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
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Wonder Woman doesn't have anything to do with Princess Di, so this sounds like a shoehorn.
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- even when it's documented offsite, which is against the spirit of YMMV, if not outright against the rules.
Except the websites in question are "Simpsons predicted 9/11" type conspiracy nonsense. YMMV aren't "anything goes," they still have trope descriptions and rules that examples must meet, such as the 20 year rule for Values Dissonance and Values Resonance, Narm has to be drama that fails and instead becomes hilarious, Complete Monster requiring approval by the forums and having specific criteria, Unfortunate Implications requiring a citation, Nightmare Fuel has an entire list of rules, and so on.
And remember, a while ago we deleted all the "World Trade Center appears" entries because it was decided those were People Sit on Chairs, just like the word "corona" showing up in a work with no other connection to COVID-19.
Angry babby
Except as of now we don't have any rules for these items besides "this is a connection people have made" and "no recent examples" (hence why the COVID examples are banned) and "no politics cuz we can't take a definitive side there." This passes those requirements. Nightmare Fuel is a funny comparison to make because that thread is much more lenient on examples that are seen as scary offsite.
Also, the hindsight items do not necessarily mean we're arguing that a work "predicted" anything. It's stupid that people take it that way but that's not what the hindsight items suggest. If we want to cut the conspiracy part, I have no objections, but people remarking "hey wow that is a fucked up coincidence" without going into predictive programming nonsense is not really controversial.
Edited by mightymewtron on Aug 31st 2021 at 3:33:21 PM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
And I'd be very surprised if the latter existed without any of the former.
There is no connection between the World Trade Center simply appearing in a work and 9/11.
The Simpsons does have scenes that resemble the attacks, like the building being blown up in "New Kids on the Blecch" or a crowd running from a dust cloud from a collapsing building in "Viva Ned Flanders", but there is no similarity between it and Homer visiting the Twin Towers.
The point still is that multiple people acknowledged the connection, ergo it's valid. That's what Audience Reaction pages are about. It's not about the quality of the connections viewers make, but whether such an audience reaction existed or not and was not just the stray thoughts of a random troper. And those sites prove conclusively and objectively that yes, such a reaction did indeed exist and was also widespread.
Edited by AlleyOop on Aug 31st 2021 at 6:03:32 AM
From Despicable Me 2
- Harsher in Hindsight: Lucy smiling while watching Gru and his daughters interact and then referring to him as a "fun dad" takes a sadder note when Word of God revealed later on that Lucy's parents were killed when she was very young. Maybe it counts, but it is based on Word of God rather than on anything in a future movie
- Heartwarming in Hindsight: This was not the only film released in 2013 where Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig's character fall in love and get married. Two actors co-star in another movie and go through similar stuff
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In the first film, Gru tries to keep his supervillain identity a secret by claiming he was a spy. Cut to this movie, and he is hired as a spy for the Anti-Villain league. I think it counts
- There's the small gag when the girls try to set Gru up for online dating, and he claims he looks like a bit like Bruce Willis. What makes this scene hilarious is that Gru is voiced by Steve Carell, and both of the actors worked together on another movie in which Carell's character looked up to Willis' character. I think that this can be cut
- The girls were not fond of their foster mother in the first film, but they open up immediately to Lucy. Hilariously, both women are voiced by the same person. The fact that Gru flirts (unsuccessfully) with Miss Hattie in the first film is also quite funny as he marries Lucy in this one. Maybe this qualifies
- The Russian dub has an actress named Irina Kireeva voice a character named Lucy. This wouldn't be the first time she would voice a Love Interest Action Girl with the same name... Sounds like Typecasting
Now Despicable Me 3
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- Bratt's backstory involves him being kicked off his show due to puberty causing his voice to break and him being too old to play his part. In this film, Elsie Fisher (the original voice of Agnes) was replaced by Nev Scharrel for the exact same reason. Though she would later star in the critically acclaimed Eighth Grade, so there is a silver lining. Maybe, but the second line states that she got a new role
- Lucy's struggle with motherhood is harder not only because she's new to it, but also because of her backstory which involved her parents being killed by a villain when she was very young. Based on Word of God
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- South Park's 20th season tackled the dangers of Nostalgia Filter. Now, Trey Parker is playing a Former Child Star who refuses to give up his outdated look and mannerisms. Maybe
- A small one — the voice actor for the previous antagonist, Eduardo Perez/El Macho, was Benjamin Bratt. The antagonist in this movie is Balthazar Bratt. Maybe
- One of the billboards in Hollywood is advertising a film called "Soul". IDK
Edited by magnumtropus on Aug 31st 2021 at 2:54:24 PM
The second and third to last entires would probably fit on the other works' pages, since they came first.
Angry babby
The Word of God stuff could count if that info was given out after the movie was released.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
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Yeah, for real guys, we need to stop judging these examples for their perceived quality or lackthereof. We can't brush aside legitimate audience reactions because we think their opinions are bad.
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Bringing up the following examples from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein:
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Though Igor never appears, as he was a Canon Foreigner for the Universal movies, Tom Hulce plays Henry, who takes the role of Victor's friend and partner. Two years later, he actually would play a famous fictional hunchback.
- Helena Bonham Carter spends the movie as an upper class period female and then ends it as essentially the Bride of Frankenstein. Oddly symbolic of how her typecasting would change - from English Roses in period dramas to dark nutcases.
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Both of them are actor garbage.
- The point still is that multiple people acknowledged the connection, ergo it's valid.
Except it is actually site policy that those aren't examples.
From FunnyAneurysmMoment.The Simpsons
- As uncomfortable as it might be, the World Trade Center appearing in a work made prior to 9/11 is not an example of this unless there is some sort of reference of the towers being attacked.
From The Simpsons S9 E1 "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson"
- The World Trade Center appearing in a work made before 9/11 is not an example. There must be a joke that mirrors the attack.
Angry babby
The example isn't just "the WTC appears," it's "the WTC is used in imagery that specifically resembles the number 9-11" and that is what people noticed.
Edited by mightymewtron on Sep 1st 2021 at 11:52:01 AM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Does Poison Ivy's origin story in Batman & Robin count as Harsher in Hindsight considering her actress's treatment by Harvey Weinstein?
Still, it's a flimsy connection, like typing gibberish into the old Wingdings before it was changed.
From HilariousInHindsight.The Simpsons
- The season 5 episode Treehouse of Horror IV wouldn't be the last time that Homer would descend to Hell or that Ned Flanders would become Satan. Easy Road to Hell is a common trope and has been used by the show since Season 2, and Ned as the Devil is a Call-Back
- This line from Goofy about the dog pound's gas chamber in Season 19's "Love Springfieldian Style: ...And? Is this related to Disney buying Fox? Because this sounds like a "they mentioned Disney!" non-example
Goofy: This place was no picnic, but it sure beats working for Disney!
- Season 21's "Stealing First Base" with Superintendent Chalmers saying that Principal Skinner is Springfield's "Joe Biden". 10 years and 8 months later... ...And? What makes it Hilarious in Hindsight? This is just a mention of a then-Vice President who was later elected President
- There is a well-known Creepypasta about the series known as Dead Bart, which tells the story of a purported Missing Episode of the series where Bart is sucked out of an airplane airlock and dies. The pasta was written in 2010. This is predated by a horror-themed Simpsons Top Trumps card pack released in 2003, which includes a card labeled Dead Bart◊. Sounds like the card pack may have inspired the creepasta
Also the first three were added to the top of the page, instead of the bottom.
They can all be cut for the reasons mentioned.
Could someone who was watched Rise of Skywalker please help me determine whether this example is valid? This was just added to X-Men.
- Towards the end of the movie, Logan saves the dying Rogue by allowing her to absorb his life force, healing her injuries. This ends up paralleling the ending to the Star Wars movie The Rise of Skywalker, except there, Ben dies from Rey absorbing his life force.
Is there enough of a connection here? This life force-sharing thing seems like a fairly common trope, so I don't know if the two scenes are similar enough. For comparison, here is what the X-Men scene looks like (Watch from 0:30 to 1:30).
I don't think so. As written all the entry consists of is "same thing happens in two completely different movies" and doesn't explain why the X-Men example is made funnier, nor why it was funny in the first place, which I believe is a requirement for Hilarious in Hindsight.
Edited by sgamer82 on Sep 2nd 2021 at 8:22:44 AM
Bringing up the following examples from Spider-Man 3:
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- A major subplot is Peter planning to propose to MJ, only for their relationship troubles to interfere. Later the same year the film came out, so did One More Day, which undid the Peter/MJ marriage.
- Before Avi Arad convinced Sam Raimi to put Venom in this film, the Vulture was originally going to be the third villain, as he is Sam Raimi's number one favorite Spider-Man villain. Ten years later, Spider-Man: Homecoming featured the Vulture, played by Micheal Keaton, as the main antagonist. The fact that Raimi never got the chance to put his favorite villain in his Spider-Man series is pretty sad knowing how close to his heart the Vulture is.
First one is too flimsy unless it's the only relationship with MJ that went through troubles. Second one is ...? Is it declaring the Vulture is Raimi's favorite baddie so he can't be adapted to film ever because Raimi's didn't get him?
Does this look appropriate for YMMV.Prospect?
- Hilarious in Hindsight: A Variety review, quoted on the back cover, boasted, "This is what the standalone Star Wars movies should feel like." Lucasfilm later privately screened Prospect, and announced afterwards that Pedro Pascal would headline the first live-action Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian.
It appears to be more actor nonsense.
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This is on The Amazing World of Gumball under Harsher in Hindsight:
- "The Line"; fans are waiting to see a Star Wars parody called "Stellar Odyssey". Some of the fans say they want "Surprises, but only the ones we expect." The Last Jedi came out a few months later, and many fans claimed it was too surprising, changed too many things in a bad way, and not what a Star Wars film should be. One of the most common claims was "they made it for the general public instead of us fans!"
On the one hand, that scene was taking the piss out of the Star Wars fandom specifically note , so stuff like this already happened in the fandom. On the other hand, it's a decent connection, and I guess we can keep The Last Jedi example if it's the most notable instance of that in the fandom, it's not nearly as bad as "Character in a cartoon has the same name as a character in a later cartoon". Sandbox help wanted.
Bringing up this example from The Queen: