The Hindsight tropes, Hilarious in Hindsight, Harsher in Hindsight, and Heartwarming in Hindsight, are among the most misused Audience Reaction tropes on this site. Many people don't understand that the tropes require more than just "This happened, so that happened", and end up adding examples which either lack connection or the substance that makes them funny/serious/not-so-funny/heartwarming. Some of them may be suited better for other tropes (ex: Life Imitates Art), while some may not belong on TV Tropes at all (such as ones involving politicians, due to Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment).
Please report any Hindsight example that you feel are questionable, and we'll analyze them to see if they are actually examples or not.
Remember that the Hindsight tropes are Audience Reactions. That means if an example under review discusses significant fan response pointing out the hindsight, the example can't be cut solely for being too tenuous for this thread.
- Creator's character/portrayal dies in work and then creator dies in real life, unless their fictional death is closely similar to their real one (such as Billy Bob Joe portraying a character who dies from pancreatic cancer, then Billy Bob dies from pancreatic cancer himself)
- Mundane word related to something terrible (such as "corona" or "Epstein") unless there's more to the connection (such as someone named "Corona" having the flu)
- Creator appears in work then becomes more controversial later on.
- A common event (such as a typical natural disaster) happens in work, then happens in real life (unless they are closely similar, such as the event happening to the same area in both reality and fiction around the same time) For once, not everything related to disease has to do with COVID-19, not everything related to racism and Police Brutality has to do with George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and not everything related to sexual abuse has to do with #MeToo.
- A common/generic concept was used in this work and then later reused in that work (too loose for a connection, unless the concept is so unique it's identified with the work)
- Two actors appear together then do so in another work
- Hindsight examples involving recent events, due to them often being shoehorns. Specifically:
- COVID-19 examples, before 75% of the population has returned to normal
- George Floyd/2020 Black Lives Matter examples, before protests have declined
- Examples which fall guilty of Older Than They Think, such as "Make X Great Again" slogans. Aside from violating the ROCEJ, this slogan has been in use since the 1940s.
- Characters using slurs which are treated as annoying at worst in the work, but is now harsher due to how severe the slur is made now. Discrimination has always existed with that slur. (May qualify for Values Dissonance if work is at least 20 years old.)
Note: As of January 2022, "Funny Aneurysm" Moment is no longer separate from Harsher in Hindsight.
- The former redirects to the latter and all wicks to the former (with the exception of ones on archive pages and the YMMV Redirects index) must either be moved to the latter (if they're valid) or removed (if they're invalid).
- The subpages for the former are still accessible from this page
. After a subpage for "Funny Aneurysm" Moment has been completely cleaned up, turn it into a redirect to the Harsher in Hindsight subpage for the same medium to preserve inbounds.
Edited by Tabs on Jun 21st 2023 at 11:51:25 AM
Formerly on YMMV.Night At The Museum:
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Darth Vader's cameo has become this when Disney purchased Star Wars in 2012 and eventually 20th Century Fox, seven years later.
@mightymewtron ok thanks for the explanation.
Uzume's back baby!
This from YMMV.Air (and HarsherInHindsight.Anime And Manga):
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- Misuzu slowly dies in a way very similar to a cancer patient. Her Japanese voice actress, Tomoko Kawakami, died of ovarian cancer a few years later on June 9, 2011.
- It's now even more heartbreaking to hear Yukito and Misuzu in English, considering what happened to the professional relationship between Vic Mignogna and Monica Rial, respectively.
Preferably speaking, I haven't seen nor watched AIR in a long time, but these examples feel like textbook misuse (Actor morality and Actor appears in work and becomes controversial later respectively). The latter especially; in no way have Misuzu or Yukito ever been in a strained relationship, professional or otherwise. Not to mention it's also a ZCE. Weirdly enough, these examples were actually previously removed for being misuse, but we're added back by a Troper named Moonlight Bomber. And it took up until now for me to notice, as the examples were added in 2021...
Everybody, Everybody!
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I’ve never heard of Air, but given that the example says it’s "similar to a cancer patient" seems like a shoehorn in itself. I agree that just because an actor who was abusive was in a work doesn’t make it automatically harsh (if it did, then tons of works would have such a disclaimer).
Worth cutting both.
Edited by CanuckMcDuck1 on Mar 23rd 2024 at 5:14:07 AM
Everybody loves the me! I’m a great athlete!
under construction
YMMV.Arthur S 2 E 10 DW Goes To Washington Arthurs Mystery Envelope:
- Hilarious in Hindsight: In a flashback in "D.W. Goes to Washington", D.W. makes the family go to "Santa's Igloo", which is advertised as a fun experience where you get to spend a Sunday with Santa and his reindeer. When they get there, it's a rundown looking place with a few people in terrible costumes, with the gimmick turning out to be you have to BRING a SUNDAE to Santa. A similar situation happened in 2023 with AI Wonkaland.
This feels like a bit of a stretch that implies Willy's Chocolate Experience was the first ever incident of its kind. If anything, the Santa/Christmas event would be closer to Lapland New Forest from 2008. Can the entry be amended to include Lapland, or would it still be too much of a stretch?
