Deconstructed Trope: Difference between revisions

 

Examples from [[Fanfic]] are to go in [[Deconstruction Fic]].

 

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** Marina Ismail, for all her genuine desire to make [[Qurac|Azhadistan]] better, is a deconstruction of [[Rebellious Princess]]. She tries to work hard for her goals, but ends up as a figurehead and soon can't do lots more than being an inspiration for Setsuna F. Seiei (who seems to view her as a partial [[Replacement Goldfish]] for his [[Missing Mom]], whom she resembles closely) and taking care of children once {{spoiler|Azhadistan is burned down in the second season}}.

** Wang Liu Mei, for all her [[Smug Snake]] [[Ojou]]-ness, provides a realistic view of what would've happened to [[Gundam Seed|Lacus]] [[Gundam Seed Destiny|Clyne]] in any other Gundam series. Cue deconstructions of [[The Pollyanna]], [[Idol Singer]] ''and'' [[The Ojou]]: both girls are popular and beautiful idols with quite the degree of social and political power, but whereas the gentle and idealistic Lacus wants peace between Coordinators and Naturals, the cynical and selfish Liu Mei wants the world to change... at ''any'' costs.

** Celestial Being during the first half of season 1 could be seen as a deconstruction of the [[Gundam Seed|Three Ship Alliance]] and [[Gundam Seed Destiny|Terminal]], in particular their tendency to unilaterally police the Natural/Coordinator wars. ''[[Gundam 00]]'' depicts the impact of such organizations' actions in real life and takes it to its logical extreme, by having them attempt to literally end ALL conflicts.

** {{spoiler|Lyle Dylandy}} could be seen as a deconstruction of {{spoiler|the [[Backup Twin]]}} concept in general. {{spoiler|The first thing he makes known to his teammates in Celestial Being is he's not his older twin Neil's [[Replacement Goldfish]], even preferring to put on a [[Jerkass Facade]] than leading Feldt, a girl who's in love with his deceased brother, on. He also prefers to use [[The Gunslinger|a different]] [[Gun Kata|style of gun fighting]] to contrast Neil's sniping method, although he also uses it frequently. }}

*** Haruhi can also be a deconstruction of [[Black Hole Sue]], since {{spoiler|having the power to warp the world to your will and being pretty much the God of the story}} is ''not'' necessarily as good as it sounds.

* Even ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', the [[Reconstruction|Reconstructive]] [[Affectionate Parody|Parody]] of [[Humongous Mecha]], manages to deconstruct something few things:

** [[Only Sane Man]] - Rossiu grows up to be the [[Manipulative Bastard]] with few shades of [[Jerkass]] ''because'' he is only one male member of Dai-Gurren Brigade who is not [[Hot Blooded]] [[Chaotic Good]] [[Leeroy Jenkins]] to some degree, so he starts treating all his comrades as bunch of idiots and believing he's the only one who knows how to save the world {{spoiler|right to the point when he commits several acts of [[Shoot the Dog|Shooting The Dog]]}}. Also related with the deconstruction of...

*** [[Extreme Doormat]] - As Rossiu's partner, Kittan's middle sister Kinon is forced to do ''unthinkable'' things just {{spoiler|to prevent Rossiu from taking everything too far}}, culminating in {{spoiler|having a gigaton of explosives ''strapped to her chest'' in case Simon tries to escape custody. [[Break the Cutie|It almost destroyed the poor gir's psyche and self-esteem]], and Rossiu was ''deeply'' sorry for this.}}

** The second half of the series also deconstructs [[Authority Equals Asskicking]] {{spoiler|and the result of [[La Résistance|The Resistance]] successfully defeating [[The Empire]] and having to deal with ruling over the land they have liberated - when the Dai-Gurren Brigade takes up the top government positions thanks to their combat prowess, most of them do a really bad job, not everyone wants to be under their command and almost all members of Team Gurren admit they're not cut out for administrative duties. Also, once the Anti-Spiral invasion appears, Rossiu's ascension to power by scapegoating Simon mirrors similar situations in real-life politics where, during crises, people get high office by blaming their predecessors for what's going wrong.}}

** There was also that episode where Kenshin met an old man who had wasted his life on an "I want to be stronger" quest. The betrothed woman he had left behind had died and hardly anyone remembers him. So much for [[Walking the Earth]]. . .

** Shougo Muto aka Amakusa deconstructs [[Religious Bruiser]], as ever since he was a kid he was told to become a savior for those who needed him (namely, the few Christians that survived in Japan). After his [[Break the Cutie]] days, he swore to be as strong as iron to [[Knight Templar|protect them and judge the evildoers with the blessing of God]]... but [[Dark Messiah|his gradually acquired God complex]] [[Break the Haughty|led him to his downfall.]] Not to mention, his arrogance didn't let him see {{spoiler|that his second-in-command, Kaiou, was [[The Starscream]] and wanted to get him killed to acquire fame and lead a Christian army. If not for Sanosuke, Sayo and Shouzo...}}

* For the heroine of a ''very'' idealistic show, Sora from [[Kaleido Star]] deconstructs [[Naive Everygirl]] and [[Purity Sue]], by facing crippling losses and rejection ''from the beginning'' and having to work hard for both respect and technical prowess... ''without'' becoming cynical. At the same time, her rival from the second season May Wong is a deconstruction of [[Tsundere Sue]]: she plays it straight at first, but she actually pays the price for her arrogance... [[Break the Haughty|VERY brutally]].

** Fool deconstructs [[Fairy Companion]]. Sora thinks she has lost her mind when she starts seeing him, his advice isn't exactly flawless, {{spoiler|and when Sora goes into borderline [[Wangst]] status she actually stops seeing him for a while.}}

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' either deconstructs the [[Idiot Hero]] with Suzaku or simply plays it for drama. Either way, poor Suzaku ''painfully'' pays the price for his questionable actions.

** [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] is deconstructed with Kallen's Japanese birth mother, who cannot cope with the suffering she goes through and ends up as a drug addict since she wants to relive her happy times, and causes Kallen to be disappointed as she mistakes her devotion to her for devotion to her [[Jerkass]] Britannian father. {{spoiler|Fortunately, she gets better in the [[Grand Finale]].}}

* ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' deconstructs [[Vigilante Man]] with Light Yagami, showing just what an arrogant [[Jerkass]] someone would have to be to decide their judgment is better than the law.

*** In the case of the former, while Light might begin with the best interest of the world at heart, honestly believing that using the Death Note is the best way to achieve an end to evil, by the end he becomes so narcissitic that he comes to believe he is a god.

*** In the latter case, the "utopia" that Light creates is actually free of war and crime, everything Light wanted to get rid of; however, this is only true because everyone is terrified of Kira, and are constantly afraid of him. That was the point, of course.

** It also deconstructs [[The Ace]]. Satellizer is beautiful, smart, a strong [[Action Girl]], pretty much a female [[Determinator]]... but the heavy pressure to be the best does ''not'' mix well with her [[Hates Being Touched|trust issues]] [[Broken Bird|and troubled past]], and so she's feared and hated by everyone.

*** And [[Real Women Never Wear Dresses]], too. In her death bed, trying to make up to Satellizer for not defending her from {{spoiler|her half-brother's physical and sexual abuse}}, her mother gives her advice that sounds a LOT to what the "fandom feminists" demand from every single female character: "don't relay on others, don't show any 'weaknesses', never ever give up on any purpose you have, crush your enemies mercilessly so you'll always be the strongest." Did this help Satellizer "get over" her traumatic past? '''''NO.''''' She ''did'' become a very powerful, beautiful and smart [[Super Soldier]] [[Action Girl]]... but her mental issues became '''even worse''' and she ended up driving everyone away from her. Satellizer wasn't seen as [[Girls Need Role Models|a "strong female" and "good example for little girls"]], but as a [[Complete Monster]] who hurt everyone mercilessly. And it actually was a ''man'', the [[Barrier Warrior]] Kazuya Aoi, who helped her work on her issues and become a mildly-functional human being.

** ''[[Shaman King]]'' also deconstructs [[Villain Sue]] with Hao. The guy's clearly powerful enough to be one, he has a [[Freudian Excuse]] several characters acknowledge, he's related to one of the heroes, and killing him just means he'll be back stronger for the next Shaman Fight. It seems completely impossible for any of the good guys to stop Hao from becoming God and destroying the world. Yoh's solution? {{spoiler|Realizing that for all his power, Hao is still a lonely and miserable person under his calm, [[Affably Evil]] facade. Rather than trying to defeat Hao with strength, Yoh and his friends reach out to him once Hao has attained the title of Shaman King to try and appeal to Hao's better nature. When ''every character in the series'' follows suit, Hao is completely caught off-guard and loses his resolve to destroy humanity, admitting defeat calmly and letting everyone go back to their lives. The epilogue indicates that the heroes do see where Hao was coming from when he was rejecting their worldview, but fortunately Hao mellowed out.}}

* Many [[Hentai]] tropes get played for drama in ''[[Imma Youjo (Anime)|Imma Youjo]]''.

* [[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni|Erika Furude's]] analysis of the Rokenjima deaths as if they were from a novel deconstructs [[Genre Savvy]], as it's used to make her come off as evil and insane instead of logical. [[Kick the Dog|You just DON'T tell a mother her child died in a way that sounds like it's from a third-rate mystery.]]

** Maria Ushiromiya deconstructs [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]], too. She is [[Pure Is Not Good|"pure and childlike"]] —which, aside from implying geniality and a loving nature ( {{spoiler|and letting her retain the imaginative power necessary for being a Creator}}), means that she acts a few years younger than she truly is, doesn't understand the concept of doubt, and has next to [[No Social Skills]]. As a result, she's bullied and rejected by her mother and her peers.

* ''[[Paranoia Agent]]''. Oh, ''[[Paranoia Agent]]''. Firstly, it deconstructs Japan's love of [[Kawaisa|cute things and youthfulness]] by showing how crazy people can get over an adorable mascot {{spoiler|that's potentially an adorable [[Eldritch Abomination]]}}. And then it seems to deconstruct a Characterization Trope with every episode. To wit:

** [[The Ace]]: Yuichi "Ichi" Taira

* ''[[Godannar]]'' deconstructs [[Tsundere]] again, but taking a different approach than Taiga and Helga examples above and below - instead of showing the reason for such behavior, it shows the ''consequences''. Shizuru Fujimura notes that this was exactly how she was treating Goh Saruwatari, pushing him away, so before she could finally come to terms with her own feelings and accept the fact she loves him... he married another woman, Anna Aoi.

** It also [[Discussed Trope|discusses]] and lightly deconstructs [[Battle Couple]]. Goh and Anna are married as well as partners, but it doesn't mean their relationship is all wine and roses: there's the 12 years age gap, the fact that Go was in love with his dead partner Milla, the stress of battles, etc. And then we get the other team-ups...

** The OAV's also deconstruct [[Born Lucky]]. Shinji Nagumo noticed he had extremely good luck when he survived several accidents. He then became so smug that he actually started to set up different mishaps involving him and his work rivals/superiors, from which he'd walk away while the others would end up dead.

* Karina/Blue Rose from [[Tiger and Bunny]] deconstructs [[Ms. Fanservice]]. She's marketed as a mix of [[Faux Action Girl]] (she does have [[An Ice Person|decent ice powers]], but her [[Stripperiffic|fanservicy outfit]] puts serious hampers on her fighting and she doesn't have hand-to-hand skills) and [[Romanticized Abuse|Romanticized Abuser]] (people think she's a hot [[Dominatrix]], but she's ''as much'' a [[Tsundere]])... and she hates it, due to how far her public image is from her real personality. Not to mention she doesn't even have much of a choice: her sponsors are the ones who choose the skimpy outfit, to start.

** The [[Badass]] in general. Yes, Guts would drink molten lead when sufficiently thirsty, can mow down entire armies of [[Mooks]] with ease and is capable of winning battles against huge demons that could rip open a tank, but he only became like this because he lived trough a lifetime of horrors and has been walking the razors edge of survival even before he was properly born. It is very obvious that Guts would have been a somewhat brash but mostly average guy if he had led a normal life instead of suffering trough [[Training From Hell|what he got]]. You DO NOT want to be him, but you will respect him even more.

** Casca deconstructs the [[Action Girl]]. She became one of the best swordfighters in the world due to her intense physical training and dedication to her hero Griffith. But she still has her rules every month, doesn't like being covered with scars very much and, being the only female fighter in a gritty medieval war, is a constant target for countless would be rapists who think a woman has no place on the battlefield. She handles a lot of horrible experiences admirably but {{spoiler|when the gloves come off for real during the eclypse she ends up permanently broken and insane.}}

** Isidro is a deconstruction of the [[Kid Samurai]] who shows how incompetent and delusional a [[Kid Samurai]] would really be (believing in [[Calling Your Attacks]], choosing swordsmanship over throwing, which is his true forte, etc), with a bit of parody thrown in for good measure.

** The King of Midland deconstructs the "king who believes in merit over birth" archetype by wanting to have {{spoiler|sex with his own ''daughter''}}, wants Griffith to become King so that he can be relieved of the loneliness of the throne, and has alienated his wife.

*** Griffith further deconstructs [[The Chosen One]]. He was made into a hero of prophesy who would deliver Midland from evil, or rather the Kushan Empire led by the apostle emperor, Ganishka. The thing is, the forces that made him the hero are the exact same ones that created his antagonist and the conflict he's supposed to stop. In this, Griffith is not so much a hero as he is an actor knowingly playing his part.

** Which brings us to Charlotte who is a deconstruction of the [[Princess Classic]]. She's lovely, sweet, soft spoken, and always wears wonderful outfits. But no one cares about the actual woman behind that lovely facade, since all she is in the eyes of almost everyone is a womb that must give birth to new members of the royal line... by marrying members of her uncomfortably close family. Everyone knows the only reason Griffith wants her is [[Meal Ticket|gaining access to the throne.]] And as it's easy to see, all of these experiences (including {{spoiler|being almost raped by her dad}}) [[Break the Cutie|are quite hard on the girl.]]

* One [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] of Saito Hiraga from ''[[Zero no Tsukaima (Light Novel)|Zero no Tsukaima]]'' suggests that his creepy pervert ways show how a normal hormonal teenage male thrust into a... bountiful fantasy realm will really act.

* Teana Lanster of [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers]] deconstructs [[I Just Want to Be Special]] by presenting the pressures felt by somebody who has mediocre talent in a group of elites. Being surrounded by people considered geniuses (Nanoha, Fate), people with rare skills (Hayate and Caro), and those with high latent potential (Erio and Subaru), she forces herself to work twice as hard because she feels the need to prove that she belongs to the group (as well as to prove to the world that her brother's skills and by extension her skills are not worthless). When she fails or performs poorly, she punishes herself by working even harder due to her lack of confidence, eventually causing her to have a [[Heroic BSOD]] when she felt that her lack of talent was causing others trouble.

* [[Sakura Gari]] deconstructs several tropes, but the most notorious are:

** [[Complete Monster]]: Souma presents himself as such via abusing Masataka in several senses... but once we see his past as well as ''what'' exactly drove him to act that way, things are ''much'' more complicated and horrifying than having him as a mere abusive bastard without any depths.

* [[Detective Conan]], as one of the [[Long Runners]], features more than one deconstructed trope in its cases. A good example is what Gosho Aoyama did with [[Rescue Romance]], when {{spoiler|a guy who hopelessly crushes on Ran, Sonoko and Shinichi's sempai Asami drugs her when they go karaoke singing and then secretly sets the karaoke parlor in fire, hoping she'd finally fall for him when he rescued her. In the end, not only Ran is the one who really rescues Asami, but Conan (through Sonoko in the manga, and Kogoro in the anime) reveals his gambit to everyone, harshly calling him out on his selfishness.}}

* The new season of [[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]], Black and White deconstructs what normally happens in the early seasons. For one, Iris doesn't get her bike destroyed, Team Rocket no longer blasts off, and they start to act more competent then they were in the [[Seasonal Rot]] episodes. And, they're more successful in their jobs then before.

== Comics ==

* ''[[Life Sucks]]'' deconstructs every vampire trope it can get its hands on (and its fangs sunk into), and towards the end it lists them off as it does so. The main thrust of it is that most vampire stories portray ordinary humans as mindless cattle and vampires as [[Ubermensch|liberated beings]] that can do whatever the hell they want, whereas the protagonist is enslaved both by the rules necessary to uphold [[The Masquerade]], and by the older vampire who sired him and can kill him at will. It also touches on just how alienating the inability to go out in sunlight can be, how humiliating it is to steal from blood banks (and how dehumanizing it is to obtain blood more directly), and how [[Charm Person|the ability to charm and enslave humans]] is [[Mind Rape|equivalent to rape]], with an ultimate message that [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|nobody should ever want to be a vampire]]. Whew!

* [[Batman]]'s [[Papa Wolf]] and his [[Berserk Button]] of "killing a couple in front of their son" was deconstructed when pursuing a criminal who had shot and killed a couple, leaving the boy in a state of shock. Batman naturally is hellbent to get the criminal. {{spoiler|It turns out that ''the boy'' had shot and killed his parents while the criminal was just nearby. Batman's [[Berserk Button]] made him chase after the wrong person.}}

{{quote| '''Batman''': Everything I've done in the past three nights, I've been doing for the wrong little boy. }}

* ''[[The Incredibles]]'' deconstructs [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]] with the character of Edna Mode, superhero costume designer. One of Edna's most memorable scenes comes when she points out the unfortunate side effect of making costumes out of bulletproof "Mega-mesh": cape-related accidents are deadly.

* ''[[Megamind]]'' as a whole is a deconstruction, and more specifically, one of [[Designated Villain]], as the titular [[Villain Protagonist]] as {{spoiler|Metro Man's death would lead him to create a new enemy that is more evil than him}}.

** A more reasonable interpretation might be "Don't try to [[Pretender Diss|mimic]] or [[Mighty Whitey|usurp]] a foreign culture no matter how much you admire it, because it's not your culture to promote and [[Values Dissonance|there are nuances to it you can't possibly understand]]."

** What's most jarring is that, just before's Scar's "Be Prepared" song, we have "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". Though the latter is much more colorful and cheery than the former, they're both essentially about the same thing: the singer's desire for power but not responsibility.

*** As "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" is sung by a child/cub that has only begun training to be king, I think we can cut Simba some slack for being excited about not having anyone tell him what to do. Scar, an adult, is another matter entirely.

** The song "Hakuna Matata" is presented as a paradise of "just forget about it and have some fun", but this is immediately taken to pieces when Nala shows up and forces an adult Simba to realize that this is just petulant and childish and he needs to step up.

* ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' deconstructs [[Promotion to Parent]] with the well-intentioned and loving Nani struggling to be a competent guardian and raise Lilo to the satisfaction of the Social Services, as well as balancing her job, dealing with Lilo's strange coping methods and coping with their parents' death herself. They still argue like sisters and Lilo even says, "I like you better as a sister than a mom."

 

* ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' was the definitive deconstruction of stock cliche high school movie characters for a whole generation, to the point where every teen movie made since has responded to it in one way or the other.

* Aside from showing the nightmarish life of an alcoholic, ''[[The Lost Weekend]]'' served to debunk the "lovable drunk" movie stereotype.

* ''[[Heartbreakers]]'' deconstructs [[All Men Are Perverts]] with style. Max and Paige make their living off conning rich men by seducing them, Paige remarking "we can't make a scumbag do anything a scumbag wouldn't do". But then when Max tries to seduce Paige's husband nice guy Jack, he says no and she has to resort to drugging him. Then the last man Max conned says he would never cheat on her again, not because he got caught but because of what he lost (her).

