eli5 What is foreshadowing?
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A hint (usually to the reader of a book or viewer of a show and/or movie) that something important is going to happen
Foreshadowing is a line, object, or event in a work of fiction that provides a clue to something that will happen later. It can be explicit, implicit, or referential. For example:
>!In Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” Harvey Dent delivers the line “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” This was foreshadowing, not just his descent into becoming Two-Face, but Batman’s decision to take the blame for his crimes to protect Dent’s reputation.!<
>!In “The Sixth Sense,” the first time Bruce Willis’ character meets the kid, the kid screams, foreshadowing the twist ending that he was dead all along.!<
If you were writing a fantasy book, you might have a trusted character purchase something and receive thirty silver coins as foreshadowing that they will betray someone.
Foreshadowing is giving the reader or viewer a hint of what is about to happen later in the story. It can be done in a number of different ways depending on the medium.
Imagine you’re watching a movie where the protagonist is trying to take revenge on a mighty king. Early on in the movie we get some shots of the capital city and just as we see a large statue of said king triumphantly posing with a scepter and weapon, the narrator mentions how a prophet said the king was promised by the gods to never lose in battle and that another man’s blade shall never pierce his heart – if the movie ends with the protagonist pushing the king off a balcony so that he is impaled by the sword held by his own statue then you would consider his death having been foreshadowed early on in the movie.
Secretly spoiling the story by adding a little detail in before the revelation.
Here are two examples from famous films
Spoilers for fight club
>! Throughout the film, Tyler Durden flashes on screen for a single frame. You usually don’t notice this first time viewing. This spoils that Tyler is actually a hallucination of the protagonist and it his him doing the actions of Tyler!<
Spoilers for World War Z
>! The zombies throughout the film seems to arbitrarily not target certain people, and the film tries to emphasise this. A clever viewer can piece together that all the people they avoid are very sick already. At the end of the film, the protagonist puts together the pieces and gives everyone a mild sickness and the word is saved. This one is much more on the nose than in fight club!<
Thankyou for the responce
Til what 4shadowing now means
Foreshadowing is a reference to something that will happen later on in the story. It’s a way of getting you prepared for it. Plot twists need to be foreshadowed so they don’t come out of nowhere.
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