Genre Deconstruction: Difference between revisions

<!-- %%Also remember: Darker and Edgier is not inherently Deconstruction (we're looking at you, Puella Magi Madoka Magica fans), nor is the inverse true. -->

** Half the cast is made up of what seem at first to be stereotypical anime characters. As the series progresses, however, they are revealed to be severely messed-up people with the same sort of problems that would be expected of real-life [[tsundere]]s, [[BottleHard-Drinking FairyParty Girl|bottle fairies]], and [[Lovable Sex Maniac|lovable sex maniacs]].

** Quite a few old super robot shows featured mysterious, alien villains with very lightly defined motivations; cue the relentless attacks of the Angels, alien (or not) assailants on whose motives, constituents or psychology we have a little idea of, simply malevolent [[MacGuffin]]s to enable <s>psychobabble</s> the story to play with 'giant robot' tropes. They also happen to get progressively [[Nightmare Fuel|creepier]], and more unexplainablyinexplicably eldritch as the show progresses. Most importantly, there is an emphasis on showing the fear and uncertainty that comes with fighting an enemy that is just plain undefinable, thus showing how it just takes a little to turn an idealistic, formulaic Super Robot anime into a depressing [[Cosmic Horror Story]]. Various factions within the series vie for the opportunity to take down the Angels in the way they deem most appropriate, with the winner, of course, being the one that [[TheresThere Is No Kill Like Overkill|causes the most collateral damage.]]

* ''[[Now and Then, Here and There]]'' deconstructs the old anime stock plot of [[Trapped in Another World]]. It starts the typical baisic premise of "[[Ordinary High School Student]] meets [[Mysterious Waif]] and gets whisked off to a world locked in a great crisis." [[It Got Worse]] from there. And then shows how relevant an [[Ordinary High School Student]] would be in such a situation (not at all), how traumatizing it would be for someone from a peaceful society like late twentieth/early twenty first century Japan to be suddenly trapped in the middle of a war zone (extremely) and how likely it would be for anyone from that world including the waif that brought him there in the first place to even lift a finger for a naive and clueless outsider, much less form [[True Companions]] or a harem around him (not very).

** Also showed what kind of girls would be in an [[Unwanted Harem]]. At best [[Clingy Jealous Girl|needy]], at worst [[:Category:Yandere|psychotic.]] Kotonoha and Sekai particularly deconstruct [[Shallow Love Interest]]: they both lose what's left of their personalities to chase after Makoto... but this is done deliberately to show the terrible consequences.

* ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'' functions as a fairly solid deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, too, with the first half of the series being almost entirely fluffy, silly character-building and harmless [[Monster of the Week]] fighting (to further the point: the heroines battle a monster that steals lingerie), until around the halfway point when it decides to [[Anyone Can Die|Get Serious]].

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is, for the majority of the series, a pretty thorough deconstruction of the [[Magical Girl]] genre.{{verify}} The premise starts simple. Young [[Naive Everygirl]] Madoka and her [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] friend Sayaka, are approached by [[Mentor Mascot]] Kyubey, and the relative [[Cool Big Sis]] Mami, where they are given the opportunity to become [[Magical Girl]]s. In exchange, they are granted one wish, that can be anything they want, but they will have to fight demonic entities called witches for the rest of their lives. In addition, a [[Dark Magical Girl]], Homura, is opposed to this, and is constantly trying to prevent the two from making a contract. Sounds reasonable enough. And then the show demonstrates exactly what happens to those young girls who are forced into fighting [[Eldritch Abominations]] with no chance at a normal life. Mami {{spoiler|is ultimately an extremely lonely [[Stepford Smiler]] who is broken on the inside due to losing her parents, and being forced to fight with no real friends. When Madoka does become her friend, her subsequent joy leads to her death, and also reminds us that these encounters are far more dangerous when removed from the sweet and innocent flavor that permeates most [[Magical Girl]] shows}}. In addition, Sayaka {{spoiler|decides to use a [[Selfless Wish]] to heal her crush, Kyousuke, much like any typical superhero. But as the other characters demonstrate, their is no such thing as a [[Selfless Wish]], as they all have a selfish intention. In Sayaka's case, it was so that she could get together with Kyousuke, and when he doesn't return her affections, she breaks down.}} Finally, Kyubey {{spoiler|shows exactly what kind of "mentor" would knowingly send girls off to their death, without giving the full details. Among these details is the fact that Magical girls will someday become the monsters that they fight, and that one reason they even fight them in the first place, is to stave off that end for as long as possible}}. At the end [[Decon Recon Switch|however]], {{spoiler|Madoka becomes a [[Magical Girl]], and uses a [[Cosmic Retcon]] to make it so that [[Magical Girl]]s will not become witches. Although [[Magical Girl]]s will have to fight demons instead of witches, it is at least implied that the situation is better than before}}.

