Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: Difference between revisions

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Other times, the anvil comes across very blatant, which might turn off some viewers, but in the era which the story is told, the message itself is more important than the story or allegory it is presented in.

 

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

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* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Anime)|Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.

** "The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection, and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow." - Washington Irving

** Another important one is that you can't run away from your problems. All of the antagonists are simply people that are dead scared of something -- {{spoiler|the Anti-Spiral for Lordgenome and Rossiu, and the Spiral Nemesis for the Anti-Spiral}}, and think that locking people away will prevent the problem. Also, Simon's first reaction to danger at the beginning of the story is to dig a hole and hide. All of this never works, and it usually causes a lot of unnecessary(?) pain and suffering. As Kamina first, and Simon [[Took a Level In Badass|later]], demonstrates, the best way to deal with your problems is to face them.

* ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Anime)|G Gundam]]'' did the same.

** Coming right after the depressing ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (Anime)|Victory Gundam]]'', it showed that even in a [[Crapsack World]] where world peace is maintained only through a deathmatch tournament that one could fight to defend that which is close to you, [[Defeat Means Friendship|win the respect of those you fight]], and still come out on top in the end.

** Possibly the purest expression of optimism in the series: "Humans aren't that foolish; there truly is [[Who Would Be Stupid Enough|NOT anyone stupid enough]] to do what they know will cause the destruction of everything."

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (Anime)|Gundam Wing]]'': "[[War Is Hell]], no matter for what reason you fight."

** ''Endless Waltz'': "Don't [[Holding Out for A Hero|hold out for a hero]]", if you want peace you have to do something about it yourself."

** A particularly roundabout one was dropped with the chapter "Dreizehn".<br /><br />A young woman named Karen goes to Count D's shop for a seeing-eye dog with experience in protection as well, after a fire that killed her parents and traumatized her so much she went blind. The titular Doberman chosen for this purpose not only ''looks'' human, but ''feels'' human, too -- to Karen's shock. After she gets used to it, a slightly awkward conversation ensues in which he agrees to let her "see" him by touching his face; after several panels, she comes across his ears. Prior to this, Dreizehn had not been shown as a dog, and as a human, his hair covered his ears -- which had been ''cut into sharp points.''<br /><br />Horrified, Karen questions this and brings to light the practice of cropping dogs' ears from a dog's perspective, made even more disturbing when Dreizehn assures her that since it was done when he was young (a ''puppy!''), "It doesn't hurt anymore."<br /><br />To drive home the Anvil, there is a short passage in the back reflecting upon the fact that some people refuse to acknowledge Dobermans with natural ears because ''[[Reality Is Unrealistic|they don't look like real Dobermans.]]''

** ''Pet Shop'' also has a lot to say about humanity, particularly in the final volume of the first series, at the end of which {{spoiler|Leon}} manages to make his way onto {{spoiler|the Count's ship}} only to be told that "humans have not yet earned the right to be {{spoiler|on this ship}}" before {{spoiler|being ''pushed off the side'', only to wake up unharmed}}.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''.

** There are numerous scenes in the anime where characters pause mid-battle or delay combat in order to stand around preaching their own philosophies at each other -- notably Ed and his pro-science stance. And, somehow, not only does it work, but the story would fail without it. The manga does this with more subtlety, but the tone and stories of the two are quite different. It helps that the morality is not especially anvilicious, as the characters struggle to figure out what morality is right at all.

* ''[[School Days (Visual Novel)|School Days]]'': Sleeping with someone under the guise of a relationship and then proceeding to ditch them without any warning for another person is ''not cool at all.''

* ''[[School Rumble]]''. The first person you fall in love with will not be your last. Hell, the person you fall in love with now might lead you to the one you will love for the rest of your life.

** Emotional maturity is ''awesome''. Two people who trust each other will have no problem finding happiness.

** Also, Urd's line: "My sister's not a doll, Keiichi. She has emotions, including ''that one''."

* ''[[Shugo Chara]]''. Love and compassion are very much important, and it acknowledges this too. (Especially within the second season, particularly near - by the end.) However, having ''fun'' and ''doing what you want to do'', are equally important, rather than just doing as others say, or proving their judgements of you and what they tell you you can do. Also, afore - said loving other people should not be done just because it's accepted within general, but because you actually ''want'' to help and ''believe'' within them, and because it ''just isn't right'' to make harm towards personages.

