Playing Cyrano: Difference between revisions

When someone is too shy or inarticulate to pursue his dream girl, he has a friend (the Cyrano) supply his words for him. Like most [[A Simple Plan|Simple Plans]], this naturally never works. The [[Trope Codifier]] is Edmund Rostand's classic play ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]''.

 

 

The story will often include a direct reference to ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', which makes it very clear that the character making the reference (or, more likely, the writer) has only a very passing knowledge of the play. If there is a Cyrano on each side, [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarity may ensue]]. In such a double Cyrano, [[Pair the Spares]] may be invoked.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Subverted by the two female "Cyranos" in ''[[School Days]]'', due to the [[Matchmaker Crush]] situation. The first one, Sekai Saionji, ends up becoming the "mistress" of Makoto Itou, the boy she was trying to hook up with Kotonoha Katsura. The other, Setsuna Kiyoura, tries to force Makoto to break up with Kotonoha and stay with Sekai.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'': In the famous Valentine's day strip, [[Moe Anthropomorphism|Austria]] gives Germany advice on his [[Ho Yay|confused]] [[Ship Tease|feelings]] [[Official Couple|towards]] Italy.

** Similarly, once Ayumu finds out that Hinagiku realizes she's fallen in love with Hayate, by way of her own confession, Ayumu plays this much better for Hina herself. This doesn't stop her from pursuing him herself though. In fact, Ayumu plays this better by specifically continuing her interest in Hayate.

 

 

== Fan Fic ==

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Roxanne]]'' is [[Setting Update|a modern retelling of the original play]], in which small-town fire chief C.D. Bales (Steve Martin) helping Chris, a hunky yet dimwitted newcomer to the department, woo the titular beauty (Darryl Hannah). The insult fight in the bar is a classic lesson in How To Bring The Funny.

* In ''[[Back to The Future]]'', Marty McFly acts as a Cyrano for his teenaged father George with the inevitable result that his teenaged mother Lorraine becomes even ''more'' attracted to Marty than before.

* In ''[[Short Circuit|Short Circuit 2]]'', Number 5 the sentient robot, who has scanned through a library's worth of novels, suggests being The Cyrano for his nerdy scientist friend. During the latter's date, Number 5 hacks into an electronic billboard's system and flashes the lines the friend is supposed to tell the girl. The hacking goes wrong, resulting in the nerdy scientist saying nonsense, but he turns a potentially embarrassing situation around by admitting the ruse to the girl, who thinks it's sweet.

* Somewhat inverted in ''The Ugly Truth'', in which Gerard Butler's character instructs Katharine Heigl's on how to ensnare and hold on to the handsome, and comparatively charming doctor of her dreams. Instead of being interested in the Roxane of the scenario, however, Butler's Cyrano ends up falling for Heigl's Christian.

 

== Literature ==

* ''Only In The Movies'' has main character Jake's unattractive female friend Vanni acting as his Cyrano, while he pursues the ''very'' attractive Alba. She even has the big nose. It doesn't work, and Alba falls for another guy, and asks Jake to be ''her'' Cyrano, leading to a situation where Jake is standing behind a curtain, whispering lines to Alba, while Vanni stands behind ''another'' curtain whispering lines to him. In the end, Alba ends up alone while {{spoiler|Jake ends up with Vanni}}.

* This trope is combined with [[Gold Digger]] in ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|Exile's Valor]]'', when Prince Karenthanel of Rethwellan successfully courts Queen Selenay of Valdemar due to coaching by both an experienced rake and someone with considerable inside information about the young monarch's insecurities.

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Newman is Kramer's Cyrano on ''[[Seinfeld]]'' when the latter pursues Jerry's girlfriend, revealing a rarely seen poetic side. The scheme nearly derails when she mentions junk mail, and, fed by Newman, Kramer launches into a rant that so-called junk mail takes as just manpower to deliver as "precious little greeting cards."

* Greg is Peter's Cyrano on ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''.

* Brian is Jordan's Cyrano in the last episode of ''[[My So-Called Life]]''.

