Deconstructed Trope: Difference between revisions

* The Powers of [[The Power of Love|Love]] and [[The Power of Friendship|Friendship]] are examined and deconstructed in ''[[Mai-HiME (Anime)|Mai-HiME]]'', in that the abilities of the titular [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]] (almost all [[High School]]-aged) are literally powered by their emotional connections with their friends and family. Many of the characters have trouble with (or are otherwise afraid of) openly admitting their feelings for the ones most important to them. This causes a lot of hardship in the second half, when {{spoiler|they're tricked into fighting one another to protect the lives of their loved ones ''and'' for the sake of [[Saving the World]] from a [[Cosmic Horror]] that wants to [[The End of the World As We Know It|end it all]]}}. [[Love Hurts]], indeed.

** It's not just the psychological side either. {{spoiler|1=Their mons are LITERALLY powered by the love and affection for, and there to protect, the person the HiME loves most.}} [[Synchronisation|So if the Mon dies...]] {{spoiler|1=- which happens to pretty much all of them at some point or other - it isn't the ''HiME'' that kicks the bucket}}

** 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.

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

** [[Telescoping Robot]] and [[Hyperspace Arsenal]], which are enabled by Spiral Energy that explicitly creates matter and breaks the laws of physics. It forms a key plot point by being the motivation of {{spoiler|the Anti-Spirals, as it's overuse will lead to the universe imploding and aforementioned [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] wish to prevent that.}} This plot point/deconstruction was lifted directly from ''[[Getter Robo]]'', the series TTGL is largely an homage to, though the way Getter Rays and Spiral Power are supposed to {{spoiler|destroy the Universe}} are different - in ''Gurren Lagann'' {{spoiler|mecha that big simply ''existing'' can eventually cause the amount of matter in the universe to be so great that the force of gravity will overwhelm every other force in existence, causing a Big Crunch}}, while in ''Getter Robo'' that's only part of the reason - the other being {{spoiler|the endless increase in scale of all the fighting, which is deconstructing the [[Lensman Arms Race]]}}

*** [[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.}}

* ''[[XXX Holic]]'' deconstructs [[The Dulcinea Effect]] by showing that in order to be like this, Watanuki has to place essentially no value on his own life, how others feel about his 'sacrificing' and how intensely mentally unhealthy you have to be to act like this. People get incredibly upset over how reckless he is and eventually he learns that not only is it not heroic to risk your life for someone you barely know, it might even be wrong to risk yourself for someone you ''do'' know if you don't think it through, such as sacrificing an eye for Doumeki without considering what he feels about that (and making him ''very'' upset at the prospect) and having the [[Shrinking Violet]] spirit with a crush on him nearly die trying to retrieve it.

* Orihime Inoue from ''[[Bleach]]'' can be seen a a deconstruction of [[Distressed Damsel]] by constantly egging on how taking a [[Sadistic Choice]] that {{spoiler|made her the willing prisoner of Aizen in exchange for her people's safety}} can fuck you up ''[[Break the Cutie|really]]'' [[Break the Cutie|painfully]] and, once you crack and almost cross the [[Despair Event Horizon]], get you ''even more broken'' {{spoiler|once your [[Knight in Shining Armor]] gets killed and returns as pretty much an uber powerful zombie that will kill anybody ''just to keep protecting you''.}} '''OUCH.''' {{spoiler|She only gets better once she's completely out of such an environment ''and'' more than a year has passed.}}

** The last arc is a deconstruction of [[True Companions]], as {{spoiler|Ichigo's friends and family have been mindwiped by Tsukishima and either believe him to be crazy or are fighting him. And they don't do it out of hate, either, but because Tsuki has made them believe that their beloved Ichigo has gone mad, and they want him to stop and reconsider what he's doing.}} The whole deal has a ''[[Despair Event Horizon|terrifying]]'' effect on [[Big Brother Instinct|Ichigo]]'s mind as well, considering how {{spoiler|his main instinct is to protect his friends... who later fall completely in the hands of Tsukishima, and he can't do anything to break their brainwashing. It takes a MASSIVE gambit from Soul Society as a whole to fix him.}}.

** {{spoiler|Yukio}} is a deconstruction of [[Complete Monster]]. He was a massive [[Cute Psycho]] with touches of [[Smug Snake]] and had a definitve [[Kick the Dog]] moment when he {{spoiler|mocked Jackie and tried to kill her and Renji}}. For worse, he then tells {{spoiler|Hitsugaya}} with glee that he's proud of {{spoiler|driving his parents to suicide.}} However, with some prodding and flashbacks, the [[Cute Psycho]] masks shows us a ''much'' uglier truth: {{spoiler|he was totally deprived of moral guidance as a child for having been a [[Cute Mute]], he wanted his parents to aknowledge him as an equal since their abandonment (as he thought and still thinks that adults see children as inferior beings), and the deal about enjoying his parents's deaths was actually a lie.}} In short: the kid did really nasty shit, but his [[Start of Darkness]] didn't come from inherent evil, and it looks like he's still not beyond the point of no return.

* ''[[Inuyasha|InuYasha]]'' deconstructs [[Reincarnation Romance]]. A half-demon guy falls in love with a [[Miko]] girl who dies tragically and pins him to a magical tree before dying, and is woken up from said experience by the [[Plucky Girl]] reincarnation of the girl he loved. Now, there's the catch of having the [[Miko]] girl [[Came Back Wrong|forcibly reincarnated]] by an evil witch, which brings problems for the three of them: the guy has conflicting feelings and loyalties to both ladies, the original girl is consumed by bitterness and pain, and the reincarnated girl has her self-esteem badly damaged. {{spoiler|The three do get better... but not before lots of heartbreak ''and'' having the original girl die again, this time much more peacefully so both she and the guy can finally move on, and he and the other girl can be together.}}

* Just like in the case of [[Hey Arnold|Helga Pataki]] (mentioned below), Taiga Aisaka from ''[[Toradora (Light Novel)|Toradora]]'' takes the [[Tsundere]] trope and shows a more down-to-Earth origin to it. It's really, '''really''' not pretty, since {{spoiler|Taiga's father is a [[Jerkass]] who abandoned the family after going bankrupt (which actually ''does'' happen in Japan, due to [[Values Dissonance]]) and only appears to mess up with Taiga's emotional stability, and for worse she can't emotionally connect with her mother's second family (stepfather, baby half-brother).}} Hence, her mood swings and violent behavior don't come just from childishness towards romance, but from serious emotional and familial imbalance.

* ''[[I''s]]'' deconstructs [[Like Brother and Sister]] with Ichitaka and Itsuki's relationship. He feels this way towards her while she nurses romantic feelings for him; {{spoiler|when he finally starts to question if he does like her romantically, she realizes that he does feel that way and is just confused, and she gets over him. She later gets a boyfriend of her own in the USA, and Ichitaka ends up with Iori instead.}}

** Earlier than that, ''Video Girl Len'' deconstructs [[Purity Personified]] by showing a character, Hiromu, who truly thinks that women are pretty much this, therefore Len has to pretty much prove him that girls are, well, just human beings like him.

* ''[[Rumbling Hearts]]'' is as brutal a [[Deconstruction]] of the very concept of [[True Companions]] as you will ever find.

* ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' does a nasty deconstruction of the [[Hard Work Hardly Works]] and [[Boring Invincible Hero]] ideas which are so common in shounen. Throughout the first half of the series, it's very frequently remarked how the hero, Kazuki, experiences dramatic improvement in his fighting abilities in a very short period of time and there are comments from Tokiko in episode 14 about how Kazuki seems to bounce back at his lowest point, fed by the energy of others. Well, come the next episode, he dies, and through said heroic will, rips out the "kakugane" (the source of his power and a replacement for his heart) from his chest and it is revealed to be a "black kakugane". Seems that when you have one of those in your chest in place of a heart, you get superhuman powers, but [[Blessed With Suck|with a catch]]. Those with black kakuganes have [[Power Incontinence]] and constantly drain the life energy of anyone around them. Thus, what at first seemed like stock shounen-hero traits were actually a foreshadowing of Kazuki's powers being a curse.

** [[Fatal Flaw]] is deconstructed through {{spoiler|Mami}}. Her loneliness allowed her greater focus when it came to fighting. When Madoka became her friend, she became happy for the first time {{spoiler|but loses focus and is killed.}} A person's greatest strength is also their greatest weakness but it's also the other way around.

** There's also the deconstruction of [[Selfless Wish]], since it's something of a theme in the series that ''there is no such thing''. Everyone who makes a wish for someone else's happiness is also unconsciously hoping that it will also benefit themselves, even if only indirectly — a fact which Mami {{spoiler|(wishes for herself to be saved, later she laments that she could have used the wish to save her parents as well)}}, Sayaka {{spoiler|(wants to be loved by the [[Ill Boy]] she uses her wish for, a fact that Mami herself points out)}}, Kyoko {{spoiler|(wants to save herself and her family from destitution)}}, Homura {{spoiler|(wants to be the one who rescues Madoka from death)}} and presumably others all fall afoul of. Also, because hope and despair balance out to zero, {{spoiler|seeing the chance for that selfish expectation slipping away with the equivalent rising happiness already given to someone else sends a [[Magical Girl]] deeper into despair.}} At the end, {{spoiler|this is reconstructed: Madoka's TRULY selfless wish becomes the most powerful force ever to exist, because she manages to learn from the examples of the other three, and knows exactly what she wants -- a better world for everyone, even if she has to be erased out of their memories to do so.}}

* ''[[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...

