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* DoYouWantToCopulate: During his sessions, a hypnotized Zelig asks Fletcher if she wants to have sex with him. Fletcher stares at the camera in shock and with some guilt.
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* ThoseWackyNazis: Kind of. While the Nazis are presented as a real threat, and ready to murder Zelig and Fletcher, the pair upset UsefulNotes/AdolfHiter's plan to include a joke about Poland in his speech.
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* ThoseWackyNazis: Kind of. While the Nazis are presented as a real threat, and ready to murder Zelig and Fletcher, the pair upset UsefulNotes/AdolfHiter's Adolf Hiter's plan to include a joke about Poland in his speech.
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* ThoseWackyNazis
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* ThoseWackyNazisThoseWackyNazis: Kind of. While the Nazis are presented as a real threat, and ready to murder Zelig and Fletcher, the pair upset UsefulNotes/AdolfHiter's plan to include a joke about Poland in his speech.
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* AnAseop: [[BeYourself Don't change yourself to please others.]]
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* AnAseop: AnAesop: [[BeYourself Don't change yourself to please others.]]
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* AnAseop: [[BeYourself Don't change yourself to please others.]]
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* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Pretty much, Zelig's character/FreudianExcuse is this trope taken UpToEleven. Because of his desperate need to fit in, Zelig started out by pretending to have read Literature/MobyDick when he hadn't, and this spiraled into mirroring the professions and even appearances of those around him.
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* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Pretty much, Zelig's character/FreudianExcuse is this trope taken UpToEleven. Because of his desperate need to fit in, Zelig started out by pretending to have read Literature/MobyDick when he hadn't, and this spiraled into mirroring the professions and even appearances of those around him. Eudora notes than when Zelig was posing as a psychiatrist, he spouted nothing but nonsensical double talk that could fool a layman.
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* TheCameo: Mae Questel singing "Chameleon Days" in her classic WesternAnimation/BettyBoop style.
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* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: The public in TheTwenties and TheThirties... and now, according to the film.
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* EasilyForgiven: Played straight and averted with Zelig. Zelig goes from monster to hero to monster to hero as the public is portrayed as [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny extremely fickle.]]
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* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Zelig died before he could finish reading ''Moby-Dick''.]]
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* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Invoked with ''The Changing Man'', as Woody Allen's character is played by handsome Garrett M. Brown, Mia Farrow's by Marianne Tatum.
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* AchievementsInIgnorance: Any accomplishment Zelig makes when posing as someone else. More often than not he completely fails, because, well, he's pretending to be an expert. However, late in the film, he convinces himself he's a pilot and manages to ''fly across the Atlantic''... '''[[BeyondTheImpossible upside down]]'''.
-->'''Zelig:''' But I've never flown before in my life, and it shows exactly what you can do, if you're a total psychotic!
-->'''Zelig:''' But I've never flown before in my life, and it shows exactly what you can do, if you're a total psychotic!
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* FreudWasRight: Invoked when one of the interviewees said Freudians had a ball with Zelig because they could interpret him any way they liked.
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* {{Retraux}}: Lots of (remarkably convincing) fake 1920s and '30s footage.
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* {{Retraux}}: Lots of (remarkably convincing) fake 1920s and '30s footage.footage, made with actual equipment from the period.
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A 1983 Creator/WoodyAllen film, '''''Zelig''''' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning Leonard Zelig (Allen), a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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A 1983 Creator/WoodyAllen film, '''''Zelig''''' ''Zelig'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning Leonard Zelig (Allen), a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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* GoldDigger: Strongly hinted of Leta Fox. Outright invoked by his half-sister and her lover.
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* MrSandmanSequence: "Keep Your Sunny Side Up" montage. Played straight as it is a HopeSpot, "then the roof fell in."
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* MrSandmanSequence: MisterSandmanSequence: "Keep Your Sunny Side Up" montage. Played straight as it is a HopeSpot, "then the roof fell in."
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* MrSandmanSequence: "Keep Your Sunny Side Up" montage. Played straight as it is a HopeSpot, "then the roof fell in."
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* FreudWasRight Invoked when one of the interviewees said Freudians had a ball with Zelig because they could interpret him any way they liked.
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* FreudWasRight FreudWasRight: Invoked when one of the interviewees said Freudians had a ball with Zelig because they could interpret him any way they liked.
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* FreudWasRight Invoked when one of the interviewees said Freudians had a ball with Zelig because they could interpret him any way they liked.
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%%* FreudianExcuse
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* InnocentlyInsensitive: Well, Zelig is hypnotized into being BrutallyHonest. He goes on and on about Eudora being a LethalChef with pancakes.
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* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Pretty much, Zelig's character/FreudianExcuse is this trope taken UpToEleven. Because of his desperate need to fit in, Zelig started out by pretending to have read MobyDick when he hadn't, and this spiraled into mirroring the professions and even appearances of those around him.
to:
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Pretty much, Zelig's character/FreudianExcuse is this trope taken UpToEleven. Because of his desperate need to fit in, Zelig started out by pretending to have read MobyDick Literature/MobyDick when he hadn't, and this spiraled into mirroring the professions and even appearances of those around him.
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* RunningGag: ''MobyDick''
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* RunningGag: ''MobyDick''''Literature/MobyDick''
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A 1983 Creator/WoodyAllen film, ''Zelig'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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A 1983 Creator/WoodyAllen film, ''Zelig'' '''''Zelig''''' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, Leonard Zelig (Allen), a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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Do not spoiler tag trope names on work pages or the names of works on trope pages; please see Handling Spoilers for more information.
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* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding]]
* FeigningIntelligence
* FreudianExcuse
* FeigningIntelligence
* FreudianExcuse
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*
%%* FeigningIntelligence
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No Circular Links, please.
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A 1983 Creator/WoodyAllen film, ''{{Zelig}}'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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A 1983 Creator/WoodyAllen film, ''{{Zelig}}'' ''Zelig'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
----
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* TheZelig: TropeNamer, an alternate title for BeenThereShapedHistory.
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* TheZelig: TropeNamer, an alternate title for BeenThereShapedHistory.BeenThereShapedHistory.
----
----
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* TookALevelInJerkass: Zelig becomes one when he develops his own personality at first. Instead of being easily swayed, he's violently over-opinionated.
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* AdaptationDistillation: The fictional Zelig biography ''The Changing Man''.
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* AsHimself: Famous personalities comment on Zelig, such as Saul Bellow, Susan Sontag, and so on.
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Rename
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See also TheGump, for which TheZelig is the alternate trope namer (and [[UrExample ur-example]]).
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See also TheGump, BeenThereShapedHistory, for which TheZelig is the alternate trope namer (and [[UrExample ur-example]]).
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* TheZelig: TropeNamer, an alternate title for TheGump.
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* TheZelig: TropeNamer, an alternate title for TheGump.BeenThereShapedHistory.
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A 1983 WoodyAllen film, ''{{Zelig}}'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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A 1983 WoodyAllen Creator/WoodyAllen film, ''{{Zelig}}'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
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A 1983 WoodyAllen film, ''{{Zelig}}'' is a {{mockumentary}} set during TheRoaringTwenties and into TheGreatDepression period, concerning the title character, a "human chameleon"- a man who shapeshifts to fit in with those around him- and his encounters with the celebrities of the day. Zelig ultimately comes into contact with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (played by Mia Farrow) who tries to cure him of his uncontrollable shapeshifting. Throughout, commentary on Zelig's life is provided by well-known public intellectuals.
See also TheGump, for which TheZelig is the alternate trope namer (and [[UrExample ur-example]]).
Not to be confused with the Italian comedy show, which has the same title.
!!Provides examples of:
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Kind of mocked in that when first receiving treatment, Zelig takes on the persona of a psychiatrist and makes comments that echo a ThemeParkVersion of Freud.
* AmnesiacDissonance: Zelig is ultimately confronted with various victims of his shapeshifting- women he impregnated, a guy he performed surgery on, etc., none of which he remembers doing.
* BlackLikeMe: Zelig can alter his race.
* BlankSlate: Zelig starts out as this, having no real personality of his own outside of the various identities he uncontrollably adopts (and has no memory of afterward)
* CelebrityParadox: The movie does a good job of justifying why its audience would never have heard of Zelig by treating him as one of many fads of the 1920s and 1930s, forgotten when the public discovered something new of interest.
* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding]]
* FeigningIntelligence
* FreudianExcuse
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: As recounted by Zelig under hypnosis, "My brother beat me. My sister beat my brother. My father beat my sister and my brother and me. My mother beat my father and my sister and me and my brother. The neighbors beat our family. The people down the block beat the neighbors and our family."
* IHaveThisFriend: When Dr. Fletcher starts out trying to treat Zelig, he is unresponsive and takes on the persona of a psychiatrist. So, she pretends to be a patient asking about a problem of a "friend"- while she "admits" that she is describing herself, she's actually describing Zelig's own problems, which unsettle him enough to break down his persona.
* KavorkaMan: Zelig seduced numerous women.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Pretty much, Zelig's character/FreudianExcuse is this trope taken UpToEleven. Because of his desperate need to fit in, Zelig started out by pretending to have read MobyDick when he hadn't, and this spiraled into mirroring the professions and even appearances of those around him.
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: See Celebrity Paradox.
* MasterOfDisguise: Zelig is somewhere between this and InvoluntaryShapeshifting...
* MistakenForSpecialGuest: See TheZelig.
* {{Mockumentary}}: Probably Woody's most accurate, as it never breaks the illusion that it's a documentary.
* {{Retraux}}: Lots of (remarkably convincing) fake 1920s and '30s footage.
* RunningGag: ''MobyDick''
* SeeminglyProfoundFool: Zelig is somewhere between this figure, and a KnowNothingKnowItAll.
* ShiksaGoddess: Dr. Fletcher is fairly plain (well, HollywoodHomely), but this trope applies in that Zelig is Jewish (and lower class at that), while she is from a wealthy WASP background.
* ThoseWackyNazis
* TheZelig: TropeNamer, an alternate title for TheGump.
See also TheGump, for which TheZelig is the alternate trope namer (and [[UrExample ur-example]]).
Not to be confused with the Italian comedy show, which has the same title.
!!Provides examples of:
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Kind of mocked in that when first receiving treatment, Zelig takes on the persona of a psychiatrist and makes comments that echo a ThemeParkVersion of Freud.
* AmnesiacDissonance: Zelig is ultimately confronted with various victims of his shapeshifting- women he impregnated, a guy he performed surgery on, etc., none of which he remembers doing.
* BlackLikeMe: Zelig can alter his race.
* BlankSlate: Zelig starts out as this, having no real personality of his own outside of the various identities he uncontrollably adopts (and has no memory of afterward)
* CelebrityParadox: The movie does a good job of justifying why its audience would never have heard of Zelig by treating him as one of many fads of the 1920s and 1930s, forgotten when the public discovered something new of interest.
* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding]]
* FeigningIntelligence
* FreudianExcuse
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: As recounted by Zelig under hypnosis, "My brother beat me. My sister beat my brother. My father beat my sister and my brother and me. My mother beat my father and my sister and me and my brother. The neighbors beat our family. The people down the block beat the neighbors and our family."
* IHaveThisFriend: When Dr. Fletcher starts out trying to treat Zelig, he is unresponsive and takes on the persona of a psychiatrist. So, she pretends to be a patient asking about a problem of a "friend"- while she "admits" that she is describing herself, she's actually describing Zelig's own problems, which unsettle him enough to break down his persona.
* KavorkaMan: Zelig seduced numerous women.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Pretty much, Zelig's character/FreudianExcuse is this trope taken UpToEleven. Because of his desperate need to fit in, Zelig started out by pretending to have read MobyDick when he hadn't, and this spiraled into mirroring the professions and even appearances of those around him.
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: See Celebrity Paradox.
* MasterOfDisguise: Zelig is somewhere between this and InvoluntaryShapeshifting...
* MistakenForSpecialGuest: See TheZelig.
* {{Mockumentary}}: Probably Woody's most accurate, as it never breaks the illusion that it's a documentary.
* {{Retraux}}: Lots of (remarkably convincing) fake 1920s and '30s footage.
* RunningGag: ''MobyDick''
* SeeminglyProfoundFool: Zelig is somewhere between this figure, and a KnowNothingKnowItAll.
* ShiksaGoddess: Dr. Fletcher is fairly plain (well, HollywoodHomely), but this trope applies in that Zelig is Jewish (and lower class at that), while she is from a wealthy WASP background.
* ThoseWackyNazis
* TheZelig: TropeNamer, an alternate title for TheGump.
