History Main / NarratingTheObvious

* Creator/{{Netflix}} shows have this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools as a feature]] in the form of UsefulNotes/AudioDescription tracks so that the visually impaired can have an indication of what's happening on screen.

* Justified. Whenever ''LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'' gets an achievement, the hunters always point it out, and use it as a clue to find where Dream is. Since the audience is in Dream's point of view, this is usually obvious.
* Creator/{{Netflix}} shows have this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools as a feature]] in the form of UsefulNotes/AudioDescription tracks so that the visually impaired can have an indication of what's happening on screen.

-->'''Narrator:''' "Thanks for invading our homeland!" Said the Jews, who are getting really tired of people invading their homeland.

* Frequently occurs in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] comic books. A caption will say, "Captain Whizbang overtakes the locomotive!", while in the same panel Captain Whizbang says or thinks, "Got to--overtake--the locomotive!", and the art shows Captain Whizbang--guess what?--overtaking the locomotive. The trope carried over into the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] as well. Since the [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]], this has become a DiscreditedTrope, and a likely contributing factor to the DecompressedComic.

* The narrator in ''Film/{{Matilda}}'' often explained what was happening on screen, even things that are blatantly obvious. The biggest offender is when Matilda goes to school for the first time and the camera shows us the school; he explains that the school was a building with children.

* The Japanese dub of "WesternAnimation/TheTransformers" had extensive narration for literally everything that was happening onscreen. Basically, whenever a character wasn't talking, the narrator more than likely was.

* A flu shot reminder PSA that runs in some markets uses the framing device of a man kneeling to propose to his lady, only to be overtaken with a coughing fit while trying to get the words out. We know that's what he's doing because the woman exuberantly declares "Oh, you're on one knee!" One need only picture the scenario in their head to realize just how awkward and unnatural a thing that is to say, but the fact that she almost ''has'' to say something to that effect in a non-visual medium goes to show that some ad concepts simply don't work that well in radio (like, say, when they're wholly dependent on the visual imagery).

* A flu shot reminder PSA that runs in some markets uses the framing device of a man kneeling to propose to his lady, only to be overtaken with a coughing fit while trying to get the words out. We know that's what he's doing because the woman exuberantly declares "Oh, you're on one knee!" One need only picture the scenario in their head to realize just how awkward and unnatural a thing that is to say, but the fact that she almost ''has'' to say something to that effect in a non-visual medium goes to show that some ad concepts simply don't work that well in radio.

* The American dub of ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and the Big Fight'' has a narrator who narrates everything the viewers are already seeing. The original French version and the British dub don't have a narrator.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' takes place AfterTheEnd where the Griffin family finds a shelter after the apocalypse. Turns out Randy Newman is also there on a piano. He proceeds to narrate ''every single thing'' the Griffins do, as they do it. Lois decides to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere get her family out of there]] after about 10 seconds.
* Mocked in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', and served as a TropeNamer to boot, when the Robot Devil criticizes Fry's play for doing this.
--> '''Robot Devil:''' You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! (Angrily) [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry THAT MAKES ME FEEL ANGRY!!!]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': At the end of the episode "Let's Play Spies", [[TheDitz Stumpy]] does this.

* Occurs a great deal in ''WesternAnimation/KingRollo''.

* A semi-famous line in the movie ''Film/IndependenceDay'':

* The ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series is notorious for this. Bella is quite an unobservant narrator of her own story, so half the time she doesn't notice what should be completely obvious to the other characters and/or all the readers.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', Violet exclaims, "The remote controls the robot!". Justified in that the audience knows it but Violet and Dash do not know about the remote and she was telling him.

* A small example in ''Series/TheOffice'', when the characters play a game at a bar that involves guessing which hand a quarter is under. After all but two of the hands are eliminated, Roy states the obvious: "The quarter's either here or here."

* This trope alongside AsYouKnow is an [[SignatureStyle incredibly common signature part]] of the anime works by Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. It is not uncommon for characters to narrate things that are happening that the audience can clearly see or them narrating on what other characters said just moments before. Well, tons of animes are already like this.

* Ben Reilly in ''SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' does this while patrolling, poking fun at comic-book narration. [[90sAntiHero Plus, he seems to think it's cool.]] His reaction to landing in an alleyway [[PortalDoor filled by an interdimensional portal?]]
-->"Now I'm here, in the alley. There's something unusual happening. Looking at the walls - those are normal - but there's something right in front of me...\\

* One of the main criticisms of ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''. For example, in the beginning, Samus has a dream of the ending events of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and later wakes up telling the viewers that she had said dream. She never seems to stop monologing to herself in this game, anyway.

* Surprisingly common in ''Series/StargateSG1'' and its spinoffs. There are countless occasions when the gate will activate, a ship will emerge from/go into hyperspace or start firing weapons...and then a character will proceed to tell us that the gate just opened/a ship exited/entered hyperspace/the enemy is firing on us!

* ''[[Creator/RoosterTeeth Rooster Teeths]]'' short skit ''That's My Uncle'' does this naturally, being a parody of various anime tropes.