* The film ''[[Real Steel]]'' provides a deconstruction of the [[Finishing Move]] trope. During an underground fight, Charlie gains the upper hand with his new robot Noisy Boy, putting his opponent on the ropes. Confident that he's gained the advantage, Charlie has Noisy Boy wind up for a big finishing move... giving his opponent enough time to strike Noisy Boy in the chest, knocking him to the ground and turning the tide of the match.

* [[Streets of Fire]] deconstructs the [[Distressed Damsel]] plot. Cody's doing it for money, and Ellen is rescued about halfway through, the problem then becomes ''keeping'' her safe.

*** [[Always Save the Girl]] and [[Standard Heros Reward]] are both decontructed with the character of the Hero (actually his title) who is madly in love with a princess who won't give him the time of the day. Bastian uses his powers to create a situation wherein a dragon kidnaps the princess and the Hero can rescue her to make her fall in love with him. It's briefly described that the Hero endures a number of dangers and saves her, and she ''does'' fall for him... except he's no longer interested in her after going through so much for her. So there's only so far [[The Dulcinea Effect]] will take you.

*** Said Hero's three companions (of the same class) deconstruct [[Knight in Shining Armour]] and [[Undying Loyalty]] - after Bastian earns their respect, they swear to serve him forever... This unfortunately includes trying to do amoral things against their benevolent nature, and also when Bastian disappears they dedicate their lives to finding him, ultimately [[Breaking the Fellowship]] and going their seperate ways.

* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] is deconstructed in the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]: [[Gaunts Ghosts|Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Ghostmaker'', where the victory of Gaunt and a small group of troopers (exalted by some Eldar sorcery) over a thousands-strong Chaos force without taking casualties is found to simply not make sense given the tactical data, which should have had them killed to the last man, and is written off by analysts as a phantom engagement.

* [[Dan Abnett]] also deconstructed [[The Smart Guy]] in his ''[[Warhammer 40000]]: [[Eisenhorn]]'' trilogy. Eisenhorn's savant, Ueber Aemos, is the walking databank he is because of a "meme-virus" he acquired that gives him a compulsion to keep gathering knowledge, culminating in {{spoiler|memorising the entirety of the [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|Malus Codicum]] and summoning a daemon in an attempt to protect Eisenhorn}}.

** It also had some fairly lengthy deconstructions of [[Always Chaotic Evil]], basically arguing that any species you could call "sentient" must have the potential to choose good or evil.

* The ''[[Mistborn]]'' books deconstruct the [[Evil Overlord]] in the character of the Lord Ruler- he's introduced in the first book and pretty much played straight as an inhuman/superhuman force of evil {{spoiler|though we do get a bit of his backstory}}; subsequent books delve deeply into his personality, history, and motivations, ultimately making him out as [[Not So Different]] from the heroes.

* ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' is a deconstruction of [[Draco in Leather Pants]] in its portrayal of [[Satan]]. He starts out all [[Badass]] and charismatic, but as we get to know him more and more, he see that he's a whiny, self-pitying bully who bows to peer pressure from the other demons, [[Parental Incest|bangs his own daughter]] and isn't even all that badass when compared to, say, [[The Cape|Michael]] or [[Kung Fu Jesus]]. The intention was to make the reader acknowledge that they felt the allure of sin but also that it leads nowhere good. Sadly, the [[Misaimed Fandom]] didn't get the memo and talk about how "heroic" a character Satan is.

** It doesn't help that in the process of deconstructing Satan, the story [[Ron the Death Eater|deconstructs God]] and [[You Can't Fight Fate]] by having God know every single thing Satan is going to do... [[Jerkass God|and chooses to do almost nothing to stop it.]] As a result, it manages to slightly reconstruct Satan: both gods are jerks, but at least Satan is proactive and likable.

* [[Ayn Rand]] deconstructs several tropes in her works. For instance...

** ''Atlas Shrugged'' also deconstructs [[I Just Want to Be Loved]] with James Taggart's relationship with Cheryl. Instead of being loved for owning a company, for being skilled or for even being a nice person, he wants to be loved for what he is, and that's pretty much nothing.

* [[The Elder Scrolls Novels]] - Pretty heavy on this:

** [[Action Hero]]: Annaig. She reads a lot of adventure books, and has an extreme desire to be an adventurer herself. when she finally does get to go on a "real" adventure, {{spoiler|most people she cares about are killed, she is constantly forced to keep her morals in check or else she is worried she will become just as bad as the people she's fighting, she realizes that destroying Umbriel will likely kill hundreds of decent people along with the not-so-decent ones, and spends most of her time just trying desperately not to die.}}

* ''[[Tomorrow When the War Began]]'' takes the [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] and [[La Résistance]] tropes to their logical conclusions via [[War Is Hell]]. The kids have to stop being kids and start being soldiers - those of them that can't quickly get captured or killed, while those of them that can never really recover from some of the traumas.

** Another deconstruction takes place in regards to [[Comforting the Widow]]. {{spoiler|A certain Death Eater named Severus Snape can't get over being Lily Evans-Potter's [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]], who is more or less [[Happily Married]] to James Potter and is the mother of baby Harry. He panics when his boss, Lord Voldemort, decides to kill her alongside Harry for being his mom ''and'' a "mudblood", and then asks Voldemort to only kill her husband and child so he can comfort the widowed Lily and ultimately have her as his trophy wife of sorts. Voldemort's answer is "NO DAMMIT" and he coldly kills Lily too, when she goes [[Mama Bear]] to protect baby Harry (and her [[Heroic Sacrifice]] protects him from beyond the grave too). Snape is so crushed after losing the only person who once cared for him due to his own actions, that he has a [[Heel Face Turn]] and becomes a [[Good Is Not Nice]] [[The Atoner|Atoner]].}}

** A deconstruction of a lighter shade comes with Luna Lovegood's [[Cloudcuckoolander]] tendencies, which have left her an easy target of teasing and ridicule amongst the other students. (In example, she tells Harry that the Ravenclaw kids prank her by hiding her stuff and forcing her to search for it all alone). Consequently, Ginny Weasley had been pretty much her ''only'' friend at Hogwarts until her 4th year at the school... However, neither of these facts bothered her significantly, and she does what she can to live her life at the fullest.

** From the same author, "The Shadow Club" involves a group of teenagers getting back at others by playing pranks on them. Naturally, someone takes the "harmless" pranks too far; because that's what happens when you give people power over their foes.

* ''[[The Red Badge of Courage]]'' deconstructs the idea that [[War Is Glorious]]. When it's not boring and monotonous, [[War Is Hell|it's absolutely horrific]].

** It also shows that what happens when good boys fall in love with troubled, angry women who are in love with said troubled, angry men...

