I get why No Real Life Examples, Please! would apply but why In-Universe Examples Only? This is a Plot Device (hence the noreallife), not an Audience Reaction.
Edited by DonaldthePotholer Ketchum's corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced tactic is indistinguishable from blind luck. Hide / Show Replies
I think because it if isn't In-Universe, it is You Look Familiar or Only Six Faces or similar tropes
Edited by jormis29 Working on cleaning up List of Shows That Need Summary
Hey, quick question. If two Identical Strangers turn out to be separated-at-birth twins, is that a Justified Trope or a Subverted Trope or what?
That's me.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Is there any degree of Truth in Television to this trope?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus. Hide / Show Replies
Each case is different, but there is some truth to it. To exemplify:
- I am a 21-year-old college student in the middle of New York.
- I went to Texas to visit my family and got mistaken for Ashton Kutcher.
- A week later, when I was back in NY, I went to a basketball game and was mistaken for basketball player Ricky Rubio.
- About a month later, at a campus-sponsored karaoke event, I was mistaken for Andrew W.K.
So a 21-year-old New York college student, a 21-year-old Spanish basketball player, a 33-year-old Californian musician, and a 34-year-old Iowan actor are all "identical strangers".
So the fact that people can have identical strangers is truth in television. However, with 4 of us, and (X,Y) being the same as (Y,X), we have ((4*3)/2), or 6 combinations. Out of these, [Me x any] is pretty rare because I'm far from famous. [Rubio x any] is also uncommon. This leaves only [Ashton x Andrew] as respectably probable and even then, it's not very likely.
So there is some truth but it's not like media makes it out to be.
In Daphne du Maurier's novel, "The Scapegoat", an Englishman visiting France is forced to change places with his double, a French aristocrat.
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Real Life clean-up needed
, started by khalini on Sep 7th 2011 at 11:37:37 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman