The Hindsight tropes, Hilarious in Hindsight, Harsher in Hindsight, and Heartwarming in Hindsight, are among the most misused Audience Reaction tropes on this site. Many people don't understand that the tropes require more than just "This happened, so that happened", and end up adding examples which either lack connection or the substance that makes them funny/serious/not-so-funny/heartwarming. Some of them may be suited better for other tropes (ex: Life Imitates Art), while some may not belong on TV Tropes at all (such as ones involving politicians, due to Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment).
Please report any Hindsight example that you feel are questionable, and we'll analyze them to see if they are actually examples or not.
Remember that the Hindsight tropes are Audience Reactions. That means if an example under review discusses significant fan response pointing out the hindsight, the example can't be cut solely for being too tenuous for this thread.
- Creator's character/portrayal dies in work and then creator dies in real life, unless their fictional death is closely similar to their real one (such as Billy Bob Joe portraying a character who dies from pancreatic cancer, then Billy Bob dies from pancreatic cancer himself)
- Mundane word related to something terrible (such as "corona" or "Epstein") unless there's more to the connection (such as someone named "Corona" having the flu)
- Creator appears in work then becomes more controversial later on.
- A common event (such as a typical natural disaster) happens in work, then happens in real life (unless they are closely similar, such as the event happening to the same area in both reality and fiction around the same time) For once, not everything related to disease has to do with COVID-19, not everything related to racism and Police Brutality has to do with George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and not everything related to sexual abuse has to do with #MeToo.
- A common/generic concept was used in this work and then later reused in that work (too loose for a connection, unless the concept is so unique it's identified with the work)
- Two actors appear together then do so in another work
- Hindsight examples involving recent events, due to them often being shoehorns. Specifically:
- COVID-19 examples, before 75% of the population has returned to normal
- George Floyd/2020 Black Lives Matter examples, before protests have declined
- Examples which fall guilty of Older Than They Think, such as "Make X Great Again" slogans. Aside from violating the ROCEJ, this slogan has been in use since the 1940s.
- Characters using slurs which are treated as annoying at worst in the work, but is now harsher due to how severe the slur is made now. Discrimination has always existed with that slur. (May qualify for Values Dissonance if work is at least 20 years old.)
Note: As of January 2022, "Funny Aneurysm" Moment is no longer separate from Harsher in Hindsight.
- The former redirects to the latter and all wicks to the former (with the exception of ones on archive pages and the YMMV Redirects index) must either be moved to the latter (if they're valid) or removed (if they're invalid).
- The subpages for the former are still accessible from this page
. After a subpage for "Funny Aneurysm" Moment has been completely cleaned up, turn it into a redirect to the Harsher in Hindsight subpage for the same medium to preserve inbounds.
Edited by Tabs on Jun 21st 2023 at 11:51:25 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
"Adaptation of work has the same plot point/characterization as other adaptation of work." Not Hindsight.
i'm at the combination she and it
this on The Killing Joke, another "recent event" shoehorn with a pretty baffling Villain Has a Point pothole. the joker is supposed to be completely and irrefutably wrong.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- The Joker claims "one bad day" would turn a good man to evil. In March 2021, after a man in Atlanta, Georgia murdered 8 Asian-Americans, the sheriff's office got in trouble by describing the man's actions as "a very bad day for him.". Maybe the Joker had a point.
Edited by NoUsername on Apr 24th 2021 at 5:06:26 AM
Sounds like a ROCEJ violation to me.
Lots of coffee
Yikes yikes yikes yikes yikes. Cut it, it's not even the first time that excuse has been used and it comes across like we're defending the murderer.
Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 24th 2021 at 6:08:27 AM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Very Spooky
Oh good god burn that example to the ground ASAP.
back lol
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
I... No words. Just kill it.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Ordinary Corrupt Android Love
Tear it off and chuck it into a volcano.
Self-serious autistic metalhead who goes by any pronouns. (avvie template source)
i'm at the combination she and it
just did. i don't understand what goes through editors' heads when adding entries like this...
Should we PM the person who wrote that example (or the person who added the last part about The Joker "having a point")?
When the Last of Us TV show has its own page, would this look worth adding to YMMV.Prospect?
