Possibly you’ve seen that some Twitter, Instagram or TikTok user has included in their text – or makes reference during the video – to a “plot twist.” What does that expression mean? What is he or she meaning?
A plot twist involves introducing an unexpected element into the plot of a movie… or a social media post
If you don’t know what “plot twist” means, an expression widely used in social networks, in this article you will find explanation to what they are meaning. Literally, it means “plot twist” and alludes to a change of course that will surprise the reader or viewer in the story that is being told in that Twitter thread, that Instagram Reel or that YouTube video.
The unexpected element is likely to give additional value to a piece of content by breaking the expectation or anticipations of whoever is enjoying it. At some point in what the protagonist is telling or in the labels that are overprinted in the video may appear the mention to that “plot twist” which literally means “plot twist”.
Whether in Aristotelian narrative, mythologist Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” or screenwriter Syd Field’s “paradigm,” structure in a story always seems to obey more or less similar and immutable rules.
But it does not mean that an adventure is not without surprises. or that it may take unexpected turns that surprise the reader (in the case of literature), the spectator (in cinema and television) or even the player (in the case of video games).
In recent years some filmmakers have made it a personal hallmark to include such a plot twist in the final part of their feature films. A common example of this is the films of M. Night Shyamalan “The Sixth Sense”, “The forest”., o “The Protégé”, among others. These “plot twist” come at the end of the narrative but that need not necessarily be the place where they appear. A Twitter thread or a Reel can start a story and include an unexpected twist at an early point.
Sometimes that narrative twist is sought in order to give more intensity or comic meaning to the content.. For this reason, one could speak of the “plot twist” as a determining narrative resource when it comes to a content working properly, as long as it is capable of impacting the reader/viewer/player.
