Deconstruction: Difference between revisions

The reason fictive deconstructions often turn out as they do is that fiction by its definition virtually ignores anything that isn't specifically included, while hiding anything that is included but not spelled out. Thus, for instance, a work in which gender, or sexuality, poverty, race, or politics etc. ''should'' have been important but were never dealt with adequately is ripe for a deconstruction in which the fact that nobody talks about these topics indicates that something is amiss. Contrariwise, a work that attempts to pre-emptively avert being deconstructed in this way by stating, perhaps frequently, that certain topics aren't dealt with because they are ''specifically irrelevant'' to the story/setting (especially if there's no good reason they ''should'' be irrelevant), is ripe for an ironic deconstruction in which the supposed insignificance of these topics doesn't stop characters from regurgitating contemporary [[Real Life]] attitudes about them. The Deconstruction process thus often reveals things we weren't thinking about for a reason, perhaps revealing a trope or a staple of fiction as false/unrealistic/[[Fridge Horror|horrifying]], which is why it ''tends'' to be depressing. (If a Deconstruction reveals a trope as beautiful truth it will probably be uplifting.)

 

 

[[Reconstruction]] is when the trope is then put back together, usually in a way that strengthens the trope. Think of it as Deconstruction taking apart your broken car engine, and Reconstruction puts it back together so it runs again. Deconstruction and reconstruction can become [[Cyclic Trope]]s. A set of conventions is established (the initial "construction" of the genre or ideas that are used in the story), this set of conventions is played straight until some author gets bored or frustrated with the implications the fantasy brings and decides to show us the unworkability of these conventions via a deconstruction of them. Atop the ruins, a more realistic narrative (i.e. one that accepts the criticisms of the earlier deconstruction) is then built via reconstruction, and in the future, this narrative gets deconstructed, etc. Cycles of deconstruction and reconstruction are basically how a genre or a trope evolves.

* ''[[Toradora!]]'' deconstructs many of the character archetypes seen in typical [[Harem Anime]]. Taiga answers the question of what kind of experiences could give a person a childish tsundere personality in real life.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' brutally deconstructs many of the most beloved [[Magical Girl]] tropes. Namely: the mascot, the henshin item, and the "perks".

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has Kururugi Suzaku as an effective deconstruction of [[Lawful Good]] characters such as Amuro Ray in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. Boy howdy.

* ''Secret Plot'' and [[Meaningful Name|"Secret Plot Deep"]] initially/ostensibly comes off as another [[Hot for Teacher]] / [[Hot for Student]] H-manga series about [[Hot Teacher|hot teachers]] and the various boys they seduce, specifically [[Biggus Dickus|Masaki]] ''then'' it sets in how much of a [[Crapsack World]] they live in:

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' is widely regarded as the first deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, at the same time it deconstructs various fairy tale archetypes including the prince, the princess, and the witch.

 

== Comic Books ==

** and then the film based on the comic is a [[Reconstruction]] of that same superhero type.

* [[Mad Magazine]] often does this, such as contrasting a movie cowboy ([[Awesome McCoolname|Lance Sterling]]) with a real cowboy (John Smurd). Whereas the handsome Lance defeats the villain after a shootout and fist fight, getting a girl and a hero's celebration, the plain-looking John gets knocked out and beaten up, then kills the villain by taking him by surprise, only to be greeted with a fairly homely woman and lynched for murder.

* [[Word of God]] said that the [[Series Finale]] for the [[Tintin]] comics was the album ''Tin Tin at the Tibet''. The next three albums (''The Castafiore Emerald'', ''Flight 714'', and ''Tintin and the Picaros'') are deconstructions of the Tin Tin series in general.

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Mighty Joe Young]]'' (at least the 1998 version) deconstructs ''[[King Kong]]'', which is rather ironic because it originally inspired King Kong. The ape isn't an island-dwelling monster, but an otherwise normal African gorilla with extreme giantism. The female lead has more in common with Dian Fossey then the screaming damsel in distress of ''Kong''. And when Joe finally does go on his "rampage" it's because he's confronted with the poacher that killed his mother.

* ''[[Scanners]]'' sets up a fairly standard [[Hero's Journey]], as [[The Hero|Cameron Vale]], blessed with [[Psychic Powers]], is sent by wise old [[Mentor|Dr. Paul Ruth]] to defeat Ruth's former pupil, [[Big Bad|Darryl Revok]], who also has [[Psychic Powers]]. Vale befriends a [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]], Kim Obrist, who can help him infiltrate Revok's organization. Not unsurprisingly, it is revealed that both Cameron and Darryl are the two sons of Paul. With us so far? And then Darryl [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] what kind of father would abandon his sons like that, and weaponize one against the other, and, indeed, [[Guinea Pig Family|would test a potentially dangerous new drug on his pregnant wife]], thus making Cameron and Darryl psychic in the first place. "[[Calling the Old Man Out|That was Daddy.]]" Also, the psychic stuff is [[Blessed with Suck|disgusting and creepy]]: scanning is presented not as a graceful and mystical power, but as a painful and unpleasant "[[Body Horror|merging of two nervous systems]]". The process is as unpleasant for the the person being scanned (who suffer from headaches and nosebleeds at best, and can have their hearts stopped and heads exploded at worst) and the scanners themselves who suffer severe social and psychological side effects from hearing other peoples thoughts (the main character starts the movie homeless, and another scanner murdered his family when he was a child). Ruth's dream of a scanner utopia turn out to be [[Not So Different]] from Revok's scanner-supremacy idea, as observed by Vale. Meanwhile, Cam and Kim never fall in love, as would be expected, because they're too scared for their lives.

* The Milla Jovovich version of ''[[Joan of Arc]]'' plays out the way the true story went until she is captured by the English, at which point it deconstructs the entire mythology surrounding Joan of Arc. In prison, she meets {{spoiler|(or better said, ''hallucinates'')}} a character (played by Dustin Hoffman) whose only function seems to be to question her calling from God.

* ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' harshly deconstructs America's hedonistic take on life in [[The Seventies]]. Sure, there were beautiful clothes, music, and lots of dancing, but there was a dark side to the life led by people like Tony and his friends. For example, Tony, who turns to hedonism as a way to cope with his own life as a low-class Brooklyn guy with a ''really'' [[Dysfunctional Family]], has no thought for the future (and the culture as a whole didn't either), and his friends are involved with [[Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll|drugs, drinking, and casual sex]] which does cause them huge problems.

 

== Literature ==

* The ''[[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]]'' [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novel ''The Crooked World'' by [[Steve Lyons]] is a deconstruction of ''[[Looney Tunes]]''-esque cartoons as the Doctor lands in a cartoon world and begins to influence its inhabitants' behaviors towards naturalism.

** And the [[Past Doctor Adventures]] novel ''The Indestructible Man'' by Simon Messingham is a deconstruction of all Gerry Anderson's work, asking ''why'' Jeff Tracy founded the [[Thunderbirds]], what [[UFO|SHADO]] personnel would ''really'' be like (yes ''[[UFO]]'' was [[Darker and Edgier]] to begin with, but Messingham takes it further), and how the ordinary people of the Supermarionation world might feel about so much money being channeled into [[Awesome but Impractical]] vehicles. Most notably, the titular Indestructible Man is a [[Captain Ersatz]] [[Captain Scarlet]] who feels [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|detached from humanity]] and [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|wishes he was able to die]].

* ''Ring For Jeeves'' could be considered [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]'s deconstruction of his own stories. The usual romantic comedy character-relation tropes are there, but the world they live in is remarkably different. All of Wodehouse's stories take place in a [[Genteel Interbellum Setting]], but ''Ring For Jeeves'' explores what would happen if time actually ''progressed''. World War II has happened, Britain is in the throes of social upheaval which separates Jeeves and Bertie (Bertie is sent to a school that teaches the aristocracy how to fend for themselves), poverty and suicide and graphic death are acknowledged, and Jeeves even admits to having "dabbled in" World War I. The book's setting, Rowchester Abbey, is falling apart at the seams and the characters who inhabit it start to feel like a pocket of old-fashioned happiness in a darkening world. In case any doubters still exist about 3/4 through the book, there's Constable Wyvyrn's musings ''about just how much the world has changed.''

** And then there's ''Greaves, This is Serious'', by William Mingin, another Wodehouse deconstruction. Bertie begins to grow dissatisfied with his carefree life of idle frivolities, and begins questioning his butler Greaves to see if they ever do anything... productive. The answer is quite [[Ironic Hell|chilling]].

* ''[http://everything2.com/user/t3h_poker/writeups/Sonny+gets+Mad+Scienced Sonny Gets Mad Scienced]'' is [[Deconstructive Parody|the "humourous" type of deconstruction]]. It revolves around two central ideas; telling a [[Mad Scientist]] story from the perspective of one of the nameless subjects experimented on, and {{spoiler|being [[Genre Savvy]] doesn't always help.}}

* The [[YouTube]] video ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAeu5Aot8kw Percy]'' is a deconstruction of infomercials.

* For the superhero scene, there's ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''. A detailed description of the webseries can be found in its wmg page.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDX1m0Y2Vkg This video] is a deconstruction of ''Pokémon''. Yes, ''Pokémon''. It is mostly played for laughs but there is a point about half-way through where Pikachu is bleeding as he's strangled by a Bulbasaur ... And oh my God it is disturbing. If you've ever been mildly bothered by the cockfighting similarities, you will be really distressed by this video.

[[Category:Post Modern Tropes]]

[[Category:Deconstruction Tropes]]