History Literature / HighFidelity

--> '''WHAT?! FUCKING?! 'IAN GUY'?!''' [''proceeds to freak out'']

* IndulgentFantasySegue: In both the book and the film.
** In the book, Ian calls Rob to tell him off for his (Rob's) obnoxious behavior around Laura. The phone call ends with Ian asking "So how shall we leave it?" and Rob replying "Dunno." A few seconds after the call ends, Rob fantasizes about the insults he wished he had thrown at Ian instead.
** In the film, the above phone call is replaced by an in-person visit by Ian to Rob's store, and Rob gets three indulgent fantasy segues in a row. The first time he loudly tells Ian off; the second time, he threatens him with violence and sends him running from the store like a coward. It culminates with a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown where Rob, Dick and Barry lay him out and crush his head with an air conditioner unit. What ''actually'' happens is Rob reacts like a sensible person and says he'll consider Ian's suggestion to drop the matter.

* PantyShot: We get a quick one when Penny (the nice girl who won't let Rob touch her bra) rolls away from him on the bed.

** Three in a row in the film, dealing with how Rob ''wants'' to deal with Ian when the latter shows up at the store to talk about Laura man-to-man. The first time he loudly tells Ian off; the second time, he threatens him with violence and sends him running from the store like a coward. It culminates with a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown where Rob, Dick and Barry lay him out and crush his head with an air conditioner unit. What ''actually'' happens is Rob reacts like a sensible person and says he'll consider Ian's suggestion to drop the matter.

* IndulgentFantasySegue: Three in a row, dealing with how Rob ''wants'' to deal with Ian when the latter shows up at the store to talk about Laura man-to-man. The first time he loudly tells Ian off; the second time, he threatens him with violence and sends him running from the store like a coward. It culminates with a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown where Rob, Dick and Barry lay him out and crush his head with an air conditioner unit. What ''actually'' happens is Rob reacts like a sensible person and says he'll consider Ian's suggestion to drop the matter.

''High Fidelity'' is a 1995 British novel by Creator/NickHornby (also known for ''Literature/AboutABoy''). It was adapted into a [[Film/HighFidelity 2000 film]] directed by Creator/StephenFrears and starring Creator/JohnCusack. It also served as the basis for a 2006 Broadway musical of the same name. A [[Series/HighFidelity series based on the film]] and starring Creator/ZoeKravitz as Rob was released on February 14, 2020 by Creator/{{Hulu}}.

* BadInfluencer: The SettingUpdate of the Creator/{{Hulu}} series makes Rob's third ex, the mercurial, glamorous Charlie, a professional influencer. Rob goes as Charlie's plus-one to an event and is struck by how fake it all feels. Even the glamorous apartment turns out to have been rented by the company for the event.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Laura's dad's angina]], which her mother mentions on the answering machine message at the beginning, and sets off the last act of the movie.

* LargeHam: Creator/JackBlack as Barry. "'''A COSBY SWEATAHHH!'''"

** This was actually shot for the movie but was cut from the finished version, because the purpose of Rob talking to the camera was to make him more sympathetic, and this was too confrontational. It's included on the DVD as a deleted scene.

* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: As Rob puts it in the movie when referring to the store's assistants Dick (an awkward, slightly creepy nerd) and Barry (an obnoxious asshole):
-->I can't fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week, and they just started showing up, ''every day''. That was four years ago.

All incarnations follow Rob Fleming (Gordon in the film), a London (Chicago in the film) record store owner in his 30s whose girlfriend, Laura, has just left him. At the record shop, Championship Vinyl, Rob and his employees Dick and Barry spend their free moments discussing mix-tape aesthetics and constructing "top-five" lists of anything that demonstrates their knowledge of music, movies and pop culture.

* AdaptationExpansion: The Hulu series stretches to ten episodes, adding new characters such as Rob's brother. While the book is the longest form of this story, the series is a semi-remake of a two hour movie.
* AdaptationalLocationChange: The series is set in Crown, Heights, Brooklyn, New York City.
* AdaptationalSexuality: Rob in the series, along with [[GenderFlip being female]], is bisexual, while both the previous incarnations were straight.

* ButNotTooBi: The series has Rob be shown as dating a woman previously, although most of her exes are men in the flashbacks. She is never seen involved with nor even attracted to women in the present.

* CastingGag: Creator/ZoeKravitz is Rob in the series. Her mother, Lisa Bonet, played one of [[GenderFlip his]] love interests in the 2000 film version.

