Submitted by Azazelionide t3_11cv44x in movies

For a university essay I am looking for a trope employed through media. In particular - the "noble" choice of a character, who has realised/finds some truth about the society he lives in, to not reveal this truth and instead tell a lie in order to preserve the order or belief of people.

Some notable examples that I have found so far are The Dark Knight (Batman choosing to take on the crimes of Harvey Dent upon himself) and Code Geass (Lelouch convincing the world he is the ultimate dictator so people trust in Zero even more and forget the crimes of Euphemia).

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If you have any suggestions that would fall in this line, I would be most interested in watching/reading them

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Comments

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HoosierDev t1_ja56vzq wrote

Samaritan sort of fits this. The bad guy is believed to be the good guy at the beginning. Later we find out that the actual bad guy was perceived as the good guy. The preceived bad guy kept being the bad guy when he wasn’t.

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FloridaFlamingoGirl t1_ja576zt wrote

The TV show Pushing Daisies might fit your bill. The protagonist has to lie about taking/preserving lives often, due to the fact that he has a magical power to wake the dead at the cost of another life. The protagonist magically brings his deceased girlfriend back from the dead, but takes another life in the process, and must lie to hide this secret. Furthermore, the girl must adopt a secret identity and prevent her parental figures from knowing that she has been resurrected.

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UWhatMate t1_ja58nh2 wrote

Beauty and the Beast? I think Belle tries to hide the truth about the place to protect beast?

Titanic- the captain spends a short time hiding the truth to maintain order

Life Is Beautiful- father hides the realities of the death camp from his son and pretends it’s a game

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guitaroomon t1_ja5bptt wrote

Pyscho Pass since youre into anime.

More recently Lycoris Recoil.

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ZorroMeansFox t1_ja5gswl wrote

In L.A. Confidential, Guy Pearce/Ed Exley and Russell Crowe/Bud White go along with the lie (at a Press Conference) that James Cromwell/Captain Smith was a hero, rather than a criminal. So rather than bringing down the entire Police Force, they prop it up in the hope that some good can still be achieved.

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MovieCriticsAreSJWs t1_ja5nnpw wrote

Serenity. The black dude. His whole mission is to keep the lie of the Reavers' origins despite being noble himself.

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Pksoze t1_ja5nyfw wrote

It's a smaller scale but Cobb with Tommy Lee Jones has this very ending in mind. Where the writer chooses to print the legend instead of the truth for his need to believe in heroes not just the public.

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Different_Beach_4590 t1_ja6b4f8 wrote

I'm not thinking of a specific scene but "Nightcrawler" starring Jake Gyllenhaal could be right up your alley

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Traditional_Plan564 t1_ja6mkk1 wrote

World's greatest dad His kid is an asshole. Kid ends up dying with jacking off to dads gfs pics. He fakes a diary and a suicide note to cope with the shame. It's on peacock

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