Basic Trope: A character erroneously believes another has committed a crime, and goes on a reconnaissance mission to gather evidence before calling the police or confronting the other character.
- Straight: Alice sees Bob and Christine having an argument next door through the window, and evidence suggests that Christine really did kill Bob.
- Exaggerated: Alice finds human blood in the house, and a distinct smell of bleach.
- Downplayed: Alice saw a stain of blood, took a photo of it and called the police to investigate on it further.
- Justified: Alice needs evidence before she goes off and accuses people of serious crimes like murder.
- Inverted: Alice believes that Bob and Christine are really superheroes, and tries to get evidence before going public.
- Subverted:
- Alice quickly realizes the neighbors were just watching TV, rehearsing a play, etc.
- The "blood stain" on the carpet turns out to be where someone spilled red wine or fruit punch.
- Double Subverted: But later, she sees Christine dragging a large garbage bag outside.
- Parodied: The sleuthing is over something small and silly, like who drank the last grape soda.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice doesn't go check things out next door.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Alice sees and hears the neighbors arguing and gets really worried.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alice calls the police instead to report suspicious activity, a domestic disturbance, etc. and lets them deal with it.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: Haven't these people heard of calling the police?
- Deconstructed: Alice could get into trouble for breaking and entering during her investigation. Furthermore, these are usually cases where Alice has let her imagination get the best of her; it's really Not What It Looks Like.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice lets the police deal with it. If it turns out she was mistaken, they are (hopefully) understanding about the mistake.
- But had Alice not do so, Christine would have easily get away with killing Bob. Or we will get to see what really happened and what make Christine hide facts from the police in the first place, which is then important in the investigation.
- Played For Laughs: Alice left her panties over at Bob's house when they hooked up and must retrieve them before Christine gets back home.
- Played For Drama: Something really did go down at Bob and Christine's house.
Back to "Rear Window" Investigation
