Line #6 Main/InAnotherMansShoes


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5
6	->''"For if you wants to understan' an enemy, you gotta walk a mile in his shoes.\
7	Den, if he's still your enemy, at least you're a mile away and he's got no shoes".''
8	-->-- '''Plateau''', Troll philosopher, ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
9
10	Character(s) are forced to experience life from another's perspective. AnAesop results.
11
12	For the non-aesopic variant, see SympatheticPOV. Can be caused by a KarmicTransformation.
13
14	----
15	!!Subtropes:
16	[[index]]
17	* BecomingTheMask: The personality that is supposed to be the person's cover becomes how they really are.
18	* BlackLikeMe: Character disguises themselves or is transformed into a non-white race to experience what life is like for people of said race.
19	* BodyDouble: A character gets a lookalike for dangerous situations.
20	* TheCityVsTheCountry: A character moves from the city/country and experiences a drastically different lifestyle.
21	* ColorMeBlack: A bigot is turned into the race they despise.
22	* ADayInHerApron: A man tries his hand at doing his wife's housework, but fails miserably.
23	* DisguisedInDrag: A man disguises himself as a woman.
24	* EmergencyImpersonation: A character is impersonated by someone in a not-even-similar costume.
25	* FreakyFridayFlip: When two or more people swap bodies.
26	* FreakyFridaySabotage: People who swap bodies end up in unpleasant situations.
27	* GoingNative: A character adopts the customs and morality of a group which they were originally sent to infiltrate.
28	* GrassIsGreener: A character who longs to leave their terrible life behind to go somewhere they think is better.
29	* IdenticalStranger: A person comes across and is mistaken for a lookalike.
30	* JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites: The roles in a stock situation are reversed without explanation.
31	* LiteralTransformativeExperience: A supernatural transformation leads to CharacterDevelopment.
32	* LostInCharacter: An actor gets so into character that they basically become the character.
33	* MySiblingWillLiveThroughMe: A character impersonates their deceased sibling.
34	* PersecutionFlip: A (usually) privileged group of people find themselves getting treated like dirt by the (usually) oppressed underclasses.
35	* PersonalitySwap: Two people swap personalities.
36	* PrinceAndPauper: Two identical people from different backgrounds switch lives.
37	* SharingABody: Two characters end up sharing a body.
38	* StanfordPrisonExperiment: A psych experiment where volunteers are split between pretending they're either guards or prisoners.
39	* SuddenHumility: A character suddenly finds themselves in a difficult position another is routinely in and realizes the hardships it involves.
40	* SwappedRoles: Two characters swap roles to better understand each other's life.
41	* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: The hero decides that the only way to defeat their enemy is to understand how the enemy thinks.
42	* TwinSwitch: Twins momentarily impersonate each other.
43	* WelcomeToMyWorld: When a character experiences what another character has to deal with most of the time.
44	* WhiteLikeMe: A black character pretends to be white.
45	* YouWillBeBeethoven: A time traveler accidentally kills someone important and they have to "be" that person.
46	[[/index]]
47	----
48	!!Examples
49
50	[[foldercontrol]]
51
52	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
53	* In episode 21 of ''Anime/RuneSoldierLouie'', Melissa covers for Merrill when the latter is sick, and generally fails horribly. Interestingly, the main thing she learns from this isn't to appreciate Merrill's skills, but Louie's.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Fan Works]]
57	* Twilight Sparkle [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this in ''Fanfic/AddressUnknownRemedy'' by taking a potion designed to temporarily mimic Derpy's eye problems. As she tells Derpy later, "For a pony with normal sight to suddenly see like you do, it's entirely debilitating. I could barely stand, let alone walk; I knocked over everything in my path, and I nearly gagged from the intense vertigo it caused. But you... You may be slightly clumsy, and not fly entirely straight, but you've adapted to it enough to function as well as anypony else. Right now, I can truthfully grasp how amazing you really are. Not only have you adjusted to your condition, you've come close to nullifying its effects while enduring agonizing emotions all the while."
58	* An interesting variant pops up in the CrisisCrossover between FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse and the Celestiaverse. When both Lunas are bound into the moon by Antithesis, they learn that each of them, in a way, envies the other. C!Luna envies her double for having the strength of will to ''not'' fall into the Nightmare, and to rule alone for a thousand plus years with no hope in sight of regaining her sister. And L!Luna envies ''her'' double because, though she fell into madness, the madness ''ended'', whereas Corona has not and may never regain her mind.
59	* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeNyame'': After losing most of his adoptive family to a line of tragedies outside his control, then becoming Batman and having to juggle being CEO to Wayne Enterprises, raising several children (three of whom are [[PromotionToParent technically his siblings]]), and leading the Justice League, Jason Todd is a ''lot'' more understanding and sympathetic to his father Bruce Wayne.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Film]]
63	* ''Film/AtFirstSight'': Early on in the movie, Amy uses a handkerchief to blindfold her own eyes and try to understand how Virgil can move through places despite his blindness. Lacking the trained sense of spatial awareness Virgil has, she quickly clashes against a pile of objects.
64	%%* Basically the entire point of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', as well as ''Film/District9'', though that's more of a KarmicTransformation.
65	* The plot of ''Film/SourceCode'', where a man is plugged into a machine that allows him to experience the last minutes of a dead man's life.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
69	* This is the premise of Creator/{{Noggin}}'s ''Series/AWalkInYourShoes'', which takes two people from completely different backgrounds and switches their lives for every episode.
70	* The plot of nearly every ''Series/QuantumLeap'' episode had this as a large component, if not the entire premise.
71	* The LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek ''Film/ToBeFatLikeMe'' had a thin and popular teenager being forced into a fat-suit.
