History Main / ExpositionCut

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* Early in the Swedish comedy ''Film/{{SOS}}'', the protagonists [[ItMakesSenseInContext get stuck at sea on a barge loaded with trash]]. A friend of theirs spots them from her boat and asks what happened; we hear the start of their explanation ("It's completely absurd, actually...") before the movie [[FadeToBlack fades to black]] with the text "17 minutes later", and then back to the end of the conversation.

%%* The Jimmy Stewart version of ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'' plays with this. We see Stewart's character going through the theater talking to people, but don't hear what he says. Since we know what happened, it works just fine. (IRL, Hitchcock got rid of the dialogue because the audience wouldn't hear the orchestra's music.)
* Early in the Swedish comedy ''SOS'', the protagonists [[ItMakesSenseInContext get stuck at sea on a barge loaded with trash]]. A friend of theirs spots them from her boat and asks what happened; we hear the start of their explanation ("It's completely absurd, actually...") before the movie [[FadeToBlack fades to black]] with the text "17 minutes later", and then back to the end of the conversation.

* Rick Riordan's novels have repeatedly used this trope. A character will have a vision that will show them something far away. After the character wakes up, they tell their friends on what they learned. But true to this trope, the story will skip over the rehash. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Riordan outdid himself during ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' series, where even the critics notice his overuse in the 1st book (The Lost Hero).

Occasionally this trope will be used to keep the audience in the dark for an UnspokenPlanGuarantee or TheUnreveal rather than to avoid wasting time repeating what they already know. It may be needed for a work to successfully make use of ShowDontTell. Compare AnswerCut, for when the cut jumps ''to'' the explanation rather than past it. Contrast AsYouKnow, when information the audience ''doesn't''' know is relayed to characters who should know it and ViewersAreGoldfish.

* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': In a lot of episodes, Earl explaining his {{List|OfTransgression}} and [[TheAtoner wanting to right his past wrongs]] is skipped over via Earl's narration, as an abridged version is already given through the show's ExpositoryThemeTune.

Occasionally this trope will be used to keep the audience in the dark for an UnspokenPlanGuarantee or TheUnreveal rather than to avoid wasting time repeating what they already know. It may be needed for a work to successfully make use of ShowDontTell. Compare AnswerCut, for when the cut jumps ''to'' the explanation rather than past it. Contrast AsYouKnow and ViewersAreGoldfish.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

%%* Quoting Spike, from the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
%%-->Well, it all started when I was a cute little purple and green egg...\\
%%... and that's the story of my entire life. Well, up until today.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', where Peter comes up with a plan to stop students from using drugs at the Quahog high school. Peter is seen in the principal's office saying, "... and that's the plan." The principal points out that Peter never actually gave a plan but rather walked into his office and said this line.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', "Send in the Clones", has everyone asking Jimmy why they are all victims of something. Jimmy starts with "ICanExplain". however, the audience has already seen everything, so we get a brief clip of "4 hours later" and cut back to Jimmy wrapping up the story with "...and that's how it all happened".

%%* Happens periodically in ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}''. Then again, "There are really two different worlds, persons X, Y and Z, are from that world 1, person A is from world 2, BigBad is from world 1, etc." would be quite a mouthful to read every time the players chat up an NPC.

** In "Made of Honor", Steven decides [[spoiler:to free Bismuth. When she reforms]], she is horrified to learn about all the former Crystal Gem who have become Corrupted after she frees one of the bubbled ones. Assuming that this was the work of Pink Diamond, she demands to know why Rose didn't stop her-- to which Steven replies [[spoiler:that it was because Pink and Rose were the same person]]. Cut to one explanation later, where Steven tells her everything she missed out on.

* ''Disney/BrotherBear'' has a variant where one of the movie's songs plays over top of most of Kenai's story of what happened to Koda's mother. Not only does the audience already know, showing Kenai explained it exactly might have robbed some of the emotional impact.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action 'Film']]
* 'Film/NorthByNorthwest'': When the hero is brought up to speed, we do not hear the exposition since the audience is already aware of it.

-->Well, it all started when I was a cute little purple and green egg...\\

[[folder: Anime ]]

** Upon first arriving on namek, Goku finds Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta beaten to a pulp. Krillin tries to explain what happened since they got there and instead, Goku places his hand on Krillin's head and reads his mind.
** Earlier, this is how Krillin explains to Chi-Chi that Goku died and Gohan was kidnapped by Piccolo.

