Fantastic Aesop: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Calvin''': Well, Hobbes, I guess there's a moral to all this.

* Type II Robot Revolution is subverted in ''[[Ghost in the Shell]].'' In ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' it is explained that certain kinds of machines are made in certain ways in order to avoid people thinking of them as "too human." Human-looking androids are stupid and capable of only following basic programming, while the decidedly non-humanoid Tachikomas are given [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|full sentience]].

** Well, the issue is dealt to some degree in all the incarnations of the story. For example, the Tachikomas are initially decommissioned after their sentience is found out, because a weapon that may decide on its own that [[I Am Not a Gun|all life is precious]] is a major liability. Later they circle around the issue by treating them more like teammates than tools.

 

 

 

 

** Apparently decades ago (in the current series timeline) a brilliant billionaire industrialist/scientist designed a robot drone with perfectly emulated [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|Human movement, thought process, and emotions]] yet still be expected to act and behave like mindless drones (makes sense....[[Flat What|RIGHT?]]).

** As a final point according to both [[Wild Mass Guessing|fan theory]] and some actual [[Word of God|Canon Explanation]] the entire events of the show were orchestrated by a unseen "god" which may or may not be evil and created the conflict between Humans and Cylons him/itself numerous other times previous, basically meaning even if both Humanity and Cylons learned truly learned their lessons and got along this God could kick start the [[Crapsack World|whole thing all over again]] just [[For the Evulz]] it renders all the previous Fantastic Aesops pointless and moot.

* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Superstar," the moral seems to be "dreaming about being super-cool perfect is just selfish narcissism." The way it does it is by having Jonathan cast a spell that turns him into a [[Marty Stu]]. The moral has two halves; the first is that the spell creates an equally perfect evil opposite that torments people. This is a Fantastic Aesop, since the only reason the evil opposite exists is that the writers put it there. The other half can be considered a type 1 version: in the real world, people ''aren't'' perfect, so claiming perfection is narcissistic. But if it really ''were'' possible to be perfect, claiming perfection is not narcissistic, merely realistic. "Genuine" perfection just isn't a good metaphor for imaginary perfection.

** {{spoiler|Being fair, they eventually reveal that there really is such a thing as a soul, and other non-material aspects to reality. It wouldn't shock if said cure for death isn't just a chemical, but has a non-material component.}}

* One particular episode of the nineties ''[[Outer Limits]]'' dealt with the problems [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke]] could cause a society, as [[Designer Babies|"fitter" babies]] grew into supermen and outpaced "normal" people. However, while this made for great drama in ''[[Gattaca]]'' it was not nearly [[Science Is Bad|bad and horrifying enough]] for the show. So to spice things up, around 5% of all genetically modified children turn into the crazed descendants of [[The Igor|Igor]], and are [[Kill It with Fire|killed when found.]] Naturally, the couple who originally wanted this for their child have changed their minds, ''but'' the deformed child of the neighbors kills the back alley scientist before he can undo the changes, so the [[Cruel Twist Ending|episode's sad ending]] is that they'll never fully trust or love their genetically enhanced son.