Unreliable Narrators: How Writers Lie to You | Trope Notes

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Unreliable narrators. They aren't a common writing tool, but they're incredibly powerful for hiding information from the audience or viewer as well as giving them a taste of certain mental illnesses.. Readers and viewers trust the narrator by default, but they shouldn't.
Unreliable narrators are most useful in thrillers and mysteries, but it can also be handy in puzzle films and comedy and can be a key component of any story where the focal character is experiencing mental health issues that alter their perception of reality. So today I'm going to talk all about how to write this trope and the great many films and books you can find it in.
Undone, Gone Girl, Forrest Gump, Fight Club, the Life of Pi, the Perks of Being a Wallflower, and so many more stories all play with a little tool called Unreliable Narration.
This video got sliced and diced to all hell in the editing process, so if you want a bunch of bonus content that got cut, become a patron for the PDF version of the original script
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Referenced Media:
Undone (Amazon original)
Wilfred
The Life of Pi
Gone Girl
Silver Linings Playbook
Forrest Gump
Memento
Fight Club
The Sixth Sense
The Others
Big Fish
What Remains of Edith Finch
Heavy Rain
How I Met Your Mother
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Swiss Army Man
Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind

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Опубликовано:

13 окт 2020

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Комментарии : 27

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

Okay so I'm still trying the thing where I drop a random fun fact about myself here so you can get to know me better. Here's one slightly related but also waaaaay off topic. One story that uses unreliable narrators as a form of retconning is Huckleberry Finn by a Mr. Mark Twain. One of Mark Twain's most popular stories is "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" which takes place in Angels Camp California. A little town out in the middle of nowhere which just happens to be where I was born, lived until I was 9, and where my dad and stepmom still live to this day. So I've jumped a great many frogs in my day and part of my first college semester was even paid for by the Mark Twain Medical Scholarship.

@storyiseverything8953 3 года назад

I love a good unreliable narrator, especially when it's well hidden and maybe they don't even know they're unreliable. Fight Club/Sixth Sense style. Good stuff!

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

Thank you!! Yeah this video really made me crave a re-watch of Figh Club, and Sixth Sense, and Memento. It seems unreliable narrators were super popular in the late 90's and early 2000's.

@CamWolfeAuthor 3 года назад

Some of the best psychological thrillers/horrors use the unreliable narrator, I love it!

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

Those definitely seem to be the genres where it's most common which I found super interesting. My main theory is that it's because they make audiences uncomfortable and so really helps put people on edge, but I am not a thriller or horror expert lol

@jctowim2203 3 года назад

My first short story is unreliable or "flawed" narrator. It was easily one of the most fun to write, yet extremely trippy even for me. Your video reminded me of it, and now I almost feel like taking it to final draft. As always, great video. I really should join your discord instead of just think about it.

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

That's awesome!! I'll be honest I haven't tried writing one myself yet, but they do sound really fun to write. And thank you for the kind words

@itsblitz4437 3 года назад

I watched Undone. It was pretty good.

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

It's so very under talked about. I'll need to figure out a video essay topic for it someday so I can dedicate a video too it. But no ideas yet

@itsblitz4437 3 года назад

@@CloudKitten well good job bringing it up.

@GustavoSilva-ny8jc Год назад

This was everything i needed, i'm relieved with such quality. How this can be so good and so underrated is something i'll never understand.

@sailor.britters 3 года назад

Oh first comment! I got so excited when I saw this video come up, I have a hard time wrapping my head around unreliable narrators and this really helped me make sense of it so I can maybe use it in my future writing!

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

They are extremely interesting (which is what drove me to cover them). I'm excited to hear you're thinking of them as a possibility for future stories, so many people reject them off the bat because they're a bit more complicated than the normal narrator. But there are some stories that just really need some unreliability

@sailor.britters 3 года назад

@@CloudKitten exactly! I’m excited to dabble in it.

@tropetrinitytrilogy8533 3 года назад

I've just been binge watching your videos while also hoping for another. Last night I was researching unreliable narrators... idk if I should be excited or scared.

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

That timing is perfect! I also don't know whether to be excited or scared lol. Hopefully you find the video helpful

@Alexa-uk8lj Год назад

This is THEE BEST video I seen on this topic.

@CloudKitten Год назад

Thank you so much for this comment! It made my day

@mummytrolls 11 месяцев назад

Talking about unreliable narrators without mentioning the infamous Holden Caulfield is borderline criminal

@poeticalgore6500 3 года назад

some good movies, but you forgot AMERICAN PSYCHO

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

I haven't seen it yet but I need to

@billyalarie929 3 года назад

in the quote you cited by Theresa Heyd: is this to imply that the author screwed up in keeping consistent with the Why of the character's motivation? is Theresa saying the reader will look for a way to "make it make sense", in the absence of the author's ability to do so (or at the very least, if it's "not supposed to make sense" *eye roll* then doing so in a way that is satisfactory)?

@CloudKitten 3 года назад

Basically the way I took it is if it seems the narrator is unreliable purely because the author thought it would be fun, they will be annoyed. They want a "why" tied to a characters past, motivation, or personality that's explored either enough depth (or moves plot enough) to justify it. Basically the writer should have a reason for making the narrator unreliable

@billyalarie929 3 года назад

@@CloudKitten yes good. thank you. this is what i thought, but i needed maybe a bit of clarification.

@GustavoSilva-ny8jc Год назад

7:31 She's in Jojo part 6 (and probably is a stand user), problem solved.