An Aesop: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

''"Tut, tut, child!" said the Duchess. "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."''|'''[[Lewis Carroll]]''', ''[[Alice in Wonderland|Alices Adventures in Wonderland]]''}}

 

== Fan Fic ==

* This is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in [[Script Fic]] ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]'':

'''Calvin:''' "Eh, we gotta have a few of those every once in a while." }}

* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality (Fanfic)|Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]]'', there is [[Once Per Episode|at least one in most chapters]].

== Film ==

* Lampshaded in ''The [[SpongeBob SquarePants]] [[The Movie|Movie]]'', in the following dialog:

'''[[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Plankton]]:''' Very impressive. Now, back against the wall...<br />

'''<nowiki>SpongeBob:</nowiki>''' [on microphone] But that's okay! Because I did all the things they said a kid couldn't do! I went to Shell City, and I beat the cyclops, and I rode the [[Adam Westing|Hasselhoff]], and I brought the crown back! So, yes, I am a dork, and a goofball, and a wingnut, and a Knucklehead McSpazatron! But most of all, I'm... I'm... I'm... {{smallcaps|I'm a Goofy Goober!}} {{[[[The Power of Rock]] rock music starts}}] }}

** And later subverted in the end of the movie:

'''[[Perpetual Frowner|Squidward]]:''' I couldn't agree more, sir.<br />

[Crowd cheers]<br />

*** Which is funny, since Squidward [[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal|doesn't wear any pants]].

* Subverted in the Coen Brothers' dark spy comedy ''[[Burn After Reading]].''

'''FBI Chief:''' Neither do I. I guess we learned never to do that again. Even though I don't know what the hell we did. }}

* This trope is used and then averted in ''[[The Onion]]'' movie. Immediately after a pro-West, "violence is not the answer" speech by a former terrorist, the main character goes on to say:

* Health Education movies such as ''[[The Keg Party]]''.

* ''[[Toy Story]] 2''. The toys watch Al half-crying during an Al's Toy Barn commercial on TV after losing his Woody's Roundup dolls.

* The [[Aesop]] in ''[[Reefer Madness (Film)|Reefer Madness]]'' is this: if you smoke marijuana... sorry, "marihuana"... even once, you'll instantly become addicted and as a result you'll go crazy, become a sex-crazed lunatic, and murder your girlfriend in cold blood.

* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939). After Glinda asks Dorothy what she's learned, Dorothy gives one.

[and after Dorothy returns to Kansas] There's no place like home! }}

 

* Subverted in the poem "Twice Times" by [[A. A. Milne|AA Milne]] about two bears, one good and one bad who then, for no apparent reason, swapped places. The poem concludes "There may be a Moral, though some say not; I think there's a moral, though I don't know what."

* ''[[Goblin Market]]'' concludes with a very obvious aesop:

To strengthen whilst one stands. }}

* In [[The Trolls]] while little ones crop up here and there in Aunt Sally's stories, perhaps the biggest message is also, interestingly, the stealthiest one: be nice to your siblings.

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Subverted in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', where Calvin learns the wrong lesson, if he learned any at all.

** And after the Snow Goons arc

 

 

* [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]] were fond of presenting Aesops:

** In ''[[Oklahoma]]'', "The Farmer And The Cowman" ends up with Aunt Eller waving a gun at the feuding ensemble and making them repeat this lesson:

But I'll be damned if I ain't jist as good!" }}

** The doctor's speech at the graduation in ''[[Carousel]]''.

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' has one in "Sonic and the Black Knight". It ended with Sonic teaching Merlina how life simply works:

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' is all about [[Dark Is Not Evil|not judging people or things by their appearances]].

** Similarly ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|Wind Waker]]'' focuses on letting go of the past and starting anew.

** Kenny gives one of these speeches at the end of the [[Big Damn Movie]]. Because of [[The Unintelligible|his parka]], we'll never know what he learned.

** Cartman is sometimes opposed to the lesson at hand - and seems intent on disrupting the Aesop delivery.

 

* ''[[The Tick]]'' also ended most episodes with The Tick turning to Arthur and saying "Arthur, I think we've learned a valuable lesson today," and then expounding semi-incoherently.

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Futurama]]''. After Fry and Bender drag the Planet Express headquarters along on their joyride in the Planet Express ship, they exit the ship to find the rest of the Planet Express staff, battered and seriously pissed off, waiting for them. Attempting to divert inevitable trouble, Bender says, "And that's how we learned our lesson."

** From another episode:

* Lampshaded in ''[[Animaniacs]]'' (repeatedly) with their Wheel of Morality. "Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn."

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' had the episode "Deadly Force", in which Broadway finds Elisa's loaded gun and starts playing Cops 'n' Robbers. Elisa walks in, startles him, and she's shot in the arm, showing just how deadly guns can be. Wasn't even healed in the next episode, either. Too bad it turned into the [[Missing Episode]].

* ''[[Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids]]'' had a heavy-handed Aesop in every episode, driven home by a song from the Kids themselves. One example: "Dope is for dopes/Drugs are for dummies/And if you mess around with them/That kind of mess isn't funny."

* Subverted on ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'':

[["Everybody Laughs" Ending|(Everyone laughs)]] }}

* Lampshaded in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'': when Jazz tries to organize a plan, Danny tells her, with a bored expression on his face, that the plan is to go try and beat up the bad guy, get beaten up yourself, run around for a while trying to fix things, finally beat the bad guy, and go home having learned a lesson about how the world works. Whoopie. This is also a slight breaking of the fourth wall, as it's the basic layout of each show.