*** Its sequel, ''[[The Dark Knight Strikes Again]]'', tries to deconstruct the [[AuthorWriter Onon Board]] Political superheroes by turning [[Green Arrow]] into a Marxist, and [[The Question]] into a hardcore libertarian who believes that "Ayn Rand didn't go far enough".

* ''[[Watchmen]]'' deconstructs the entire [[Silver Age]] [[Superhero]] genre. The premise of the comic is exactly like any other [[Superhero]] comic; some people put on strange costumes in order [[They Fight Crime|to fight crime]]. However, it didn't start with [[Superman|an alien child coming to earth]], but rather, with a bunch of off-duty cops wearing masks to counter mask-wearing criminals. Along the way, every trope associated with [[Superhero]] comics of the time is [[Deconstructed]]: [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]] turn out to be <s> extremely</s> fatally impractical, [[American Political System|politicians]] get involved and deputize and weaponize superheroes, these superheroes end up changing the course of history, and the main cast of [[Superhero]] characters are all rather screwed up. Specifically...:

** Ozymandias, the "smartest man alive," and a Marvel-style ([[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Reed Richards]], [[X-Men|Professor X]], et al) supergenius taken to the trope's logical conclusions, becomes a superhuman athlete [[Charles Atlas Superpower|through sheer force of will]], and a training program he designed himself, and is also the world's wealthiest selfmade businessman. He's driven by such ruthless consequentialism that certain actions of his can be morally debated.

** Worthwhile deconstructions later on include [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[McCabe and Mrs. Miller]]'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''[[DeadmanDead Man (film)|Dead Man]]''.

** ''[[Rustlers' Rhapsody]]'' is a parody and deconstruction of the singing cowboy westerns such as those with Roy Rogers.

* ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'' deconstructs [[Teens Are Monsters]] films so prevalent in the 50's.

* ''[[Heathers]]'' is a rather bitter deconstruction of the popular John Hughes style teen movies at the time. The bad boy the heroine lusts after is actually a disturbed psycho who lures the heroine into his scheme to murder the popular kids and he even tries to {{spoiler|blow up the school and pass it off as a group suicide}}. She isn't happy to be part of the popular kids and it's actually that which makes her want to murder them. Also the [[Girl Posse]] aren't the cookie cutter bad guys with one of them being bulimic and sick of being a butt monkey while another genuinely contemplates suicide.

* ''[[Film/The Asphalt Jungle|The Asphalt Jungle]]'' (1950) deconstructs [[The Caper]]. In a normal heist movie, the thieves combine good luck with great skill, have no difficulty working together, and escape from the police to spend their stolen wealth without too much trouble. In the Asphalt Jungle, on the other hand, the thieves aren't quite skilled enough to avoid alerting the cops during the heist, have a run of bad luck starting even before they're done planning the heist, squeal on each other, and eventually every single participant is either dead or in prison, brought down by a combination of their own flaws and misfortunes. Plus, the [[Da Chief|police chief]] (normally a corrupt or unlikeable person in films where he appears at all) gives a nice speech about the importance of good law enforcement towards the end of the film.

* One could argue that the first live action ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' movie deconstructed the gang's main quirks. In the cartoon, Daphne often became the [[Designated Victim]], but took it in stride, even cracking a quip about it occasionally. In the movie, however, she openly despises the fact that she's "always the damsel in distress", and this combined with the fact that she blames it on the "incompetence" of the others makes her the most bitter and reluctant to get the gang back together. Velma was always [[The Smart Guy|the smart girl]], but the movie portrays her as an under-appreciated [[Insufferable Genius]]. Fred was the de facto leader of Mystery Inc, and as such was often the voice of reason. The movie shows him as a literal [[Only Sane Man]] who struggles to keep the conflicting personalities of the team from getting out of hand. Surprisingly, Shaggy and Scooby are actually almost identical to their cartoon incarnations but in the second movie, they become deconstructed as well; Theirtheir cowardly and clumsy behaviour causes the team to see them as a burden, and when they found itfind out, they try their hardest to improve themselves. Of course, it ends up badbadly and when the team is exiled from their hometown, Shaggy's self-esteem is at rockbottomrock-bottom.