'''Blackadder:''' All writteny-witteny by me-ee we-ee, I'm afraidy-waidy. }}

* In an episode of ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]'',"The Courtship Of Miranda Sanchez", Lizzie is Miranda's Cyrano.

* Subverted HARD in ''[[Yo Soy Betty, la Fea]]'': After Mario Calderón and Armando Mendoza decided that the only way of ensuring the safety of the company they screwed was seducing and romancing Betty, the person who they left in the financial control of everything, Mario assumes the role of planning and writing a lot of little notes, cards and letters destined to melt the woman's heart. He does that because Armando was too repulsed by Betty to do it himself, and although Mario ''neither'' likes her, at least has a cooler head and some level of "professionalism" in womanizing issues. In a tragic turn, {{spoiler|Armando falls in love with Betty genuinely, and when he realizes that he ditches Mario's "help" and began to write himself notes with his true feelings, hoping to stop the scam and win her or real before she realized even that something was wrong. Unfortunately, when Betty (who was in love with Armando before all the scheme was even planned, and had no intention to keep the company, for begin with) eventually discovers their plan and realizes the whole ruse both men put her into, she becomes understandably enraged, and convinces herself that the "real" letters by Armando were also written by Mario. That wound lasted a lot to heal, to say the least}}.

* It happens in ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'' with Maddie acting as the Cyrano for London via hidden microphones and headsets. This is because the guy London is trying to woo (played by Zac Efron) is intelligent and London is... well... [[The Ditz|not]]. Falls apart when the guy says something that upsets Maddie (he's a conservative, she's a liberal) and yells so loud as to uncover the ruse. Which leads to a [[Slap Slap Kiss]] between he and Maddie.

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has Hiro do this in an attempt to get his childhood hero together with [[Romantic Interest|the Princess]]. She [[Genre Savvy|sees right through it]] and falls for Hiro, [[Face Heel Turn|making the childhood hero quite upset]].

* ''[[Smallville]]'' plays with this: Clark, who is implied to have feelings for Lois, reads Jimmy's wedding vows aloud to her. However he wasn't trying to win Lois over or pass Jimmy's words off as his own, which she realizes only as she sees the vows in his hands. Lois's next line provides the [[Shout-Out]] to the trope, when she refers to Jimmy as "a regular Cyrano".

* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' has an episode NAMED "Cyrano", in which Cory and Shawn are forced to help Frankie in his "wooing" of Harley's girlfriend. They succeed, and Harley ultimately decides to be a better man and let his girlfriend have what she wants, which is Frankie (the girl naturally goes on [[Girl of the Week|to never be seen again]]). In the ending when Cory and Shawn brag about having played Cyrano for Frankie, Mr. Turner lampshades the misinterpretation of the phrase as they had not had feelings for the girl themselves.

* Twisted in ''[[Home and Away]]'', where Romeo encourages (the fully literate) Jai to write love poems to Annie. Annie believes Romeo is the source of the poems, although whether or not Romeo is fully honest has yet to be properly revealed.

* In the ''[[Glee]]'' episode "Hairography," Kurt, who is in love with Finn, pretends to help rival Rachel get Finn's attention by encouraging her to dress sexier. However, the episode [[Subverted Trope|subverts]] the trope: far from helping her, Kurt is actually trying to sabotage Rachel's chances with Finn, knowing that he prefers girls who dress more modestly and will be turned off by Rachel's new wardrobe.

* On ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', Lt. Cadman plays Cyrano for Dr. McKay from inside his own head.

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Futurama]]'', "Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love?". Zoidberg returns to his home planet to spawn and must convince Edna, a childhood friend, to receive his genetic material.

'''Edna:''' [pleased] Why, yes. Thanks for noticing. }}

* From ''[[The Simpsons]]'', when Homer is supplying Principal Skinner with the lines to win Edna Krabappel back:

'''Homer:''' Hey, if this thing works out, I won't have to. }}

* A variation of this occurs in ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' with Ursula tricking Ariel into giving her her voice.

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