Spoof Aesop: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''Yugi''': It's time for the big message...We've learned that Card Games are the answer to all life's problems. And the only thing I know for certain in this world is that there's a strange man living inside my head who tells me to do things.<br />

 

[[An Aesop]] is, increasingly, one of the most [[Subverted Trope|Subverted Tropes]] on television -- to the point where parodies of them are becoming almost as repetitive as the morals themselves (though to some they will ''always'' be better than an actual [[Aesop]]). [[Aesop|Aesops]] are too basic a tool to become a [[Discredited Trope]], so new comedies will likely keep on spoofing them.

 

See also [[Broken Aesop]]. To add these to other works, check out [[Warp That Aesop (Darth Wiki)|Warp That Aesop]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Diffrent Strokes]]'', Arnold gets into a fight with the bullying son of the landlord's brother who is subbing for a short time. This leads to a loud confrontation where the brother confronts Mr. Drummond, threatens to evict the family and provokes Drummond to punch the blowhard out. This gives the landlord the excuse to exploit a lease violation that the brother found to raise the rent on the Drummonds, with a veiled threat of eviction to convince them to give in. The punchline is this: after the Drummonds cave in to this threat, the father tells the kids that this is the result of his act of violence. However, when asked if it was worth it, Mr. Drummond immediately remarks it was, for having the pleasure of shutting a bully up.

* ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]'' had Will yell at his uncle's [[The Rival|political rival]], which leads him to have a heart attack. When his funeral comes around, all the mourners turn out to hate him, with most of them showing up to make sure he is actually dead. Will -- wracked by guilt -- yells at them all for it, saying they should respect the dead. It seems like this will end the scene on [[An Aesop]], but when they ask who he is, he answers "I'm the dude that killed him" to rapturous applause.

* The Bernadette Peters episode of ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Sam the Eagle started reading the famous story of "The Ant and the Grasshopper". However, when winter came in the story, Sam was shocked to learn that {{spoiler|the grasshopper drove his sports car to Florida, and the ant got stepped on.}}

* From a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' [http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96rtwilight.phtml parody] of the classic "Eye of the Beholder" segment of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' (on the season 23 episode hosted by Pamela Anderson {named Pamela Lee at the time}) comes this demolition of [[Rod Serling|Rod Serling's]] usual closing narration:

{{quote| '''Serling:''' So, there you have it. Something that is beautiful to one is not beautiful to another. As this woman learned when she... well... she didn't really learn anything. And neither did we. Frankly, usually I try to have some kind of ironic twist or moral in these things, but... I got nothing this time, because that woman ''was'' hot! In [[The Twilight Zone]].}}

{{quote| '''Mr. T:''' Let that be a lesson to all the Gary Burghoffs, Joey Lawrences, Tina Yotherses, and George "Goober" Lindsays! If you believe in yourself, eat all your school, stay in milk, drink your teeth, don't do sleep, and get eight hours of drugs - you can get work!}}

* Even with its "No hugging, no learning" motto, an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' does have a Spoof Aesop. In the episode "The Summer of George", George's plan to fulfill his personal goals during that summer (which he declared "The Summer of George", hence the title) go terribly awry. The Spoof Aesop here would seem to be "Never name a season after yourself; it will only end in tragedy".

* One episode of ''[[Arrested Development (TV)|Arrested Development]]'', following various fake dismemberments, has the moral that you shouldn't use a one-armed man to scare someone. This aesop comes into the ridiculously over-specific category, although for the show it's actually good advice.

* ''[[Andy Richter Controls the Universe (TV)|Andy Richter Controls the Universe]]'': Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Kill that man with a rock, and you can have all his fish, AND his wife.

{{quote| '''Blossom:''' I think it's cheating. The moral of some low-budget scifi ripoff movie is "Don't drink and drive"?<br />

'''Joey:''' See? Even you got it! }}

* The ending of [[PDQ Bach]]'s ''Oedipus Tex'':

{{quote| Well the moral of the story is, of course:<br />

I guarantee you will be filled with great remorse<br />

If you give your mom the love you should be saving for your horse! }}

== Webcomics ==

* [http://xninjared.deviantart.com/art/Lysistrata-Gambit-152865735 This Comic] has an Aesop about the [[Lysistrata Gambit]] SO over-the-top, it just CAN'T be taken seriously...

** Several times, Black Mage has learned a valuable [[Aesop]] - such as that a path of violence and hatred will only cause himself suffering, or that use of evil spells will alienate White Mage from him - but they just can't stick to his teflon soul and one knife-worthy comment from Fighter and he's all but forgotten they ever existed.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has several.

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0686.html This] strip. Roy's lesson learned after jumping on an undead dragon and then falling to his death from it? {{spoiler|"I learned to do it where the ground is softer."}}

* When Keira Knightley shows Rayne of [[Least I Could Do]] his future, [http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070103 this] is the lesson he says he learns.

** Second most obvious.

{{quote| '''Darth Maul''': I can hijack a plane using only a comb and a pack of Tic-Tacs!}}

* [http://www.accursedfarms.com/Video.php?Video_ID=9 Civil Protection] would like to remind you that we're kind of fucked, so you'd better hope aliens from outer space conquer us and massacre four fifths of our population.

** "Hell, we almost had it coming!"

* At the end of ''[[Spatula Madness]]'' (from the creator of ''[[Charlie the Unicorn]]''), after a series of [[Random Events Plot|bizarre adventures]], Edward says:

* A gem from [[Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]] right after Yami has a guy eaten by giant man-eating worms.

{{quote| '''Yami''' "Let that be a lesson to you young man, bullying is not very nice, so I don't want you to doing it ever again. Got that?" <br />

2) Relish Your Youth<br />

3) Don't Pick Up Chainsaw-Wielding Hitchhikers<br />

* The ''[[Two Stupid Dogs (Animation)|Two Stupid Dogs]]'' episode "Family Values", a parody of ''[[The Brady Bunch]],'' had a lot of this trope. Every time some random mishap would happen (like getting a finger set on fire), the mother would ask the kids what they learned from all of it. The children would respond with such morals (irrelevant within the episode, but taken from actual ''[[Brady Bunch]]'' episodes) as "I learned not to get hit in the face with a football!" or "I learned that Jesse James is not a good role model."

{{quote| '''Big Dog:''' What did you learn today?<br />

* In an episode of ''[[Cow and Chicken (Animation)|Cow and Chicken]]'', Cow writes a play called "The Ugliest Weenie", about a misshapen hot dog who gets mocked by [[All of the Other Reindeer]] (except for the heroine). The final song talks about how "It's Good To Be Ugly After All"...because normal-looking hot dogs [[Nightmare Fuel|get roasted over a fire and eaten]].

* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life (Animation)|Rocko's Modern Life]]'' ended their [[Green Aesop]]/[[Musical Episode]] "Zanzibar" with the message "So you see, kids, if we're not nice to Mother Nature... [[Gaias Vengeance|she'll kick our butts!]]"

{{quote| '''Applejack''': Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Eh hem- ''([[Beat]])'' I didn't learn anything! Heh, I was right all along!}}

** Of course, she does follow it up with a real Aesop, about how hardwork is better than cheating and taking short-cuts. She also says that she ''might'' have learned that her friends are always there for her, but that "the truth is, [she] knew that already, too".

[[Category:Parody Tropes]]

[[Category:Spoof Aesop]]