History Main / TheTreacheryOfImages

-->[[WhatAnIdiot Who put my dad inside the wall?!]]

[[SelfDemonstratingArticle What you are reading is not a "page".]] It is merely a series of [[ComputersSpeakBinary 0's and 1's]] grouped into TCP segments, interpreted as HTTP code, and displayed via a matrix of glowing dots; just part of a large and complex abstraction which people call a "page" by means of convention, even though it only superficially resembles a thin rectangle of plant-fiber covered in ink shapes. [[StrawNihilist Believe nothing.]]

* {{Invoked|Trope}} to a point by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's 2011 documentary, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Not_a_Film This Is Not A Film]]'', mixed in [[RulesLawyer with a bit of real-world legal judo]]. For historical context: in 2010, Panahi had been arrested by the Iranian government for supposed "propaganda against the regime" (he publicly ''considered'' making a documentary in support of the revolutionary Green Movement, [[PrecrimeArrest though it had not been made yet]]), and among the restrictions he was placed under (following an international campaign to overturn his prison sentence) was house arrest and a 20-year ban on making films. ''This Is Not A Film'' was Panahi trolling the [[ExactWords exact restrictions]]: he wasn't allowed to use a film camera, but a friend invited to his house could, and he himself could use his [=iPhone's=] video recording feature. He couldn't write any scripts, but he could muse about his legal woes, discuss ideas for films he can no longer produce, and ruminate on the nature of filmmaking from his house. Panahi didn't stay strictly within the law -- the ending shows him pointedly picking up the camera and walking outside, and the finished "not-film" was smuggled out of Iran and submitted to the Cannes Film Festival [[JailBake through a USB drive hidden in a birthday cake]] -- but the overall message he sent was that he was still going to use his voice as a filmmaker even if his country won't let him make "films".

* Website/TheAgonyBooth's [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160401000845/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Monster_A_Go_Go_1965.aspx?Page=8 recap of]] ''Film/MonsterAGoGo'' is reduced to this following the ShockingSwerve that closes the movie, starting with the caption "There is no monster. And also, [[Film/TheMatrix there is no spoon.]]", and closing with:

** Possibly, it's more that one should not trust anything one sees in the sort of zoo that mislabels their animals.
** Or, more simply: don't trust the written words of a philosopher when confronted with a large and dangerous animal of any species.

** Chemical Engineering has an expression "when looking at your lines and electronics, don't forget that there's a plant of steel and stone behind you". There are many times when actions should work based on P&IDs and theory, but fail completely in reality due to small inaccuracies.

* ''ComicBook/UnderstandingComics'' takes this to a thought-provoking OverlyLongGag to demonstration just how much the reader of a comic is mentally filling in. Not only is it not a pipe, it's not even a painting of a pipe. Is it a drawing of a painting of a pipe? No, actually it's not even that -- it's a ''printed copy'' of a drawing of a painting of a pipe. In fact, it's ''several'' printed copies, [[SequentialArt appearing in multiple panels, each one dependent on the reader to observe]].

* In Music/Ylvis's "The Cabin," the singer finds a picture of his dad and freaks out until he realizes what it actually is.

When someone wants to really blow your mind, they will show you something. It can be an ordinary object or a piece of music or anything really, as long as they can see or hear it. And then they say, "This ''does not exist''." With this mantra, the falsity of the world is stripped away and perhaps the hidden [[{{Masquerade}} mask]] of reality is revealed. This is often an indicator of a MindScrew.

Compare TwoPlusTortureMakesFive, a darker version when someone forces you to see and believe things like these. Compare and contrast ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Contrast PerspectiveMagic, in which reality conforms to even the unrealistic aspects of an image. Falls on the cynical side of the [[ThePowerOfLanguage Power of Language]] scale. See also {{Expospeak}} and TrueArtIsIncomprehensible. Taking this to the extreme as a serious philosophical concept is UsefulNotes/{{Solipsism}}, the belief that the only thing you can prove to exist is your own mind.

Compare TwoPlusTortureMakesFive, a darker version when someone forces you to see and believe things like these. Compare and contrast ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Contrast PerspectiveMagic, in which reality conforms to even the unrealistic aspects of an image. Falls on the cynical side of the [[ThePowerOfLanguage Power of Language]] scale. See also {{Expospeak}} and TrueArtIsIncomprehensible. Taking this as a serious philosophical concept is UsefulNotes/{{Solipsism}}.

