# Narrative / Narrator discrepancies (Open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 20, 2024, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813 "2024-02-20T08:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/1 "2024-02-20T08:39:45Z")
In the 1996 movie adaptation of _Matilda_, Danny Devito narrates, but also plays one of the main roles as Mr Wormwood; as a result, we hear the distinctive voice of the actor narrating things that the character played by the actor does not know, and the narration continues past the point where the character has permanently departed the movie. But in that case, it could be argued that there is simply no in-movie connection between the voice of the narrator and the voice/performance of Mr Wormwood; they sound the same, but are not the same character, so how about… In Guillermo del Toro’s 2022 adaptation of _Pinocchio_, Ewan McGregor narrates, _as the character of_ Sebastian J. Cricket, for whom there is an in-movie explanation of his role as narrator - he is a budding writer; at the beginning, intending to publish his own life story, but ending up writing the story of Pinocchio and Gepetto. Sebastian J. Cricket dies near the end of the movie - yet, as narrator, even describes, in the first person, that this has happened - and continues speaking about events that took place after his own demise. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/2 "2024-02-20T10:30:49Z")
_Sunset Boulevard_ uses the same device I believe (dead narrator). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/3 "2024-02-20T11:49:05Z")
There’s a whole TVTropes page for posthumous narration. Not all examples fit, but many do. > **[Posthumous Narration - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PosthumousNarration)** > > Occasionally, in watching a show or film that features a narration in voice over, you find that the narration is not because the writers got too lazy to show what's happening, but because they want to present you with the odd phenomenon of a … ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/4 "2024-02-20T12:23:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Sebastian J. Cricket dies near the end of the movie - yet, as narrator, even describes, in the first person, that this has happened - and continues speaking about events that took place after his own demise. I imagine one way to be super-creepy would be to have the narrator character narrate their own death, then not have any narration from that point forward. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/5 "2024-02-20T14:05:55Z")
Kevin Spacey played the narrator of his character’s life in ‘American Beauty’. A twist at the end was that he had been killed toward the end of the story, so (if I remember) had been dead the whole time he was telling the story. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/6 "2024-02-20T14:19:44Z")
I’m sure there are a bunch of songs sung by a dead narrator. Just off the top of my head: - Marty Robbins “El Paso” - Marshall Tucker Band “Fire on the Mountain” - The Decemberists “Yankee Bayonet” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/7 "2024-02-20T14:35:50Z")
I was thinking of the OP more like in _I, Tonya_ where, in the movie, Tonya shoots at Jeff with a shotgun, and then Tonya as the narrator immediately says “This is bullshit. I never did this!” As for dead song singers, on the serious side how about Neil Young;s Powderfinger, and on the funny side Dewey Cox (from the film _Walk Hard_) singing “(Have You Heard The News) Dewey Cox Died”. And he did, at the end of the song. I don’t mind dead song singers, for some reason. I guess the disembodied spirit should get the final say. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/8 "2024-02-20T14:45:35Z")
Nicolas Cage’s character, H.I. McDunnough, narrates _Raising Arizona_, but the narration is far more articulate and flowery than H.I. presents in the events shown in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/9 "2024-02-20T17:24:33Z")
Hozier’s song “Like Real People Do” is sung from the point of view of a peat bog body. Does that count for dead narrators? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/10 "2024-02-20T18:48:54Z")
Then of course there is _The Lovely Bones_ ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/11 "2024-02-20T18:54:33Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I imagine one way to be super-creepy would be to have the narrator character narrate their own death, then not have any narration from that point forward. Like Joseph of Aremathia in [Search for the Holy Grail](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlIz0q8aWpA)? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/12 "2024-02-20T19:22:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Then of course there is _The Lovely Bones_ Although as I understand that book/movie, there is explicitly an afterlife that the narrator is narrating from. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/13 "2024-02-20T19:29:49Z")
Yeah, that’s not really a qualifying case for that reason, and since it’s the whole premise of the thing. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/14 "2024-02-20T19:32:56Z")
Usual Suspects is narrated by Kevin Spacey aka Verbal Kint aka Keyser Soze, hence almost everything that occurs in the film could in fact be fabricated by him and never actually happened (not that the narration is the only reason to think that, but it emphasizes it IMO) ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/15 "2024-02-21T07:47:01Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Kevin Spacey played the narrator of his character’s life in ‘American Beauty’. A twist at the end was that he had been killed toward the end of the story, so (if I remember) had been dead the whole time he was telling the story. Not really a twist, though. Here’s the very beginning of the movie (after the brief scene with Jane and Ricky): > My name is Lester Burnham. This is my > neighborhood. This is my street. This… > is my life. I’m forty-two years old. In > less than a year, I’ll be dead. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/16 "2024-03-08T18:39:49Z")
Just encountered another one… In the Netflix production of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the title song has different verses for each episode(complete with mild spoilers about the episode), performed by Neil Patrick Harris, who also plays the arch villain in the show. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/17 "2024-03-08T23:36:22Z")
In the opening of every episode of _Police Squad_, the narrator reads the episode title while a different title is shown on screen. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/18 "2024-03-08T23:54:31Z")
Call the Midwife has narration by an elderly version of Jenny Lee, who leaves the show after series 3. The show is on series 13 and “Mature Jenny” still does the narration. It’s mostly just “birth is always a new beginning, full of promise and innocence and life and love and blah blah blah blah” sort of stuff and not plot-heavy specifics, although I want to say there is sometimes some “Nonnatus House had never before faced a challenge so challenging” or “that summer would hold many surprises” kind of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/19 "2024-03-09T14:48:16Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I imagine one way to be super-creepy would be to have the narrator character narrate their own death, then not have any narration from that point forward. Like in _Casino_, in which Joe Pesci’s character is whacked mid-narration: > **[Casino 1995 - Nicky Santoro's Death 4K HDR](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHjkCHb_7Y%2F)** > > Casino.1995.2160p.BluRay.REMUX.HEVC.DTS-X.7.1-FGT ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813/20 "2024-03-09T17:50:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Like in _Casino_, in which Joe Pesci’s character is whacked mid-narration: This is double narrative trickiness from Scorsese as he convinces you from the start the De Niro’s character is killed at the end and doing a posthumous narration (by starting with De Niro being blown up in a carbomb), whereas you find out at the end he survives. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narrative-narrator-discrepancies-open-spoilers/997813.md?page=2)