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* Played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''; Slim says that Flik can explain on the way. It then cuts to Flik finishing his explaination to...Tuck and Roll, who don't speak a word of English. This pretty much keeps [[MagnificentSeven the plot]] on track.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheManCalledFlintstone'': This occurs when Fred tells Barney the truth about their "vacation" being a front for Fred's spy mission.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'' has this; when the hero is brought up to speed, we do not hear the exposition since we already know this stuff.
** The Jimmy Stewart version of ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'' plays with this. We see Stewart's character going through the theater talking to people, but don't hear what he says. Since we know what happened, it works just fine. (IRL, Hitchcock got rid of the dialogue because the audience wouldn't hear the orchestra's music.)
* Early in the Swedish comedy ''SOS'' the protagonists [[ItMakesSenseInContext get stuck at sea on a barge loaded with trash]]. A friend of theirs spots them from her boat and asks what happened; we hear the start of their explanation ("It's completely absurd, actually...") before the movie [[FadeToBlack fades to black]] with the text "17 minutes later", and then back to the end of the conversation.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The novel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_(novel) Buddy]] (about a boy from a poor family who was named after Music/BuddyHolly) has the protagonist give a first person version of this trope; it talks briefly about how he lets his friend explain everything and is too tired to correct the mistakes in it.
* In the Mardrus & Mathers translation of ''Literature/TheThousandAndOneNights'', [[TheStoryteller Shahrazad]] commonly skips over repetitive content by saying, "but nothing would be gained by repeating it here."[[note]]In some other translations, as well as the original, Shahrazad averts this trope and repeats in full all the repetitive content because she does, in fact have something to gain--she's trying to fill time so her husband won't execute her.[[/note]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Just about every RPG does this, particularly when someone new joins the PlayerParty. Sometimes to their detriment, since console [=RPGs=] are often so long that the player [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain forgets important plot elements from what he played as long ago as several days]]. Ones with a HeroicMime, in particular, will use this to avoid showing TheHero actually talking.
* It's pretty much constant in the first parts of ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV''. Nina explains the situation established in the opening cutscene to Ryu when they seek shelter in a cave for the night using this trope, then they explain things in the same way to Cray when they return to the crash site, then they explain things to the Woren elders when [[spoiler:Cray is arrested]].
* Happens periodically in ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}''. Then again, "There are really two different worlds, persons X, Y and Z, are from that world 1, person A is from world 2, BigBad is from world 1, etc." would be quite a mouthful to read every time the players chat up an NPC.

* Late in the "Sister" storyline of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-11-14 the author lampshades their use of this.]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Quoting Spike, from the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':

... and that's the story of my entire life. Well, up until today.

** "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E22WhenItRains When it Rains]]" ends with Peridot about to explain the details of [[spoiler: The Cluster]] to the crystal gems, having already decided to trust Steven enough to tell him.
** In "Made of Honor", [[spoiler: Steven decides to free Bismuth. When she reforms, she is horrified to learn about all the former Crystal Gem who have become corrupted after she frees one of the bubbled gems. Bismuth assumes that this was the work of Pink Diamond and demands to know why Rose didn't stop her-- to which Steven replies that it was because Pink and Rose were the same person. Cut to one explanation later, where Steven presumably told Bismuth the events of "A Single Pale Rose" and "Now We're Only Falling Apart".]]

* ''Disney/BrotherBear'' has a variant where one of the movie's songs plays over top of most of Kenai's story of what happened to Koda's mother. Not only does the audience already know, showing exactly Kenai explained it might have robbed some of the emotional impact.

* In ''Theatre/TheGrandDuke'', when Randolph and Ludwig announce their intention to have a Statutory Duel, the Notary says "[[AltumVidetur verbum sat]]"[[labelnote:meaning]]short form for a Latin phrase translating to "A word to the wise is sufficient" and meaning "wise men don't require lengthy explanations"[[/labelnote]] to skip over repetitive explanation, because the audience has already had the concept of a Statutory Duel explained to them.

* Just about every RPG does this, particularly when someone new joins the PlayerParty. Sometimes to their detriment, since console [=RPGs=] are often so long that the player forgets important plot elements from what he played as long ago as several days. Ones with a HeroicMime, in particular, will use this to avoid showing TheHero actually talking.

* This is used in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' when Goku arrives on Namek for the first time. He finds Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta beaten to a pulp. Krillin tries to explain what happened since they got there and instead, Goku places his hand on Krillin's head and reads his mind.

* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E22WhenItRains When it Rains]]" ends with Peridot about to explain the details of [[spoiler: The Cluster]] to the crystal gems, having already decided to trust Steven enough to tell him.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Just about every RPG does this, particularly when someone new joins the PlayerParty. Sometimes to their detriment, since console [=RPGs=] are often so long that the player forgets important plot elements from what he played as long ago as several days. Ones with a HeroicMime, in particular, will use this to avoid showing TheHero actually talking.
* It's pretty much constant in the first parts of ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV''. Nina explains the situation established in the opening cutscene to Ryu when they seek shelter in a cave for the night using this trope, then they explain things in the same way to Cray when they return to the crash site, then they explain things to the Woren elders when [[spoiler:Cray is arrested]].
* Happens periodically in ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}''. Then again, "There are really two different worlds, persons X, Y and Z, are from that world 1, person A is from world 2, BigBad is from world 1, etc." would be quite a mouthful to read every time the players chat up an NPC.
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