Honestly even before Lapland low quality scam events for kids existed before. It's not really hindsight.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- Richard Dreyfuss stated that the screams of the opening sequence were all dubbed, and they were recorded by having Spielberg dunk Susan Backlinie's head into a water bucket — that's classed as torture today. Not hindsight. According to the article linked, waterboarding predates the film
- As if what happened to poor Pippet wasn't bad enough... Weblinks Are Not Examples
- One of the harshest examples to hit this list is the story of "the lady of the dune" and her possible links to this movie. She was a woman who was murdered somewhere in the summer of 1974 in Cape Cod peninsula, and for decades, no one knew her identity. In 2015, Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, happened to look at the movie Jaws, and saw an uncredited extra in the background resembling the woman's reconstruction made by the police. The extra from the movie was wearing the same outfit the corpse was found with, meaning, if the two women were indeed same person, she was killed not too long after the shooting the scene she appears in. Her name was Ruth Marie Terry. Not sure.
- Richard Dreyfuss stated that the screams of the opening sequence were all dubbed, and they were recorded by having Spielberg dunk Susan Backlinie's head into a water bucket — that's classed as torture today.
Everybody, Everybody!
Ruth Perry and her connection to Jaws is more of a theory than hindsight. She wasn’t immediately identified to be in the movie either. I think at best, maybe move Ruth Perry’s section to Pop-Culture Urban Legends, since there is also a lot of debate about if it even is Perry in the movie,
Deleted that entry and added Pop-Culture Urban Legends to the trivia page. Any thoughts on the other two?
"The Juice is Loose."
I found this Harsher in Hindsight on YMMV.Superman Returns
- Any scene where Richard and Jason are together might be uncomfortable to watch now as in the 2024 documentary series, Quiet on Set it was revealed that James Marsden supported convicted pedophile Brian Peck.
I don't know if it is just me, but this feels like a stretch to connect the two and kind of makes me uncomfortable to list. Is it just me?
Edited by Bullman on Mar 28th 2024 at 3:58:14 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
That seems unrelated to the film.
Everybody, Everybody!
That should probably be listed on the Quiet On Set series instead. The connection feels tenuous at best, and more just telling people about something awful James Marsden’s done rather than being harsh in hindsight,
Edited by CanuckMcDuck1 on Mar 28th 2024 at 3:33:45 AM
Everybody loves the me! I’m a great athlete!
Lots of coffee
It wouldn't be hindsight for Quiet on Set though.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Friends forevermore
Yeah. "Wrong-way" hindsight is one of my pet peeves.
I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
Astolfo my Man
This write-up doesn't really fit me well also just by reading what it said. Wouldn't say that it fits.
I don't want to brag or anything but when it comes to being the worst, I'm always at the top!
Uzume's back baby!
Is it because Peck and Marsden played the characters or am I wrong? I haven't watched film myself.
"The name's Uzume Tennouboshi! Yeah, it's pretty badass, I know." - Uzume, Megadimension Neptunia VII
Jason was played by Tristan Lake Leabu (not Bryan Peck) and was the son of Lois and Superman, and Richard was Lois' finance. I'd say this doesn't count since the character doesn't do anything creepy towards children, and while James Marsden did sign the letter supporting Bryan Peck, he himself didn't undertake (at least I hope not) any pedophilic actions himself so it's a stretch for him.
Everybody, Everybody!
This feels like a similar scenario to the time many celebrities signed a paper to get Roman Polanski released (nowhere near the same levels of support though). It's an uncomfortable sore spot on everyone who signed it, but otherwise they don't actively support such crimes.
Any pronouns
This is on YMMV.Rock Paper Scissors Nickelodeon
- Harsher in Hindsight: During the credits of "The First Lou Episode", Lou rants about things that he hates, and is about to go into a tirade about Nickelodeon before being cutoff. The episode aired about a month before the docuseries Quiet on Set revealed just how vile Nickelodeon is.
Edited by sudrictoon on Mar 30th 2024 at 12:05:48 PM
We are the best friends, we stand as one. Whatever life may bring, we are never alone.
I can kind of see a connection: The joke is that the network is trying to keep one of their employees from complaining about them, and not long afterwards a documentary comes out where former employees get together and expose the network's dark secrets.
Lots of coffee
I could see an argument against it because a lot of the stuff about Nickelodeon was already an open secret, but the timing implores me to say it could stick.
Here's one from Dear Dumb Diary that I think is possibly a stretch, though it could just be dated. The section and the imagery used doesn't really make me think of "Whip My Hair" (IIRC, the joke is that Jamie shaking her hair around gets mistaken for a seizure).
- Hilarious in Hindsight: In Am I the Princess or the Frog?, Jamie attempts to release the shampoo-applied scent of her hair by tossing her hair and shaking her head violently. 5 years later, there's a familiar song about thatnote .
Friends forevermore
That indeed seems like a stretch.
I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
"The Juice is Loose."
Yeah that seems like a stretch.
Awful, just cut it.
Going back a bit: seems like the YMMV.Stus Show deathbed/sickbed joke can be cut as actor mortality (the illness wasn't what killed him).
Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on Mar 20th 2024 at 6:00:58 AM