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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Writers, whatever else you do, resist the urge to put yourself into your story, because what we care about is your creation, and the last thing we want is to find we've been lured into a wonderful and instructive analogous world, only to find you've kidnapped us here to tell us to [[A Christmas Story|drink our Ovaltine]]."''
|[http://www.tor.com/index.php?option{{=}}com_content&view{{=}}blog&id{{=}}18499 Viewer reaction] to ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica (2004)]]''}}
All writers put something of themselves into their stories, but some of them go just that little bit too far. For them, the real point of writing is not to shape worlds or create characters, but to preach their ideological beliefs.
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[[Tropes Are Not Bad|This is not always a bad thing]]. For some books, the premise is simply a way of putting a political point across in an interesting and imaginative way. However, when the message come across as [[Glurge|forced]] or [[Black and White Morality|one sided]], it may prevent some readers from enjoying the book.
Note that this only applies when the entire universe and characters have been created to put forward the author's viewpoint. If an existing fictional universe or character has been altered to create a medium for a tract, then it's due to a [[Writer
'''Please do not use this page as an excuse to [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|complain about an author you don't like or a message you disagree with]].<ref>Especially since disagreeing with the message is hardly a requirement for this trope.</ref> Keep in mind that the minimal requirement for a work to qualify here is that the message has to be obvious and heavy handed
Contrast [[What Do You Mean
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Earth Maiden Arjuna]]'' starts out as a fast-paced mature [[Magical Girl]] series. Then it quickly veers into ''very'' heavy-handed ecological preaching. Tolerable, because the animation is freaking sweet, because Theresa is really [[Badass]] and because Juna's transformation is [[Rule of Cool|damn cool]], but the storyline is still [[Anvilicious]] to the point of being distracting, and full to the brim of ''very'' [[Did Not Do the Research|bad science]] about why [[Science Is Bad]].
* Another Shoji Kawamori piece, ''[[Macross Zero]]'', mixes spectacular mecha battles with the seemingly-opposite message that ''all'' warfare is inherently evil. It's set on an island that's a mostly-primitive Eden, inhabited by [[Noble Savage|innocents]]. The [[Magical Native American|shaman/priestess]] freaks out over the arrival of UN forces to defend the island, saying they're possessed by evil spirits that are prophesied to destroy everything. {{spoiler|For the first half, this is played as "silly superstitious witch doctor". But by the end, you realize that she's ''[[Cassandra Truth|absolutely right]]''. The island paradise gets tac-nuked into a wasteland, and only her [[Heroic Sacrifice]] keeps the entire world from being obliterated.}}
* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''. [[War Is Hell|War is bad, m'kay?]] But then, it IS based off of [[World War II]].
{{quote|
* [[Osamu Tezuka]] did this occasionally, but he usually managed to pull it off ''well''. For instance, in ''[[Black Jack]]'', Tezuka often criticizes the current state of the medical establishment, lent some weight by the fact that he was trained as a doctor before becoming a manga artist. It rarely feels heavy handed, though because of its wonderful characterization (Black Jack himself is a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] with a convoluted [[Backstory]]) and the title character's amazing demonstrations of surgical skill that go [[Beyond the Impossible]]. His science fiction stories, including ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]'', often discuss the dehumanizing effects of modern society technology, but counterpoint it by showing all the good that can come of modern technology. ''Karma'', the 4th (or 5th, depending on the localization) volume of the ''Phoenix'' series, is largely built around Buddhist themes, discussing Karma and reincarnation at length and lamenting the corruption of the Buddhist faith by political interests, but it is widely considered to be Tezuka's greatest masterpiece. The later ([[Author Existence Failure|and sadly, final]]) ''Phoenix'' story ''Sun'' does something similar with Shinto.
** Tezuka's science fiction book ''[[Apollo's Song]]'' did the same as ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]'', but touched on the nature of love and romance (not to mention Greek Mythology) as well.
** Some of his stories that focus on nature, like ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'', tend to have a [[Green Aesop]], but Tezuka tends to make it play back-burner to other aesops about family and sacrifice.
* ''[[Team Medical Dragon]]'' was written by Akira Nagai, a practicing doctor, and the manga basically centres around a maverick (but exceedingly skilled) cardiac surgeon and his team fighting against bureaucracy and corruption in the Japanese health services. It's particularly jarring when you realise that all the protagonists are incredibly good-looking compared to most of the antagonists, who are practically caricatures.
** The issue with the looks is somewhat taken care of in the live-action version, with the antagonists having a fair amount of attractive people, and Dr. Asada being the only one pointed out to be good-looking.
* ''[[Only Yesterday]]'' sometimes comes across as a tract about the importance of Japanese farming. It avoids being irritating through the sheer quality of the animation and
* Most of [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s movies have at least one segment that preaches the importance of respecting and preserving nature. That is, if the plot itself isn't already completely built around the [[Aesop]].
** Interestingly enough, Miyazaki often protests that he does not make films with the intent of sending messages, he just makes them to entertain and [[Money, Dear Boy|for profit]]. Fans have a hard time believing that, given that his [https://web.archive.org/web/20081206090310/http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html#3103_02 criticisms about capitalism and globalization] seemingly put a lie to that notion.
* Another [[Studio Ghibli]] movie, ''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]'' has a different [[Aesop]] altogether. Did you know that [[War Is Hell|war is bad?]] Well, this movie goes out of its way to show you . That is, if you can see that [[Tear Jerker|through all the tears]].
** The message is made even more effective by the fact that this is not a film about those fighting in the war, but the '''civilians''' who must suffer for the sake of it. The intended [[Aesop]] was "[[Honor Before Reason|being too stubborn in time of need]] is bad".
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has been (and still is) accused of being an anti-American Author Tract by director/co-creator Goro Taniguchi. When asked about the subject, [[Word of God|his response]] was "I know some authors have political messages in their works, but that wasn't my intention; I just wanted to tell an entertaining story". Later, when asked again, he responded [[Sarcasm Mode|"You mean America and Britannia are exactly alike? I had no idea!"]]
** Britannia's genesis was the ''British'' government moving to and taking control of the American continent; naturally, their imperialism resembled that of the British and various European empires, rather than American-style globalization.
** Granted, people not understanding this may be the result of a dub-ism; the English dub has some parallels between the Black Rebellion and the American Revolution, with the Brittanian Emperor saying "all men are not created equal" in direct reference to the Declaration of Independence, and the new nation Zero forms to fight Brittania is called "the United States of Japan".
* Having been inspired by its creator's battle with depression, ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' (particularly the [[Gainax Ending|ending]] - [[The Movie|both of them]]) contains numerous sequences containing in-depth discussions of the human condition and concludes with a lengthy expose on the thought process that leads the main character to overcome his own depression, go on living and {{spoiler|reject the [[Assimilation Plot]] he finds himself a part of}}. Whether this makes the series impassioned and sincere or pretentious and pedantic depends heavily on who you ask.
* [[Masashi Kishimoto]] really, ''really'' wants you to know that [[Naruto|revenge]] is bad, kids.
== Comic Books ==
* Comics are a generally popular form of media for both propaganda and "plain" Author Tracts, because illustrated stories can reach across linguistic boundaries.
* The works of [[Alan Moore]] frequently stray into Author Tract territory, most notably ''Promethea'', which was a 32-issue series explaining Moore's views on the nature of magic, and ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', which was very much a vehicle for his political views.
** The latter case is something of a subversion: Moore has stated that he wanted to let the reader decide for themselves whether V is a noble freedom fighter or a psychotic terrorist, and portrays V's antagonist, a leader of a fascist party, as sympathetic. Unfortunately, it really doesn't help that most copies of ''V'''s trade paperback come frontloaded with Moore's 80s introduction, where he quite thoroughly rails on the then-Conservative government in England.
{{quote|
* Bill Willingham's ''[[Fables]]'' definitely counts, considering the main characters having nothing but praise for Israel, [[Good Girls Avoid Abortion|condemnation of abortion]], [[Unfortunate Implications]] in the portrayals of some Middle-Eastern characters, as well as {{spoiler|[[Unfortunate Implications|Snow White going from deputy mayor to stay-at-home mother/housewife]] [[Law of Inverse Fertility|just because Bigby got her pregnant]]}}.
* [[Steve Ditko]]'s comics, which attempted to mix superheroic action of a street-level variety with [[Aesop]]s on various principles derived from [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[Objectivism]].
* [[Reginald Hudlin]]. His primary messages in ''[[Black Panther]]'': Africans (and thus African-Americans) are good and genetically superior, while white people are inferior and evil.
* Lest we forget, [[Jack Chick]] is famous for creating his "[[Exactly What It Says
** "[http://www.fredvanlente.com/cthulhutract/pages/index.html Why We're Here]" is a parody tract in the style of Jack Chick's works, but instead of being based on Christianity, follows the conversion of someone to [[
** [
** [http://cissie-king.livejournal.com/13838.html "Darkseid IS!"]
** One [[Chick Tracts]] explains where the idea came from—Communist China found that Western children loved reading comics, so they decided that easy-to-understand comics would be an excellent medium with which to indoctrinate the people. Even though the comics in question are mostly Japanese.
** An alternate, and equally apocryphal origin story for Chick tracts, suggests that they were inspired by "Tijuana bibles"—similarly pocket-size, staple bound amateur comics of the '30s and '40s, which featured [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|Lawyer-Unfriendly Cameos]] of [[Rule 34|licensed characters engaging in pornographic acts]].
* ''[[The Invisibles]]'' was basically created as a way for [[Grant Morrison]] to explain his experiences with extraterrestrial contact and magic.
* [[Frank Miller]] has always been a little on the board about his politics in his writings, though they never have messed with a good story. However, the years have passed, and his works and just less and less stories and more and more just characters fighting and talking about HIS views on politics, specifically, HIS preferences on politics. And, with his new title, ''[[Holy Terror]]''... lets just say that Islam, the entire Islam, being terrorists or little children, won't be saved.
* Most of [[Warren Ellis]]'s comics seem to have characters declaring their sociopolitical views, which always are along the same lines, and close to the author's own opinions. Warren has specifically stated that ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' is basically him venting about his various opinions on politics and consumerism, with the main character being a sort of author surrogate. This is particularly notable in the issue where Spider Jerusalem takes on religion, which doesn't even end
** That said, ''
** Many of the characters close to Spider also constantly complain about what a [[Jerkass|horrible and unpleasant person]] he is, frequently abusing and taking advantage of him when he's blitzed on whatever drugs he's managed to come up with. At one point, one of the characters closest to him gets sick of his crap and leaves, but later returns and comments that the worst part of working with such a [[Magnificent Bastard|bastard]] is that he's the good guy, and actually making a difference.
* [[Garth Ennis]] is fond of
* One of the reasons [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|William Moulton Marston]] created [[Wonder Woman]] was to convince everyone to come under 'loving submission' to a world matriarchy. Oh, and [[Author Appeal|bondage is highly enjoyable]].
* Comically subverted by [[
* Dave Sim's ''[[Cerebus]]'' eventually came to be dominated by Sim's viewpoints on the evils of feminism and his rather unusual take on the Abrahamic religions. An entire story arc was dominated by the title character reinterpreting pretty much the entire Torah.
* David Mack's ''[[Kabuki]]'' started out as action-adventure (though already with some genre savviness and self-reflexivity) and eventually became a meditation on producing independent art (turning the self-reflexivity and self-reference up to 11).
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* ''[[Sky Doll]]'' by Barbara Canepa and Alessandro Barbucci often veers into this territory, which the overall story could be interpreted as an author tract against all religion in general.
* [[Pat Mills]] was very fond of writing about the evils of Christianity and the glories of Neopaganism in the 80s; ''Sláine'' and ''[[ABC Warriors]]'' were particularly prone to simply becoming mouthpieces for his views on religion. However, he's gotten better about it.
* "The Truth for Youth" by [[Tim Todd]] are comics done in Japanese style artwork. They're like Chick Tracts, [[Damned By Faint Praise|but a bit more sane]]. It's pretty odd to read [[Animesque|Japanese-style]] characters talking about the evils of porn... and then there's [[Did Not Do the Research|this clunker of a statement about evolution]]:
{{quote|'''Rashad:''' Did you know that evolution is basically a racist concept? Some evolutionists still teach that white people evolved from "negroes" who evolved from apes- '''meaning "[[Goal-Oriented Evolution|white people are more evolved]]!"'''}}
* Several times in [[Wilhelm Busch]]'s stories, with the best example possibly being "Pater Filucius". Gottlieb Michael (the good guy) is generally seen as a stand-in for the good German people, whom the evil Catholic church wants to harm.
** ''Pater Filucius'' was Busch's contribution to the ''Kulturkampf'', the period of intense conflict between Bismarck's government (supported by the Liberals) on one hand and the Catholic Church and its political arm, the Centre Party after the first Vatican Council declared the Pope to be infallible. Most characters in it are allegorical and have significant names. The German people had long been personified as ''der deutsche Michel'' ("German Mike"), rather like the British one was represented by John Bull, because St. Michael was Germany's patron saint. Father Filucius (from the French ''filou'', "crook") is a Jesuit, Gottlieb Michael's two maiden aunts Petrine and Pauline stand for the established Catholic and Protestant churches (the Pope tracing his authority to St. Peter, while Protestants place greater emphasis on the teachings of St. Paul. In the end, Gottlieb marries Angelica, signifying Wilhelm Busch recommending an "Anglican" solution to the centuries-old Catholic-Protestant divide in Germany.
* [[
== Fan Works ==
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'' is, in part, its author's attempt to teach lessons in rational thinking through the medium of ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' fanfiction.
* Similar to and inspired by the above, ''[[Luminosity]]'' is designed to explain [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|luminosity]]—i.e., self-awareness.
* ''Harry Potter Turns to the Lord'' is a fanfiction about a [[Gary Stu]] teaching Harry Potter that witchcraft is evil.
* In ''[[Chrono Trigger Crimson Echoes]]'', {{spoiler|King Zeal [[What the Hell, Hero?|calling out Crono and the party]] near the end}} could qualify as this, given the context.
* Pretty much any time any fanfiction creates a [[Designated Villain]] based on the author's personal experiences/views/current events, it's getting into an author's tract. It can be excused in some cases, if it's related to the plot, but if it comes [[Ass Pull|out of the blue]] it looks like a giant lecture in the middle of an otherwise unrelated story.
== Film ==
* ''[[An American Carol]]'' was David Zucker's stab at making a conservative comedy film, featuring a [[Strawman Political|straw-stuffed]] [[Michael Moore]] parody getting the shit beat out of him by Patton.
* The propaganda film ''[[Triumph of the Will]]'' was a tract for the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]]. After [[World War II]], director Leni Riefenstahl repeatedly insisted that she was not herself a true believing Nazi.
* Most people assume ''[[Birth of a Nation]]'', which portrays the KKK as heroic saviors, was a tract by director D. W. Griffith. In fact, it's an adaptation of a then-popular novel by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr, which was itself a racist author tract. Being the son of a Confederate Army colonel, Griffith may have supported the tract, but evidence isn't exactly handy. Most likely, Griffith was interested in the story's [[Money, Dear Boy|profit potential]]. In response to accusations of racism, Griffith promptly filmed ''Intolerance'', which criticized racism and discrimination. [[Irony|And bombed.]]
* ''[[Glen or Glenda]]'' is essentially Ed Wood's apology for crossdressers like himself; he even played the crossdressing title character under a pseudonym.
* [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' in which Chaplin urges the viewers to resist the Nazis.
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* Tom Laughlin's ''Billy Jack'' was slowly overshadowed/overwhelmed by Laughlin's political views. Many a [[The War On Straw|war is waged on Straw]], specially if it's anyone on the opposite end of Laughlin's political views.
* Richard Linklater's film version of the non-fiction book ''Fast Food Nation'' went from an expose of the practices of the fast food restaurant industry to a two-hour rant about why people shouldn't eat meat. Despite becoming an [[In Name Only]] adaptation of the book, author Eric Schlosser (who is not a vegetarian) still endorsed the final product.
* Sherwood Pictures makes films (such as ''[[Facing the Giants]]'' and ''[[Courageous]]'') that are specifically intended to teach about [[As the Good Book Says...|Christian morality]]. This makes sense, as they're produced and financed by a Baptist church.
* [[Steven Seagal]]'s ''[[On Deadly Ground]]'' caps off its green-friendly agenda with Seagal ''literally'' lecturing the audience on environmental problems and getting a round of applause.
== Literature ==
* ''The Human Stain'' by ''[[Philip Roth]]'' "Oh how difficult it is to be a rich white man in Academia! No one recognizes your true genius! Surrounded by PC nuts who think you're being racist for ENTIRELY innocuous comments and those women pretending to be smart like men with their twittering and their sensitivity... but they all really just want in your pants." The whole book is a beautifully written whine about how he wishes people would stop calling him a sexist racist jerk who's condescending and mean to everyone.
* ''[[Charlie and
* [[
* The ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series by [[Terry Goodkind]] is often accused by detractors of being nothing more than Objectivist propaganda, particularly the later books. These themes only begin to crop up later in the series: ''Faith of the Fallen'' is two-fifths desperate battles and [[Angst]], and three-fifths [[Anvilicious|clangingly obvious]] pro-[[
* ''[[Orson Scott
** In truth, [[Orson Scott Card]] does this in a lot of his novels, but usually expounding on religion and philosophy instead of politics. He often introduces characters who spend a good deal of time discussing and speculating on the nature of God. Examples include Sister Carlotta in the ''[[Ender's Game
*** A more blatant example: Towards the end, the ''Ender's Shadow'' series also features numerous lectures from widely disparate characters on how the only way to really be a part of the human race is to have babies, culminating in one Battle-school grad stopping her troops in the middle of a battle and telling them to go home and procreate.
* [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' series. After [[Subtext|bubbling under the surface]] for the first third of the trilogy, the final volume explodes into a massive [[Take That]] against organized religion. Part of Pullman's intention with this series was to set up an atheist response to the fantasy novels of Christian writer C.S. Lewis, whom Pullman loathes.