** Romance, as a genre, is one of the easiest to deconstruct, simply because by its very nature it is fantasy-driven. There are eerie parallels between the 'romance' and 'porn story' genres (aside from the fact that a story can be both at once), in that both exist to embody fantasy satisfaction of impulses that in real life ''must'' be restrained by the necessities of duty, common sense, and sanity. Drama is good as entertainment but rapidly becomes exhausting and draining when you have to live it.

** "Wishful Thinking" deconstructs a [[Shallow Love Interest]] in an example of a guy who made the wish that his high school crush would love him over anything else. At first, he is happy with this new situation but eventually, he becomes disheartened by the fact she literally has no other personality other than pleasing and loving him, even resorting to murder for him to maintain their "love".

* ''[[Foyles War]]'' deconstructs the myth of wartime Britain being a place where everyone pulled together to make a stand and fight the common foe; in the early years especially, there's an awful lot of defeatism, cynicism and would-be collaboration afoot, and there's more than a few people who are willing to cynically exploit the confusion, desperation and uncertainty produced by the war to venally line their own pockets. Furthermore, the British government is willing to do whatever it takes and make deals with whomever they need to win the war, resulting in an awful lot of [[Karma Houdini|Karma Houdinis]] in DCS Foyle's investigations.

** ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' also deconstructs [[The Big Guy]]. Charles Gunn resents being thought of as little more than "the muscle," and so make a (basically literal) [[Deal With the Devil]] to gain intricate knowledge of the law, human and demon alike. To maintain this new skill, Gunn makes a second deal that {{spoiler|ends up killing someone he loved}}. He doesn't even realize that his upgrade has actually made him [[The Big Guy]] version of a lawyer.

* Season 6 episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' "Dead Things", consciously deconstructs the trope of [[Mind Control]] by following it through to its unsettling conclusions. Led by [[Stalker With a Crush|Warren]], the geeky Trio use a device to hypnotize Warren's ex-girlfriend into doing their bidding, even having her dressed up in a [[Fetish Fuel|French maid's outfit]]. Jonathan and Andrew even giggle childishly about how cool the situation is ... until Warren takes his ex into another room and orders her to give him oral sex. She comes out of the trance, is utterly [[Squick|squicked]] by what the Trio are doing and points out that it's <s>esentially</s> rape. {{spoiler|She is then killed by Warren in her attempt to escape the basement,}} and the Trio are sobered out of ever using their [[Mind Control]] device again.

** And, of course, Buffy deconstructed the [[Mary Sue]] even more blatantly than the Angel example above in "Superstar," in which Jonathan, having cast a spell on himself, becomes one not only overshadowing Buffy as one of the Scoobies but apparently the entire world, retconning himself into a famous basketball player (despite being shorter than Buffy), the star of ''The Matrix,'' and a strategic genius to whom even the most classified of military operations defer.

** Buffy's status as [[The Chosen One]] increasingly made her emotionally distant towards her family and friends.

* Despite ''[[The Glades]]'' being about a [[Cowboy Cop]], the first episode showed somewhat realistic consequences to having an officer who tramples all over the rules and gets away with it because of his skill and talent. Specifically, {{spoiler|his partner feels overshadowed by him, and complained about it to his wife so much it eventually destroyed their marriage. When she tried to leave him, he killed her. ''She's'' the [[Victim of the Week]].}}

* The characters Han Won Soo and Mo Ji Ran from the [[Korean Drama]] ''First Wives Club'' deconstructs the typical portrayal of the [[Victorious Childhood Friend]]. In order to be together, the childhood sweethearts cheated on their respective marital partners, with Ji Ran abandoning her family, and Won Soo [[Domestic Abuse|beating up]] his wife when she doesn't want to sign their divorce papers.

* ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' deconstructs Phoebe's [[Serial Romeo]] lifestyle by showing how the endless stream of failed relationships, both human and magical, leaves her emotionally fragile and terrified of love. She even resorts to using her premonitions to see if the relationship will go anywhere on the first date and is punished by the Elders. However they eventually delve into reconstruction when Phoebe considers getting a sperm donor and realises that she doesn't just want a baby, she really does want to be in love and a cupid gets sent to help her overcome her problems.

** The episode "All Hell Breaks Loose" arguably deconstructs Prue's [[God Mode Sue]] characteristics that were part of the show. Every decision Prue made in the episode resulted in something bad happening when for the past three seasons she had never faced any serious consequences of her reckless behavior. Twice she forced Piper to recklessly go out in public and use their powers against a demon, ending up getting caught on live TV both times and exposed. Leo calls her out on her carelessness when she tries to reason it as saving an innocent. Next she uses her powers on a woman who comes into their house without stopping to think. Said woman is actually quite mad and ends up shooting Piper. Prue then goes mad and uses her powers on innocent people, albeit clearing them out of the way so she could drive Piper to the hospital but she definitely goes too far by sweeping everyone in the street away. A SWAT team is called in to kill her. And finally at the end of the episode she carelessly takes a hit from a demon, pushing an innocent out of the way when she could have used her powers {{spoiler|and this is what kills her for good}}. The next few episodes have the others talking about how she recklessly risked her life without considering the consequences.

** "A Day in the Life" deconstructed [[Improbable Weapon User]] since Xena used the frying pan to fight off bad guys, they have no way to cook their food. She also used their knife the week before so Gabrielle is forced to use the chakram to slice fish which Xena did not like.

** In their use of Callisto, the show deconstructed [[But for Me It Was Tuesday]]. Back in her warlord days, Xena led a raid on a village that involved an accidental fire that killed women and children. Though she felt regret, it didn't exactly keep her up at night. Years later, [[All Grown Up|Callisto turns up]], swearing vengeance for the deaths of her parents and sister in that raid, and confronting Xena with the fact that her past crimes have created a psychopath. It's not until this point that Xena realizes the full consequences of her actions and the fact that she's [[Create Your Own Villain|unknowingly created her worst enemy]], a woman who doesn't want anything in life but to make Xena suffer. Xena's "Tuesday" ends up costing her dearly, both with her [[Guilt Complex]] and in all the chaos that Callisto causes.

* ''[[New Girl]]'' arguably deconstructs the ''[[Purity Sue]]'' trope. The main character, Jess, is sweet, kind-hearted, innocent and relentlessly optimistic, always trying to see the best in people regardless of circumstances. As a result, She is crushingly naive, incapable of anger or self-assertion, she is extremely emotionally fragile, has a tendency to judge the choices of others, is often taken advantage of by others (Her boyfriend cheated on her in the first episode), she isn't respected by friends or the children she teaches, her friends love her but are very aware that she needs to be constantly handled with kid gloves, and people often find her help more irritating than anything else. There are quite a few instances where other characters point out how unsettling her attitude is for a grown woman and her friends have called her out on being judgemental.

