They actually slowed down on it for a while! It’s been a long-running thing, possibly accidental at first, then people made comments like this one and I swear they started doing it on purpose. I’ve been missing it lately
We know who is the best unreliavbe narrator in whole media history: -Hey Goob what's up? cool binder -Hey Goob , wanna come over to my house today? "they all hated me"
I loved how "Gone Girl" made both Nick and Amy unreliable narrators, in different ways. You may start off rooting for Nick when he protests that he's innocent, until the reveal that he's cheating and Amy's implications in her diary that Nick may have been abusive. Then it's cleverly revealed that Amy orchestrated the entire scheme to implicate Nick, and despite her being totally insane, you're more inclined to root for her over Nick.
To be fair at one point Nick admits that most of that diary is true to his lawyer and to Go. So I think that he might not have been flat out physically abusive and made Amy fear for her life but I don't think it's out of the question that he might have had an instance or two of that shoving
That was not my view on it at all lol. Yes, Nick's cheating was not cool. But at no point did I believe he deserve the hell he was being put through. Especially once I realized he wasnt abusive.
Ted Moseby is a SOLID example of an unreliable narrator. Despite how clearly incompatible he and Robin were, he strangely insisted that their relationship was some perfect ending to How I Met Your Mother
Indeed, it's as if he forgot all about Tracy, the titular mother, to go back to Robin. You can't just spend nine years pointing out WHY two people are incompatible, only to force them together for a last minute happy ending!
Yeah, and he probably made Barney sound more of a womanizer sociopath than he actually is because he wants the people to think Robin is better off with him. A lot of times in the series he was just as bad as Barney but he always tries to justify his own actions but not Barney's
@@Chi_Me i believe that Barney wasn't actually a womanizing player and Ted was just projecting. I mean we saw how Barney reacted when he held his daughter Ellie for the first time and he has some really lovely genuine moments.
I'm still so upset how they completely RUINED Robin and Barney's relationship. To me, the way they spent so much time literally showing us how incompatible Robin and Ted were yet STILL had them end up together is very reminiscent of the real world and how so many people force romantic relationships only because they fit the aesthetic of what they think a perfect relationship *should* be as opposed to what they actually want.
I actually just finished it a couple weeks ago for the first time lol couldn’t find too many analysis vids on it. I’m glad the Take finally brought it up!
Unreliable narrators are interesting because you slowly get the "unreliable" part of it, when the protagonist is not good or relatable as they wants you to think and whoever opposes them are painted as antagonists, when actuallt they have good reasons to do so.
I’d argue that ‘Mr Robot’ is the most empathetic view of the “mental illness” plot twist, namely bc the plot doesn’t cast him as the villain all along and end shortly after the twist: the story continues on, and over the course of the next 3 seasons we see Elliot trying to deny and suppress his personalities before eventually realising they’re a part of him that are here to stay; he’s not fractured, but rather they are the pieces that make him whole, and once he makes peace with that he achieves catharsis
The first season of The Good Place is an accidental unreliable narration. We knew as much as Eleanor knew, once she figured things out, we had a more balanced view. Then the show had so many plot twists, sometimes I didn’t even know what to believe
@@jamingrythm584 Could we consider this second-hand unreliable narration? Basically our narrator was the victim of an unreliable narrator themselves - in this case Michael.
That’s the interesting thing about Euphoria, that’s even the side character’s stories are narrated by Rue. Rue could be telling a false narrative and simply telling the story their only her perspective
It's also kinda weird how the second season uses Rue's narration waaay less than the 1st one, which makes you wonder if we're still seeing things through her eyes or objectively
Actually, this is why I think Euphoria's glitter on everything and everyone? Isn't true. The hyper sexuality, extreme color could easily be Rue's projection.
Forest Gump is a prime example of this, he had such a simple approach to life in very dramatic events in history. He became very successful and didn’t think much of it. He viewed Jenny as an angel when she was really damaged and had severe issues.
We don't love being lied to. We love discovering the truth, and being able to claim that we have the ability to do it... because we subconsciously fear that we _do not have that ability._
Indeed, the first time I saw that movie, I taught it was Lolita the one who was provoking Humbert, but now that I' m a grown up I realized that we never saw the real Lolita, just the portray in the mind of a sexual predator
Many people fail to understand Lolita regardless of whether we're talking about the book or film adaptations and the fact that in many countries and languages the "Lolita" label has become, in real life, synonymous with the very set of behaviors attached to that character from that predator's perspective is not helping at all. People will call a young girl "a lolita" if she looks a certain way. That and ulterior works from other artists inspired by that perception that Lolita was truly as portrayed by that unreliable narrator is the reason why some people have called for the book to be banned in some places.
@@DieezahArts that's very true, even now that word is still used to describe young girls and is even taken as a compliment or as a pretext to sexualize those girls. I would like to see a new movie ir tv adaptation of this book, but one that actually shows the reality of this relationship.
@@DieezahArts I think those people who use the term that way just want to see it that way period. They're not just "misunderstanding" the point, they've clearly chosen their side and excuse it and their views are disturbing.
Normally as much as The Take’s videos vaguely intrigue me towards certain movies and shows I haven’t seen before, I typically don’t end up going and watching them. But this one intrigues me enough that I really want to go watch several of these titles right away
I have anterograde amnesia, not as severe as Leonard and I must say that Memento is a freaking work of GENIUS!! Christopher Nolan definitely consulted with people who have TBI and Amnesia for the film.
The best way to play a character who has no grasp on reality is to be at ease being yourself, because mental illness isn’t always dramatic. The trailer of ‘The Father’ was just brilliant!
