Telegraphing, in the creation or performance of creative works, is conveying information to the audience through acting or nonverbal clues, providing a clear hint of the meaning or outcome of a dramatic action. Telegraphing may undercut suspense by advance disclosure or extreme hinting of an element in a composition, narrative plot, or recitation. A familiar example is

stand-up comic Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

and comedy films "telegraphing" the

punch line A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...

of a

joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...

, i.e. making its outcome obvious before it happens. This meaning for the term was coined shortly after the invention of the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

. In music and the visual arts, such techniques are respected as means of preparing the audience by "building up" to the foreseeable result, as musical

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

s usually do. In

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s such as

live-action role-playing A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique feature ...

it may refer to non-verbal communication with other players through gestures to convey the intentions of the player outside the game. Telegraphing is often compared to

foreshadowing Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, and it helps develop or subvert the audience's expectations about upco ...

as a way to reveal incoming plot and make the listener form expectations. While foreshadowing doesn't necessarily reveal that the introduced element will play a role later, telegraphing conveys information to spectators about how the plot will develop. Contrast it with

red herring A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question. Red herring may also refer to: Animals * Red herring (fis ...

, where the plot element revealed in advance is intended to be misleading. In literature telegraphing is generally seen as lessening the final effect by approaching it too gradually, and thus as a failure of literary technique. Information used too often to telegraph about characters can be overused and become clichéd, such as a dumb police officer eating doughnuts, an absent-minded professor, or a beautiful librarian concealed by unattractive personal grooming.

References

{{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnjZXuE0kqUC&q=telegraphing&pg=PA194 , title=Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties , author=John Howard Reid , year=2005 , page=194, isbn=9781411635241 Comedy Theatre Narrative techniques

See also

References