** Also, within the second season, it is 'not' a good piece to keep your problems from others, even if you think it's better for them, due towards the fact that doing so is never going to help 'any - thing', let alone them. {{spoiler|Amu, Ikuto and gozen become the prime targets towards this, within ascending order of severity.}} Although, if it's really, 'really' probable that going some - where involved within as such is going to potentially harm them/some - one other involved as said as such, and not due towards some annoying fear, then it may be best to not do so.

* ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh (Light Novel)|Kyo Kara Maoh]]'': No matter how different two groups are or how much bad history they have between them, it IS possible for them to live together peacefully.

* ''[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato]]''/Star Blazers: No matter how necessary a war may be, people are going to suffer. Turnabout isn't fair play; killing is and always will be wrong. There often isn't a clear difference between the good guys and bad guys, in the end. Revenge is a slippery slope that will never, under any circumstances, make you happy.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hzjuf686oA If] you [[Be Yourself|know yourself]] you can [[There Are No Therapists|take care of yourself.]]

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': Making other people happy often requires you to sacrifice your own happiness in exchange and doing selfless acts for selfish reasons will usually backfire.

 

 

** Cap tends to get [[Berserk Button|really pissed off]] by [[My Country Right or Wrong|blind patriotism]]. He doesn't just talk the talk, he [[What You Are in The Dark|walks the walk]]. Many storylines state that his [[Unobtainium]] shield is reinforced by American [[Right Makes Might|righteousness]] as opposed to [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|''self''-righteousness]].

{{quote| ''"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - "No, ''you'' move.""''}}

{{quote| '''[[Captain America]]:''' ''Without its [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|ideals]] -- its commitment to the freedom of all men, [[Eagle Land|America]] is a piece of trash!''}}

* Most of [[Grant Morrison]]'s comics (most notably ''[[Final Crisis]]'' and ''[[Flex Mentallo (Comic Book)|Flex Mentallo]]'') are tracts speaking against the Dark Age of comics, specifically the idea that comics should mirror [[Real Life]] in their violence and morally ambiguous attitudes. Morrison's takes on [[Superman]] and [[Batman]] are extraordinarily optimistic and straight-forward; [[Superman]] is often shown as a borderline God (especially in ''[[All Star Superman]]'') who tirelessly works toward the betterment of mankind, while [[Batman]] represents the peak of human ingenuity and intelligence, who can break free from any trap and defeat any villain. The whole thing is a stark and welcome contrast to the Frank Miller ideal of the tortured outcast [[Batman]], and the ultimately ineffectual government puppet [[Superman]].

* ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' is one of the first serious Western films made, and it's [[Anvilicious]] in a big way. But its anvil is a critical one, maybe even more now than when it was made. In a time when the words "vigilante" and "hero" are seen as synonyms, even while DNA testing gives us a hint of just how many people might be wrongly accused, ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' tells a simple, inevitable story that movies like ''Death Wish'' and ''The Brave One'' wouldn't dare get into: what happens when the righteously outraged vigilante heroes, claiming that the law's failed and trusting their own instincts instead, kill an innocent man?

* [[Dogma]] says a lot that needs to be said about organized religion, and how it undermines the most important thing of all; that you have faith.

* ''[[Terminator]] 2'': [[Screw Destiny|There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.]]

* The 1947 film ''[[Gentlemans Agreement (Film)|Gentlemans Agreement]]'' is a very anvil-heavy attack on anti-Semitism. Watching it nowadays, it's easy to miss just [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman%27s_Agreement#Production how controversial this was at the time].

* [[Empire (Literature)|Empire]], by [[Orson Scott Card]], is not the least bit subtle about the problems of the current political system in the United States. The bad guys aren't "the Democrats" or "the Republicans." It's not the right or the left, it's a few people ''at the top'' on both sides, with extremist views, who could pull everyone else along with them into a second civil war. (And the unanswered question posed by the ending is even creepier...)

** ''[[Ender's Game]]'' also rejects subtlety and symbolism, and is all the better for it.

{{quote| ''"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."''}}

* [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' is the book responsible for abolishing workhouses as a placeholder for orphans. Who can forget the iconic "Please, sir, I want some more!" scene?

* ''[[Starship Troopers (Literature)|Starship Troopers]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] drops anvils about military service.

** "If you want to participate as a citizen, you have to serve your country, up to and including ''being prepared to'' quite literally fight, even die, for the privilege. And it ''is'' a privilege, not a right."