Holden Caulfield is the most infamous unreliable narrator ever. He does warn us from the very beginning that he's a Terrific liar, and it's only when he states that he's been telling the entire story from a mental asylum, that you begin to question everything that happened in the story.
This makes me question how much of an unreliable narrator I am and what kind of self-serving world have I made up in my head. I remember I had this conversation with my friend once imagining that, what if one day I just woke up in an asylum or something and everything I knew was just all in my head. Like damnnn...
Everyone is an unreliable narrator, if you think about it. Everyone has their own prejudices and biases that inform their perception of reality. And then there are the other natural limitations.
That happened to me yesterday, when I was quite sure it was Monday. My sibling had to remind me that it was Thursday. I am definitely a horrible narrator when I can't keep dates and times right.
Ya I think like that occasionally and it’s not fun and thinking why I do that doesn’t make it better. But what I take from this is that it’s better to live with a positive perception even if it seems you’re more vulnerable and blind to danger. Whatever is in our mind is important and has value. We’re not only just experiencing our external reality but also our internal one and our individual view of life is too unique to gaslight ourselves into thinking it’s not real/lacks value
The Prestige movie is a great example of an unreliable narrator too, actually two of them. Viewers are still debating about it. Such a great film. Loved this video!
You guys should talk about Euphoria and how we (as a society) need to empathize more. Everyone talks about it at work, but no one talks about how the cast just made some wrong decisions. I think it would be a great topic.
I think instead of the word cast, you should use characters. Cast makes its sound like the real life actors made some bad choices as opposed to their onscreen characters.
@@JermaineYoung Yes. Honestly, imagine growing up seeing and internalizing what he saw as a child. At the end of the day, just like almost every character of Euphoria, he's a child missing at least one good parent to base himself on. It doesn't mean we don't hold the characters accountable for their actions though, it's more about being aware of the signs in order to act as a society to break the cycle.
@happy baby they might not have given us flashbacks from her perspective but from Lexi's perspective we see that Cassie's obsession does stem from her father, she trusts the men in her life blindly and she is ready to do anything for them as long as she is loved. If that doesn't scream daddy issues to you I don't know what else would.
Characters. Not narrators. The story or the scenes do not change. Their perspective is merely limited to what they know. Edit. Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith might, however, have unreliable narrators. I do not know.
Unreliable narrators are always hit or miss- stories either get them right and knock it out the park, really using the trope to its best potential, or they aren't really unreliable at all except for this one key point that hides the twist
I would love a reference list of the films shown/mentioned in your videos in the description. I often have to go back to search for the title of something I find interesting and want to watch.
I’ll always hate myself for accidentally watching the last 10 minutes of it and now I don’t want to watch it anymore cause I‘ll never experience that twist:(
@@ashleightompkins3200 Sometimes I feel coherence is relative. I can try my best to articulate the truth but it might not translated to the other person. But we do have to keep trying. 🖤
Yup, everything we do is done in our perspective. We aren’t that objective as we’d like to think, it’s all based on our emotions and ego. No one is truly the protagonist or the antagonist, we’re too abstract for that
Really good job on NOT putting an ad in this one as you ultimately urge your viewers to be sure to analyze, research, and verify all new information in order to come to their own conclusions unswayed by self-serving narratives. An ad, any ad at all, may have clouded this point. Kudos and thank you. 💕
Another great film you could have referenced that featured an unreliable narrator is a Netflix film called "I'm Thinking Of Ending Things" starring Jesse Plemons and Toni Collette. You think it's about a girl who wants to break up with her boyfriend, but it's way more twisted and disturbing and the ending is way out of left field. I highly recommend it!
y’all the Afterparty is a murder mystery show founded on the premise of unreliable narrators each telling the story of what happened the night of a murder. each episode is a character recounting the nights events from their perspective and it is SO GOOD and such a good example on how who’s telling the story can completely decide how the audience views the story. each characters episode accounts the night in its own genre, one persons version of the night is a horror movie, the others is a romcom, another persons is an action movie, another’s is a musical. and you really see each persons own self obsession warping how the story is told and what even happens. the unreliability comes out in subtle ways, like peoples outfits changing, or what’s said in conversations or how people just generally behave. but the unreliability ofc comes out in bigger ways, like a whole plot point where someone is being chased down and then threatened by an angry guy, when finally shown from another persons perspective we see oh that wasn’t at all what was happening, this guy wasn’t angrily chasing him down over what we thought he was, but was just trying to approach him over something completely different, and when we thought he was threatening him he was literally just yelling the word “Koala” over and over again, not threatening him like the first guy thought he was because the first guy literally couldn’t hear him. entire conversations, motivations, and character personalities change based off who’s telling the story. and of course keeping in mind one of the people telling their story is lying, because one of them is the murderer, so the biggest unreliability is in not knowing who’s lying about the entire thing and why. I cannot recommend this show enough it is so funny and so intriguing i’m so obsessed with finding out whodunnit, seriously i can’t stop thinking about who killed Xavier. each character is so thought out and interesting in their own rights, and each has their own colour scheme to reference Clue characters. this show is hilarious and has so many hidden details and it’s a travesty it’s not more popular. final episode comes out tomorrow on apple tv. if you’re interested in unreliable narrators then this show is definitely one to watch.
Damn this one’s full of spoilers 😂 I decided to keep watching bc "how bad can it be?" and now I’ve spoiled myself quite a few series and movies. I’ll still watch them though, they’re not spoiled, really.
Yes! So happy to see that you put Elliot Alderson in the thumbnail! (Especially bc so many of us Mr Robot fans wrote him in on the community page vote!!) Thanks!!!