- Hilarious in Hindsight: This doesn't mark the last time a Southern-accented, murderous Pedro Pascal and a spunky teenage girl would journey through a spore-filled environment together, and become a surrogate family after enduring some life-risking adventures.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Christ the Joker entry was fucked up. Although knowing the alt-right that may have been the point. Anyway incinerate it.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
i'm at the combination she and it
the initial entry was added by Doctor Sleep, who seems to have issues with adding entries about contentious recent events (Condemned by History before the waiting period, COVID examples, johnny depp's abuse allegations). the "joker had a point" part was added by TySargent2001, whose edits are much more innocuous, suggesting they might've just been attempting to justify the original edit (though they still have some similar issues on the pages they frequent). it's still wrong, but i think doctor sleep is more at fault here.
Edited by NoUsername on Apr 24th 2021 at 8:34:40 AM
The Joker hindsight entry reminds me of a (now thankfully deleted, but how it got approved in the first place is mind-boggling) trivia line from IMDb for Marvel's Civil War movie.
Specifically, the line said something like "Zemo's bomb in the UN meeting killed 16 people, coincidentally the same amount of casualties of the Aurora theater shooting 3 years earlier."
Helpful reminder to engage your brain cells before editing...
Bringing up the following examples from Marvel Two-in-One:
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The first team-up with Doctor Strange has the Thing fighting a giant rat and calling it "Mickey". 35 years later, Marvel Comics was bought by Disney.
- The first team-up with Ghost Rider is a Christmas Story titled "Silent Night… Deadly Night!" This was nine years before the Christmas horror movie of the same name was released.
Keep the first, trash the second.
I wouldn't even keep the first, to be honest.
Yeah, I'd cut both. The first one is more Disney shoehorning: "This comic made a Mickey Mouse reference, and 35 years later Disney buys Marvel!"
This is on Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation:
- "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: Plucky predicts that they will reach Happy World Land on April 6, 2021. Joe Alaskey (Plucky), Don Messick (Hampton J. Pig), and Jonathan Winters (Wade Pig) did not live to see that date, so it's fortunate Wade turned down Plucky's theory and got them to the Park much, much sooner.
Actor mortality for the lose.
Lots of coffee
I'm surprised it's not a COVID example, given that that's the joke I saw more often on social media when that date arrived.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Removed most of the bad "Hindsight"-shoehorns after going through the YMMV pages of films for actors who "died too young" e.g. Heath Ledger, Anton Yelchin, Chadwick Boseman, Brandon Lee, etc. Most of them are pretty crap TBH and I'm a bit on the fence on this one:
For Burying the Ex starring Anton Yelchin:
- Harsher in Hindsight: Part of the movie was shot at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, right where Anton Yelchin would be buried after his untimely death in 2016. — This is admittedly better than the Alpha Dog one saying "Yelchin died 10 years IRL after playing a teen who died of an overdose" but it still sounds a bit forced
Also, from 2007's Hairspray
- Harsher in Hindsight: In the original film, Amber's parents try to bomb the climactic concert. Just five months after Ariana Grande played Penny in the 2016 live show, a terrorist attack killed 22 people and injured dozens more at one of her concerts. — Leaning on CUT
And this two from Hannah and Her Sisters. Also Leaning on Cut
- Harsher in Hindsight: During the last Thanksgiving scene, Soon-Yi Previn can briefly be seen. Yikes. — Who the heck is Soon-Yi and why is her appearance Harsher?
- As well as Mickey's comment about child molesting; "half the country's doing it!" Eek. — Broad Strokes and ZCE to Boot
Edited by RobertTYL on Apr 26th 2021 at 1:24:42 AM
Also bringing up the following example from Years and Years:
- Hilarious in Hindsight: The news of Trump winning the 2020 election amid allegations of voter fraud in Florida (likely taking some basis from Bush v. Gore) can come across as this due to the fact that Trump lost the 2020 election and himself made allegations of voter fraud (though not in states he had won, such as Florida).
That... Is actually kinda good, but violets ROCEJ. Remove it.
Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
Lots of coffee
Move to Life Imitates Art?
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Yeh that might work a bit better, Life imitates Art.