* CulturalTranslation: The series does this again, moving to Brooklyn, New York.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** In both novel and film, Barry chews out a middle-aged customer for ''daring'' to ask [[DisproportionateRetribution if the shop has a copy of "I Just Called to Say I Love You"]] by Music/StevieWonder really sets out what an obnoxious superior JerkAss he is. What makes it worse is that the customer clearly establishes that ''he's buying the record for someone else''.

* GenderFlip: Rob is made a woman in the series. Barry is replaced by Cherise, a black woman.

* HeelRealization:
** Early on, Laura's friend Liz storms into the shop, calls Rob a "fucking asshole" and storms out again, following which Rob realizes that Laura must have told Liz all of the nasty things Rob did to her during their relationship. He then admits that Liz is absolutely right.
** The series has Rob confessing, relatively late, about something utterly terrible she did. Redeeming this somewhat is her dawning knowledge that she is a "fucking asshole".

* IndulgentFantasySegue:
** Three in a row, dealing with how Rob ''wants'' to deal with Ian when the latter shows up at the store to talk about Laura man-to-man. The first time he loudly tells Ian off; the second time, he threatens him with violence and sends him running from the store like a coward. It culminates with a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown where Rob, Dick and Barry lay him out and crush his head with an air conditioner unit. What ''actually'' happens is Rob reacts like a sensible person and says he'll consider Ian's suggestion to drop the matter.
** The series has a nice little scene echoing this, where once again, Rob imagines assaulting the new lover of the object of her desire.

* InUniverseSoundtrack: In the series, much of the music is diagetic, being played in the record store, in headphones when a character puts them on, or from other sources such as phones or laptops.

* LighterAndSofter: The series warm and has comedic elements, missing some of the darker events or themes of the novel.
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: In the book, Rob worries about this happening immediately prior to having sex with Marie (it doesn't). He seems to be periodically afflicted with it shortly after getting back together with Laura, owing to his insecurity about how he compares to Ray.

* MsFanservice: ** In the series, Zoe Kravitz is seen topless or otherwise showing a lot of skin a couple of times. It's not blatantly fanservice, but neither is it 100% plot-necessary.

* RaceLift:
** Rob, who's white in every other version, has been reimagined as biracial, in addition to being [[GenderFlip gender flipped]], for the series.
** Barry is now Cherise, a black woman.

* StrawFeminist:
** Liz isn't too far off this in the book (but then, Rob is an UnreliableNarrator to some extent).

* TechMarchesOn: Played with in the series. Vinyl went through a resurgence and in 2020 record stores are still a thing. However, the store also carries cassettes, which one minor character finds odd. Simon, the clerk who replaced the Dick character, admits to still using cassettes as they're "weird and warm".
* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Several examples in the book. A woman once said that Rob looked a bit like Peter Gabriel, while Marie [=LaSalle=] is described as resembling Susan Dey (see RaceLift above).

* TomboyishName: Due to the series making Rob a woman, the name becomes one (it turns out that her full name's Robyn).

* TruerToTheText: The series, unlike the film, opens with the same line the book does and includes the scene where a vengeful ex-wife attempts to sell Rob her husband’s record collection (the scene was cut from the film).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/high_fidelity_film_poster.jpg]]


''High Fidelity'' is a 1995 British novel by Creator/NickHornby (also known for ''Literature/AboutABoy''). It was adapted into a [[TheFilmOfTheBook 2000 film]] directed by Creator/StephenFrears and starring Creator/JohnCusack. It also served as the basis for a 2006 Broadway musical of the same name. A series based on the film and starring Creator/ZoeKravitz as Rob was released on February 14, 2020 by Creator/{{Hulu}}.

* AdaptationDistillation: In the book, we learn Rob stole Jackie from his friend when they were dating, Jackie got married to his friend, Rob meets up with them during his tour of his romantic history, and they bore him to tears with all the talk about their kids, but in the movie, Rob simply says her their breakup didn't mean anything.
* AdaptationExpansion:
** The Kinky Wizards were not in the book (though Rob at one point muses upon the idea of starting a label).
** The Hulu series stretches to ten episodes, adding new characters such as Rob's brother. While the book is the longest form of this story, the series is a semi-remake of a two hour movie.
* AdaptationNameChange:
** Marie [=LaSalle=] in the novel becomes Marie ''de''Salle in the film, probably to make it spund more like Creator/MarquisDeSade.
** The protagonist himself, Rob Fleming in the novel, was renamed Rob Gordon for the film. The latter is the name of a RealLife musician, so perhaps it's more "rock'n'roll" sounding.
** Rob's exes Allison Ashworth and Jackie Allen were renamed as Allison Ashmore and Jackie Alden.
** Barry's band name is also changed: both in the book and film, they are called Sonic Death Monkey, but in the book they start out as Barrytown (which Rob ridicules Barry for), something that is never mentioned in the film. At the night of the gig, Barry mentions the names Kathleen Turner Overdrive and Barry Jive and the Uptown Five in the film, and the names the Futuristics and Breakbeat in the book, for no apparent reason.
* AdaptationalLocationChange:
** The film changes the setting from London to Chicago. The writers did this because they were more familiar with the city and its alternative music scene.
** The series meanwhile is set in Crown, Heights, Brooklyn, New York City.