The reason we keep falling for false narratives is because reality is actually far to much what you make of it and believing a reality that suits your current emotions feels right as it suits the emotions. As a nurse i see this constandly on both sides of the vaccination debates. The moment anyone gets swept in the emotion that connects them to an argument. They believe a side often more because that connects with their feeling of either their fear of something or their hope to avoid a fear
The anime film "Perfect Blue" (which 'inspired' Black Swan) is a brilliant example of the narration switching through multiple possible realities to let the viewer experience the protagonists mental breakdown as she struggles to understand what is real. At times it flips through what the protagonist actually sees, what she believes she sees, what her role as an actress sees and even what may have been a dream - with all this switching the viewer has to keep a fluid view of 'reality' or be sucked into believing a false story only to suffer whiplash as the scene changes.
Cobra Kai is a good example of perspective and unreliable narrators. Johnny makes Daniel out to be the bad guy in season 1 of the Karate Kid events while Daniel makes himself out to be the same hero he was in the 80s.
I think I've seen this movie wrong, because everybody seens to like Amy while I entirely hated her 😆😆😆 ngl I was rooting for Nick after we discovered her plan, and even more when she kills Neil Patrick Harris
@@gabrielalima8191 I hated her as well and I can't understand the hype about her monolouge maybe if the person who talks about those things was a nice person I would love the text, but my dislike of her was too big. Although I didn't like Nick either, I rooted for him. Or maybe I rooted just for the truth and Nick's twin sister. In the end I thought: "well go Nick and stay with Amy, you two deserve eachother".
@@bindeinermeinung419 same. I feel crazy when talk about her like she's a inspiration or something like that???? I do understand the message behind the cool girl dialogue (The Take has a video about that too 😝), but I can't like her
Marvel has Moon Knight on the way, and WandaVision took the unreliable narrator and made it a crisis so big the government had to get evolved! It's interesting to see how this is being used in new genres. Anyway, I really need to finish The Affair. And glad to see The Father get mentioned. Really good video, that covered just about all the best examples I could think of and more. 👍
The thing about it being harder to work with unreliable narration in film made me wonder why, and I have two thoughts: 1) the way cameras are used movies always feel like an omnipotent 3erd person perspective, which (correct me if I'm wrong) are never untrustworthy. 2) when we see things in a movie the unreliable event feels more real and therefore harder to distrust
I’m surprised The Last Duel didn’t get a mention here. Unreliable narration is the film’s entire M.O., and because that aspect was so on-the-nose, it worked.
The Last Duel is such a great use of the unreliable narrator! We got to see the truths they tell themselves, and how it colored their view of what happened. So so relevant to today~
I think the most unreliable narrator I've ever seen is the protagonist of Legion. Even though it's an X-men show it's really artistic and between the main character having both schizophrenia and reality altering/mind altering superpowers and the artistic style of the show in general, it can be really hard to understand what's happening in the show because the main character doesn't even know what's happening most of the time but it's beautiful nonetheless. I think it's severely underrated
This is the beauty of fiction: by engaging with unreliability it reveals its existence in the actual (but not always factual) world. I always get frustrated when "fiction" is used as a synonym to "lie," when it is the exact opposite: a way of knowing the truth. Not the only way (there is also science and history). But one very potent and privileged way.
Joe in You continually tries to convince the audience that he is "saving" a helpless vixen from harm. After applying the unreliable trope to the premise of the show its hard not to think about the true nature and motive of Beck and others. It makes you really think, "Was Peach as manipulative as she was portrayed", or, "Was Beck as flighty and immature as we came to know her". It would interesting to see the story of You from a different character's perspective because most fans stanning for Joe justify it by the fact that he's ultimately attracted to horrible women that give Joe reason and motive for his unorthodox actions. Just a thought.
You should consider making a list in the description box of the movies that you are presenting în this videos! I always feel like I should take notes while watching your content. Maby this will make things easyer for people like me. 😁
God, The Father was such a gut-wrenching experience to watch. Definitely a masterpiece of this trope. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes and amaze me every time even though I already know the plot twist.
I remember the first time I encountered an unreliable narrator, in Michael Marshall Smith's book Only Forward... While I've found a lot more extreme examples since, the narrator confessing he'd lied or fudged the details of an earlier story amazed me - it felt like a kind of narrative magic trick considering all the books I'd read before had invited me to take the narrator's words at face value and not challenged that assumption.
One thing I really enjoy about Crazy Ex Girlfriend is how we're introduced early to the idea that the musical numbers are heavily filtered through Rebecca's perceptions... then we start seeing musical numbers that she doesn't, leaving us with the question of whose perspective it is and whether it's true and unbiased... I enjoy that we get an outside view on the characters but it's still potential unreliable.
One of my very favorite examples of an unreliable narrator (both book and film) is Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived In the Castle.” Particularly in the book, the process of figuring out what may or may not be real via what the narrator, Merricat, tells the reader is very uncertain. Things *feel* off, but you can’t necessarily figure out why. The film, with Taissa Farmiga in the central role (she was fantastic) manages to capture the atmosphere and unfolding reality really well. I’d add to the list One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest too, particularly the book.
@@mysteriiis Glad I mentioned it, I think it’s way too far under the radar for a surprisingly good adaptation (and boy was I anxious about whether they’d do it justice). At least in my location, it’s currently on Netflix, as well as really cheap to rent on Amazon. I also recommend super highly the audiobook version read by Bernadette Dunne, which was the most recent way I read it-it’s incredibly well done, funny and unnerving and tragic through a truly skilled voice performance. Hope you enjoy it!
The unreliable narrator is really an effective technique to have the audience rooting for a character they would otherwise be quick to distrust or condemn, as they're engaging in questionable if not downright criminal behaviors. In the short British TV series The Drowning, the story's protagonist would be seen as an antagonist without this narrative device. Things would be less confusing in the series Behind her Eyes without this as well. By the time you realize the unreliable nature of these narrators you already care too much about their characters to start viewing them in any objective manner.
