Flashforward

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For other uses, see Flashforward (disambiguation).

In history, film, television and other media, a flashforward or flash-forward (also called prolepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future. They may also reveal significant parts of the story that has not yet occurred, but soon will in greater detail. In the opposite direction, a flashback (or analepsis) reveals events that have occurred in the past.

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[edit] Example in television

The American television show Scrubs makes extensive use of this device. While speaking to others or thinking to himself, Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, the chief protagonist in the series, often imagines unlikely events taking place in the future. For example, in the episode "My Cabbage", when Carla suggests Turk would be a bad father, J.D. imagines Turk accidentally switching his infant son with a large pumpkin, only for it to be raised just the same, graduating from college twenty-one years later. On graduation day, Turk accidentally drops the pumpkin, cracking it completely open and upsetting the couple, but then their real son spots them and gets their attention, only to be hit by a bus seconds later.

The television show Lost has also made use of this technique, beginning at the end of season three with a twist ending in the episode Through the Looking Glass. The first flashforward which the audience sees is originally believed to be a flashback, as flashbacks had been the only way of telling off-island stories up until that point. So far in season four, most of the episodes have contained flashforwards, although flashbacks are still used.

[edit] Example in film

Midway through the film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, there is an abrupt flashforward when Robert, the character played by Michael Sarrazin, is seen being thrust into a jail cell by a police officer, even though he has done nothing to provoke such treatment. The audience is notified, later in the story, that Sarrazin's character would have indeed made choices that warrant his arrest.

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