Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Newspaper Backstory

 Newspaper Backstory
type
FeatureClass
 Newspaper Backstory
label
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory
page
NewspaperBackstory
 Newspaper Backstory
comment
A quick, easy way to give the backstory of a character is through a Flashback, but perhaps you don't want that. Takes too long and inserting a scene suddenly ruins the vibe. Expospeak, then? No, perhaps not. The dialogue sounds very unnatural. So instead, have the camera pan over and briefly pause over a board or a box where there's a bunch of newspaper clippings about what happened before your work takes place. Non-obstructive and quickly establishes the background of your story.
Closely related to Spinning Paper. See also Viewer-Friendly Interface and Scrapbook Story.
 Newspaper Backstory
fetched
2023-06-23T13:28:34Z
 Newspaper Backstory
parsed
2023-06-23T13:28:34Z
 Newspaper Backstory
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Newspaper Backstory / int_24baa5ad
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_24baa5ad
comment
The opening of Doogie Howser, M.D. has four of these in the first 20 seconds, detailing how Doogie got perfect scores on his SATs at age 6, breezed through high school in nine weeks, graduated from Princeton at age 10 and passed the medical board at age 14.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_24baa5ad
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_24baa5ad
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doogie Howser, M.D.
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_24baa5ad
 Newspaper Backstory / int_2e2efbf9
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_2e2efbf9
comment
The opening scene of the first Back to the Future pans over a bunch of clocks and a corkboard. Pinned onto the board are two news articles, which hint at Doc Brown's life before the film takes place.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_2e2efbf9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_2e2efbf9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Back to the Future
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_2e2efbf9
 Newspaper Backstory / int_3da12eba
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_3da12eba
comment
In A Quiet Place, the father has his basement converted into something of a command center dissecting what the monsters are and how to beat them, including newspapers on the subject and white boards organizing the information. One headline proclaiming that "[A] meteor hits Mexico with the force of a nuke", potentially alluding to how the creatures got to Earth. In any other movie this would be Room Full of Crazy, but it serves to explain a lot about the premise in a movie with only a dozen lines of dialogue.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_3da12eba
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_3da12eba
featureConfidence
1.0
 A Quiet Place
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_3da12eba
 Newspaper Backstory / int_5286ec36
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_5286ec36
comment
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: As Eddie Valiant mourns his late brother Teddy, the camera pans over Teddy's scrapbook, which contains newspaper clippings of their cases involving Toons.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_5286ec36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_5286ec36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Who Framed Roger Rabbit
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_5286ec36
 Newspaper Backstory / int_73c286a0
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_73c286a0
comment
In the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, headlines from when Apocalypse Now was in production are used to show public perception of the Troubled Production. Two of them read "Apocalypse When?" and "Apocalypse Forever", respectively, referring to the constant delays.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_73c286a0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_73c286a0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_73c286a0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_7c8b61ad
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_7c8b61ad
comment
Immortal X-Men cuts from Emma Frost lamenting that there's no big announcement for this year's grand Hellfire Gala to a Splash Panel of the front page of the Daily Bugle, with news stories revealing that the X-Men now have Resurrective Immortality. Not exactly the announcement Emma was hoping for - and a concise way to summarise a plot arc that had just happened in a different series.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_7c8b61ad
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_7c8b61ad
featureConfidence
1.0
 Immortal X-Men (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_7c8b61ad
 Newspaper Backstory / int_8ece87af
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_8ece87af
comment
Misery: Paul realizes just what kind of messed up piece of work he's dealing with in Annie Wilkes when he finds a scrapbook filled with clippings showing that she had been charged numerous times for infanticide while she was a nurse.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_8ece87af
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_8ece87af
featureConfidence
1.0
 Misery
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_8ece87af
 Newspaper Backstory / int_987ae286
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_987ae286
comment
Cars: McQueen discovers that Doc Hudson used to be famous racer the Hudson Hornet when he finds Doc's garage full of newspaper clippings, including one for the big crash that led to his retirement.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_987ae286
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_987ae286
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cars
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_987ae286
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a0262740
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a0262740
comment
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory shows the titular character's backstory near the end of the movie, where his father had pinned up newspapers on a cork board, while also showing that the elder Wonka was still proud of his son despite what happened.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a0262740
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a0262740
featureConfidence
1.0
 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_a0262740
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a2dcc2fa
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a2dcc2fa
comment
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget: In the sneak preview, there are newspaper clippings on the wall behind Rocky and Ginger recapping the events of the last film.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a2dcc2fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_a2dcc2fa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_a2dcc2fa
 Newspaper Backstory / int_b0fe6d57
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_b0fe6d57