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** C. S. Lewis did write ''deliberate'' Author Tracts, however:
*** ''[[The Great Divorce]],'' an allegory.
*** ''Pilgrim's Regress,'' which is [[So Bad
*** ''[[The Screwtape Letters]].'' In contrast to ''Pilgrim's Regress'', this is actually well-written, but since he deliberately used a [[Villain Protagonist]], it's better as literature than as a tract. This is especially true due to Lewis noting in the introduction that, being a demon, Screwtape is an [[Unreliable Narrator]].
* Another notable Narnian example comes at the end of ''[[The Silver Chair]]'', where the Lady of the Green Kirtle is set up as a [[Hollywood Atheist]] of the "completely evil" variety and Lewis puts into her mouth some deliberately skewed philosophical arguments against the existence of Aslan. (Particularly bad because the Green Lady actually ''knows'' that Aslan exists, and is just straight-up lying.)
** Mostly an example of the [[Flat Earth Atheist]] or an outright portrayal of the Devil as described by fundamentalist Christians, because she knows that Aslan exists, she is just trying to convince others he doesn't.
* The ''[[Left Behind]]'' series of religious novels are overtly based on the authors' premillennial dispensationalist views on the Rapture. Only Christians with their very specific beliefs are shown to be worthy of going to heaven. Like any didactic religious story, the plot is clearly just a vessel to convert the readers or reinforce their already sympathetic views. Helpfully, the two main characters are both [[Mary Sue
** You know you're dealing with an
* The elves of the ''[[Inheritance Cycle
* A large part of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in
** All of Robert A. Heinlein's heroes have the same views as he does.{{verify}} Some of his early writing was made solely for the purpose of
*** ''[[Starship Troopers (
*** Or vice-versa - ''Stranger'' was well-liked by the hippie movement, for example, while they certainly weren't fans of ''[[Starship Troopers (
*** ''[[Starship Troopers (
*** Weirdly, given that it suffers from such a severe dose of
*** Heinlein is an unusual author tractist in that his political opinions and issue of choice evolved over time. While he never stopped writing author tracts, has later tracts effectively contradict his middle tracts, which in turn contradict his earlier tracts.
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty
** Orwell's ''[[Animal Farm]]'' is also a thinly veiled satire of the Russian Revolution, and more generally of the nigh-universal cycle of revolution and corruption.
*** Animal Farm can also come off as a pro-Trotskyist
* ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' is a mix of this with [[Author Appeal]], mixing spoofs of works the author either really likes or really dislikes with an elaborate commentary and hypothesis on evangelical Lutheran theology, conservative politics, and how the two both reinforce and seek to balance each other. Season 3 devolves into numerous levels of [[Take That]] on groups the author finds fault with: the Kinsey Institute, Planned Parenthood, GLAAD, ecoterrorists, activist judges, and other political left-wing [[Acceptable Targets]].
** While it doesn't shy away from criticizing Islam or Islamic terrorists, the series is surprisingly soft towards non-militant Muslim individuals in general, even allowing a group of proto-Muslims to do something heroic in one flashback episode. {{spoiler|Although the Drismabons are still depicted as destroying the Kaaba in one episode, [[Crosses the Line Twice|then laughing about it]].}}
** The series even goes so far as to show the economics of personal and sexual lifestyles, and societal economic consequences of subjective thinking. So really, there's no hot-button issue the series won't touch.
* [[L. Ron Hubbard]] and his final novels, ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'' and the 10-volume ''Mission Earth''. In ''Battlefield Earth'' psychiatry is what caused the evil space overlords to turn from their generally happy live-and-let-live prior existence, into amoral [[Planet Looters]] who regularly commit planetary genocide just so nobody will get in the way of their mining operations. Psychiatry is also the big-bad in ''Mission Earth'', to the extent that ''every single antagonist'' is either a supporting the profession or a practitioner or exporting it off-world or using it to take over the world. It doesn't help that almost every character is a [[Strawman Political]].
** Let's not forget the evil Psychlos. This isn't a play on 'psycho'--it's a reference to ''psychologists'', who are considered evil in Scientology doctrine.
** His earlier work ''Masters of Sleep'' promotes Dianetics and features as a villain a mad psychiatrist, Doctor Dyhard, who persists in rejecting Dianetics after all his abler colleagues have accepted it, and believes in prefrontal lobotomies for everyone.
** Other common targets for Hubbard's ire include journalists, federal investigators, bankers, elected officials, policemen, doctors, college professors, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and modern art]].
* [[Michael Crichton]]. ''[[State of Fear]]''. In fact, many of his books: starting with ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', and going on from there.
** And in ''[[Next]]'', he used a page in the book as a tract against... someone who wrote an article against Crichton's stance on Global Warming. How did he portray someone who dared disagree with him? As a pedophile with a tiny penis who raped infants, of course! The character [[What Happened to
* [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]] hoped to convey a new way to understand religion through exemplifying the themes of guilt and free will in writing ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]''. This can be seen in what many critics call the pivotal chapters of the book, which include the parable called [
** ''[[Notes From Underground]]'' is arguably an Author Tract; it highlights the societal chaos brought about by the then fashionable, and highly depressing, trend towards rational reductivism (often referred to as nihilism).
* ''[[War and Peace]]'' was the means by which Leo Tolstoy wanted to share his view of history and historical forces. No no, the title doesn't give it away.
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*** By itself, the grandmother's pondering could also be [[Unreliable Narrator|first-person perspective]], since there are real people who think like that, some of whom are Florida grandmothers. Suffice to say that it isn't at all by itself.
** He wrote ''Ghost'' as this deliberately. It was a horrible wank-fest that he just had to get out of his head and shove it in a drawer. When fans heard about it they asked for it and loved it, and it got published, much to his chagrin. To give you an idea, the main character pursues kidnapper terrorists to the Middle East, where he kills them all, coaches a group of naked coeds through a siege (while renaming them, because he can't be bothered to learn their names), kills Bin Laden and mails his head to the President in a bucket, buys a yacht with the reward money, has kinky bondage sex with some of the coeds and converts them to Republicanism. In the ''[[Up to Eleven|in the first third of the book]]''.
* ''The Land of Mist'' by Sir [[
* Matthew Dickens spends the last hundred pages of the book ''[[Magnus]]'' telling the reader about his personal views on religious doctrines, evolution, theology, [[Superman Returns]], etc.