* The British mini-series ''[[Dis Connected]]'' deconstructs [[The Casanova]] and [[Really Gets Around]]; the character of Ben fancies himself a lady-killer, but all the female characters of substance find him repulsive (resulting in a [[Gender Flipped]] version of [[My Girl Is Not a Slut]] considering they label him "a little slut" and "a man-whore"), and he only manages to get lucky with unintelligent and/or slutty girls (deemed as such by their peers).

 

 

 

== Theater ==

** Ibsen also deconstructs [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]] with ''[[A Dolls House (Theatre)|A Dolls House]]'' and ''[[Hedda Gabler]]''. In ''Doll's House'', the heroine Nora is a (seemingly) flighty, vivacious, kooky child-woman who gradually realizes that she's been so working so hard at playing this role [[Savvy Guy Energetic Girl|for her more conventional husband]] — even through bearing him three children — that she has never really grown up and has no idea of her true self, and that their relationship is thus only a game, not adult love. She leaves him to try and learn how to be a fully formed human being. And in ''Hedda'', the eponymous Hedda grows to find her more conventional husband boring, and when she tries to put some spice back into her life by {{spoiler|starting an affair with a much more interesting man}}, she discovers that he's a commandeering, blackmailing [[Jerkass]]. The play ends with Hedda being {{spoiler|[[Driven to Suicide]]}}.

** ''Doll's house'' also deconstructs [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks]]: the guy whom {{spoiler|Nora}} is in huge debt with, Nils Krogstad, is... [[Humans Are Flawed|a human person with his own set of problems]] instead of a mere unidimensional [[Jerkass]], and he ''does'' really need the money since {{spoiler|he's just lost his job}}. That, and having the final paying off of the loan cause more trouble than the loan itself ever did. {{spoiler|If not for Kristine offering her help...}}

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' makes it a point to deconstruct the [[Planet of Hats]] ''and'' the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] in the form of the krogan, who are universally bad-tempered, violent, brutal, and selfish... and have exactly the interspecies relations this should earn them. They got themselves slapped with a nice, unpleasant [[Depopulation Bomb]] for being an entire species of [[Jerkass|jerkasses]].

** It also deconstructs this with the asari, who are well known about the universe for being excellent diplomats and dealers... and having the best commandos and the largest population of biotic (superpower) users in the entire galaxy.

** And finally the Geth, in which the [[Robot War]] they had fought with the Quarians was that they are not mindless killbots (well the true geth) but rather a confused race of robots which questions their own existence in this world and that they really didn't want this conflict in the first place. While heretic Geth believed in the Reapers and played the trope straight and even then, it was more of a need of a proverbial god.

** In [[Mass Effect 2|the sequel]], Miranda is a deconstruction of the [[Mary Sue]]. She is [[Ms. Fanservice|incredibly beautiful]], highly intelligent, fast-healing, skilled in combat, and bioticly gifted... because her egotistical prick of a father [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|designed her that way in a lab]] so that he could have the "perfect" daughter. She is tortured by all of her "gifts", seeing in them constant evidence of her father's influence.

** On top of all that, As her Shadow Broker file reveals, for all her "perfection", she has a lot of trouble with being social with "normal" people, and she's badly affected by her inability to have children of her own.

* E-102 Gamma's storyline in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic Adventure]]'' was an unexpected deconstruction of Eggman's robotic [[Mook|Mooks]]...or more specifically, the fact that Eggman's robots are powered by animals. (Well, technically, Gamma was an [[Elite Mook]], but whatever.) After seeing Amy's flicky in the Egg Carrier's prison chamber, his power source's memories and emotions began to conflict with his programming, eventually leading to his seeking out and destroying the other E-100 models (and himself) to free the animals inside.

* [[The Messiah]] is semi-deconstructed in stages across all three routes in ''[[Fate Stay Night]]'' as being impossibly idealistic but not necessarily a bad thing if you can keep your sense of perspective. A handful of other tropes are touched upon in this - such as [[The Dulcinea Effect]] - but are generally props for the main point that there is something basically ''wrong'' with Shirou.

* ''[[Killzone]]'' deconstructs the glorious D-Day style liberation in a [[It Got Worse]] situation as it becomes obvious that with a corrupt military brass whom sold out your forces twice, that going in after recovering from a devastating attack on your planet and how putting down the leader will not make things better at all.

* Deconstruction, along with subversion, is a prominent focus in the plots of the ''[[Tales Series]]'' games.

** In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV the Lost And Damned|The Lost and Damned]]'', Johnny is a [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|biker gang]] member who just wanted a relatively stable criminal life and not get into trouble. The resulting gang wars do the opposite of what normally happens in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'', with Johnny's gang getting destroyed by them.

* ''[[Saints Row]] 2'' deconstructs it in the opposite direction, along with [[Heroic Sociopath]], by escalating [[Player Character|the Boss']] [[Shoot the Dog]] moments until he/she has finally crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]] for most of the playerbase. By the end of the game, the PC is out of [[Freudian Excuse|excuses]] and can hardly be defined as 'Heroic' anymore. Most [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] of the [[Big Bad]] sympathetically recasts him/her as a [[Designated Villain]].

* Cody from the [[Street Fighter]] games deconstructs [[Blood Knight]]. He went to jail for always starting brawls under the slightest provocation despite his connections with Mayor Mike Haggar and he looks obviously bored everytime he fights, presumibly because he doesn't get any satisfaction out of fighting anymore and continues to do so only because he is simply addicted to it.

* Two different types of [[Mary Sue]] are deconstructed ''harshly'' during the course of the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. Namine starts out as a [[Relationship Sue]], but it's also shown exactly ''how'' one would have to go about supplanting a love interest, and how harmful - possibly permanently damaging - to the hero's psyche ''and'' to Namine's own it would be. (Not to mention, {{spoiler|also she does it because she's forced into it by others, not juuuuuust because she fancies this dude and wants him for herself}}). Xion, the so-called 14th member of Organization XIII, {{spoiler|is actually not a Nobody at all, but an imperfect Replica}}, and was never a real member, just a tool. By the end, {{spoiler|it's as though she never existed, which is actually quite similar to the fate of many fanfic Sues in her position}}, but so many of the harmful side-effects are shown that [[Doomed By Canon|it's impossible]] [[Tear Jerker|not to cry]] [[Downer Ending|at the end]].

* [[Action RPG]] ''[[Metal Walker]]'' deconstructs the empty overworld found in many RPGs. Besides your character and a select few NPCs with [[Mons]], no one is outside, even in towns--because [[Killer Robot|killer robots]] populate the landscape, even right outside buildings. Since you yourself are attacked very frequently, you can imagine why defenseless humans don't go out...

* ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu]]'' deconstructs [[Genki Girl]] and [[Plucky Girl]], since the characters who fitted the archetype in the first generation {{spoiler|(Tiltyu and Sylvia)}} end up meeting really tragic life experiences and are unable to keep their cheeriness in the end.

** At the same time, FE also ''reconstructs'' the same archetype in the second generation, since the pegasus knight Phee and the thief Patty (and their expies Femina and Daisy) ''do'' manage to keep their optimism until the end and earn their happy endings. Yes, they can be sad and/or angry (specially Phee, if [[Calling the Old Man Out|her father is]] {{spoiler|Levin}}), but they don't let it get to them too much.

* The online game ''You Only Live Once'' (found [http://www.kongregate.com/games/raitendo/you-only-live-once here]) brutally deconstructs every meta-trope of your average Mario-style platformer (mainly extra lives). Just keep hitting continue...then when it runs out, refresh.

* ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]'', while in homage to lots of things, has a particularly interesting Deconstruction of [[Trapped in TV Land]], Joe doesn't demonstrate it, but {{spoiler|Captain Blue certainly does, the game shows that he got caught up in his fantasy in Movie Land, showing he went insane because he couldn't visit his wife or daughter, and eventually tried to destroy everything}}, it shows that being [[Trapped in TV Land]] sucks, and isn't really something to take lightly.

* ''[[Far Cry]] 2'' deconstructs [[Badass]] with the player character. The enemies attack you on sight, no one bothers to check if you're enemy or not...solution? You kill everything on sight, becoming just like them and racking up hundreds of kills, and by doing that, becoming the epitome of badassitude with enemies running from you in fear if your reputation is high enough...of course, this reputation doesn't just affect enemies, it affect friendly people as well, which you need them for malaria medicine...

* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' deconstructs video game objectives as inherently good. Every time you kill a colossus, you see it fall peacefully to its death while sad music plays. Some players stopped playing after a few because they felt they were doing something wrong. You can't help but feel like the invasive villain at times. {{spoiler|Especially after you become the final boss.}}

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' deconstructs several video-game RPG tropes such as how the main character seems to gain power by slaughtering others and how upon meeting you, the other members of your party become entirely dependent on your continued existence. It also deconstructs the [[Star Wars]] universe itself, including notions of good and evil and ideas about The Force.

* ''[[X-COM]]'' deconstruct the monster and alien-fighting cartoons popular during the 90's. where you have an elite team of heroes able to travel anywhere in the world to fight cheesy villains and win despite having inferior technology and numbers. Then look at X-COM, who travel the world in a Cool Plane to fight goofy-looking aliens... and suffer a high fatality rate, have barely enough funding, and have to desperately struggle just to get good enough weapons to fight 3/4 of the things that keep coming down.

* The ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' game ''Gundam Senki 0081'' deconstructs the young vs the old generation. If you are playing as the Federation, the male lead is at a rather old age for Gundam leads (32 years old! That is just screaming for a death wish) while all of the cast on the Federation side are pretty much adults. The Zeonic side consists of young adults who attempt to cause trouble, for a series that usually favors the younger side. The older generation defeats the younger generation in battle.

** Its second-degree sequel ''[[Do Don Pachi]] dai ou jou'' is a deconstuction of [[Robot Girl|Robot Girls]]. Set in a future crawling with Element Dolls, robot girls used as little more than slaves (of both the standard variety and...not-so-standard variety), the protagonist embarks on a mission against the forces of Hibachi with the assistance of one of three dolls. Depending on which doll you use, the ending has her {{spoiler|1=choking the protagonist to death and going back in time to cause shit in DOJ's sequel ''DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu'', falling for him despite him not reciprocating her feelings, or becoming so protective of the pilot that she has to be forcibly removed from the ship. Regardless of which doll, it's clear that your doll has gone batshit insane.}}

*** Finally, in ''DaiFukkatsu'', the enemy is a series of giant robot girls, manipulated by {{spoiler|Colonel Longhena}} into destroying humanity.

* ''[[Cyanide and Happiness (Webcomic)|Cyanide and Happiness]]'' is currently deconstructing the concept of a [[Child Prodigy]] having a job with their "[http://explosm.net/comics/1804/ Doctor] [http://explosm.net/comics/1807/ Baby]" series, stating that a child would be in many ways unprepared for an adult job.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' deconstructs the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]. Hedge, Vlad and Guineas bicker amongst themselves, like normal minibosses, but Vlad has deep self-loathing, Hedge and the real [[Big Bad]] despise each other and Guineas is usually mistaken for an idiot because he rarely, if ever, speaks. They cheer up later, however.

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' deconstructs [[Adults Are Useless]]. The school staff are very competent, and much more knowledgeable about the strange goings-on than Antimony is. In spite of this, Annie never seeks their help; on a few occasions, she outright refuses it. While Annie's behavior is partially explained by her [[Backstory]], it's still counterproductive to solving the mysteries that she's investigating.

** As ''[[Iji (Video Game)|Iji]]'' will also tell you. In fact, it's pretty much what ''[[Kid Radd]]'' would be if it were stripped of meta-references and were an actual game. Which is admittedly quite different, but they share many of the same concepts.

* ''[[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' deconstructs [[Knight Templar]] by making the religious zealot paladin almost completely incapable of accepting that she could be wrong, believing herself and her every action to be the work of the gods {{spoiler|even after she [[Fallen Hero|loses her paladin powers]]. The god practically ''told'' her "No, get out!" and she still believes herself to be in their favour.}} It also explores the concept of [[Always Chaotic Evil]] in the case of Redcloak.

** Miko is also an intentional deconstruction of [[Lawful Stupid]]. It's shown just how badly she can screw up things, and the other Paladins are shown as quite reasonable.

** The Monster in the Darkness is the result of an alternate look at [[The Reveal]]: specifically, what kind of life one would have to live to remain completely hidden from the heroes and readers before the big moment, and the effect it has on its personality. Specifically, its inability to contribute despite its great power has destroyed its self-esteem (more so than simply being a minion would have), and never having a chance to practice evil results in [[Minion With an F In Evil|an inevitable F]].

