"How I Met Your Mother. The series itself is an example. Except for her ankle for a brief moment in one episode, we don't actually get to see the Mother until the last scene of season eight and she does not become a proper character in the show till season nine."
So the "I" in the title refers to Ted, who is in (near as I can tell) every episode. I don't know enough about the "playing with" tropes to decide what this makes it.
- In The Third Man, the title character does not appear on camera until the second half of the film, and even then it's only for about ten minute's screentime. The protagonist is Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten. The confusion is cemented further by the fact that said title character is now one of the most iconic film villains of all time, verging on a One-Scene Wonder (especially as it's one scene in particular that everyone remembers).
Is this a meta-example? The way I see it, Harry Lime isn't "the third man" (he can't be, because the three men being described were supposed to be carrying his body); there is no "third man", it's a reference to a discrepancy in the various accounts of the accident which causes Martins to Spot the Thread.
I suppose you could argue that the man being described here is the title character, but it seems like there should at least be an acknowledgement of it being more complicated than that.
Edited by 70.33.253.43 Hide / Show Replies
My attempt (too spoilery?)
- It's difficult to pin down who The Third Man is without giving away the entire plot, but it certainly isn't Holly Martins, the protagonist played by Joseph Cotten. For most of the movie, "the third man" is a hypothetical person present along with Kurtz and Popescu at the scene of Harry Lime's death, who Martins is trying to identify and track down. He eventually confronts the antagonist, one of the most iconic film villains of all time, verging on a One-Scene Wonder. But it's a very-much-alive Harry Lime himself, so whether he can really be identified as the title character is up for debate.
So, as far as I can tell, this description goes to great lengths to explain the very subtle difference between this trope and I Am Not Shazam, and then tops the whole thing with a quote which is actually an example of the other trope. That, or I'm really misunderstanding what the distinction is meant to be.
I've changed it for something else for now, unless it turns out I was wrong about this.
Edited by johnnye
MagBas
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica is zigzagging this trope on a regular basis. At first it's averted, since Madoka is the protagonist, albeit her status as such is quite ambiguous. The show then shifts focus on Sayaka and her Start of Darkness, and THEN to Homura who is trying to prevent Madoka from becoming a Magical Girl via Time Travel. However, the last episode shows Madoka pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to erase all witches from existence all while ascending to a higher plane of existence, reestablishing her status as the main character, although Homura can still be considered one since her actions in the previous time lines are what made Madoka's Heroic Sacrifice possible in the first place. Now have fun arguing who's the ''real'' Main Character.
MagBas
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica is zigzagging this trope on a regular basis. At first it's averted, since Madoka is the protagonist, albeit her status as such is quite ambiguous. The show then shifts focus on Sayaka and her Start of Darkness, and THEN to Homura who is trying to prevent Madoka from becoming a Magical Girl via Time Travel. However, the last episode shows Madoka pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to erase all witches from existence all while ascending to a higher plane of existence, reestablishing her status as the main character, although Homura can still be considered one since her actions in the previous time lines are what made Madoka's Heroic Sacrifice possible in the first place. Now have fun arguing who's the ''real'' Main Character.
...Kyubey outright said Homura efforts caused everything revolve around Madoka in the chapter 11.
Edited by MagBas
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Merge with SecondaryCharacterTitle
, started by muninn on Mar 3rd 2011 at 10:55:11 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman