An Aesop: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': In the manga. It's subtle, though: compromise your dreams with what is best for everyone. {{spoiler|Roy compromised his dream for power by vowing to use it for others, and being patient about it. May gave up her quest to restore her clan to help save another country. She got both though. Scar compromised his quest for vengeance by just preventing it from happening again in the future. Ed gave up his alchemy, and didn't get his leg back. Al rejected his body because he couldn't fight with it, and when he got it back it was incredibly weak. The only person who didn't compromise was Father. He wanted out of his flask, and didn't balance it with morality, empathy, or just settling for anything less. And he got screwed}}.

* ''[[Franken Fran]]'': Though there are exceptions, the dominant Aesop to be learned is that death is not something to come back from, especially via science.

* The entire tenth episode of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' consists of each of the members of the Bebop giving An Aesop, which is [[Lampshaded]] by the use of caption cards reading 'lesson'. The entire concept gets more and more twisted as the episode goes on: Jet starts out with a straight Aesop about how hard work is the only thing that pays off in the end and those who trust in their luck get theirs eventually (after having lost his savings in an attempt to gamble with Faye). Faye follows up with a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] about how humans are always playing each other and trusting people is for fools (after it's revealed she was cheating). Ed delivers a [[Broken Aesop]] about how, [[Word Salad|if you see a stranger, you should follow him]] (after it turns out there's a stowaway poisonous creature on board that's attacking the crew). Finally, Spike finishes it off with the episode's ''real'' lesson... {{spoiler|[[Spoof Aesop|Don't leave food in the fridge]]. The poisonous creature [[It Came From the Fridge|had mutated from a lobster left in the ship's backup refrigerator too long]]}}.

* Despite being mostly comprised of Aespoic-moments, the 32nd episode of the original 1969 series of ''Himitsu no Akko-chan'' plays that straight towards the heroine. When the kind-hearted Akko-chan meets a new deaf kid at school, she hurriedly wishes her magic mirror to [[Be Careful What You Wish For|turn her into a deaf-mute version of herself]], enabling her to empathize better with her plea. Her magic mirror [[Literal Genie|takes her literally]], taking her speaking voice again too, and refusing to change her back on the premises that, needing a clearly worded wish to act, it can't understand or obey a deaf-mute mistress. Only when Akko-chan, distraught and terminally scared, is starting to resign to her fate, the mirror changes her back on its own accord, moved by her tears and pointing out how her owner has now learned that a disability is nothing to be wished for, and how her new friend was more brave and resourceful than she could think.

* The English dub of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' often ended with a "Sailor Says" segment, tacked on by the translators in order to sell the show for the Saturday-morning broadcast segment.

* ''[[Gunnm]]'' delivers an especially hard-hitting Aesop in volume five: Be a little considerate of people's feelings. Always treat others with respect, even if you think they are cowardly, selfish jerks. You may not like the result if you don't.

* ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]'' shows us that [[Just Like Us|teachers are human beings too]]. They have feelings and they deserve your respect. They do care about you and are willing to help you if you let them. There ''are'' bad teachers but they are the exception and not the rule.

== 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." }}

 

 

== Film ==

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

'''<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:

{{quote|'''Mr. Krabs:''' Mr. Squidward, front and center! I think we both know who deserves to wear that manager pin.

'''<nowiki>SpongeBob:</nowiki>''' Are you kidding? I was just going to say that your fly was down. Manager? This is the happiest day of my life! }}

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

{{quote|"I think we've all learned a few things in the past 90 minutes. We've learned that Irishmen have huge nipples. We've learned that film-critic intellectuals are a bunch of gaywads. And most of all, we've learned that creeping corporate influence over the news protects us from terrorism."}}

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

{{quote|Hamm: I guess crime doesn't pay.}}

* The [[Aesop]] in ''[[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 Brady Bunch]]'' has this in spades.

* Every episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'' ends with J.D. reciting the theme of the episode over a musical piece. Often, though not always, an Aesop.

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', ''The Two Doctors'' was an allegory about meat-eating, hunting and butchering, ending with the Doctor announcing to Peri that, "from now on it's a healthy vegetarian diet for both of us!" Writer Robert Holmes was a vegetarian.

** There are some Aesops about inner turmoil in "Vincent and the Doctor" from the Fifth Series. The episode explains that there are differences in how different people deal with depression or anxiety (the Eleventh Doctor is shown to be more resilient than Vincent Van Gogh). The Doctor also delivers a particularly touching Aesop at the end, when Amy discovers that their intervention failed to stop Van Gogh from killing himself: "The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant. And we definitely added to his pile of good things."

* ''[[Sister, Sister]]'' was full of these, ranging from the typical (such as stranger danger and the value of wise spending) to the more complex (such as Lisa dealing with her fear that she cannot compare to Ray's dead wife).

* [[Community/Recap/S1/E01 Pilot|The first episode of]] ''[[Community]]'' has Prof. Duncan attempting to impart one to Jeff about academic honesty. Jeff, however, feels strongly that community college is not the place to learn anything. Jeff's objection notwithstanding, many episodes end with speeches, tilted-head smiling people, happy music, and reconciliations.

* One episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' played with the notion of the Aesop: Mister Feeny assigns Corey, Topanga, and Shawn a seemingly impossible task. After trying and failing, the [[Genre Savvy]] kids come to the conclusion that Mister Feeney was giving them a [[Secret Test of Character]] to teach them a lesson about teamwork. Unfortunately they were wrong: Mister Feeney was actually trying to teach them a lesson about never giving up, and ''wants'' them to complete their seemingly-impossible task, and so he sends them back out again.

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' justifies this because a sizable chunk of the premise is Future!Ted lecturing his kids about his mistakes when he was young. However, they're frequently [[Spoof Aesop|spoof]], [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|family unfriendly]], [[Broken Aesop|broken]], [[Space Whale Aesop|space whale]] (i.e., "I won't bother telling you not to fight, but don't fight with Uncle Marshall. He's insane."), [[Lost Aesop|lost]], lampshaded [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing]], or otherwise humorously subverted, usually with Future Ted giving an aesop, but admitting that in real life, back when the events ''actually'' took place, he and his friends didn't learn their lesson right away. However, when one of the characters gives an aesop in the present, it's more often played straight.

== Theatre ==

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

{{quote|"I don't say I'm better than anybody else,

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

* Subverted in ''''[[Family Guy]]'': While Peter recovers in the hospital, Lois says, "I guess you learned an important lesson." Peter leans back smugly and says, "Nope," at which point the episode ends.

* ''[[The Proud Family]]'' had a tendency to overdo this at times, with some episodes being particularly Anvilicious(most notably the one about how [[Digital Piracy Is Evil]])

* On ''What It's Like Being Alone'', Aesops are usually provided by one-off characters that are on the verge of death. They then die, violently.

* ''[[Jem]]'' did this in practically any episode about the Starlight Girls—one of them would do something stupid (anything from stealing to drugs) and have to have An Aesop explained to them. A few featured other characters, such as the one where Roxy got screwed over again and again because she couldn't read.