Random
Source Code

Subversion of Subverted Expectations

A double whammy subversion of expectations, in particular in regard to film and television, where the audience is led to believe that a scene will follow through with a subversion of expectations regarding theme or humor before the opposite happens. May not always work- relies on the assumption that the audience is expecting the unexpected, but not expecting the expected.
As an example, we can take the Wheel of Fortune scene with Randy Marsh in South Park. In it, he must spell out the word which means "people who annoy me". He manages to by dumb luck fill out every single other letter in the answer leaving him with N_GGERS. The expectation by the audience is that at the last second he will answer with the word "Nagger" rather than "nigger", however at the last second the build-up to the joke concludes with a subversion of the audience's subverted expectations and the joke plays out as it would normally: with Randy answering "NIGGERS!".

We were led to believe that the punchline would be changed at the last minute, but the movie did a Subversion of Subverted Expectations by continuing the joke on as normal.

by hawn hawn baguette January 15, 2023