72	* In ''Series/RedDwarf'' Rimmer is forced to act the part of Ace Rimmer (what a guy!) for the rest of his life, whilst Ace dies as Rimmer. Doesn't quite fit the above tropes, as he exits the series in this way, and we never see him drop the act.
73	* One episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' had Will's fat jokes annoy Uncle Phil's personal trainer to the point where she challenges him to spend time in a fatsuit to see exactly what his uncle goes through. Rather famously, it includes him trailing his girlfriend Lisa on suspicion that she's cheating without realizing that his pants are dropping.
74	* This is the basic premise of ''Series/UndercoverBoss''. [=CEOs=] and founders of companies go undercover as normal entry-level employees. Most of them haven't done that type of work in ''years'', if at all. HilarityEnsues.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Music]]
78	* Music/BobDylan's "Positively 4th Street" ends on a subversion:
79	-->I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
80	-->And just for that one moment I could be you
81	-->Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
82	-->[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech You'd know what a drag it is to see you!]]
83	* Joe South's "Walk A Mile In My Shoes":
84	-->If I could be you, if you could be me, for just one hour
85	-->If we could find a way to get inside each other's minds
86	-->If you could see you through my eyes instead of your ego
87	-->I believe you'd be surprised to see that you've been blind
88	* Music/DepecheMode's walking in my shoes is entirely dedicated to this:
89	-->I would tell you about the things
90	-->They put me through
91	-->The pain I've been subjected to
92	-->But the lord himself would blush
93	-->The countless feasts laid at my feet
94	-->Forbidden fruits for me to eat
95	-->But I think your pulse would start to rush
96	-->Now I'm not looking for absolution
97	-->Forgiveness for the things I do
98	-->But before you come to any conclusions
99	-->Try walking in my shoes
100	-->Try walking in my shoes
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Sports]]
104	* Men's and women's gymnastics emphasize different parts of the body: men's is more about the upper-body, core strength, and stamina, while women's is more about flexibility, balance, and coordination. There are quite a few videos online of gymnasts trying the opposite sex's routines with mixed results (like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp3TqH5Mgzc here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3CFOBUPiAI here]]).
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Theatre]]
108	* This one goes back at least as far as Creator/WilliamShakespeare: in ''Henry V'', the title character disguises himself as a common soldier in order to learn the thoughts of the men he's about to lead into battle -- a scene Data recreates on the Holodeck in TheTeaser of the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Defector".
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Western Animation]]
112	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}} [[TheMovie Secret of the Omnitrix]]'', Azmuth says that this was the reason why he created the Omnitrix in the first place (word for word).
113	* In the ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' episode "[[Recap/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroesBaitAndSwitch Bait And Switch]]", a power swap forces Reed to experience the problems Ben goes through on a day-to-day basis.
114	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': Johnny and his dad are always at each other's throats, Johnny for ignoring his father's demands to goof off, and Hugh for constantly breathing down his son's neck, both complaining that they are ungrateful and not understanding to each other's plight. Susan and Mary use an invention to switch their bodies so they can switch roles for a day. In Johnny's body, Hugh is constantly beaten up by TheBully and harassed and failed by Johnny's SadisticTeacher, while Johnny in Hugh's body becomes a HenpeckedHusband who gains Amusing Injuries with chores gone wrong, and a LethalChef who blows up burnt cupcakes. In the end, they promise to give each other more slack… [[HereWeGoAgain only for Susan and Lila to repeat the conflict from before and agree to the same experiment]].
115	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
116	** The plot of "Magical Mystery Cure". With the exception of Twilight, the mane cast have switched jobs, and their incompetence causes all sorts of trouble. It starts out funny seeing them convinced they should do a job they are clearly horrible at, but quickly becomes downright depressing.
117	** In the season 7 episode "A Royal Problem", the princesses Celestia and Luna are bitter with each other as they believe the other's work is easier. After Starlight Glimmer casts a spell to swap their Cutie Marks (magical butt symbol that represents a pony's job and powers), they agree to switch places. Luna finds out that having to [[StepfordSmiler keep smiling all the time]] while having meetings with important ponies and appearing at public events is harder than she thought, and Celestia almost causes severe psychological damage to Starlight Glimmer when she fails to keep Starlight's nightmare in check.
118	* Happens literally in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991'' when KnowNothingKnowItAll Angelica states that switching shoes does indeed change who you are. Angelica and Chuckie end up swapping shoes as well as personalities. In the end, ItWasAllADream.
119	* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': The episode "Cricket's Shoes" is all about this. When Cricket falls sick, he gets the rest of his family to do what he was going to do that day (Tilly has to work at Big Coffee, Gramma has to hang out with Remy, and Bill...[[BreadEggsMilkSquick has to run through a dog park covered in meat]]). By doing his daily duties, the other Greens learn what Cricket has to go through each day.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Real Life]]
123	* In 1697, Russian Czar Peter the Great traveled to western Europe incognito and spent several months working in a Dutch shipyard, in order to study the customs, traditions, and technology of the Western powers.
124	** See also Gustav II of Sweden some decades earlier, who traveled incognito (and much more concealed than ol' Pete) as Captain Gars ([[FunWithAcronyms Gustavus Adolphus Rex, Seciae]]; Latin for "Gustav Adolf King of the Swedes"). His "alter ego" becomes a convenient political device, at the end of the novel ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'', and is used on occasion throughout the earlier parts of the series.
125	* Taken literally with [[http://www.walkamileinhershoes.org/ Walk A Mile In Her Shoes]]: The International Men's March To Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence. The male marchers can't always manage a full mile in high-heeled shoes, but they try.
126	[[/folder]]

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