Let's Do The Twist!

[rachelmanija]

I know it all depends on execution, but in general...

Poll #26831 Do the Twist

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 114

View Respondents

What is your favorite twist?

View Answers

Two or more characters are actually the same person.
20 (18.7%)

One or more characters are actually imaginary or hallucinations.
9 (8.4%)

One or more characters were dead all along.
12 (11.2%)

Someone is secretly God.
5 (4.7%)

It's all taking place in virtual reality.
2 (1.9%)

It's all a dream.
1 (0.9%)

What you think is the future is actually the past or vice versa.
38 (35.5%)

The narrator misunderstands something.
48 (44.9%)

The narrator is lying about or deliberately omitting something.
42 (39.3%)

Someone is secretly related to someone else.
22 (20.6%)

A character is a woman.
21 (19.6%)

A character is queer.
19 (17.8%)

A character is trans.
14 (13.1%)

A character is [some other surprise marginalized identity].
12 (11.2%)

A character is a cis man. (Has anyone ever seen this one? I can't think of an example.)
3 (2.8%)

Someone the protagonist trusts has been secretly manipulating them all along.
27 (25.2%)

The entire story was all deliberately planned by a character.
40 (37.4%)

Someone is a mole.
22 (20.6%)

The narrator is in a mental hospital or otherwise delusional all along.
3 (2.8%)

The apparent victim is actually the perpetrator
22 (20.6%)

Everyone in the story is actually pigeons/aliens/dolls/etc.
14 (13.1%)

Something else I've forgotten to mention, so please explain in a comment..
6 (5.6%)

What twist do you HATE?

View Answers

Two or more characters are actually the same person.
8 (7.5%)

One or more characters are actually imaginary or hallucinations.
25 (23.6%)

One or more characters were dead all along.
23 (21.7%)

Someone is secretly God.
26 (24.5%)

It's all taking place in virtual reality.
48 (45.3%)

It's all a dream.
73 (68.9%)

What you think is the future is actually the past or vice versa.
4 (3.8%)

The narrator misunderstands something.
4 (3.8%)

The narrator is lying about or deliberately omitting something.
17 (16.0%)

Someone is secretly related to someone else.
4 (3.8%)

A character is a woman.
6 (5.7%)

A character is queer.
9 (8.5%)

A character is trans.
13 (12.3%)

A character is [some other surprise marginalized identity].
10 (9.4%)

A character is a cis man. (Has anyone ever seen this one? I can't think of an example.)
0 (0.0%)

Someone the protagonist trusts has been secretly manipulating them all along.
20 (18.9%)

The entire story was all deliberately planned by a character.
10 (9.4%)

Someone is a mole.
4 (3.8%)

The narrator is in a mental hospital or otherwise delusional all along.
66 (62.3%)

The apparent victim is actually the perpetrator
11 (10.4%)

Everyone in the story is actually pigeons/aliens/dolls/etc.
14 (13.2%)

Something else I've forgotten to mention, so please explain in a comment..
2 (1.9%)

Please mark spoilers for recent canons in your comment headers, or encode with rot13.com.

Comments

[sovay]

It intrigued me, answering the poll, to realize that I generally enjoy "it's all VR!" twists but absolutely hate "it's all a dream!" twists.

I am not generally a fan of dream-twists, but I leave this film here because its approach to the trope is so gloriously batshit.

[sholio]

I gotta say, a canon being willing to gleefully indulge in its own batshit-ness can make a lot of tropes palatable that otherwise wouldn't be.

[sholio]

And now having read your review (of what does sound like a very entertaining movie) - yeah, I think actually, the one thing that can make "It was all a dream!" work for me is when the narrative dodges between the dream world and reality, leaving you a little unclear on which is which. I typically really like "some aspects of what you were just told was real actually aren't real" twists - like the Fight Club-eseque tropes we were talking about in Rachel's previous post, or certain kinds of unreliable narration about canon events. I think it can come under that heading for me when it's mixed into the flow of the plot.

[sovay]

I think it can come under that heading for me when it's mixed into the flow of the plot.

Makes sense to me. It can irritate me if it disappears completely up its own cloud of unknowing, but I am generally at home to unreliable narration.