Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

An [[Anvilicious]] work is one that has [[An Aesop|a moral message]] and makes it as subtle as an anvil dropped on the viewer's head. But sometimes, a work can be Anvilicious [[Tropes Are Not Bad|without suffering in the process]]. Some works not only pull it off gracefully, but are effective ''because'' of the Anvil -- and not in a [[So Bad It's Good]] way, either. Often seen in [[Reconstruction|Reconstructions]].

[[I Thought It Meant|Has nothing to do with]] [[Anvil on Head]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Though all of [[Ayn Rand]]'s novels are [[Anvilicious]], the unsubtle political messages in ''We The Living'' come off more acceptably than those in her later works, because it targets Russian Communists rather than generic [[Strawman Political]] equivalents.

** The same qualifies for Howard Roark's [[Author Tract]] at the end of ''The Fountainhead''. Regardless of whether you agree with its content, it's passionately written, very moving, and completely devoid of subtlety. It helps that it appears in a context where one would expect to hear (and to listen respectfully) to a passionate speech appealing to universal principles and a sense of justice: {{spoiler|the end of a criminal trial.}}

* ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' basically consisted of Harriet Beecher Stowe gathering together a whole bunch of stories of actual people who were actually enslaved, then changing the names and adding in a plot to tie it together.

** It drops another on the caring of children - if you expect a child to be wicked and immoral, that's exactly how they'll act.

*** In an interview a year after that was released, Young revealed that people had been spontaneously hugging him on the street and saying "Thank you, Neil." He said he realized just how badly [[The War on Terror]] had been terrorizing the people it was meant to protect.

* U2 aren't at all subtle about their beliefs and opinions, although the actual ''songs'' are usually too subtle to be called [[Anvilicious]], in that there's usually some room for interpretation. Not always, though:

** "Rejoice" (''"I can't change the world / But I can change the world in me"'')

** They once did a joint song with [[Green Day]], called "The Saints Are Coming", which has an underlying message of not giving up, no matter what, you fight for your life if it's in danger. The fact that it was raised ''to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina'', and that the video is part the two playing and part ''news clips of Katrina'' doesn't hurt the message.

* This list wouldn't be complete without ''The Legend of Billy Jack'', aka ''One Tin Soldier''. Peace on Earth, indeed.

{{quote|''And yes, I recognise the irony: the system I oppose affords me the luxury of biting the hand that feeds. That's exactly why priveliged fucks like me should feel obliged to whine and kick and scream - until everyone has everything they need.''}}

* [[Queen]] was no stranger to this. And their most perfect [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|Anvil that needed to be dropped]] was ''Is this the World we Created?'' Especially in their ''Live Aid'' performance.

* Australian band ''The Cat Empire'' has the song ''The Chariot'':

{{quote|"this song is written 'bout my friends

Maybe if the world contain[s] more people like these

The the news would not be telling me 'bout all our warfare endlessly..." }}

* [[Taylor Swift]]'s "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-K2tXWK4w Fifteen]". When every song on Top 40 radio or Radio [[Disney]] is a [[Silly Love Songs|Silly Love Song]] about finding the boy that you'll be with for the rest of your life (when it's not about [[Intercourse with You|having sex]]), hearing a song telling girls ''not'' to look for love in [[High School]] comes as quite a shock. It's a message that a lot more girls in middle and high school should be paying attention to.

* [[Elvis Presley]]'s song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ox1Tore9nw In the Ghetto]" is a clear condemnation of the cycle of violence and poverty of the ghettos, and of the apathy the problems of those communities receive.

** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjVNlG5cZyQ Raise Your Glass]" and "F***in' Perfect" are both [[Be Yourself]] anthems, the latter with a strong anti-suicide theme. (Especially in the [[NSFW|video]].)

* John Prine's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl9ZkYViEIs "Sam Stone"], an anvil that needed to be dropped about soldiers' addictions after coming home from Vietnam. 'There's a hole in Daddy's arm where the money goes/ Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose.' Subtle? Not exactly. Beautiful and effective? Very.

* Billy Joel's "Leningrad": both sides of the cold war were just people - basically the same in the end.

{{quote|"We never knew what friends we had until we came to Leningrad."}}

* [[The Yardbirds]]' "Mr. You're A Better Man Than I" is a successful, [[Sarcasm Mode|bitingly sarcastic]] attack on prejudice.

* [[Simon and Garfunkel]]. Several songs, but notably "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BNL9aKf5XE The Sun is Burning]", which is all the more horrifying because it sounds so ''[[Lyrical Dissonance|happy]].''

* According to 30SecondsToMars's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLqHDhF-O28&ob=av2e Closer to the Edge]", you should never regret anything that happens in your life. Even the bad parts make you the person you are now.

* El Général, who wrote and performed the song Rais Ebled, dropped an anvil that needed dropping. It opened the floodgate and started the Tunisian Revolution.

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[[Category:Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped]]

[[Category:Sturgeon's Tropes]]