History Main / FauxlosophicNarration

* {{Dexter}} often has inner monologues about his double life that is consistently used to remind us that the [[VillainProtagonist "hero"]] is a SerialKiller with a disturbed mind.

** The narrator of ''The Scary Door'' intros tends to do this as well, in a spoof of ''TheTwilightZone''. And boy howdy do they play with it:

* Each Episode of ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'' opens with a philosophical quote or pseudo-quote that tries to tie it in to the episode.

* Parodied in almost every episode of ''TheTick'', as the eponymous character was quite fond of it.

** This may also fall under WritersCannotDoMath.

-->-- '''BrianClevinger''', on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''

* Joe Friday's "This is the city" narrations from ''Series/{{Dragnet}}'' very rarely fell into this, mostly because the narration is used to set up the plot of the episode, very little waxing philosophical is ever done. However when it does happen, it tends to be very strange; one example is form the infamous O.J. Simpson episode. Friday has a longer-than-usual introduction where he tells the audience about all the things that boats are used for in Los Angeles. The episode has absolutely nothing to do with boats, or anything related to water.

* R.A. Salvatore used to fall into this. Especially in [[TheDarkElfTrilogy Drizzt series]] that contain pages of his journal with musings of the protagonist on matters like morality, faith, and emotion. However, Drizzt ''was'' very young (by elven standards), grew up in a rather isolated city and had education focused less on what local high priestesses or even wizards learn and more on swinging a pair of oversized razors and not dying while trying to wage war in caverns full of ridiculously deadly critters... through which he later wandered alone until gone half feral. It's not like he could do much better when trying to make sense of the suddenly complex world.

* ''{{Profit}}'', though it's more like a demented corporate speaker spouting uplifting cliches that are undercut by the action just seen.

* ''TheTwilightZone''. Rod Serling's opening and closing monologues are simultaneously brilliant and brain-twisting. One generally needs to re-listen to Serling's soliloquoys three or four times before they stop sounding like so much word salad and start making sense. It's honestly just easier to [[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series) read them]]. A lot of this is due to Serling's gumshoe delivery, which adds a healthy dose of mystery to what would otherwise be a commonplace prologue or summation.

'''Note: This trope has been subjected to misuse. [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Do not simply add philosophical narration that you don't like.]] Also, do not just add any contemplative speech that you can find. If it has a clear relation to the plot, it is not this trope. [[TropesAreNotBad Philosophical musings are not inherently bad]]. If done well, they should enhance the plot.'''

* ''Anime/ErgoProxy'', arguably to the point of overuse.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' arguably has a few of these, with one of the main characters, Mohinder, starting and ending each episode with a philosophical note that extrapolate on the events of that episode (and some that merely capitalize on the mood)

* Arguably this applies to ''Series/TheXFiles'', where it was common either for Mulder to go on at length about how there are more things in heaven and earth etc., or Scully to lecture about how science is the only reliable guide to the truth without which nothing makes sense yada yada.

* Arguably this applies to ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'', where it was common either for Mulder to go on at length about how there are more things in heaven and earth etc., or Scully to lecture about how science is the only reliable guide to the truth without which nothing makes sense yada yada.

** These voiceovers are most often framed as being readings of the case reports Scully (and sometimes Mulder) are seen writing. It's interesting to think what Skinner's feelings were about all the pretentious quasi-philosophical stuff in what should have been straight foreward accounts of events.

* ''TheTwilightZone''. Rod Serling's opening and closing monologues are simultaneously brilliant and brain-twisting. One generally needs to re-listen to Serling's soliloquoys three or four times before they stop sounding like so much word salad and start making sense. It's honestly just easier to [[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series)/ read them]]. A lot of this is due to Serling's gumshoe delivery, which adds a healthy dose of mystery to what would otherwise be a commonplace prologue or summation.

* The B-movie ''{{Zardoz}}'' begins with this, but there is no way to be profound when Sean Connery is running around in an red thong.

* ''TeenagersFromOuterSpace'''s opening scene. In fact, many B-movies from the 1950s and 1960s either began or ended with some amount of Fauxlosophic Narration.

* A contrary-to-popular-expectations aversion: ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', despite ''actually having'' massive themes to talk about, focused its very occasional narration on either what's going on right now, the big alien that shows up next episode, or the FanService. You would really expect a story about Man-destroying Angels and [[ScrewDestiny Screwing Destiny]] to have some of this going on.
** Not entirely, as existentialism plays a pretty big part in many episodes.
** Rei's monologue.

* While all of {{Terrence Malick}}'s films are noted for their use of philosophical voiceovers, ''ToTheWonder'' [[UpToEleven took this so far]] many critics accused it of this. Reportedly, some audiences[[{{Narm}} straight up laughed]] at certain sequences.

* ''VRTroopers''. Every one of the episodes (save one) over two seasons opened up with Ryan Steele musing about Life, The Universe, and the Monster of the Day, always tying it into some memory of his father. The guy had issues.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' is infamous for this, with Mohinder (see the right page quote, above) starting and ending each episode with some random philosophy that often has only the flimsiest of connections to the episode itself.
** However, Season 3, Episode 2 (the second half of the two-hour season premiere) ends with Mohinder reciting "The Second Coming", by Creator/WilliamButlerYeats ("Turning and turning in a widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer..."). It's a dead-on appropriate coda to the preceding two hours.

** Occasionally other characters, such as Linderman or Sylar, got in on the act-though the one-off narrators tended to be a bit more relevant than Mohinder.
* {{Dexter}} often has inner monologues about his double life, a even though it sounds like philosophy, it consists almost always in showing how isolated and lost he is. It also help us remember that the [[VillainProtagonist "hero"]] is a SerialKiller with a disturbed mind.

** From the first episode of the second season: "The sun rises on a new dawn..." I mean, what the hell does that mean, Mohinder? "The story continues"? Yes, we knew that, Mohinder, that's why we're watching, shut up!

'''Note: This trope has been subjected to misuse. [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Do not simply add philosophical narration that you don't like.]] Also, do not just add any contemplative speech that you can find. If it has a clear relation to the plot, it is not this trope. [[TropesAreNotBad Philosophical musings are not inherently bad]]. If done well, they should enhance the plot.]]'''

'''Note: This trope has been subjected to misuse. [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDon'tLike Do not simply add philosophical narration that you don't like.]] Also, do not just add any contemplative speech that you can find. If it has a clear relation to the plot, it is not this trope. [[TropesAreNotBad Philosophical musings are not inherently bad]]. If done well, they should enhance the plot.]]

'''Note: This trope has been subject to misuse. [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDon'tLike Do not simply add philosophical narration that you don't like.]] Also, do not just add any contemplative speech that you can find. If it has a clear relation to the plot, it is not this trope. [[TropesAreNotBad Philosophical musings are not inherently bad]]. If done well, they should enhance the plot.]]

When a movie, television show, or other such narrative wants to create the illusion of more depth than it actually possesses, it can can use FauxlosophicNarration to have some character, whether it be protagonist, villain (especially the NietzscheWannabe), or innocent bystander, (especially ThePhilosopher) talk about "Big Topics", like [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Life, the Universe, and Everything]]. This overall doesn't add anything to the story; rather the intent is to put more FauxSymbolism and MindScrew (TrueArtIsIncomprehensible, after all), and make the story's characters and events seem grander and more fantastic, while also being increasingly vague. This usually backfires, as the faux intellectualism is both insulting and distracting to anyone who has the brains to figure out this narrator is speaking a lot of words and phrases and clauses that [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords don't actually mean anything]], and in-universe, this just ends up as a RedHerring.