History Main / OstentatiousSecret

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* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/05/15 at the start of the first Get Rid Of Slimy girlS club arc]]:

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* In general, intelligence agencies seems to have a bit of a fetish for prominent architecture. The CIA has the George Bush Center, the NSA has that sinister black monolith at Fort Mead, MI6 has 85 Vauxhall Cross, GCHQ has that doughnut-shaped building in Cheltenham, the NKVD and KGB has the Lubyanka Building in Moscow. All together, it does project a vague "come at me, bro" attitude to their enemies.
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* In general, intelligence agencies seems to have a bit of a fetish for prominent architecture. The CIA has the George Bush Center, the NSA has that sinister black monolith at Fort Mead, MI6 has 85 Vauxhall Cross, GCHQ has that doughnut-shaped building in Cheltham, the NKVD and KGB has the Lubyanka Building in Moscow. All together, it does project a vague "come at me, bro" attitude to their enemies.

* ''{{Passions}}'' did it a bunch of times, but really milked it with TC's shed.

* In ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'', [[GreenArrow Ollie]] notes this to Bruce:

* This is apparently one of [[NorseMythology Odin's]] powers. As Creator/NeilGaiman put it in ''Literature/AmericanGods'': "And I know an 18th charm & that charm I can tell to no man, for a secret that nobody knows but you is the most powerful thing of all."

* This is apparently one of [[NorseMythology Odin's]] powers. As NeilGaiman put it in ''Literature/AmericanGods'': "And I know an 18th charm & that charm I can tell to no man, for a secret that nobody knows but you is the most powerful thing of all."

* In one ''KindaichiCaseFiles'' story, a woman carries around a small box that she coos over and talks to, treating it like a child. Subverted when [[spoiler:she reveals she's an undercover cop, and the box holds her gun. Doubly subverted when she reveals that the box only held the gun that one time, and that she still has her REAL box]].

Sometimes ostentatious secrets are eventually [[TheReveal revealed]], and sometimes they stay that way forever. This can be just a RunningGag, or it can be source of dramatic tension as a MacGuffin. In fact, their primary use is as a [=MacGuffin=], reserved for use in a [[TwoLinesNoWaiting B-Story]], or possibly even a "C"-story, a narrative thread that is around just to build continuity.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and the Olympic Games'', Asterix and Getafix talk rather loudly next to the Romans about how they're not allowed to drink the magic potion sitting in the cauldron in a certain nearby shed whose door doesn't shut properly and isn't guarded by night, in order to trick the Romans into drinking the magic potion and thereby disqualifying
themselves.

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* In ''TheDarkKnightReturns'', [[GreenArrow Ollie]] notes this to Bruce:

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* ''Literature/DaveBarrySleptHere'', UsefulNotes/RichardNixon campaigned in 1968 on his secret plan to end UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, "but of course he couldn't tell the voters what it was, because then it couldn't have been a ''secret'' plan." Immediately upon being elected, Nixon has the secret peace plan buried to protect the national security.

* ''Literature/DaveBarrySleptHere'', UsefulNotes/RichardNixon campaigned in 1968 on his secret plan to end UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar‎, "but of course he couldn't tell the voters what it was, because then it couldn't have been a ''secret'' plan." The peace plan is immediately buried by Nixon once he is elected, for national security reasons.

-->'''Calvin:''' Good news, Hobbes! I'm starting a secret club, and you can be in it!
-->'''Hobbes:''' Oh, boy!
-->'''Calvin:''' It'll be great! We'll think of secret names for ourselves, secret codes for our secret correspondence, a secret handshake... We'll have a secret club-house with a secret knock to get in, and we'll do big secretive things!
-->'''Hobbes:''' Why all the secrecy?
-->'''Calvin:''' People pay more attention to you when they think you're up to something.

* Formed the focus of an episode of ''DharmaAndGreg''. Greg has a locked mystery box and Dharma is torn between her curiosity at wanting to know what's inside and her love for Greg, whose trust she doesn't want to betray. Greg realizes that the box is driving Dharma nuts, so he first gives Dharma the key, so she can decide for herself whether to invade his privacy. This drives Dharma even crazier, so Greg empties it and puts the stuff away in their apartment without telling Dharma what was in there. At the end of the episode, Dharma is sitting on the couch in their apartment and concludes that ''she is in the box''! Very Zen. Or something.

* ''DoctorWho''? ''DoctorWho''?? ''DoctorWho''??!

* ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes, [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/05/15 at the start of the first Get Rid Of Slimy girlS club arc]]:

* CalvinAndHobbes, [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/05/15 at the start of the first Get Rid Of Slimy girlS club arc]]:

* [[Film/ThePrestige Borden's]] cryptic comment in the page quote alludes to his own secret: [[spoiler:He is an identical twin. Not very impressive on its own. The trick he uses it for? The Transported Man, wherein he appears to be teleported instantly across the stage. The trick works so well because ''no one'' knows the secret. Not even one twin's wife or the other's lover.]]

* In LightNovel/{{Slayers}}, the motives of [[ManipulativeBastard Xellos]] are always a secret.

--> --'''Alfred Borden''', '''''Film/ThePrestige'''''

* Marsellus Wallace's briefcase in ''PulpFiction'', the contents of which are described as beautiful, are never known to the audience. WildMassGuessing ensues.

* A running question in Emma Lathen's novels about banker/amateur detective JohnPutnamThatcher is what's in that tin box in his secretary's desk? Thatcher is too much the gentleman to peek when Miss Corsa is elsewhere, but that doesn't interfere with his attempts to deduce the solution.

Contrast the OpenSecret and TheNotSecret, both where not only is the existence of the secret well-known, but everybody knows the secret itself.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', the unnamed and unidentified "monster in the darkness" is a living Ostentatious Secret. The main villain of the series keeps him shrouded in darkness, despite its constant objections. He is kept shrouded in order to keep him a secret before his final climactic confrontation with the heroes.

** According to [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19138_7-hotly-debated-movie-questions-that-totally-have-answers.html this article]], it was originally just diamonds, but they decided that a OstentatiousSecret would be more interesting.

* In general, intelligence agencies seems to have a bit of a fetish for prominent architecture. The CIA has the George Bush Center, the NSA has that sinister black monolith at Fort Mead, MI6 has 85 Vauxhall Cross, GCHQ has that doughnut-shaped building in Cheltham, the NKVD and KGB has the Lubyanka Building in Moscow. All together, it does project a vague "come at me, bro" altitude to their enemies.

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* The eponymous [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Secret of Monkey Island]]. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the sequels.