Comments on: Comic Book Dictionary - Hang a Lampshade

By: Comics Should Be Good! » Fantastic Four: True Story #1 Review

Comics Should Be Good! » Fantastic Four: True Story #1 Review — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:54:06 +0000

[...] readers of Jasper Fforde, so it is quite intriguing how in this first issue, Cornell does not just hang a lampshade/lantern, he practically shouts out Fforde’s influence, which I thought was [...]

By: Comics Should Be Good! » Locke and Key #1 Review

Comics Should Be Good! » Locke and Key #1 Review — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:13:06 +0000

[...] Speaking to the everyday life approach, the characters all realize that going to live in a house that has a NAME is creepy, in and of itself (the house is called The Keyhouse), so Hill hangs a lantern on the setup quite nicely. [...]

By: Weekend Links « Graphic Fiction

Weekend Links « Graphic Fiction — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:21:05 +0000

[...] My friend Jim Doom over at Doomkopf always talks about how Brian Michael Bendis is especially good at having characters address the questions and concerns that readers come up with. In case he, or anyone else, is curious, that’s called hanging a lampshade (CBR). [...]

By: sgt pepper

sgt pepper — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:36:26 +0000

Just saw Darjeeling Limited and it uses these often for comic effect. Dudes, let's go on a spiritual journey!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:59:19 +0000

Oops, Steven! What a silly mistake. Corrected!

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:00:50 +0000

I think we've all tried to block out any memories of 8 Mile.

By: Senator David Poundcake

Senator David Poundcake — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:21:41 +0000

Doesn't Eminem do this during the last rap battle in '8 Mile'?

IIRC, he's hanging lampshades all over the muthafuckin' joint bee-atch!!

Vote Poundcake, kids!

By: Jeff Holland

Jeff Holland — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:31:22 +0000

Is there a sub-term for when characters address reader concerns after the fact, or is that just called a story patch? What I'm thinking here is Tony Stark explaining the "flesh-colored cast" on Mary Jane's wrist, and then Peter making a little comment, and then both of them looking at the reader with "Happy now?" expressions, and me wanting to slap the crap out of JMS for all of it.

By: kushiro

kushiro — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:07:53 +0000

So this is what they've been doing on every episode of Lost since the beginning of Season 3?

By: Steven

Steven — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:54:51 +0000

Hey, thanks for the link and the shout out!

... and it's "Steven"

By: Eric N.

Eric N. — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:51:48 +0000

I've been calling this the Pirandello Effect, ever since I read this bit by French director Jean-Pierre Melville in "Melville on Melville", on a scene in Le Samourai: Rui Nogueira: You make the barman say exactly what the audience is thinking when it sees Jeff going into the bar again. Melville: That was intentional. One should always undermine that sort of effect. I'll give you an example. One evening my wife and I went to see an excellent play by Anouilh, La Grotte. A couple of minutes after the play began I turned to Florence and said, "Pirandello!" Just at that moment, an actor on stage said, "I have just heard someone in the audience say "Pirandello!"

By: Da Fug

Da Fug — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:09:34 +0000

FF #6 when Mister Fantastic visits the kid in the hospital and explains his costume stretches because it's made of unstable molecules?

By: Vert

Vert — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:17:14 +0000

Is there anything that a link to a website can't answer?

Thank you, Jebus for the internet!

By: FastEddie

FastEddie — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:46:14 +0000

The TV Trope lampshading article is in http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging

By: Vert

Vert — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:39:20 +0000

I'm confused about the terminology. It sounds like "hanging a lantern" would be a device the author uses to 'illuminate' a potential story flaw in order to deal with it and move on. But to "hang a lampshade" sounds to me like you'd be darkening the metaphoric light that you are trying to shine. Y'know... like a lampshade. Am I misunderstanding something?

By: Mike Loughlin

Mike Loughlin — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:42:05 +0000

If a writer uses the characters to comment on an element of the story that they did not write, is it "hanging a lampshade?" Example: Alan Davis had Excalibur characters go over the events of an Excalibur story he didn't write (called "Posession" or something similar) and remark how the continuity inconsistencies couldn't have happened, indicating Merlin or someone was toying with Excalibur.

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:51:30 +0000

I've heard it used in the negative sense as a "Message From Fred", when the writer is subconsciously alerting themselves to major plot holes by having the characters themselves notice them.

By: stealthwise

stealthwise — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:02:16 +0000

That's just called proleptic writing, and it's been around since, what, the times of the Ancient Greeks? Weird to see the current terminology, but that's what I get for spending so many years at a university.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:25:41 +0000

My favorite use of this is from an episode of Firefly:

Wash: "Telepathy? That's like something out of science fiction."
Zoe: "Honey, we live on a spaceship."

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:59 +0000

Iâ€™ve heard that phrase used in politics. Itâ€™s when a politician points out their own flaws to head off an attack on those flaws. Your definition appears a bit broader.

Yeah, I'm just using it for literature, but it certainly applies to politics as well. Heck, ANY argument, really. It's a smart way to present an argument.