Flashback is one of the most common tricks in narrative art. He is called upon to reveal the past to the viewer or reader, to tell him what he does not know in connection with the “present time” in the work.
In fact, the question of what a flashback is, you can answer this way - this is a demonstration of the source events in the work. The reception helps the author to tell about the motivation of the characters, to reveal their skeletons in the closet and the like.
However, this term refers not only to art.
Movie
Flashback - what is it for the movie? In general, initially, thanks to the art of moving pictures, this term arose. It means flash back. That is, we are, as it were, sharply transported to the past - it is he who is shown to us on the screen.
It is difficult to explain the reception of flashback. What it is is easier to understand by example. Consider the well-known "Lost".
This series is completely built on them. Without flashbacks, nothing will be clear in Lost. They explain all those conflicts that occur on a mysterious and dangerous island. Flashback gives us the opportunity to better understand the motivations of the characters, the roots of their actions.
However, for the first time, full flashbacks were used in Citizen Kane. With their help, the director holds a strong and tough intrigue that will not let the viewer go until the end of the film. The constant transfer to the past here does not help us clarify the situation - it only more and more deeply tightens the knot of misunderstanding and gives the depth of the image, thanks to which this film is famous for.
Literature
Do writers use flashback? What can this give to works of literature? Most likely, for the first time this technique was applied there. Of course, people did not immediately come to a seemingly simple scheme. For example, you can’t meet him in folklore - flashback involves a very complex system of building a story. After all, first of all, it should be necessary.
If you recall from new examples, then the modern bestseller “Fifty Shades of Gray” is literally completely tied to them. Flashback on behalf of Christian Gray is the most important part of the story. He reveals to us his past. Flashback explains how this person became who he is. And it becomes clear where the passions and desires that hide inside him come from.
An example of the non-standard use of flashback reception is Hunter Thompson's book “Angels of Hell”. It actually consists entirely of them, since the central storyline could occupy two or three pages. But the main meaning of the work lies precisely in the memoirs of the journalist Thompson: about his life, traveling with dangerous bikers from the “Angels of Hell” motorcycle club.
Video games
In video games, just like in any work, flashback helps to reveal the characters' characters and carries a narrative form. However, they have completely different functions. Successfully used in video games receiving flashback. That this is so can be seen in the Assassin Creed series. The whole "trick" of the game is just in flashbacks that carry the main character into various historical eras. This is the basis of the gameplay essence. After all, it is this diversity that is the factor that forces people to acquire new games over and over again in order to plunge into an interesting world.
Flashbacks also torment the main character of another game series - Max Payne. Through them we understand all the bitterness of the loss of the protagonist, who only has left what to revenge on the killers of his wife and children. In addition, they acquire some terrible meaning, since the reality in them is mixed with the horrors of his imagination.
Psychology
However, not one art is alive with this word. There is another side to the issue, because flashback is also a psychological term. The second name for this effect is respawn.
Flash in psychology - a disorder that is primarily experienced by schizophrenia patients, is experiencing the same feeling that a person once encountered. It would seem that this is strange? But the patients transfer these sensations exactly with the feeling with which they once experienced the situation. Everything becomes identical: smells, sensations of cold and warmth, but at the same time without any reason.
The second side of the term applies to drug addicts. Most often, this applies to those who took psychedelic substances - because they are most susceptible to "visual attacks." The meaning of this phenomenon is that once a drug user is abruptly capturing the same effects that he experienced on himself. But now he is experiencing this in a completely sober state. And the lights that he saw when under LSD green, sharply begin to seem to him such.
Other
The authors did not disdain to use the word "flashback" in the names of their works. Most often, their main motive is an escape from the past.
The 1990 Flashback film is widely known. He talks about how the old hippies were taken for a crime that he committed twenty years ago. However, then the incredible happens - both the offender and the FBI agent who arrested him escapes. They do this in order to understand the past and understand how fair the punishment is. As you can see, the name “flashback” quite fits into the context of the film. Criticism reviews about the film were not the best.
Also now, in the period of returning to the old video games, you can again recall Flashback. Passing it took a long time because of the complexity. As, in principle, and any game of the Shadow era. The plot revolves around a government agent who suddenly found out that almost all world politicians have long been captured and replaced by aliens.
Conclusion
In a word, do not describe flashback. That this concept has far more than one meaning and fits into various interpretations, it becomes clear after the above examples. However, one thing is certain for sure - this term carries a hue of the past. The reception in an amazing way allows you to tell what happened in the past, but it is important for the present. This word refers to festivals, paintings, groups, games and books. Such widespread use is fully consistent with the originality of the reception, without which it is difficult to imagine modern cinema.