FlashForward

A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward; also called a prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. 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 have not yet occurred, but soon will in greater detail. It is similar to foreshadowing, in which future events are not shown but rather implicitly hinted at. It is primarily a postmodern narrative device, named by analogy to the more traditional flashback (or analepsis), which reveals events that occurred in the past.

An early example of prolepsis which predates the postmodern period is Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol, in which the protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge is shown the future following his death. The subsequent events of the story imply that this future will be averted by this foreknowledge.

Terry Brooks' Word & Void series features a protagonist who, when he sleeps, moves forwards and backwards through time to before and after a great cataclysm. This is both analepsis and prolepsis.

Muriel Spark makes extensive use of prolepsis in her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Every season of Damages makes an extensive use of flashforwards, revealing the outcome of the season to the viewer. The whole season then revolves around discovering the circumstances that led to this outcome. For instance, the first season starts with a flashforward of the protagonist, Ellen Parsons, running in the streets of New York, covered in blood. 6 months earlier, she was only a naive young woman who had just become a lawyer in the firm of a powerful attorney, Patty Hewes. What led Ellen to the situation presented in the flashforwards is revealed little by little throughout the season. Furthermore, the series is known for its misleading use of flashforwards, which are often examples of the red herring device.

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