** Another perspective taken is that Heinlein, who was not especially pro-military, took the morally-brightest example of a militarized society (the Terran Federation) and compared them to the worst example possible (the bugs). The anvil falls from the comparison between the two.

** There's also the Anvil that "violence never solves anything" is wishful thinking. Yes, it ''is'' preferable and best that you look for a non-violent solution to any given problem. But at the same time, sometimes that simply ''isn't going to work''. Insisting on avoiding ''any'' violence once it's clear that a compromise can't be reached is dangerous in itself.

* Harper Lee's ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]].'' Enough said.

{{quote| ''"Atticus, he was real nice..." His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them." He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.''}}

** The chief Anvil in both is about individuality versus conformity and the important of holding onto the truth that's right in front of your eyes. As long as you have that, you are still free, no matter what anyone else does to you.

* [[Terry Pratchett (Creator)|Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Young Adult]] ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' novels drop anvils labeled "take personal responsibility" so often you think you're being attacked by an anvil-wielding 82nd Airborne. But it works.

** ''The Adventure of the Yellow Face'' contains a remarkably progressive anti-racist message for its time. The client hires Holmes to find out why his wife keeps asking him for money and not revealing what it is for. He also spies her making visits to a cottage and spots someone with a hideous jaundiced and deformed face from the window. He suspects a blackmailing plot, but when Holmes enters the cottage and confronts the yellow-faced individual, it is revealed to be a young black child wearing a mask. Turns out the wife was previously in an interracial marriage before her husband died, and she has been hiding their child out of fear that her current husband will leave her if he finds out that she was married to a black man. The story ends with the client picking up the child, kissing the young girl, and saying "I am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being."

* [[The Bible (Literature)|The New Testament]]. Jesus wasn't all parables and allegories. He said some pretty blunt things about hypocrisy and following the commandments. (The scene where he bowled over the businessmen's tables in the Temple comes to mind.)

* * The Old Testament is also pretty anvilicious in places, but it's hard to argue that "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is an anvil that didn't need dropping (and indeed, continues to need dropping).

* Dr. Seuss's ''The Lorax''. Seuss speaks against logging, environmental destruction, or greed and short-sightedness in general? Given that he himself removed the line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie" when informed that Erie was no longer a dead lake, the second and third seem probable.

* In [[The Saint]] in New York, a Scene where Simon Templar rescues the daughter of a Jewish financier is followed by a paragraph in which anti-semitism and Nazism is denounced in the bluntest possible terms. It's totally out of place in the novel, but remains an extraordinary (for its time) and necessary warning of the evils of Nazi Germany.

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has many examples of these. The best may be the lines '"Bread!" boomed a man behind her. "We want bread, bastard!" In a heartbeat, a thousand voices took up the chant. King Joffrey and King Robb and King Stannis were forgotten, and King Bread ruled alone.'

** As well as Arya Stark's entire arc in Clash of Kings. Basically, Martin would like you to know that [[War Is Hell]] and that the common folk suffer the most during war.

** After Tyrion learns about how his siblings were almost married into the Martell family {{spoiler|and how King Aerys spurned friend/hand Tywin Lannister by not marrying Cersei to Rhaegar}}. At that moment, Martin makes explicit just how much of the strife and trauma our current characters are going through is due to the actions of those generations before and often long dead.:

** Ink Exchange in particular-- "Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter" and one which doesn't actually get spoken, which is that no-one (Niall and Leslie, in context) is [[Defiled Forever]]; you can survive, and that's what matters.

* Book (Abridged)" is based on the premise that America's phone books are lists of people who will all be dead if a nuclear war occurs. The anvil is that such a war is not survivable, much less winnable, and that science fiction "after the bomb" stories are just stories. He drops it in gut-wrenching fashion by detailing a number of horrible ways that people who survive the first detonations will suffer and die in the hours and days after the attack.

* [[David Gemmell]]: All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

* [[Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Literature)|Tess of the D'Urbervilles]]: Yes, the book is incredibly depressing, leading the main character from one bad situation to an even worse ones. But, at its time, it was very different and controversial, making the main character, who wasn't a virgin via rape, very sympathetic and, ultimately, more morally good than many of the other supposedly "pure" and pious characters rather than some harlot that the society of the time would have deemed her.