** Debatable. Technically he isn't a deity. {{spoiler|It's more like he ''wanted'' to be, which is why he went back in time to design the universe in his own image anyway. If anything, Sarda is a deconstruction of [[A God Am I|people who think they are/have the right to be deities]] by showing just how ''fucked up'' people of such mindsets have to be before they reach that conclusion. And on that note, two words: [[Complete Monster|Black Mage]].}}

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' arguably decontructed [[He's Just Hiding]] in the latest arc (as of 2009). {{spoiler|Torg's insistence that Riff and Zoë are alive is seen as destructive and insane by his friends.}}

* ''[[I'm a Marvel And Im ADC]]'' deconstructs [[The Cape]] tendencies of Superman, where he spends his time remembering back when righteous heroes were idolized, fully aware that his [[Think Nothing of It|nobility]] and [[Boring Invincible Hero|incredibly overpowered persona]] are frowned upon by current comic book fans, who want a hero that's full of faults so they're more relatable. [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|Lex Luthor]] tries to use this to convince Superman into writing Marvel out of history. Without Marvel making flawed superheroes, everyone would still idolize the perfect, heroic good guys of yesteryear.

** The interesting thing about this deconstruction is that it essentially says that comics need Superman because he does still act as a standard, and that the entire basis of Marvel heroes is that they're trying to be like Superman, so without Superman, there'd be nothing to strive for.

* This [http://www.cracked.com/article_18756_6-romantic-movie-gestures-that-can-get-you-prison-time.html Cracked article] shows what happens if you try to copy romantic gestures from films to real life. They all involve jail time.

* This can sometimes happen ''within'' a fandom, such as the [[Furry Fandom]]. The "New Found Form" series is about mysterious runed artifacts which just happen to turn people into sexy animal-hybrid hermaphrodites<ref>usually</ref>, because, as Rule34 says, some people like that sort of thing. One writer came up with [http://nequ.deviantart.com/art/New-Found-Frost-195081193 "New Found Frost"] and turned the story into Lovecraft-influenced psychological horror, telling the tale of a fallen-from-wealth Russian family forced to choose between their humanity and dying in their snowbound house. And that author does this sort of thing all the time.

** In the deceptively named episode “Deconstructing Arnold”, they seem to deconstruct [[The Messiah]]: When [[Tsundere]] Helga points out that Arnold is [[Moral Guardian|always giving unsolicited advice to other kids]], [[Stop Having Fun Guy|spoiling their fun]], [[And That's Terrible]]. After every other kid (included best friend Gerald) agrees, Arnold decides to stop helping others. Then we discover… that Arnold is still the same good, happy kid. He’s not a [[Broken Messiah]] or a [[Messiah Creep]]. [[Be Careful What You Wish For|However, the kids still have problems and since they cannot go to Arnold]]. [[Let's See You Do Better|So they go to the genius that suggested Arnold to stop in the first place]]. Helga being a [[Jerkass Woobie]] only manages to [[It Got Worse|make things worse for everybody, including herself, because everyone blames her for her ill advice.]] We discover that the kids' problems would be relatively easy to solve… if [[Being Good Sucks|they would have the humility and strength of character to face the pain to their ego that involves to do the right thing]], [[Humans Are Bastards|instead of the doing the easy thing,]] and Arnold wasn’t [[The Messiah]] because he gave advice, he gave advice because he was [[The Messiah]], truly loving and caring for others and encouraging the kids to do the obvious, painful right thing, while Helga solution’s always involve being a [[Jerkass]] [[An Aesop|and that never solves any problem.]] The trope deconstructed was [[Humans Are Flawed]] and [[The Messiah]] was [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] and [[Reconstructed Trope|reconstructed]]. [[Vetinari Job Security|The episode ends with Helga asking Arnold to be TheMessiah again]].

* A whole episode of the ''[[X-Men (Animation)|X-Men]]'' series is dedicated to deconstruct [[Super Strength]]. The puny guy who steals Juggernaut's powers... [[The Chew Toy|promptly ruins his own life]] by [[Be Careful What You Wish For|becoming an unintentionally-destructive human demolition crew]]. He doesn't get better until losing said powers and having them restored to their owner... who, by the way, needs these powers to actually ''survive''.

* An episode of ''[[Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' deconstructs something that your typical [[Vacation Episode]] usually doesn't even touch on: The whole "packing up and getting to the airport" part. Try telling that, however, to those [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|who were expecting]] a regular [[Vacation Episode]].

* ''[[Generator Rex]]'' does this with [[Dating Catwoman]] by showing how shitty it can be when the girl you're in love with works for the [[Big Bad]]. Even when {{spoiler|she decides to quit working for said [[Big Bad]], Rex still doesn't win her in the end}}.

** Don't forget, "Party Of One" did the same to Pinkie Pie with her role as the [[Genki Girl]]. Parties are her way of self-validation and she immediately goes to "[[Wangst|they don't like me anymore"]] when everypony lies to avoid her and her parties.

** Twilight has immense magical power, more than most unicorns, but lacks the real training to use it effectively (since up until she was sent to Ponyville, she literally spent all of her time reading and studying magical ''theory'', not practice.) This really comes back to bite her in the flank in "Swarm Of The Century" when she casts a spell to stop the Parasprite infestation from eating all the food in town. They stop eating the ''food'' all right...they just start [[Buzzsaw Jaw|ripping their way]] through the buildings instead!

* ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'' deconstructs [[Trapped in TV Land]] in video game form in the episode "Guardians of Sunshine". When Finn and Jake transport themselves into a video game through Beemo (Who told them not to), they realize that things are not what they seem. For one thing, they lampshaded the fact that if they lose all of their lives, it would be similar to dying in real life. Also, they can only carry just a few coins in their hands and the pain they feel in the game is real as the pain they feel in real life. The enemies in the game pose a bigger threat than expected. When Finn tries to activate the special weapon Bomba, he realizes that he can't do it without his controller. When Jake tries to pull Bomba from the screen, it causes an error that takes them to their world, along with the enemies they encountered (Note: The coin Jake kept turns into a penny, meaning the game currency is not worth much in the real world). The enemies were hostile towards Beemo for imprisoning them in the video game because [[It Makes Sense in Context|they long for the sunshine]].

* [[Family Guy]] deconstructs [[Subbing for Santa]]. How? Well, Stewie and Brian are the ones doing the subbing, and their first and only job [[Epic Fail|becomes a home invasion]].

* The [[Ed, Edd n Eddy]] finale movie deconstructs [[Amusing Injuries]] in a hard way, in which Eddy recieves {{spoiler|a [[No Holds Barred Beatdown]] from his older brother.}} It's deconstriucted here because Eddy reacts as if he's seriously hurt and the kids (even Kevin and Sarah) react with fear. {{spoiler|Not to mention the reveal that this is how his brother ''always'' treated him.}}

** [[Cartoon Physics]] were also deconstructed in the infamous episode ''[[A Day At the Bizarro|One + One = Ed]]'', featuring the Eds discovering all sorts of weird things, such as paper thin trees, eating the sun, messing with their outlines, etc.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Deconstruction/Sandbox]]

[[Category:Deconstructed Trope]]