* AsideComment: In the movie, Rob talks to the audience frequently. This happened in the book, too in a sense; occasionally, Rob would take a moment to personally address the reader.

* BehindTheBlack: In the film, Rob is nearly hit by a skater in the street who he should have seen coming from the angle he was facing.

* TheCameo: Music/BruceSpringsteen appears as an apparition to Rob in the movie.

* CelebrityParadox: Barry points out Rob's "Cosby sweater," so ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' exists, yet no one comments on Marie La Salle's resemblance to a certain Cosby daughter.
* CreativeClosingCredits: The movie's end credits are displayed as labels on records.

* CulturalTranslation: The adaptation, relocating from London to Chicago.
** The series does this again, moving to Brooklyn, New York.

** In the film, we are introduced to [[{{Manchild}} Barry]] when he barges into the store while playing air-guitar, insults his coworkers/boss, and then plays 'Walking on Sunshine' by Katrina and the Waves on the radio without realizing/caring that Rob has just broken up with Laura. His literal first words are "Holy Shi-ite!"

** In the movie, Rob introduces himself to the audience by first listening to 'You're Gonna Miss Me' by the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, staring directly into the camera with an expression of abject heartbreak, and then asking "What came first? The music or the misery?" It clues us into his knowledge of music and his overall mood throughout the film, but also foreshadows how he deals (or doesn't deal) with his problems.

* TheFilmOfTheBook
* FlatCharacter: Barry is a much shallower character in the film than in the book. In the book, he's an obnoxious tosspot, but also extremely lonely, and bitter as a consequence. In the film, he's the PluckyComicRelief played by Creator/JackBlack at his Jack Blackiest.

* InUniverseSoundtrack:
** Most of the songs in the film soundtrack are played InUniverse by Rob and his employees in the record store. This includes a cover of Music/MarvinGaye's "Let's Get It On" performed by Creator/JackBlack, whose character Barry sings it in the film.
** In the series, much of the music is diagetic, being played in the record store, in headphones when a character puts them on, or from other sources such as phones or laptops.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Barry in the movie is ''such'' an ''asshole'' you want to just punch him in his soft, flabby, stupid face and force-feed him one of his oh-so-precious records, but he actually does care for his friends, and he pulls through for Rob's show at the end (instead of turning it into an obnoxious trainwreck like Rob was rightfully worried about).
** While he's not as obnoxious as Barry, Rob is revealed to be arguably worse in a low-key, long-term, high-functioning kind of way. He is a selfish, insensitive, immature, all-round toxic person who objectifies the women he dates, prefers to wallow in his own misery instead of getting a grip on his life like an adult, and doesn't notice that he infects the people who love him despite himself. That said, much like Barry, he does care for his friends, and by the end of the movie seems to be making a change for the better by making a commitment to Laura (instead of chasing after the new ManicPixieDreamGirl) and actually pursuing a career in producing music (instead of just complaining about bad music).

* LighterAndSofter: The film is much more overtly comedic and less mean-spirited than the novel.
** The series is similarly warm and has comedic elements, missing some of the darker events or themes of the novel.

** Another example appears at the end of the movie in the form of a cute girl interviewing Rob about his store and new record label. [[spoiler:It leads Rob to realize that he has been fantasizing about girls like these his whole life, and is sick of the fantasy, much preferring the mundane, unsexy, but very real relationship he has with Laura]].
* ManlyTears: Rob cries a couple of times in the film. Subverted because it's usually for stupid, selfish reasons like imagining Laura having sex with Ian.

* MsFanservice:
** The film has Charlie, played by Creator/CatherineZetaJones. So much Rob feels insecure about dating her.
** In the series, Zoe Kravitz is seen topless or otherwise showing a lot of skin a couple of times. It's not blatantly fanservice, but neither is it 100% plot-necessary.
* NarrationEcho: At least twice in the movie do characters repeat Rob's narration.
-->'''Rob''' (about Sarah): She'd just been dumped by some asshole named Michael.
-->'''Sarah''' (in the flashback): I mean, Michael was such an asshole.
* NeverMyFault: Rob is very quick to tell us about mitigating circumstances in breakups and why he isn't to blame. This makes his admission about his failings with Laura all the more poignant at the end of the film.
-->'''Rob:''' I can see now I never really committed to Laura. I always had one foot out the door, and that prevented me from doing a lot of things, like thinking about my future. I guess it made more sense to commit to nothing. Keep my options open. And that's suicide.
* NoFourthWall: Rob continuously addresses the camera in the film. This was the way that Stephen Frears and John Cusack decided to include the massive amounts of very important and integral narration of the book.

** Marie in the film; she was said to resemble Susan Dey in the book, but is played by Lisa Bonet in the film. What's particularly amusing is that Dick's description of what she looks like in the film is identical to his description in the book, except that he appends "except, you know, black" to the end of it in the former case. [[WordOfGod Frears]] has explained that the reasoning behind this is that Marie is supposed to be an exotic character: for a novel set in England, a white American woman is exotic; for a film set in America...

** Done by Rob to himself in the film where he admits that he never really commits, always has one foot out the door, and is obsessed with living the fantasy of a new exciting relationship forever and not facing the hard work that goes into a real long term relationship.
*** Also done as a TakeThat during one of Rob's BreakingTheFourthWall monologues: "Now, who's the asshole?"

** Averted in the film where Liz behaves reasonably and tries to keep Rob from going off the deep end and later justifiably calls him out on the awful things he did to Laura.

* TechMarchesOn: Although [=CDs=] were present in the novel (published in 1995), the film features them much more prominently. In spite of this, however, both novel and film are essentially about vinyl purists, so vinyl occupies pride of place irrespective of technological advances.
** Played with in the series. Vinyl went through a resurgence and in 2020 record stores are still a thing. However, the store also carries cassettes, which one minor character finds odd. Simon, the clerk who replaced the Dick character, admits to still using cassettes as they're "weird and warm".

* TruerToTheText: The series, unlike the film, opens with the same line the book does and includes the scene where a vengeful ex-wife attempts to sell Rob her husband’s record collection.

* FlatCharacter: Barry is a much shallower character in the film than in the book. In the book, he's an obnoxious tosspot, but also extremely lonely, and bitter as a consequence. In the film, he's played by Creator/JackBlack at his Jack Blackiest.

''High Fidelity'' is a 1995 British novel by Creator/NickHornby (also known for ''Literature/AboutABoy''). It was adapted into a [[FilmOfTheBook 2000 film]] directed by Creator/StephenFrears and starring Creator/JohnCusack. It also served as the basis for a 2006 Broadway musical of the same name. A series based on the film and starring Creator/ZoeKravitz as Rob was released on February 14, 2020 by Creator/{{Hulu}}.

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The film changes the setting from London to Chicago. The writers did this because they were more familiar with the city and its alternative music scene.

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The film changes the setting from London to Chicago. The writers did this because they were more familiar with the city and that it had an alternative music scene.

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The film changes the setting from London to Chicago.

* {{Cuckold}}: How a lot of Rob break ups end up. He developed a paranoia over it.

** Rob, who's white in every other version, has been reimagined as biracial, in addition to being [[GenrderFlip genderflipped]], for the series.

** SeriesRob receives quite an epic one in episode nine.

** Rob, who's white in every other version, has been reimagined as biracial for the series.

* YourCheatingHeart:
** In the book, Rob thinks Laura tricked him into admitting he was interested in someone else.
** In the film, one of the things that led to their breakup was:
### him cheating on her...
### while she was pregnant (she knew but hadn't told him yet)...
### which led her to get an abortion, which he only found out about way later after making what was intended to be a bad joke about having kids and reducing her to tears (and he promptly flew into "an ill-advised bout of self-righteousness" about it and only made things worse).
** In the series, Rob discovers that one of her boyfriends was cheating... with his ''preexisting'' girlfriend.

** In the film, [[{{Manchild}} Barry]] is introduced by him barging into the store playing air-guitar, insulting his coworkers/boss, and then playing 'Walking on Sunshine' by Katrina and the Waves on the radio without realizing/caring that Rob has just broken up with Laura. His literal first words are "Holy Shi-ite!"

** In both novel and film, Barry chewing out a middle-aged customer for ''daring'' to ask if the shop has a copy of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Music/StevieWonder really sets out what an obnoxious superior JerkAss he is. What makes it worse is that the customer clearly establishes that ''he's buying the record for someone else''.

* FlatCharacter: Barry is a much shallower character in the film than in the book. In the book, he's an obnoxious tosspot, but also extremely lonely, and bitter as a consequence. In the film, he's played by Creator/JackBlack.