** Similarly, there are only two usual reactions to the [[Star Trek the Next Generation]] episode "Who Watches The Watchers": You either love it or you hate it. No matter which side you choose, it will likely be because of the episode's morals: Religions should be disproven wherever possible. Controversial? Yes. But for those for whom it works, it ''only'' works because of the anvil.

*** Another possible interpretation tof that episode's moral is that you should rely on your own ingenuity, your own courage and your own strength to change and grow and learn, not rely on a god of any kind to come along and make things right for you. Religion itself is not nessecarily a bad thing, it's only when you start using it as a reason to kill people or pass judgement in any other way that you have a problem.

{{quote| '''Guinan:''' Consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that nobody else wants to do because it's too difficult or too hazardous. And an army of Datas, all disposable... You don't have to think about their welfare, you don't think about how they feel... Whole generations of disposable people.<br />

'''Capt. Picard:''' ...You're talking about slavery.<br />

** Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) said to Gene Roddenberry (creator), "Star Trek is just [[An Aesop|morality tales]]" and he replied, "Shhh, [[The Not Secret|don't tell anyone]]".

*** Hell, Nichols entire ''character'' is an Anvil That Needed To Be Dropped, since it was so uncommon at the time for both women and black people to be portrayed on television in roles with authority. Her character inspired [[Whoopi Goldberg]] and [[Levar Burton]] into acting.

** The first really ''big'' anvil came in the episode "Abysinnia, Henry": '''[[Anybody Can Die]]'''. And they didn't even rely on just the force of gravity to drop it, either.

** The Introduction of Col. Sherman Potter dropped the "it's about all wars" anvil even harder. Potter has fought through WWI, WWII, ''and'' Korea, and often reminisces about his experiences. In one episode, he mourns some old comrades:

{{quote| '''Col. Potter''': Lemme ask you this, if they can invent new ways to mutilate the human body, why can't someone invent a way to end this... ''[[Tear Jerker|stupid war?!]]''}}

* The last episode of ''[[Black Adder]] Goes Forth'' dropped the same who-would-notice-if-you-were-mad-in-war-because-all-generals-are-equally-mad anvil as ''Catch 22'', but because it dropped it on the entire cast, mere minutes after the last joke, it achieved an epic anti-war message with its famed [[Downer Ending]].

** Very similarly, the first season ''[[Law and Order (TV)|Law and Order]]'' episode "Life Choice" in which ADA Ben Stone prosecutes religious pro-life zealot Rose Schwimmer for bombing an abortion clinic and killing several people -- including Mary Donovan, a teenage girl seeking an abortion who unwittingly carried the bomb into the clinic (having been working with Schwimmer's pro-life group, Schwimmer saw Donovan as a perfect patsy after learning she wanted an abortion). After Schwimmer proclaims on the stand that she believes murder is wrong and that abortion is a form of murder, Stone counters her ranting and raving with a very powerful line: ''"If abortion is murder, then no matter how you feel about Mary Donovan, aren't you guilty of the murder of her unborn child?"'' Schwimmer's face goes from a confident smile to a look of pure "Oh, shit" as she realizes just how badly Stone owned her. It's one of the best episodes of the entire ''L&O'' franchise, one of the most controversial episodes, and show creator Dick Wolf's favorite episode out of the entire series.

** Another good anvil was dropped in an SVU episode, "Doubt", where the entirety of the case is a he-said/she-said... the actual verdict was omitted (filled in by a poll conducted among viewers and made canon from that), to highlight just how tricky some cases really are - particularly sexual crimes where the victim and the accused have known each other for a long time.

* ''[[Persona 3 (Video Game)|Persona 3]]'': knowing you will one day die and accepting it doesn't mean you should rush towards it. It means you should make your life into something you feel is worth living.

* ''[[Persona 4 (Video Game)|Persona 4]]'''s theme is about how finding the truth is never easy or simple. At first, it starts off with lots of misunderstandings, loose threads, and possibly a hasty and disastrous decision on your part, but crosses into [[Anvilicious]] toward the end when the whole population of Inaba seems obsessed with looking to TV to feed them all the answers. Considering how much of their conversation resembles exchanges of empty, baseless ideas on too many internet message boards, this is a pretty relevant [[Aesop]]. Likewise, if you went through the game without finding the true ending, perhaps the anvil didn't get dropped on ''you'' hard enough.

** Aside from the plot-important characters, ''nearly every last Social Link'' involves someone who is running away from his/her own reality in order to hide in complacency. From the girl in the Drama Club who {{spoiler|only got into acting as a way to escape from her family life}}, to the young stepmother who doesn't know how to relate to her new husband's son, so {{spoiler|she keeps him in daycare and tries to buy his affection with trinkets}}, to the man who buries himself in work {{spoiler|to find his wife's killer}} and neglects his daughter because she reminds him {{spoiler|of his late wife}}. In the end, although the Protagonist gently prods them in the right direction, it is each Social Link character who must realize his or her own issues on their own and solve them ''personally''. Providing the double Aesop that you must face yourself and stop running from reality ''on your own'', but you can (and ''should'') also depend on your friends' support should you falter along the way.

** Also, a side-andvil: Don't allow technology, media, and fantasy get in the way of yourself. One of the more subtle themes is how people base themselves off of media. {{spoiler|Nato disguised as a boy because of the media reinforced conception that men are the best cops or detectives. One thing that probably threw Kanji onto his path of trying to be tough is that you always see females learning how to sew, and that gay men were always the most gentle. Youske wanted to be a big damn hero, and resented that he couldn't the big boy around to save everybody, even if he was grounded in that he knew he needed his friends to beat the shadows. Chie wanted to be a strong martial artist, the kind that you see in movies and that is what drove her to want to be able to be strong and dependable. Yukiko wanted to run away because she cared too much about the people, rather than thinking that she had to be a reliable business tycoon, and thinking that she had to have a prince come get her. Teddie acts too much like a pimp sometimes. Rise was controlled by her media persona, and what people saw on the TV was everything about her that they knew, causing her confusion about herself.}} As you can see, there was subtle media interloping on each person's story. One thing was how they realized that they were not controlled by what they should see from media in themselves. There may [[Truth in Television|parts of themselves that match up with what they have seen and read about]], but that wasn't them alone.

{{quote| -'''[http://i.imgur.com/9JeSr.jpg A message from Four Leaf Studios]'''}}

* [[Kingdom Hearts]] could not hammer home its message that [[The Power of Friendship|as long as you stay loyal to your friends, you'll always be okay]] any harder, and although it does become [[Narm]] on occasion, it can still be touching, and that anvil should probably be dropped as often as humanly possible, because, yes, good friends do make it possible to survive anything.

* ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' has CAT's "Do what you want, wherever you want, whenever you want."

** By the end, the anvil that keeps getting dropped is "trusting in people is a really, really good thing." Mr. Hanekoma even tells Neku that his world will only extend as far as he wants it to, and if he stays a shut-in his whole life, he'll always be miserable.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' 9/10: if you destroy a country and abuse the people, you are going to find yourself with [[La Résistance|terrorists]] on your minds. Today's saviours may be tomorrow's tyrants. Also, justifying [[I Did What I Had to Do|everything you do]] as [[My Country Right or Wrong|patriotism]] leads to horror.

** Additionally, from FE 9: Every country has their own political problems and social squabbing, but abuse, hatred, slavery, and genocide of people from other nations is never, ''never'' right. And trying to stop it can, and should, be a powerful unifying force between these differing nations.

* ''[[Mother Three|Mother 3]]'' has very constant, and quite often rather [[Nightmare Fuel|soul-shakingly terrifying]] representations of the corruption of nature by technology (not so much "technology is bad" as it is that misuse of technology with no restraint is bad) and the [[Tear Jerker|rather earthly and relevant]] destruction, sacrifice, reunion, and all around painful examination of familial bonds.

* ''Pokémon'', especially ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'', can get pretty [[Anvilicious]] about taking care of your Pokémon and treating them like friends, rather than tools, but it's a message that people need to learn, whether you are talking about people or animals.

** There's also some subtext that no one, no matter how cruel or mean they are, is beyond redemption if they truly do mean it -- Silver, Maxie and Archie, and especially N are all primary villains that reform when they realize the error of their ways. And of course, Pokémon too are individuals, and many are probably just [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock Villains]] that are simply following the orders of their trainers. The aesop gets a bit broken in later Generations, where the leaders of Team Galactic and Team Plasma don't reform, and {{spoiler|we find out Giovanni, who since the very first games was implied to go off and try to live a peaceful life after being defeated, never learned his lesson either}}.