* This trope was [[
* [[Piers Anthony]] does these occasionally. One story he wrote was basically a [[Take That]] explaining why the sci-fi publishing business was worthless (Anthony having struggled against it for quite some time before learning the tricks of the trade). One supposes that subjectivity enters in over where the line is drawn between
* The Arthur Hailey novel ''The Moneychangers'' has a recurring character to filibuster about how Gold is Good. Given that he's a pundit with his own popular newsletter, and is married to one of the secondary characters, and the book is about banking, it kinda makes sense. Then, after the 'real' ending, the US establishes a gold-backed dollar, and we are treated to the full text of one of said pundit's newsletters. Guess what it's about? The book ends with the lead putting the newsletter down and reflecting how wise said pundit is.
** This makes even less sense in ''Overload'', a novel about a ''power company'', when the President establishes a gold-backed dollar. The protagonist, an power company spokesman, promptly comes up with a perfect comment about the dangers of America's dependence on foreign oil, as requested by the reporter who presented the story to him so she could get a soundbyte. [[Kavorka Man|Then she sleeps with him]].
** Hailey's novels in general often go into
* Much of [[Sheri S. Tepper]]'s work reads as thinly disguised, feminist utopianism; particularly [[The Gate to
* Petrarch's [[Author Existence Failure|unpublished final work]], a poem on Scipio Africanus, was full of long [[Author Filibuster
* Steven Erikson's ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' has always been filled with [[Contemplate Our Navels|navel-gazing philosophy]] (usually of the [[
** The parts of ''Toll the Hounds'' where the readers seem to be directly addressed are actually told by Kruppe (who, as we know since the very first book, just loves the sound of his own voice).
* Even [[Edgar Allan Poe]] wasn't immune to this, though to either his credit or his fault, he restricted it to philosophy--''The Imp of the Perverse'' is entirely about his idea of a previously uncredited motivating force behind people's actions.
* [[
* ''King John of Canada'' by Scott Gardiner, although nominally a political satire, in reality consists of one [[Author Filibuster]] after another against Natives, Quebec Separatists, environmental activists, Saudi Royals, the Asper family, American-style conservatives...in short, everyone that the author doesn't like, all stuck together by a paper-thin plot and shallow characters. Even for someone who agrees with most of his points, it's painful to read.
* ''[[
** The Order also inspired a real life terrorist organization of the same name that is responsible for numerous deaths.
*** And to which McVeigh may have had ties, according to Mark Juergensmeyer, author of ''Terror in the Mind of God'' - a book about religious terrorism.
* 99% of everything that [[John Milton]] wrote (including, tautologically, his political tracts).
* [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''[[Jack Ryan
* Norman Spinrad's ''[[
** Of course, Spinrad's tract is one of the few actually capable of actually proving its point, since it is about ''fiction'', rather than the real world. His point is "many if not most pulp SF and [[Heroic Fantasy]] stories are characterized by vaguely Nazi/Fascist [[Broken Aesop
* Ernest Callenbach's ''[[Ecotopia]]'', a depiction of an environmentalist utopia.
* A great deal of [[Meg Cabot]]'s books, especially her YA novels. It was especially apparent in ''Ready Or Not'', where Ms. Cabot literally stopped the narrative to rant against the abstinence movement. Her other books contain some amounts of similar commentary.
* ''[[The Jungle]]'' by Upton Sinclair is perhaps one of the most compelling examples we have of an author tract, or rather two
** These were not separate goals, but Sinclair couldn't control readers' reactions. After America panicked about food safety and ignored the plight of the workers he said, "I aimed for their hearts and hit them in their stomachs."
* ''[[
* Joanna Russ's sci fi novel ''The Female Man'' is partly about [[Alternate Universe]] versions of the same woman meeting up and getting to know each others' cultures,<ref>one is from the world as we know it, one is from a world where [[The Great Depression]] never ended, one is a warrior from a world where men and women are on opposite sides of a war, and the last one is a utopia where men were wiped out by a vaguely defined 'plague' in the distant past</ref>
* Gustav Meyrink started out with a fairly decent, atmospheric novel, ''The Golem''. The author's occultist views and rampant antisemitism were obvious, but still... then came ''The Green Face'', and it was an
* ''[[Uncle
* ''Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded'' by Samuel Richardson was a very popular didactic novel to teach young women the importance of feminine virtues, including piety, domesticity, and most importantly chastity. The main character is basically a [[Mary Sue]] of the feminine ideal who repeatedly asserts her virtue against the advances of a rakish suitor.
** Even at the time the book was published, some were disgusted by the classification of "virtue" as "virginity". One author wrote a parody, ''Shamela'', that ridiculed the concept by having long conversations over the heroine's "vartue", pointing out just how meaningless the word "virtue" is when used in the original.
* Anna Sewell's ''[[Black Beauty]]'' was originally written as an
* ''[[Only the Super Rich Can Save Us]]'' by Ralph Nader. Yes, ''that'' Ralph Nader. Although- consumer advocate that he is- he never pretends that the book is anything other than 'how everything could be so much better if a few rich people got together and implemented my program.'
* Eugen Richter's ''Pictures of the Socialistic Future'', which has the [[Strawman Political]] as the viewpoint character who celebrates Germany's slide into Stalinist Communism and saves the [[Author Avatar]] for the very end. Interestingly, it was published in 1891 and managed to predict much of the [[Crapsack World]] the Soviet bloc would become.
* [[Kurt Vonnegut]] does this a lot. ''[[
* The ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' novels are one big [[Green Aesop]] after book three.
* ''[[
* ''Noir'' by K.W. Jeter is a [[
* The [[Jakub Wedrowycz]] stories are written by a conservative author, and it shows sometimes; in one of the stories, the bad guys are radical left-wing ecologists, and in another the heroes chase away an European Union official.
* In ''[[Does My Head Look Big in This]]?'' by Randa Abdel-Fattah, about a Muslim girl living in Australia who decides to wear a hijab regularly, this occurs a lot. The main character often has speeches about the fact that non-Muslims should just see it as a piece of cloth and not as her whole personality. While this is a worthwhile message, this is expressed through contrived situations.
* ''[[
* "August" by Bernard Beckett is a philosophic idea about free will (or the lack of) with a two main characters and storyline plastered on top.
* Apparently, in ''[[The Nutcracker
* ''[[
* ''[[
* [[John Grisham]]'s books often feature this trope, targeting big business and/or conservative views. ''The Confession'' is an egregious example: the book attacks the death penalty by constructing a miscarriage of justice where the pro-death penalty side are all grossly negligent and unlikeable, in contrast to the anti-death penalty side. To top it off, once the message is thoroughly beaten through you, Grisham decides to dedicate a few pages to having a character rail against the death penalty.
* Self-proclaimed libertarian PJ O'Rourke's ''Don't Vote - It Just Encourages The Bastards'' is a bit hammery with its fundamental message of "All politicians suck, but left-wing ones suck worse than right-wing ones".
* G. P. Taylor's book ''[[Shadowmancer]]'' is a heavy-handed attempt to get the reader to convert to Christianity. It's filled with [[Hollywood Atheist
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sometimes has this happening, most likely because the host differs from week to week. Christina Aguilera hosted in the midst of her ''Dirrty'' phase, and about three-quarters of the sketches where she played a central role (either as herself or someone else) had her character lecturing the others on how she chose to express herself as a woman. Some sketches in this style were [[Anvilicious]], others were [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|anvilicious but got the point across with a good punchline]].
* ''[[The West Wing]]'' varied a lot over time - the writing staff was mostly Republican in later seasons, leading to things like Arnold Vinick being the better candidate in the Season 7 election, to the point where {{spoiler|he would have won had actor John Spencer not died, forcing a last-minute rewrite}}.
* Sorkin's follow-up, ''[[Studio 60
* ''[[MacGyver]]'' pretty much turned into a show protesting societal wrongs after a couple seasons. The most glaring was probably the one that opened with a warning about a graphic portrayal of a de-horned rhinoceros, then spent about half its running time explaining the poaching in Africa and ended with Richard Dean Anderson as himself narrating about what can be done about it. [[Very Special Episode]], indeed.
* ''[[Boston Legal]]'' frequently involved the writers concocting a storyline that would allow James Spader to sue and deliver increasingly lengthy closing arguments. Frequently [[Better Than a Bare Bulb|lampshaded]].
** ''Harry'sLaw'' seems to be another David E. Kelley example, utilizing the characters of Harry and Thomas Jefferson as soap box preachers in court room scenes.
* [[Russell T. Davies]] is a mild case, for sufficiently flexible values of 'mild'. While he does tend to harp on about homosexuality and atheism a lot, he rarely cops out.
* [[Joss Whedon]] touches on his existentialist(-ish) views in the the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode ''Objects In Space'', through Jubal Early. Joss goes into much deeper detail in the episode commentary.
* Speaking of things produced by Joss... "Smashed" and "Wrecked" from Season 6 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' felt to some a lot like a great big 'just say NO to drugs' thing. ''Especially'' "Wrecked", which was written by Marti Noxon.
** Season four's "Beer Bad" is not exactly pro-boozing either. It was written specifically to get reward money being offered to shows that dealt with the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse. This failed because the episode failed to deal with alcohol consumption realistically, instead having a magical potion in the beer turn drinkers into cavemen.
* An [[In
* ''[[
** He later expanded in his blog that he was in fact just mocking ship to ship combat and not shipping itself.
* ''[[
* ''[[Penn
* Gene Roddenberry, the creator of ''[[
* Is it coincidence that the soapboxing quotient on ''[[Quincy]]'' increased as [[Jack Klugman]] got more script control? Er... no.
== Music ==
* The album ''Firestorm'' by [[Filk Song|filk]] musician Leslie Fish is intended as a set of instructions for surviving after a nuclear war. Many of her other songs are author tracts on the subjects of religion, anarchism, and civil liberties.
* System of a Down lost a lot of their fandom after their concerts became political talk-downs instead of politically charged ''music''.
* [[Rush]]'s [[Rock Opera]] ''2112'' is essentially a hard-rock adaptation of [[
** Not for nothing is the track "2112" known as 'the best Objectivist novel ever written'.
** Their much later album, ''Roll the Bones'', particularly the title track, can be seen as an
* In the 2000s, it has become chic to produce remixes of existing songs (protest songs in particular) containing soundbytes from the creator's political candidate of choice. This editor recalls hearing a version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" mashed up with a John Kerry speech in 2004, and 2008 has seen a will.i.am-produced hip-hop remix of several [[Barack Obama]] speeches.
** [[Auto Tune the News]] has plenty of political moments.
* "Long Leather Coat" by Paul McCartney, issued in 1993. If you are not in animal-lib, you will get chills listening to this.
* Several of John Lennon's works from '72 and '73. "Woman Is the Nigger of the World." There is even the Nutopian National Anthem
* Much of [[Green Day]]'s ''[[American Idiot]]'' album contains constant [[Take That
* ''Diary of an Unborn Child'' is an anti-abortion
** Not to mention that in trying to be strawmannishly [[Anvilicious]], the creator portrays the mother as literally quaking in fear at the very concept of her child, implying that she hates it and despises it. Of course, if your unborn fetus was chirping at you about every stage of its development in a Chipmunk-esque voice, it might scare you, too.
** There's also the fact that the stages of development are completely inaccurate. [[Did Not Do the Research]] indeed.
* Subverted by [[
{{quote|
** Likewise, [[Elvis Presley]] is known for his comment to a reporter who asked for his opinion on the Vietnam War; The King politely replied with "Ma'am, I'm just an entertainer," and he ''left it at that''.
* Neal Morse left his Prog Rock band [[Spock's Beard]] after becoming a Christian. His ''Testimony'' album is pretty much the story of his conversion, although he tends not to be didactic and simply calls it "my story."
* Early [[Chicago (
* [[Toby Keith]]'s early albums were a mix of fun or melancholy country tunes, of above-average quality. For a while, they are mostly raucous instructions on blind patriotism, bible-thumping and how he's better than everyone.
** Possibly subverted, in that he's a registered Democrat who has said that he personally never really supported the politics of going to war in Iraq, that he's in favor of timelines for troop removal in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and has been generally supportive of Barack Obama's campaign and administration. And then subverted again in that, "American Ride" aside, he seems to be largely reverting to his 1990s sound.
* Just about all the music of Canadian far-left band Propaghandi is like this, although it's gotten to the point where they spend so much time at their concerts ranting to the audience instead of actually playing music, that their fans have been known to yell at them to shut up and play.
* [[Deconstructive Parody|Parodied with a hint of deconstruction]] by [[Tenacious D]] in the song "City Hall", where the duo take over the world - first, they legalise pot, then they try to reduce pollution with an absurd and impractical tube system, then they start to lose steam, showing that rock stars aren't really the type of people who you should take political advice from. After they've settled down, the band tries to kill each other - and succeeds.
* Most of the work of [[
* While normally [[Bob Dylan]] puts enough subtlety in his protest songs that you could naively assume they were made purely for the artistic merit, he didn't even try with "Neighborhood Bully".
** His 1964 song "Ballad in Plain D" is a fairly straightforward rant about the end of his relationship with Suze Rotolo (the woman with him on the cover of ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan''), blaming her 'parasite sister' for breaking them up.
* [[Ministry]] did an entire
* A Perfect Circle's album ''Emotive'', which could probably be renamed 'take this album to an anti-war protest.'
* Many thrash metal bands moved in this direction during classic metal's [[Gotterdammerung]] between 1988 and 1991, trading sex and violence for left-wing politics and anti-war messages, and beer-fueled fury for punkish societal indignation. The lyrical style became derisively known as 'CNN thrash' by some fans, although some classics did arise out of this. [[
* Not the album specifically, but the music video ''Interstella5555'' is basically a gigantic middle finger to the celebrity system and the corporate world's exploitation of artists, which fits [[
* Nerina Pallot's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKTCScoUFWk Everybody's Gone to War]" was even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] on the radio, with DJs saying she had a slight problem with Iraq.
* [[
* [[Dixie Chicks]] did this so much in 'Not Ready To Make Nice.' They basically come to terms with their now-dwindling fan-base (due to a disdainful comment by lead singer Natalie Maines after President Bush was re-elected). They even recognize the death threats they received on their tour that year.
* [[Stan Rogers]] sang unabashedly about many social issues, but really only dabbled tractfully into politics by taking on the subject of [[The Troubles]] with his song "House of Orange" - this despite being Canadian, not Irish. The song's still good, despite the occasional heavy-handedness of the lyric:
{{quote|
* [[Woody Guthrie]] [
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' (also the animated TV show version). Often expresses the feelings of Aaron McGruder on race, entertainment, religion, and politics. Be warned however, that some of that is also just Huey being Huey. This is subverted, however, by Huey being the character that often voices McGruder's beliefs, making it difficult to distinguish what the character thinks, and what the author thinks. Michael Caesar's role provides a bit of realism or [[Lampshade Hanging]] to make the tract less Anvilicious or provide a more temperate view.
* Bill Watterson admitted that he wrote a lot of his troubles with the syndicate into ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', as well as his opinions on comics, film, TV, commercial and other industries, humans' role in nature, art, and general philosophy. Fortunately, he was a good enough author to not let it get in the way of characterization or humour.
* ''[[Doonesbury]]'' is really just Gary Trudeau telling people what he thinks about politics day-in and day-out, with occasional asides for other things. In its later years, however, the comic has become as much about exploring the gigantic cast of characters' lives as it has about politics. In the beginning it focused almost entirely on humor about the college life of the (''much'' smaller cast of) main characters.
* ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]'' started out as an attempt at a standard, character-driven comic, but quickly devolved into a platform for the author to state his conservative opinions on various current events. More often than not, Mallard acts as an [[Author Avatar]] speaking directly to the reader.
* ''[[Prickly City]]'' was sold to syndicates as [[A Boy and His X|"a girl and her coyote buddy"]] but turned into a conservative soapbox even faster than ''Mallard Fillmore.''
* After its creator's conversion to born-again Christianity, ''[[BC]]'' became notorious for its pro-Christian sermonizing, including one infamous Easter strip showing a menorah transforming into a cross ([[Word of God]] (ahem) was that this was merely his way of expressing a new religion coming into its own). Which may seem weird given the apparent setting, but there was a story in around 2000 or so that puts forth the idea that the setting was not prehistoric but rather post-Rapture.
** With Hart's grandson, Mason Mastroianni, in the writer's seat, the preachiness has been dropped and the strip has returned to gag-a-day format. There was a strip ("Hey, I found this paper from 2004...") that implies ''B.C.'' merely takes place [[After the End]].
== Recorded and Stand Up Comedy ==
* Dara Ó Briain has been known to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMvMb90hem8 rant about science] in a very entertaining manner.
* Bill Hicks' comedy routines were pretty much nothing but this trope. He liked challenging mainstream beliefs on society, religion, politics and pop culture, often in a deliberately controversial way.
* [[George Carlin]]'s later concerts have tended to include at least one section that comes across as not so much comedy as a rant to the effect that "the very concept of religion, and in particular Christianity, is inherently illogical and overbureaucratic."
** Overall George Carlin's career can be summed up as starting out as "guy telling obscene jokes with a lot of profanity with witty observations sprinkled throughout" and ending up as "grumpy old man standing on stage bitching about the stuff he hates".
== Theatre ==
* ''Bat Boy: The Musical'' (based on the [[Weekly World News]] story) features a blatantly obvious anti-religion message as every single religious character is depicted as either being dumb and/or violent. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Brian Flemming (of ''The God Who Wasn't There'' infamy) co-wrote it.
== Video Games ==
* Hideo Kojima's ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series has a tendency to pause the action for ''long'' cutscenes proclaiming the danger of nukes. [http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailMetalGearSolid1-01 Metal Gear Solid Thumbnail Theatre] mocks this by occasionally substituting the name of the nuclear expert with that of Kojima:
{{quote|
* The ''[[Oddworld]]'' games have shades of this. The save the environment aesop being essentially the point of the entire series. A proof that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]] in that even if one finds the whole thing heavy-handed it tends to be presented in an entertaining fashion.