I saw Rue at that thumbnail a while ago and was expecting a muuuuch bigger "unreliable narrator" plot twist in Euphoria ... So I kinda also got tricked into expecting something different ^^
Two movies to bring in for this video that would have been good would have been 12 Angry Men and The Others. Great movies. 12AM starts off as a misdirection, and The Others plays it out slowly for you to figure it out on your own, however, you can tell right away if you pay close attention :D
In a visual media, there are no reliable narrators. Everyone has different POVs and if you dare to step into the other side of the coin you can discover something new.
The only thing that I could though was Dom Casmurro. Probably one of the most popular books on this subject, no one knows if capitu cheated bentinho or not
How an "unreliable" narrator wraps us in is how every day people get swept in cults. We expect objective truths from the stories we watch or read when most minds are not objective. Much of our experiences that help us identify with characters are subjective.
Most of the movies/shows here have been out for the longest time so it's technically not a spoiler, you jus didn't know em yet or got around to watching them
Every single war-movie ever made pretty much has an unreliable narrator, since the director clearly has a POV. There you go - idea for another Take. For that matter you can go through every single genre of movie and find an unreliable narrator...
The Take is putting the Gone Girl monologue into every video they can and I’m there for it!
They actually slowed down on it for a while! It’s been a long-running thing, possibly accidental at first, then people made comments like this one and I swear they started doing it on purpose. I’ve been missing it lately
here for the iconic gone girl monologue !!!
I’m so much happier now that I’m dead.
And they're right because is a masterpiece
We know who is the best unreliavbe narrator in whole media history:
-Hey Goob what's up? cool binder
-Hey Goob , wanna come over to my house today?
"they all hated me"
Dude, Meet the Robinsons is so underrated.
NO, NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME! why should i waste my time at school? i am super famous on youtube. tell me, dear luki
This is so freaky. I’ve been thinking about Meet the Robinsons for the whole week.
I need to rewatch Meet The Robinsons again, I hear so many great things about it. I’ll probably appreciate more now that I’m older
Haha, love that movie, it deserves far more love!
I loved how "Gone Girl" made both Nick and Amy unreliable narrators, in different ways. You may start off rooting for Nick when he protests that he's innocent, until the reveal that he's cheating and Amy's implications in her diary that Nick may have been abusive. Then it's cleverly revealed that Amy orchestrated the entire scheme to implicate Nick, and despite her being totally insane, you're more inclined to root for her over Nick.
To be fair at one point Nick admits that most of that diary is true to his lawyer and to Go. So I think that he might not have been flat out physically abusive and made Amy fear for her life but I don't think it's out of the question that he might have had an instance or two of that shoving
I guess I was in the minority that rooted for him lol.
@@crod9905 I rooted for him the whole time, I actually cheered when she gets robbed. Those guys where angels of justice for me.
That was not my view on it at all lol. Yes, Nick's cheating was not cool. But at no point did I believe he deserve the hell he was being put through. Especially once I realized he wasnt abusive.
@@NewGoldie except he admits to the abuse, to his sister, Boney and his lawyer
Ted Moseby is a SOLID example of an unreliable narrator. Despite how clearly incompatible he and Robin were, he strangely insisted that their relationship was some perfect ending to How I Met Your Mother
Indeed, it's as if he forgot all about Tracy, the titular mother, to go back to Robin. You can't just spend nine years pointing out WHY two people are incompatible, only to force them together for a last minute happy ending!
Yeah, and he probably made Barney sound more of a womanizer sociopath than he actually is because he wants the people to think Robin is better off with him. A lot of times in the series he was just as bad as Barney but he always tries to justify his own actions but not Barney's
@@Chi_Me i believe that Barney wasn't actually a womanizing player and Ted was just projecting. I mean we saw how Barney reacted when he held his daughter Ellie for the first time and he has some really lovely genuine moments.
I'm still so upset how they completely RUINED Robin and Barney's relationship. To me, the way they spent so much time literally showing us how incompatible Robin and Ted were yet STILL had them end up together is very reminiscent of the real world and how so many people force romantic relationships only because they fit the aesthetic of what they think a perfect relationship *should* be as opposed to what they actually want.
@@lucypreece7581 Probably, the "Wedding Bride" movies were probably accurate haha
Mr Robot deserves its own video. There’s so much to analyze.
Yeah I need to go back and re-watch that show.
Fully agree
I actually just finished it a couple weeks ago for the first time lol couldn’t find too many analysis vids on it. I’m glad the Take finally brought it up!
Mr Robot transcends.
When we discover Elliot was in Jail for most of the second season...... Mind = Blown
Unreliable narrators are interesting because you slowly get the "unreliable" part of it, when the protagonist is not good or relatable as they wants you to think and whoever opposes them are painted as antagonists, when actuallt they have good reasons to do so.
I’d argue that ‘Mr Robot’ is the most empathetic view of the “mental illness” plot twist, namely bc the plot doesn’t cast him as the villain all along and end shortly after the twist: the story continues on, and over the course of the next 3 seasons we see Elliot trying to deny and suppress his personalities before eventually realising they’re a part of him that are here to stay; he’s not fractured, but rather they are the pieces that make him whole, and once he makes peace with that he achieves catharsis
The final reveal to us that the Elliot we knew was a frame of his personality, as well. And that Elliot took a step aside to let himself arise.
The first season of The Good Place is an accidental unreliable narration. We knew as much as Eleanor knew, once she figured things out, we had a more balanced view. Then the show had so many plot twists, sometimes I didn’t even know what to believe
Does any plot twist that changes the MC’s perception count as an “accidental unreliable narrator?”