** The show also lays it on thick about the pointlessness of revenge and how killing causes more problems than it solves. This is reinforced by David Xanatos. Why is he such a successful, well regarded, and enduring villain? Because he ''doesn't go in for revenge''. '''Ever'''. While villains in other cartoons inevitably [[Motive Decay|forget their original goals to seek revenge on the heroes]], Xanatos never even holds a grudge because, as he put it, "Revenge is a sucker's game."<br /><br />It's also reinforced by "City of Stone" and "Hunter's Moon."

{{quote| '''Goliath:''' No! Killing her (Demona) won't solve anything! Death never does!<br />

'''Macbeth:''' [[You Can't Fight Fate|No!]]<br />

'''Seline:''' You wanted revenge for your father. [[Cycle of Revenge|Did Gillecomgain's death settle that score?]]<br />

** Late in the first season, Aang discovers a Firebending master and is eager to learn firebending. The master is reluctant because he knows Aang has not mastered water and earth (and true focus) yet. To start with baby steps, the master gives Aang a tiny leaf to burn a little. But an impatient Aang yearns to show off his potential and creates giant flames that badly burns Katara much to his horror. Distaught, Aang decides he will never firebend again and suppresses his firebending abilities (until the later 3rd season). Katara reminds Aang that he has to learn firebending someday, just not now. Even if you feel you have more potential, dangerous lessons must be learned gradually. And if you mess up real terribly, it does not mean you must abandon learning it; you will learn it someday, but not today.<br /><br />A later third season episodes completes the Aesop that a dangerious ability can be beautiful and vital once you understand control and its meaning. Zuko and Aang learns this when {{spoiler|they witnessed the last two dragons on Earth fire beautiful flames around them without burning them.}}

** "The Painted Lady" had a point: Although all the miracles are blessings, you shouldn't just believe that circumstances will eventually improve, but ''act'' to make things better. It didn't matter if the Painted Lady was real or not -- the fact that they thought that she was acting for them was enough to turn things around and get people hopeful again.

{{quote| '''Aang''': Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right?? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good ''and'' great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance.}}

** "The Southern Raiders" takes [[Forgiveness]], an aesop commonly found in children's shows (most of which [[Narm|don't handle it very well]]), and completely [[Justified Trope|justifies]] it. Interesting in that Katara doesn't forgive the man who killed her mother, but she ''does'' forgive Zuko. It was an intelligent way of handling the aesop that counts as a [[Reconstruction]].

** There's also the episode ''Not Normal'', in which Squidward convinces Spongebob that he needs to act "more normal." Spongebob watches a self-help video on the topic, and eventually transforms into a [[Faceless Masses|bland, mediocre office worker]]. But instead of this making him happier and more accepted, it leaves him bored and miserable because he's lost all of his unique talents and the things that he used to enjoy. He and Patrick end up spending the rest of the episode trying to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|turn Spongebob "weird" again.]] The message, that "normal" is incredibly overrated and the quest to fit in can destroy the best things about you, feels very clear and strong in this episode.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' had several subtle anvil droppings. Throughout the first season, Danny was terrified about telling his parents about his secret identity, because they hunted ghosts for a living. When he finally does reveal his secret to them, they were completly accepting. It goes to show that you should trust your family with your secrets. They'll love you no matter what.

* ''[[Happy Feet]]'': The last wild places in the world are worth protecting and preserving.

** "Your way of doing things is not inherently better than my way just because of tradition."

{{quote| '''Batgirl''': She's beautiful.<br />

'''Batman''': She can't see that anymore. All she can see are the flaws. }}

** "Suited for Success" has a twofold moral: the first is "you shouldn't try to please everyone, because you'll often please no one", and the second is "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". "Applebuck Season" is all about how it's okay to ask your friends for help when you really need it. And "Green Isn't Your Color" manages to do a pretty good job of explaining that some secrets are okay to keep, and some aren't.

** Bridle Gossip: "Do not judge a book by its cover"- echoing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Do not judge a person by the color of his skin". The ponies are afraid of Zecora- a Zebra dressed in East African garb who speaks Swahili- and accuse her of being a witch. But Zecora turns out to be friendly and knowledgeable- and not responsible for the tricks played on the ponies at all. [[Double Aesop|To drive the point home]], Twilight could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she hadn't ''literally'' judged a book by its cover: she dismisses a book called "Supernaturals", only to find out it was actually a book on natural remedies called "Super Naturals", and outlined both the cause and cure for the supposed "curse" from which her and her friends were suffering.

[[Category:Sturgeons Tropes]]

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