Lampshade hanging
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Lampshade hanging is a writing technique or trope used in fiction to get out of an usual event or simply bad writing.
After having something exceedingly unlikely or unusual having in an event, that would otherwise through the viewer off, having one of the characters in announce its unusualness, makes it seem obvious to both viewers and characters that what have just preceded is very unusual and thus can be accepted as part of the plot.
Examples
On Futurama, writers almost take pride in using this technique.
- In "Godfellas", after Bender have been thrown back to Earth and lands before Fry and Leela, in what would be a completely unlikely event to have occurred, Leela describes the situation with "this is by a wide margin the least likely thing that has ever happening".
External links
- "Lampshade hanging" on Wikipedia.
- "Lampshade Hanging" on TVTropes.