Compare TwoPlusTortureMakesFive, a darker version when someone forces you to see and believe things like these. Compare and contrast ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Contrast PerspectiveMagic, in which reality conforms to even the unrealistic aspects of an image. Falls on the cynical side of the [[ThePowerOfLanguage Power of Language]] scale. See also {{Expospeak}} and TrueArtIsIncomprehensible.

* Similarly played with in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', where Mr. Krabs offers Squidward and Spongebob an incentive for learning the names of customers by showing them a brochure of an exotic tropical cruise. [[WaterIsAir (Never mind how one can have a boat cruise underwater)]]. After Squidward goes to ridiculous extremes to earn the cruise and ending up being thrown in prison, Mr. Krabs visits the incarcerated squid and gives him his prize... the brochure. "It was takin' up too much space in me drawer!"

[[SelfDemonstratingArticle What you are reading is not a "page".]] It is merely a series of ZeroesAndOnes grouped into TCP segments, interpreted as HTTP code, and displayed via a matrix of glowing dots; just part of a large and complex abstraction which people call a "page" by means of convention, even though it only superficially resembles a thin rectangle of plant-fiber covered in ink shapes. [[StrawNihilist Believe nothing.]]

* As noted in the page introduction, the TropeNamer (see the "Definitely Not Art" section) has been parodied many times in online media:

** [[http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=234455 Ceci n'est pas une Tsukasa.]] Exacerbated by the fact that [[Manga/LuckyStar Tsukasa]], as a fictional character, doesn't exist any ''other'' way, either ...
** [[http://web.archive.org/web/20131225231622/https://neuromancer.hu/neuroblog/simpsonsnemcouchgag.png Ceci n'est pas une couch gag.]]

** [[http://www.23hq.com/4394453/4880513_8f2bb3f5c1bc0a6cd1ce45bbf2d70c64_large.jpg Ceci, n'est pas une lune.]]

* The TropeNamer (see the "Definitely Not Art" section) has been parodied many times in online media:

** [[https://www.deviantart.com/prehistorybyliam/art/The-Treachery-of-Retro-Paleoart-769833121 "The Treachery of Retro Palaeoart"]] by PrehistoryByLiam. 'C'est un dinosaure.'[[note]]The picture shows a ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]]'', [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology which is often called a dinosaur despite being more closely related to mammals]].[[/note]]

* The TropeNamer: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceci_n%27est_pas_une_pipe "The Treachery Of Images"]] by Creator/ReneMagritte. And it wasn't a pipe, but a ''painting'' of a pipe - [[ItMakesSenseInContext you can't actually smoke or stuff a painting of a pipe, can you]]?
** Parodied in one of the Savannah College of Art and Design's annual sidewalk art shows. The first panel, labeled "Ceci n'est pas une rubber ducky" was a chalk drawing of a rubber ducky. The second panel, labeled "This is a rubber ducky" had a large rubber duck set on it.
** ''[[http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1053/530921810_f59ab404aa.jpg "Ceci n'est pas une peep."]]''
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20070826114220/http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=node/330 This is not a drill.]]
** [[http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=234455 Ceci n'est pas une Tsukasa.]] Exacerbated by the fact that [[Manga/LuckyStar Tsukasa]], as a fictional character, doesn't exist any ''other'' way, either ...
** [[http://web.archive.org/web/20131225231622/https://neuromancer.hu/neuroblog/simpsonsnemcouchgag.png Ceci n'est pas une couch gag.]]
** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/surrealistplumber.jpg "This isn't a pipe either"]] by [[http://www.bizarrocomics.com/ Piraro]].
** [[http://www.23hq.com/4394453/4880513_8f2bb3f5c1bc0a6cd1ce45bbf2d70c64_large.jpg Ceci, n'est pas une lune.]]
** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3204 SMBC offers a different explanation]]
** [[HaveAGayOldTime Made even better]] by the fact that "pipe" is also one of many French slang words for "fellatio".

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' tackles the subject in its initimable style [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-best-day-ever here]].