Isn’t that just 3rd person limited perspective
That's not what an unreliable narrator is.
@@mindlander Agreed, she was a reliable narrator. She was just in an unreliable setting and the other characters are lying to her.
@@jamingrythm584 Could we consider this second-hand unreliable narration? Basically our narrator was the victim of an unreliable narrator themselves - in this case Michael.
@@lulu_9000 Ohhhh, that's interesting to think about
I wonder how much of Rue's narration of the other characters is inaccurate
That’s the interesting thing about Euphoria, that’s even the side character’s stories are narrated by Rue. Rue could be telling a false narrative and simply telling the story their only her perspective
@@missmeagan8117 yeah even the play is technically thru rues eyes. You get a couple glimpses thru lexis but that's it.
It's also kinda weird how the second season uses Rue's narration waaay less than the 1st one, which makes you wonder if we're still seeing things through her eyes or objectively
@@AllieOk that was a major downfall of the season among other things! It made several scenes confusing
Actually, this is why I think Euphoria's glitter on everything and everyone? Isn't true. The hyper sexuality, extreme color could easily be Rue's projection.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that *poof* he’s gone.” - Verbal Kint
I am surprised that Wanda Vision isn't at least nominated here as an extreme level of manipulating the narrative
I guess cuz Wanda herself doesn’t explicitly vocally narrate in the third person ?
Forest Gump is a prime example of this, he had such a simple approach to life in very dramatic events in history. He became very successful and didn’t think much of it. He viewed Jenny as an angel when she was really damaged and had severe issues.
We don't love being lied to.
We love discovering the truth,
and being able to claim that we have the ability to do it...
because we subconsciously fear that we _do not have that ability._
THIS!
Lolita was spot on, I genuinely sympathized with the protagonist for a long time, until I realized I was not understanding the point at all.
Indeed, the first time I saw that movie, I taught it was Lolita the one who was provoking Humbert, but now that I' m a grown up I realized that we never saw the real Lolita, just the portray in the mind of a sexual predator
Many people fail to understand Lolita regardless of whether we're talking about the book or film adaptations and the fact that in many countries and languages the "Lolita" label has become, in real life, synonymous with the very set of behaviors attached to that character from that predator's perspective is not helping at all. People will call a young girl "a lolita" if she looks a certain way. That and ulterior works from other artists inspired by that perception that Lolita was truly as portrayed by that unreliable narrator is the reason why some people have called for the book to be banned in some places.
@@DieezahArts that's very true, even now that word is still used to describe young girls and is even taken as a compliment or as a pretext to sexualize those girls.
I would like to see a new movie ir tv adaptation of this book, but one that actually shows the reality of this relationship.
@@evilcleiton3768 Except the manipulative nature of the narration is what makes the story so sickening and impactful.
@@DieezahArts I think those people who use the term that way just want to see it that way period. They're not just "misunderstanding" the point, they've clearly chosen their side and excuse it and their views are disturbing.
I'm so glad to see you talk about Unbelievable!! It's an amazing show, about women, by women, with a mostly female production team.
Normally as much as The Take’s videos vaguely intrigue me towards certain movies and shows I haven’t seen before, I typically don’t end up going and watching them. But this one intrigues me enough that I really want to go watch several of these titles right away
I have anterograde amnesia, not as severe as Leonard and I must say that Memento is a freaking work of GENIUS!! Christopher Nolan definitely consulted with people who have TBI and Amnesia for the film.
'Im thinking of ending things' is a good example of this trope also!
The best way to play a character who has no grasp on reality is to be at ease being yourself, because mental illness isn’t always dramatic. The trailer of ‘The Father’ was just brilliant!
Holden Caulfield is the most infamous unreliable narrator ever. He does warn us from the very beginning that he's a Terrific liar, and it's only when he states that he's been telling the entire story from a mental asylum, that you begin to question everything that happened in the story.
Hmm interesting, I just know I hated that book.
@@jclyntoledo big Facts lmaoooo
Huh I took everything he said at face value guess I have no critical thinking
I also hated the book
I absolutely loved that book for this very reason. Holden being an unreliable narrator made everything mean that much more.
This makes me question how much of an unreliable narrator I am and what kind of self-serving world have I made up in my head. I remember I had this conversation with my friend once imagining that, what if one day I just woke up in an asylum or something and everything I knew was just all in my head. Like damnnn...
Everyone is an unreliable narrator, if you think about it. Everyone has their own prejudices and biases that inform their perception of reality. And then there are the other natural limitations.
That happened to me yesterday, when I was quite sure it was Monday. My sibling had to remind me that it was Thursday. I am definitely a horrible narrator when I can't keep dates and times right.
Ya I think like that occasionally and it’s not fun and thinking why I do that doesn’t make it better. But what I take from this is that it’s better to live with a positive perception even if it seems you’re more vulnerable and blind to danger. Whatever is in our mind is important and has value. We’re not only just experiencing our external reality but also our internal one and our individual view of life is too unique to gaslight ourselves into thinking it’s not real/lacks value
The Prestige movie is a great example of an unreliable narrator too, actually two of them. Viewers are still debating about it. Such a great film. Loved this video!
True. Still confused to this day.
@@miamonroe3246 same here but Christian Bale nd Hugh Jackman together is like the greatest treat for my eyes nd mind 😜
This episode is a Literature teacher's dream 🥰
right? which is why I love it so much after coming from my Intro to drama lecture.
actually, THE WHOLE CHANNEL is a literature teacher's dream
You guys should talk about Euphoria and how we (as a society) need to empathize more.
Everyone talks about it at work, but no one talks about how the cast just made some wrong decisions. I think it would be a great topic.
there's a wisecrack video about how emphaty is work!
I think instead of the word cast, you should use characters. Cast makes its sound like the real life actors made some bad choices as opposed to their onscreen characters.
Does this conversation also include Nate?
@@JermaineYoung Yes. Honestly, imagine growing up seeing and internalizing what he saw as a child. At the end of the day, just like almost every character of Euphoria, he's a child missing at least one good parent to base himself on.
It doesn't mean we don't hold the characters accountable for their actions though, it's more about being aware of the signs in order to act as a society to break the cycle.
@happy baby they might not have given us flashbacks from her perspective but from Lexi's perspective we see that Cassie's obsession does stem from her father, she trusts the men in her life blindly and she is ready to do anything for them as long as she is loved. If that doesn't scream daddy issues to you I don't know what else would.
The handmaiden have multiple unreliable narrators...such a treat!
Characters. Not narrators. The story or the scenes do not change. Their perspective is merely limited to what they know.
Edit. Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith might, however, have unreliable narrators. I do not know.
Unreliable narrators are always hit or miss- stories either get them right and knock it out the park, really using the trope to its best potential, or they aren't really unreliable at all except for this one key point that hides the twist
Plot twist: he was hallucinating all along!
I never realized the parallels between Mr Robot and Fight Club!
How! It was so obvious! I mean even the plot was similar
I would love a reference list of the films shown/mentioned in your videos in the description. I often have to go back to search for the title of something I find interesting and want to watch.
This!
Yes! Also I keep getting spoilered by these videos because I don't know which movies they're gonna talk about
When I watched Shutter Island, that’s the first time I learned not too trust the narrator. The ending shocked me.
I think it was fight club for me .. haha
It was reading the Murder of Roger Ackroyd at 11 for me. It absolutely blew my mind.
I’ll always hate myself for accidentally watching the last 10 minutes of it and now I don’t want to watch it anymore cause I‘ll never experience that twist:(
Aren't we all a bit of unreliable narrators..?
This is very true but if we can minimise the inconsistencies, we can still form a coherent and reliable truth
Yes, but unlike this trope, normal people are truthful as possible about what they tell.
@@ashleightompkins3200 Sometimes I feel coherence is relative. I can try my best to articulate the truth but it might not translated to the other person.
But we do have to keep trying. 🖤
Yup, everything we do is done in our perspective. We aren’t that objective as we’d like to think, it’s all based on our emotions and ego. No one is truly the protagonist or the antagonist, we’re too abstract for that
@@growingupwithdisney We're all dueteragonists, heroes of our own stories, villains of another person's.
Really good job on NOT putting an ad in this one as you ultimately urge your viewers to be sure to analyze, research, and verify all new information in order to come to their own conclusions unswayed by self-serving narratives. An ad, any ad at all, may have clouded this point. Kudos and thank you. 💕
Another great film you could have referenced that featured an unreliable narrator is a Netflix film called "I'm Thinking Of Ending Things" starring Jesse Plemons and Toni Collette. You think it's about a girl who wants to break up with her boyfriend, but it's way more twisted and disturbing and the ending is way out of left field. I highly recommend it!
y’all the Afterparty is a murder mystery show founded on the premise of unreliable narrators each telling the story of what happened the night of a murder. each episode is a character recounting the nights events from their perspective and it is SO GOOD and such a good example on how who’s telling the story can completely decide how the audience views the story.
each characters episode accounts the night in its own genre, one persons version of the night is a horror movie, the others is a romcom, another persons is an action movie, another’s is a musical. and you really see each persons own self obsession warping how the story is told and what even happens. the unreliability comes out in subtle ways, like peoples outfits changing, or what’s said in conversations or how people just generally behave.
but the unreliability ofc comes out in bigger ways, like a whole plot point where someone is being chased down and then threatened by an angry guy, when finally shown from another persons perspective we see oh that wasn’t at all what was happening, this guy wasn’t angrily chasing him down over what we thought he was, but was just trying to approach him over something completely different, and when we thought he was threatening him he was literally just yelling the word “Koala” over and over again, not threatening him like the first guy thought he was because the first guy literally couldn’t hear him.
entire conversations, motivations, and character personalities change based off who’s telling the story. and of course keeping in mind one of the people telling their story is lying, because one of them is the murderer, so the biggest unreliability is in not knowing who’s lying about the entire thing and why.
I cannot recommend this show enough it is so funny and so intriguing i’m so obsessed with finding out whodunnit, seriously i can’t stop thinking about who killed Xavier. each character is so thought out and interesting in their own rights, and each has their own colour scheme to reference Clue characters. this show is hilarious and has so many hidden details and it’s a travesty it’s not more popular. final episode comes out tomorrow on apple tv. if you’re interested in unreliable narrators then this show is definitely one to watch.
You make me want to watch it more than any commercial, description review has before and I already REALLY wanted to see it!
It's biggest problem is being on Apple TV unfortunately...
Damn this one’s full of spoilers 😂 I decided to keep watching bc "how bad can it be?" and now I’ve spoiled myself quite a few series and movies. I’ll still watch them though, they’re not spoiled, really.
I know right
The unreliable narrator story is one of the most interesting stories imo. Thanks for putting a spotlight on it.
I literally JUST watched a video yesterday comparing the unreliability of the narrator in the movies Perfect Blue and Momento!
Yes! So happy to see that you put Elliot Alderson in the thumbnail! (Especially bc so many of us Mr Robot fans wrote him in on the community page vote!!) Thanks!!!
Me too! Now we wait for them to make solo “Mr. Robot” videos.
Sometimes I feel like I am the unreliable narrator of my own life lol 😂
I know, every time i tell a story that happened to me, my friends remembrr it differently ^^
@@audrey2181 In my case, my friends have a worse memory than mine!