* 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.

* ''[[Snow White: A Tale of Terror|Snow White a Tale of Terror]]'' deconstructs the original fairytale characters and especially the Disney film. Claudia starts out as a loving woman who wants to bond with her new stepdaughter, but Lilli shies away from her and that ends up leading to Claudia's [[Face Heel Turn]]. Also, the miners aren't cheerful dwarves, but outcasts from the kingdom.

* ''[[The Acts of Caine]]'' books deconstruct [[Role Playing Games]] featuring [[Player Characters]] in a larger world (including [[Tabletop Games]] and [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s). Pays particular attention to the relentlessly influential (and often devastating) effects such characters tend to have on the world they're visiting. The trappings of a [[High Fantasy]] are there, but it's one hell of a [[Crapsack World]].

* [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20130629102911/http://nicolagriffith.com/troll.html "A Troll Story"] by Nicola Griffith, in which a Viking warrior faces off against a troll. He wins, all right, but the story abruptly takes a deconstructionist turn: he {{spoiler|[[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|goes insane]] from the troll's final curse, which renders him able to understand that [[Not So Different|there's no essential moral difference]] between the troll's slaughter of Vikings and his own slaughter of innocents in the towns he's raided.}}

* ''Goshawk Squadron'' by Derek Robinson attacks the popular view of [[World War OneI]] air combat which, rather than dueling "Knights of the Air", actually involved undertrained pilots diving out of the sun and machine-gunning their opponent in the back before he had a chance to defend himself.

** The earlier ''[[Homicide: Life Onon the Street]]'' started the process.

** Arguments have been made that the show is much less of a deconstruction, than it is simply a [[Darker and Edgier]] re-imagining; since it fails to address many of the problems of the original. This may be reinforced by the fact that the Cylons have been changed from an irreconcilable alien ''other'', to an ''Anvilicious'' screed about [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|mankind being destroyed by their own sins]]; interspersed with plenty of [[Fan Service]] and [[Fetish Fuel]] (two words: "dungeon ship"). Further reinforced by the fact that most of the major characters devote epic amounts of time to their personal dysfunctionalities; and seem to be only tangentially concerned with the fact that their entire race has been almost completely wiped out.

** It could also be argued that BSG deconstructs ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'', given Ronald D. Moore's criticism of that series [http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/tv/moore_voyager_001207.html in his famous interview].

** The aforementioned [[Misaimed Fandom]] [[Be Careful What You Wish For|got precisely what it wanted]] with ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', which deconstructed the way people related to the first game. So, [[I Just Want to Be Badass|you want to be just like Solid Snake, huh?]] You get to play as a [[This Loser Is You|player proxy character]] that, like Snake, is an emotionally crippled [[Badass]] with buckets of blood on his hands and [[Blood Knight|a killer instinct]]. Unfortunately, your girlfriend is an [[Never Live It Down|exceedingly whiny bitch that calls you in the middle of your mission to discuss your lack of emotional warmth]], the only way you could've acquired these oh-so-[[Badass]] skills is [[Training Fromfrom Hell]] that you have repressed the memory of, and indeed your desire to be just like Snake is going to be granted {{spoiler|via a mind-control experiment that the entire game's sequence of events is}}.

* The [[Expanded Universe]] of ''[[EVE Online]]'' tends to do this to [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s. It thoroughly explores the consequences of [[A God Am I|law-unto-themselves immortal demigods]] waging perpetual war both between themselves and with the [[NPC|other, less gifted denizens of the universe]]. The mere existence of the player capsuleers ups the average daily death rate in New Eden by many thousands, and contributes in large part to the [[Crapsack World]] New Eden now is.