* ''[[Inception]]'' is a deconstruction of the [[Determinator]]. {{spoiler|The eponymous act involves placing a single, simple idea deep into an unwitting subject's subconscious--that they will ''never'' be rid of. This single idea will define them for the rest of their lives, and both the primary protagonist and antagonist demonstrate how it can backfire. ''Spectacularly''.}}

* The Adam Sandler film ''[[Punch Drunk Love]]'', his first dramatic role, deconstructs everything about the typical "eccentric man-child" characters that Sandler usually plays. The pudding thing (something that would've been funny in any other Sandler movie) is just disturbing here.

* ''[[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.

** The book also deconstructs the [[Bug War]]. You see, {{spoiler|the buggers only killed humans because they had assumed our individuals were drones like theirs, when they realize we possess sentience on an individual level, they accept humanity's retaliatory invasion with a resigned, "oh… the humans didn't forgive us…" They actually turn out to be [[Humans Are Bastards|a fair bit nicer than humans]] at least as far as respecting other sentient life}}.

* The novel ''[[Nuklear Age]]'' by Brian Clevinger subverts and deconstructs almost every aspect of [[The Cape]] and rebuilds it in his own image.

* ''[[The Neverending Story (Literature)|The Neverending Story]]'' provides a particularly satisfying deconstruction of the [[Canon Sue]]. Bastian gets the power to remake an entire world as he sees fit, but with each wish that gets granted he loses one of his memories and becomes more and more of a moron and a jerk. Finally it's up to the story's real hero to save his ungrateful ass, and when he finally realizes what's been going on it's a thing of beauty.

** The various 'stories' also serve as deconstructions of various tropes, especially in the second half where Bastian's attempts to help don't go as intended. For instance:

** [[Save Our Students]] - A teacher is killed by another teacher who's basically a jaded, older version of her, {{spoiler|when she tries to get him to confess to drug use to save the future of the student he forced to carry for him. The student in question feels so responsible for her death that he descends into the life of crime he would've had without her intervention, despite his obvious talent as a writer.}}

** [[Rescue Romance]] - The one about a girl and her friend who got into a car accident and the fireman who saved her and eventually married. {{spoiler|He married her out of guilt because his carelessness during the rescue was what crippled her. The friend who was blamed for the accident found out so he had to die}}.

* ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' did this with the idea of an [[Alien Invasion]] in the special ''Children of Earth''. Instead of fighting the aliens back with [[BFG|BFGs]] and [[More Dakka]], Earth's leaders instead decided to heed the aliens' commands and almost ended up doing potentially very naughty things.

* Mitchell from ''[[Being Human (TV)|Being Human]]'' is a deconstruction of the [[Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire]]. Blood as an addiction isn't a new metaphor, but consider how difficult it is for real people with real addiction to go a lifetime without falling off the wagon. For Mitchell, losing control means killing people, ''lots'' of people, and because he's immortal, it's inevitable that he'll fall off eventually. It happens at the end of series 2 and when his friends find out, they can't forgive Mitchell, even though he's genuinely remorseful.

== Theater ==

* [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''The Wild Duck'' deconstructs the [[Wide Eyed Idealist]] in the form of Gregers, a self-righteous meddler whose [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|belief in exposing the family's problems so they can be solved, backfires spectacularly.]]

** ''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...}}

*** And there's Dr. Ranke and his deconstruction of [[Unrequited Love]], since loving Nora from afar is extremely painful for {{spoiler|a man who is actually about to die.}}

* ''[[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]].

* ''[[Half Life]] 2'' and Episodes is another said type of gameplay, ironically [[Lampshaded]] with the [[Arc Words]]: "The one Free Man!"

* While ''[[Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise)|Shin Megami Tensei]]'' was always a darker version of [[Mons]] (despite [[Older Than They Think|preceding]] [[Pokémon (Franchise)|Pokémon]] by several years), ''[[Devil Survivor (Video Game)|Devil Survivor]]'' took it to ''[[Naru Taru]]'' levels of brutality by showing exactly what kind of world would result in people gaining control of extremely powerful creatures that would follow any order.

* ''[[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.

* [[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]].

** That same episode also features a truly heart-wrenching deconstruction of [[How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?]]: trying to keep up with the increasing demands of a constantly growing and increasingly greedy world population has turned Santa's workshop into an ecosystem-killing [[Nightmarish Factory]] staffed with horribly inbred elves, the reindeer have mutated into vicious carnivores and Santa himself... well,"failing health" doesn't even ''begin'' to describe his condition.

** [[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.

* An episode of [[The Simpsons]] deconstructed [[Scare'Em Straight]]. Marge was away and Bart & Homer weren't doing their chores so Lisa made them think they had leprosy. Instead, Flanders shipped them off to a Hawaiian leper colony.

[[Category:Deconstruction/Sandbox]]

[[Category:Deconstructed Trope]]