comment
Brown Girl in the Ring: Mr. Reed provides. One example:
 Newspaper Backstory / int_b0fe6d57
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_b0fe6d57
featureConfidence
1.0
 Brown Girl in the Ring
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_b0fe6d57
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ba3d2748
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ba3d2748
comment
The Incredibles: Mr. Incredible keeps a bulletin board full of clippings from his superhero days.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ba3d2748
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ba3d2748
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Incredibles
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_ba3d2748
 Newspaper Backstory / int_bbe9acf3
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_bbe9acf3
comment
Dirk Pitt's backstory as a Navy SEAL-turned-archaeologist is given this way early in Sahara. Several headlines allude to the plots of other books in the series, most prominently Raise the Titanic!... which ended up being Hilarious in Hindsight, because it had taken over twenty-five years to talk Clive Cussler into letting anyone else adapt his works for the screen due to his dissatisfaction with the resulting film, and he ended up being about as happy with this adaptation.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_bbe9acf3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_bbe9acf3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sahara (2005)
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_bbe9acf3
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c01688c8
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c01688c8
comment
The first big exploration of Bruce Wayne's backstory from Batman (1989) is an old news clipping tracked down by Vicki Vale and her partner Knox, which has the headline of "Thomas Wayne Murdered" and shows the face of young Bruce Wayne, the only survivor of what happened to his parents. Knox then asks: "What do you suppose something like this does to a kid?" The big Flashback of the murder, which shows young Jack Napier as the killer in this continuity, comes in a later scene.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c01688c8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c01688c8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Batman (1989)
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_c01688c8
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c0aa1b75
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c0aa1b75
comment
Most issues of Captain Carter open with a montage of British newspaper pages, partly acting as a recap and partly filling in the narrative gaps between issues. The first issue shows the reaction to her disappearance and presumed death in World War II. The second issue shows the reaction to Peggy's return and her initial modern battles with Hydra and supervillains.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c0aa1b75
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c0aa1b75
featureConfidence
1.0
 Captain Carter (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_c0aa1b75
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c7f7d77a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c7f7d77a
comment
Don't Breathe has a particularly absurd example. When the protagonists find a woman held hostage in the blind man's basement, she's very conveniently holding a newspaper clipping explaining to them and the audience that she accidentally killed the blind man's daughter.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c7f7d77a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_c7f7d77a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Don't Breathe
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_c7f7d77a
 Newspaper Backstory / int_d70e906f
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_d70e906f
comment
In The Call of Cthulhu, one of the protagonists realizes that something is very, very wrong with the world when he reads about several strange events in various newspapers...that have all happened on the exact same day.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_d70e906f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_d70e906f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Call of Cthulhu
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_d70e906f
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ea4f62db
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ea4f62db
comment
Family Guy: The episode "Three Kings" parodied the Misery example by having Brian look through a series of clippings indicating Stewie being a serial killer, followed by a Marmaduke comic.
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ea4f62db
featureApplicability
1.0
 Newspaper Backstory / int_ea4f62db
featureConfidence
1.0
 Family Guy
hasFeature
Newspaper Backstory / int_ea4f62db

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Newspaper Backstory
processingCategory2
Backstory Index
 Newspaper Backstory
processingCategory2
Exposition
 Newspaper Backstory
processingCategory2
News Tropes
 Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Captain Carter (Comic Book) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Immortal X-Men (Comic Book) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Fooly Falls (Fanfic) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 A Quiet Place / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Back to the Future / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Batman (1989) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Ready Player One (2018) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Brute Man / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Out-of-Towners / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Who Framed Roger Rabbit / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Misery / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 'Salem's Lot / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Shivers / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Shivers (M. D. Spenser) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 El Cuarteto De Nos (Music) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Soy Luna / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Silent Sea / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Kreadian Funk (Video Game) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Prime Target (Video Game) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation (Video Game) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Room: Old Sins (Video Game) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Watchers (Web Animation) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Black Ward: Empty Chambers (Webcomic) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Yellow Brick Ramble (Webcomic) / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Cars / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Cars / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Incredibles / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory
 The Incredibles / int_1c7987a
type
Newspaper Backstory