really * is* that weird...
* This has happened in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' a number of times. For instance, see the General Hammond reference in SeenItAll. This may not count, though, because the characters have experienced other weird things, which gives them a reason to accept new ones -- they don't just accept weird stories because they're too crazy to make up.
* Subverted in the TV quiz show ''TalkinBoutYourGeneration'', host Shaun Micallef will often make a long, detailed, and ridiculous statement and then ask if it is true or false. The contestants often assume that such a statement must, by virtue of this trope, be true, only to have Micallef then tell them that they are wrong and he made the whole thing up.
* Similarly done on ''SpicksAndSpecks'' in "One Out of Three Ain't Bad". Adam tells a story with one true ending and two false endings. Played with when there are two equally far out endings, available and subverted when the team chooses the less implausible one.
* An episode of ''JonathanCreek'' has Jonathan defending the accused in this episode mostly due to this trope. The man is accused of kidnapping a young girl who was seen entering his house by several witnesses. His defence is that he was in that room staring at the door the entire day (after being robbed and tied up in the room) and didn't see anyone come in. Jonathan points out that this is such an incredibly stupid defence that he can't possibly be making it up. [[spoiler:Of course, he's right. The truth is that after being knocked out during the robbery, he was taken to a nearby farm where a cult had recreated the interior of his room so he thought he was in it all day (later knocking him out and taking him back as he slept) so they could kidnap the girl and pin it on him, all in an attempt to get rid of the man's wife who had been critical of (and then stopped) his funding of the group.]]

* One episode of ''KingOfTheHill'' involves Hank getting sent to a discretionary board on the charges of fraudulently claiming worker's compensation. Hank is unable to disprove the government's claims until he brings in the yoga expert who cured him to help verify the timeline of when he got injured and when he got cured. The board is initially very unimpressed with the yoga expert -- but accept his story when Hank points out that the yoga expert is so obnoxious that Hank would have to have been suffering from a devastating injury indeed to be desperate enough to seek help from him.
* A version of this appeared on ''TheSimpsons''. When the town thought that Skinner and Ms. Krabappel were having sexual relations at school, Skinner cleared his name by telling them he was a virgin. This worked because, according to Superintendent Chalmers, [[AManIsNotAVirgin no man anywhere would ever pretend to be a 45-year-old virgin]].

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Christianity, according to the early Christian writer Tertullian, whose "credo quia absurdum est" is [[OlderThanTheyThink possibly the earliest example of this trope.]]
** Unfortunately, this can be used for other religions, including the ChurchOfHappyology. At any rate, religions are originally very simple stories ("there is a God") that have had thousands of years to flesh out.
** It is perhaps worth noting that the official Church, with its strongly rationalistic bent, never cared much for this argument; Tertullian himself was regarded as a [[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10521a.htm schismatic]], if not an outright heretic.
** On a related note, Biblical scholars have something called the "criterion of embarrassment", which they use (along with other methods) to sort out which events of the New Testament are actual history. The criterion of embarrassment is basically "If it doesn't make Jesus look good (in a first-century context), then it probably really happened." This is why the crucifixion is well established as actual history; crucifixion was about the most disgraceful death that you could have in ancient Rome, and was reserved for slaves, pirates, and traitors. If the writers of the Gospels had wanted to make up a good death story for Jesus, it would have been very, ''very'' different.
*** The mainstream Christian account is that Jesus martyred himself for the good of the entire human race. I'd say that makes him look pretty good in ''any'' context.
*** Yes, but that's just a positive spin on a bad death. If they wanted, they could have had him [[IncendiaryExponent burst into flames]], [[{{Flight}} fly into the stratosphere]], [[StuffBlowingUp explode]], [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome and make it rain acid on a legion of Roman soldiers]] for your sins.

* An episode of JonathanCreek has Jonathan defending the accused in this episode mostly due to this trope. The man is accused of kidnapping a young girl who was seen entering his house by several witnesses. His defence is that he was in that room staring at the door the entire day (after being robbed and tied up in the room) and didn't see anyone come in. Jonathan points out that this is such an incredibly stupid defence that he can't possibly be making it up. [[spoiler:Of course, he's right. The truth is that after being knocked out during the robbery, he was taken to a nearby farm where a cult had recreated the interior of his room so he thought he was in it all day (later knocking him out and taking him back as he slept) so they could kidnap the girl and pin it on him, all in an attempt to get rid of the man's wife who had been critical of (and then stopped) his funding of the group.]]

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