We all like to be a hero, or at least an innocent bystander so it's ot actually an unreasonable take xD
The reason we keep falling for false narratives is because reality is actually far to much what you make of it and believing a reality that suits your current emotions feels right as it suits the emotions. As a nurse i see this constandly on both sides of the vaccination debates. The moment anyone gets swept in the emotion that connects them to an argument. They believe a side often more because that connects with their feeling of either their fear of something or their hope to avoid a fear
I was waiting for that Gone Girl monologue to pop up, and y’all did not disappoint! I love for it every time!
The anime film "Perfect Blue" (which 'inspired' Black Swan) is a brilliant example of the narration switching through multiple possible realities to let the viewer experience the protagonists mental breakdown as she struggles to understand what is real. At times it flips through what the protagonist actually sees, what she believes she sees, what her role as an actress sees and even what may have been a dream - with all this switching the viewer has to keep a fluid view of 'reality' or be sucked into believing a false story only to suffer whiplash as the scene changes.
even when used as a gimmick, it really feels comforting to see people like us as the lead role
Cobra Kai is a good example of perspective and unreliable narrators. Johnny makes Daniel out to be the bad guy in season 1 of the Karate Kid events while Daniel makes himself out to be the same hero he was in the 80s.
Omggg yessss
Rashomon is practically a trope in itself. Shows like All in the Family and M*A*S*H had episodes based on its premise.
She’s got to have it is also based on the film
LOVED this one! Now I have a list of movies I haven't seen that I simply MUST see!!
Amy was so well written and played, I couldn't hate her. Nick was less likable 😂
Ditto, she's played the audience and the characters like fiddles, so in a way, it's satisfying to see her win, despite her being utterly psychotic.
I think I've seen this movie wrong, because everybody seens to like Amy while I entirely hated her 😆😆😆 ngl I was rooting for Nick after we discovered her plan, and even more when she kills Neil Patrick Harris
@@gabrielalima8191 if anything you probably watched it right 😂😂
@@gabrielalima8191 I hated her as well and I can't understand the hype about her monolouge maybe if the person who talks about those things was a nice person I would love the text, but my dislike of her was too big. Although I didn't like Nick either, I rooted for him. Or maybe I rooted just for the truth and Nick's twin sister. In the end I thought: "well go Nick and stay with Amy, you two deserve eachother".
@@bindeinermeinung419 same. I feel crazy when talk about her like she's a inspiration or something like that???? I do understand the message behind the cool girl dialogue (The Take has a video about that too 😝), but I can't like her
Saying labyrinth and cutting to Zendaya from Euphoria, genius
'Cruel summer' better be in this video. I mean, the whole series is a bunch of unrealiable narrator teens.
I'll see your Cruel Summer and raise you Yellowjackets.
Marvel has Moon Knight on the way, and WandaVision took the unreliable narrator and made it a crisis so big the government had to get evolved! It's interesting to see how this is being used in new genres.
Anyway, I really need to finish The Affair. And glad to see The Father get mentioned. Really good video, that covered just about all the best examples I could think of and more. 👍
"WandaVision took the unreliable narrator and made it a crisis so big the government had to get involved!"
Great observation! Great example!
The thing about it being harder to work with unreliable narration in film made me wonder why, and I have two thoughts:
1) the way cameras are used movies always feel like an omnipotent 3erd person perspective, which (correct me if I'm wrong) are never untrustworthy.
2) when we see things in a movie the unreliable event feels more real and therefore harder to distrust
Finally someone talks about Mr Robot
I’m surprised The Last Duel didn’t get a mention here. Unreliable narration is the film’s entire M.O., and because that aspect was so on-the-nose, it worked.
Maybe cause it is basically Rashomon
The Last Duel is such a great use of the unreliable narrator! We got to see the truths they tell themselves, and how it colored their view of what happened. So so relevant to today~
They mentioned Rashomon and The Last Duel is pretty similar
@@LuisSierra42 well, The Last Duel is a true story.
I loved the movie "Courage Under Fire" for its Rashomon story telling technique.
I have watched "The usual suspects" so many times, it was the first movie that blew my mind with such an ending!
I think the most unreliable narrator I've ever seen is the protagonist of Legion. Even though it's an X-men show it's really artistic and between the main character having both schizophrenia and reality altering/mind altering superpowers and the artistic style of the show in general, it can be really hard to understand what's happening in the show because the main character doesn't even know what's happening most of the time but it's beautiful nonetheless. I think it's severely underrated
Brazilian autor Machado de Assis with his book Capitu is the pinacle of the "trust or don't trust in the narrator"
"This is The Unreliable Narrator Explained...or is it?" I love this channel
This is the beauty of fiction: by engaging with unreliability it reveals its existence in the actual (but not always factual) world. I always get frustrated when "fiction" is used as a synonym to "lie," when it is the exact opposite: a way of knowing the truth. Not the only way (there is also science and history). But one very potent and privileged way.
Joe in You continually tries to convince the audience that he is "saving" a helpless vixen from harm. After applying the unreliable trope to the premise of the show its hard not to think about the true nature and motive of Beck and others. It makes you really think, "Was Peach as manipulative as she was portrayed", or, "Was Beck as flighty and immature as we came to know her". It would interesting to see the story of You from a different character's perspective because most fans stanning for Joe justify it by the fact that he's ultimately attracted to horrible women that give Joe reason and motive for his unorthodox actions. Just a thought.
You should consider making a list in the description box of the movies that you are presenting în this videos! I always feel like I should take notes while watching your content. Maby this will make things easyer for people like me. 😁
Alias Grace should have been mentioned. Such a great underrated show.
We’ve been so gullible and it’s enough. It’s hard work to find the unvarnished truth.