* ''[[The Last Resurrection]]'' portrays Jesus (the game's final boss) as being personally responsible for crusades, inquisitions, witch-burnings and even Nazism; during the ending sequence the heroes conclude that world peace will not be achieved until all religions are abolished. It's a long-shot, but there's a small chance that the designer might not be too keen on organised religion.
* It's no secret that Matt Roszak, the man behind the ''[[Epic Battle Fantasy]]'' series, has never been fond of modern politics and the stupidity it brings in politicians and regular folk alike, and it shows in The Iron Fortress arc in ''Epic Battle Fantasy 5''. The arc openly mocks the sociopolitical climate that emerged in the 2010s: [[Arc Villain|Lance]] believes the government is too incompetent to get anything done and conquering the world under an openly fascist ideology is necessary to save it from an upcoming alien invasion that only he believes will happen ({{spoiler|turns out he had done serious research and was right about the invasion}}). The regular townsfolk have to suffer his tirades and become paranoid, and Matt is accused of being one of Lance's sycophants by Anna because he has blonde hair. Lance is at least shown to be redeemable and willing to fix his mistakes after begrudgingly joining the party.
== Web Animation ==
* The online flash series ''[[Broken Saints]]'' is deeply immersed in
== Web Comics ==
* [[
* ''[[Fans]]!'' is a little too vehement in its defense of fanboys. Claim that they're valuable, intelligent and worthwhile human beings, fine. Claim that fanboys have the [[Plot Tailored to
** ''[[
*** Willis often acknowledges that obsessiveness fanishness, ''even his own'', is Not Okay. This was parodied when he shows up at the store and gets in an armed fight with Ethan over an [[Edit War]]. The arc ends with him and his girlfriend sneaking into Ethan's apartment--[[Rule
*** Willis isn't afraid to take shots at himself, but also loves slamming people who disagree with his opinion on various message boards. One storyline in the comic in particular is a major Author Tract- it's a poorly-disguised attempt by Willis to get Dinobot to win an online poll that will enter him into the Transformers Hall Of Fame. One character from the strip is campaigning for Congress by also campaigning for Dinobot's entry.
** ''[[
*** To be fair, this is a common complaint against D&D paladins. Many good players make it a personal challenge to create a likable paladin simply because so many people have been burned by them.
* ''[[Unicorn Jelly]]'' and ''Pastel Defender Heliotrope'', both by Jennifer Diane Reitz, both start out as (respectively) amusing and cute fantasy and science fiction stories, but the Author's soapboxes about religion, homosexuality, and transgenderism [[Anvilicious|overwhelm the plot]] more than once. It is revealed at the end of ''Pastel Defender Heliotrope'' that it was about anti-piracy legislation as well (which seems like an [[Ass Pull]] to boot since it only comes up in the last page or two).
* [[
* With ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'', this is bound to happen when a biochemistry student writes a comic about Metal Gear Solid, but it's noticeable how he still makes it funny. Mantis is the typical mouthpiece. [http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=272 Dr. Naomi Hunter supplements Mantis' rants with more reasonable but obviously frustrated objections].
** Also played with when the plot stops so that Mantis can rant against banning gay marriage. The best part is that it is ''entirely'' in-character - he isn't so much arguing ''for'' gay marriage as he is saying that having sex with reproduction is just as gross as having sex without reproducing.
* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' - While the comic has become incredibly more reasonable about this, earlier strips were suffused with a certain subset of Christian theology, culminating when the author updated with rants about other belief systems. Those rants have since been moved elsewhere, but the author still provides nods towards Christianity now and again.
* Parodied in ''[[
{{quote|
* Critics of ''[[
* ''[[Kit N Kay Boodle]]'' is entirely a vehicle for Richard Katellis' views on free love, yiffing, and the plight of the furry community. The world outside of idyllic, nudist Yiffburg is full of monstrous dictatorships and ruthless capitalist states that criticize Yiffburg for being horny layabouts. Any character who ''doesn't'' constantly want sex with total strangers is either an evil fascist or an oppressed soul, and the answer is invariably anonymous sex, either to defeat or convert them to the yiffy way of life. It doesn't help matters that the story is occasionally interrupted by the author describing the sexual exploits he and his wife have with their parents.
* The ''[[Flobots]]'' webcomic has varying levels of [[Anvilicious
* ''[[Better Days]]'' started out as an author tract largely for conservatism and mild misogyny, but has gradually grown into an author tract for Objectivism as Jay Naylor discovered that particular philosophy and became a huge [[
* ''[[Jesus and Mo]]'' is an unabashed Author Tract ridiculing religion. The comment box is headed with the note "This comments section is provided as a safe place for readers of J&M to talk, to exchange jokes and ideas, to engage in profound philosophical discussion, and to ridicule the sincerely held beliefs of millions. As such, comments of a racist, sexist or homophobic nature will not be tolerated."
* ''[[General Protection Fault]]'' briefly delved into this in the 'Providence' arc in 2005, showing Akhilesh (a [[Friend to All Living Things|kindly doctor]] bordering on Ned Flanders-like religious outlook) witnessing to Trudy, with verse upon verse of scripture, accompanied by author commentary.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[South Park]]'' often devotes episodes to be heavy handed over the top
** And then [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it in ''Cartoon Wars''. Repeatedly. Let it never be said that, whatever their views, Parker and Stone are not self-aware.
{{quote|
* ''[[
** This was also a recurring theme in the original comics - making money by being stingy is OK. Making money by being totally unfair to consumers, the environment, or employees isn't.
* Seth MacFarlane has bluntly stated that ''[[
* A writer for ''[[The Simpsons]]'' admitted that the creative team has deliberately made Ned Flanders, in recent seasons, less of a 'turn the other cheek' Christian and more of an intolerant [[Moral Guardians|Moral Guardian]], as a protest against the growing influence of [[Moral Guardians]] in Bush's America. Much of this has been viewed as being massively out of character compared with earlier seasons. Flanders was de-[[Flanderization|Flanderized]] in [[The Movie]], though, being portrayed as a genuinely caring guy who just has some annoying quirks.
** Matt Groening himself said that one of his favorite things about ''The Simpsons'' was how inaccurately and demonically they got to portray nuclear power.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Creator Standpoint Index]]
[[Category:The Only Righteous Index of Fanatics]]
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Wish Fulfillment]]
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