* ''[[DM of the Rings]]'' deconstructs [[Tabletop Games]], especially of the fantasy variety. [[The Lord of the Rings]] was basically the [[Trope Codifier]] for [[Fantasy Literature]], with an epic plot and massive, meticulously crafted backstory. For decades now [[Role -Playing Game|Roleplaying Games]] have often been based on fantasy stories and set in fantasy worlds... but you know, the actual progression of a roleplaying game doesn't look a thing like a fantasy novel, certainly not a ''good'' one. [[DM of the Rings]] takes several familiar player archetypes and transplants them into LOTR, and it's a disaster. The GM needs to use [[Railroading]] on the players every step of the way. Left to their own devices, they would have killed the elves of Lorien for the loot. They also complain endlessly about the boredom of the story (there's nothing to fight but orcs over and over again and [[Eldritch Abomination]]s like the balrog, which their characters don't have the slightest chance against) and the way all the battles and side missions are entirely irrelevant to the main plot.

* The entire premise behind ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' is that the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe is the result of a group of [[Tabletop Games|Tabletop Gamers]] (including a 7 year old girl) making it up as they go along. It lends a whole new perspective to the storyline of the prequel trilogy. The entire mess on Naboo was the result of the Player Characters epically ruining a delicate, carefully constructed plan by going [[Off the Rails]], and engaging in all the sins of [[The Real Man]], [[The Munchkin]], and [[The Loonie]]. Palpatine is actually a good guy overthrowing a corrupt regime, and trying to bring a semblance of stability to the republic. Darth Maul was just a [[Chaotic Neutral]] [[Hired Guns|Hired Gun]] who was only trying to work ''with'' the player characters, before they attacked him. To top it all off, some the most bizarre and unrealistic plot points, such as Naboo being governed by a ''14 year old Queen'' exist because [[Rescued Fromfrom the Scrappy Heap|Jar Jar Binks]] is being played by a little girl.

* ''[[DoctorDr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]'' is a deconstruction of the classic [[Superhero]] vs. [[Super Villain]] conflict, as follows:

* [http://www.digital-brilliance.com/necron/necron.htm This website] deconstructs the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], specifically the Necronomicon. In essense it asks "what if it was a real book?" and builds from there, by looking for paralels between Judeo-Christian tradition and the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] (The Old Ones = The Giants from Genesis), it creates the content of the book, it then asks "what kind of person would write about such things in 730 AD?", thus Abdul Alhazred is what the Koran calls a "Sabian" and what western biblical scholars call a "Gnostic" a person with religous veiws related tooto, but radically different from, mainstream Christianity, Islam and Judaism. It then builds a comprehesive history of how it got from the middle east and into the hands of western Occultists, and finally makes the assumption that while, yes Lovecraft wrote about it, he got only the name and the the author correct, having never read the book itself.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100314110839/http://www.theonion.com/content/video/ultra_realistic_modern_warfare This video] from ''[[The Onion]]'' sends up the idea of video games becoming progressively more realistic by taking it to a logically deconstructive extreme with a "ultra realistic ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Modern Warfare]] 3''". It mostly involves sitting around and waiting.

* There can be a very good case made for ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' being a deconstruction of ''[[Jonny Quest]] and [[Doc Savage]]''-style [[Two-Fisted Tales|stories]]. Some say spoof, some say deconstruction, some say [[Deconstructive Parody|both]].

* The famous ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' episode "Homer's Enemy" is a deconstruction of the general weirdness and insanity of its setting, based around the premise of ''What if a real-life, normal person had to enter Homer's universe and deal with him?'' Frank Grimes, a relatively humorless but hard-working man who is still forced to live cheaply despite working almost his entire life, encounters Homer on the job at the nuclear power. You can imagine what happens next - the result is funny, but also disturbing and very dark upon further reflection (one of the darkest ''Simpsons'' episodes ever made).

* In the normal episodes of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|the show ends]] with Twilight Sparkle sending a message to her mentor Princess Celestia about [[An Aesop|what she learned about friendship that day]], satisfying the [[Edutainment Show|Edutainment quota]] for the week. The episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E03 Lesson Zero|Lesson Zero]]" specifically begs the [[Broken Aesop|Aesop-breaking]] question: "What happens if there was no friendship message to write about?" Thus begat one of the most bizarre, Nightmare Fuel-loaded episodes of the series when our normally calm and collected (and slightly [[Super OCD|OCD]]) Twilight races to find, and eventually create, a friendship problem to report about. Ultimately, an Aesop about missing the Aesop is arrived at, and introducing a running change where any of Twilight's friends can provide the Aesop, likely as a way to avoiding having to shoehorn in Twilight into every episode.

[[Category:Main/Deconstruction/2/Sandbox{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:MetaDeconstruction ConceptsTropes]]