Surprised there was no mention of ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’ which has a version from each point of view.
Same
God, The Father was such a gut-wrenching experience to watch. Definitely a masterpiece of this trope. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes and amaze me every time even though I already know the plot twist.
Take...this is such an interesting direction to take the Euphoria hype! I love this!
I’m looking forward to Moon Knight for this reason. I enjoy an unreliable narrator story. It’s a psychological mystery for the audience to uncover
You really had to hold yourself back to not play the gone girl narration bit! (I'm proud of you)
Yeah but why the scene where she hits herself in the face with the hammer! I need a warning for that shit. I thought they were gonna cut away but BAM
Take a shot every time a Take video shows the "Cool Girl" clip. IS IT EVERY TIME?
I remember the first time I encountered an unreliable narrator, in Michael Marshall Smith's book Only Forward... While I've found a lot more extreme examples since, the narrator confessing he'd lied or fudged the details of an earlier story amazed me - it felt like a kind of narrative magic trick considering all the books I'd read before had invited me to take the narrator's words at face value and not challenged that assumption.
The last line of the video, really awesome!
One thing I really enjoy about Crazy Ex Girlfriend is how we're introduced early to the idea that the musical numbers are heavily filtered through Rebecca's perceptions... then we start seeing musical numbers that she doesn't, leaving us with the question of whose perspective it is and whether it's true and unbiased... I enjoy that we get an outside view on the characters but it's still potential unreliable.
Feels like it will give a lot of spoilers
...and yeah, it did ! (Spoiled the endings of many of the movies on my watching list)
“a beautiful mind”
I always find it amazing how many examples you include in your video essays, absolutely love your stuff guys ❤️
One of my very favorite examples of an unreliable narrator (both book and film) is Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived In the Castle.” Particularly in the book, the process of figuring out what may or may not be real via what the narrator, Merricat, tells the reader is very uncertain. Things *feel* off, but you can’t necessarily figure out why. The film, with Taissa Farmiga in the central role (she was fantastic) manages to capture the atmosphere and unfolding reality really well. I’d add to the list One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest too, particularly the book.
There's a film version? Sweet, I didn't know that!
@@mysteriiis Glad I mentioned it, I think it’s way too far under the radar for a surprisingly good adaptation (and boy was I anxious about whether they’d do it justice). At least in my location, it’s currently on Netflix, as well as really cheap to rent on Amazon. I also recommend super highly the audiobook version read by Bernadette Dunne, which was the most recent way I read it-it’s incredibly well done, funny and unnerving and tragic through a truly skilled voice performance. Hope you enjoy it!
@@literaterose6731 That sounds awesome, thanks!
@@literaterose6731 Not too far for me I guess. 😜 I saw it. I'm always on the hunt for classic book adaptations.
So happy you mentioned “The Affair”!
Would it be possible to get a list of movies/ shows referenced in the description?
Synecdoche New York is an incredible haunting example of the unreliable memory and sense of reality.
The unreliable narrator is really an effective technique to have the audience rooting for a character they would otherwise be quick to distrust or condemn, as they're engaging in questionable if not downright criminal behaviors. In the short British TV series The Drowning, the story's protagonist would be seen as an antagonist without this narrative device. Things would be less confusing in the series Behind her Eyes without this as well. By the time you realize the unreliable nature of these narrators you already care too much about their characters to start viewing them in any objective manner.
I saw Rue at that thumbnail a while ago and was expecting a muuuuch bigger "unreliable narrator" plot twist in Euphoria ... So I kinda also got tricked into expecting something different ^^
Do you think of anything specific? I'm writing my bachelor's thesis about Rue as an unreliable narrator, so I need to find some good plot twists hehe
I think you should a take on "For the greater good" you can reference the 100, Clarke is a sucker for that, and also Handmaid's tale
Mr robot deserves a video to itself.
Two movies to bring in for this video that would have been good would have been 12 Angry Men and The Others. Great movies. 12AM starts off as a misdirection, and The Others plays it out slowly for you to figure it out on your own, however, you can tell right away if you pay close attention :D
In a visual media, there are no reliable narrators. Everyone has different POVs and if you dare to step into the other side of the coin you can discover something new.
The series finale of I May Destroy You demonstrates this perfectly.
the take please do more euphoria videos!!!!
Why the spoiler alert for Shutter Island and not for The cabinet of Dr. Caligari?? 😭😭😭😭
The only thing that I could though was Dom Casmurro. Probably one of the most popular books on this subject, no one knows if capitu cheated bentinho or not
Wow, the fact that so many of these examples are among my favorite films/shows makes me wonder what that says about me
this channel has saved my life. and ty again for giving me something new, i was not aware of the movie anette. im def watching it tomorrow!
Great video and topic, thanks!!
How an "unreliable" narrator wraps us in is how every day people get swept in cults. We expect objective truths from the stories we watch or read when most minds are not objective. Much of our experiences that help us identify with characters are subjective.
I definitely had a "wait, what?" moment in that reveal about the matching tattoos.
I really reeeally would like you guys to do a take on Attack on Titan when its complete.
Alright. I’m in. I’ve watched 4 straight and have given 4 👍🏽! Very well written and critically composed insights.
This Take video was very much needed
Amazing editing!
The amount of spoilers in this video is wild
Most of the movies/shows here have been out for the longest time so it's technically not a spoiler, you jus didn't know em yet or got around to watching them
Every single war-movie ever made pretty much has an unreliable narrator, since the director clearly has a POV. There you go - idea for another Take. For that matter you can go through every single genre of movie and find an unreliable narrator...
Just name the channel Amy Dunne ☺️
Is there a list of featured films and/or series? I can never remember the ones I want to check out after the video ends 😅