History Main / CloserThanTheyAppear

* Used in RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles with incoming plasma artillery in the reflection.

* Used in RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles with incoming plasma artillery being reflected.

[[caption-width-right:350:You know what we mean.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[JurassicPark http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/T-rex2.jpg]]]]

* ''JurassicPark'' (pictured above) is the TropeCodifier.
** ''ToyStory 2'' parodies this, using the meek Rex's reflection in the mirror of a toy car. (It also puts it on the passenger side, correcting JP's error!)

* TransformersDarkOfTheMoon: In what may be a nod to the Jurassic Park scene, Decepticon 'Dreads' are viewed to be in hot pursuit in the (passenger!) side mirror of Autobot Dino (Mirage) (he's the red Ferrari).

* Parodied in ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'', where the mirror on a vehicle says "Missiles in mirror may be closer than they appear''.

TruthInTelevision in some countries! Except for the ''T. rex'' part. [[KentBrockmanNews For]] ''[[KentBrockmanNews now]]''...

* "Objects may be less sexy than they appear" shows up on a clothes shop mirror in ''{{Futurama}}''.

* TransformersDarkOfTheMoon: In what may be a nod to the Jurassic Park scene, Decepticon 'Dreads' are viewed to be in hot pursuit in the (passenger!) side mirror of Autobot Mirage (he's the red Ferrari).

* ''JurassicPark'' is the TropeCodifier.

* {{MeatLoaf}} got it backwards with "Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are"

** ''ToyStory 2'' parodies this, using the meek Rex's reflection in the mirror of a toy car.

Rear-view mirrors sometimes come with a warning: "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear." (These mirrors are convex, so they provide a wider field of view at the price of making the images of objects smaller, and therefore apparently farther away.) This is not reassuring to the character who looks into the rear-view mirror and sees, say, a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]]'' running after his car.

An interesting note: some examples of this trope (including the TropeCodifier) show this message on the driver's side mirror. In RealLife, this message only ever appears on the ''passenger'' side mirror. In the USA and Canada, the driver's side mirror is legally required to be flat, so it does not need the warning. In Europe, the driver's side mirror may also be convex, but the ''warning'' is not legally required. See TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_mirror#Planar.2C_convex.2C_aspheric for even more detail]].

Rear-view mirrors sometimes come with a warning: "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear." That is hardly reassuring to the character who looks into the rear-view mirror and sees, say, a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]]'' running after his car.

An interesting note: examples of this trope (including the TropeCodifier) show this message on the driver's side mirror, which it never is. Objects in the driver's mirror are not distorted, only in the passenger side mirror due to that mirror being convex. This convex shape allows the driver to see more area, but at the cost of everything being slightly smaller.

* [[AceVentura "Warning! Assholes may be closer than they appear!"]]

[[JurassicPark http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/T-rex2.jpg]]
[[caption-width:345:You know what we mean.]]

Compare DangerTakesABackSeat, PastInTheRearViewMirror.

Compare DangerTakesABackSeat.

TruthInTelevision in some countries! Except for the ''T. rex'' part. [[KentBrockmanNews For]] ''[[KentBrockmanNews]]''...

TruthInTelevision in some countries! Except for the ''T. rex'' part. ''[[KentBrockmanNews For now...]]''

TruthInTelevision in some countries! Except for the ''T. rex'' part.

* {{They Might Be Giants}} - "She's Actual Size" inverts this for the subject of the song: "Squares may look distant in a rear view mirror, but they're actual size, actual size to her."

*Played with in [[http://cookingschoolnews.com/?cid=PBF236-Road_Test.gif this strip]] of ''ThePerryBibleFellowship''.