History DeconstructedTrope / Film

* ''Film/VampiresKiss'' deconstructs the perceived glamour of becoming a vampire. The viewer thinks the main character will turn to Dracula but instead turns into TheRenfield. His [[SanitySlippage "transformation"]] alternates between [[{{Narm}} laughable]] to pitiful to horrifying.
* ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' deconstructs the idea of BackInTheSaddle, showing Kirk is incredibly rusty after being put behind a desk for a few years and, when he's given command of his ship once more, his unfamiliarity with its refit nearly kills the crew. There's also the fact that he temp-demoted the ship's real captain, Decker, who resents Kirk throughout the movie.
* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'' deconstructs TheHero and SideKick dichotomy or in otherwise labels. It shows the insecurity of young high school students today and can lead to serious consequences like [[spoiler: Gwen Grayson otherwise known as Royal Pain.]]
* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' deconstructs the daylights out of the FirstContact plot. The fact that the aliens landed over ''Johannesburg'' and were practically starving creates the bad conditions in the first place, but it's still fairly realistic and dark. It helps that the first half of the film is held documentary-style. It's basically Apartheid with aliens.
* ''Film/WhipIt'' deconstructs the SatelliteLoveInterest. Oliver seems like he's 100% the trope, as his character seems tailor-made to fall for Bliss and [[RomanticPlotTumor not do much else]]. In the end, though, it turns out he was just trying to get into Bliss' pants (he even gives away her old t-shirt to a groupie), and she later chides herself for falling for the act.
** It also deconstructs TheRival and the OpposingSportsTeam in the form of Iron Maven. Maven loves derby and has a big competitive streak, and she dislikes the Hurl Scouts because they don't even try to play well. When she discovers Bliss' true age, she gets mad because Bliss' parents could easily have sued the league for allowing her to play and ruined the fun for everyone. In the end, when the Scouts finally get their act together and the last bout is just a few points' difference, [[WorthyOpponent she compliments Bliss' skills and even asks her to teach her]].
* ''Film/TheresSomethingAboutMary'' shows how disruptive an UnwantedHarem can be on someone.
* Creator/BruceLee's ''Film/FistOfFury'' shows the hero's RoaringRampageOfRevenge escalating the violence rather than stopping it, to the point that [[spoiler: by the end of the movie, TheHero is a completely broken man who has lost everything in his desire for revenge... including his girlfriend and his family, [[StuffedIntoTheFridge who have been brutally slain by the enemy]]. In the end, he kills the BigBad and then goes into what's all but stated to be a SuicideByCop, [[DespairEventHorizon having nothing left to live for]].]]
* ''Film/BigBully'' deconstructs BullyHunter. Davy has his bully Rosco arrested for stealing a moon rock... and years later finds out this ruined Rosco's life, when his family abandoned him to a reform school and grew up a pathetic milquetoast.
* ''Film/KingRalph'' deconstructed RagsToRoyalty by showing how unprepared he is in running government, and how impossible it is for someone like him to change the traditions of the royal court.
* ''Film/{{Scream}}'':
** ''Film/{{Scream 3}}'' deconstructs the FreudianExcuse. Sidney's ShutUpHannibal to [[spoiler:Roman]] implies that the {{Freudian Excuse}}s of all the killers throughout the series are just that, excuses they use to cover for themselves and try to get sympathy when, in truth, they just enjoy killing people.
** The franchise as a whole deconstructs the FinalGirl by showing how, despite having survived, Sidney's ordeal in the first film left her [[ShellShockedVeteran badly traumatized]], and each successive encounter only makes it worse. She survives the murder attempts and tells her stories to the world, but now she has to fear the next dumb fuck who wants to be the next Ghostface. She becomes increasingly detached from reality out of fear for her life.
** ''Film/{{Scream 4}}'' deconstructs FoundFootageFilms at the end by providing a scarily plausible reason why somebody might be filming everything during the events of a horror movie: [[spoiler:they're behind it all, and they're making a record of their own exploits. Charlie wanted to edit the video and upload it on the internet so as to build the legend of the murder spree, while Jill wanted to keep the video for her own sick, private pleasure. Even discounting the SnuffFilm legend, there are numerous cases of RealLife murderers (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luka_Magnotta Luka Magnotta]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepropetrovsk_maniacs Dnepropetrovsk maniacs]], both of whom had their "home movies" leaked online) recording their crimes for themselves.]]
* ''Film/TheShopAroundTheCorner'' and its remake, ''Film/YouveGotMail'', deconstructed TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in that saying this to the one you hate didn't make the lead female star feel better.
* ''Film/{{Heartbreakers}}'' deconstructs AllMenArePerverts 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 [[UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} Filipino]] film "Anak Ng Cabron" asks "What kind of man would possess the typical action hero qualities (masculine virility, mastery of his home, has no problem with violence)? The answer: a VillainProtagonist.
* The Icelandic film ''[[Series/TheNightShift2007 Bjarnfreðarson]]'' deconstructs the PointyHairedBoss trope by taking a comedy one from a comedy series and revealing him to be a RoundedCharacter with realistic and [[AbusiveParents deeply disturbing]] reasons for being the way he is to his underlings.
* The film ''Film/RealSteel'' provides a deconstruction of the FinishingMove 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.
* ''Film/StreetsOfFire'' deconstructs the DistressedDamsel plot. Cody's doing it for money, and Ellen is rescued about halfway through, the problem then becomes ''keeping'' her safe.
* ''Film/AThinLineBetweenLoveAndHate'' deconstructs TheCasanova trope. Martin Lawrence plays Darnell, a male chauvinist ladies man who has a habit of pursuing women and then throwing them to the side when he's done with them. He actively pursues a socialite named Brandi, who ''has'' suffered this treatment from men in the past before. After managing to [[DefrostingIceQueen Defrost the Ice Queen]], Darnell manages to start dating her....up until he's no longer interested because he'd rather hook up with his childhood friend. Although the movie starts off as a typically Romcom, [[CerebusSyndrome it goes dark from this point.]]
* A segment ''A is for Amateur'' from Film/ABCsOfDeath2 deconstructs AirVentPassageway trope from every action movies you ever saw in your life.
* The Disney film ''Film/MaxKeeblesBigMove'' deconstructs RoaringRampageOfRevenge when he goes on this on his enemies after he finds out his family is moving. Its only later that he finds out that it's his friends who will pay for what he did.
* ''Film/ProjectX'' deconstructs the WildTeenParty trope. High school seniors Thomas, Costa, and J.B. (with their other friend Dax filming everything) throw a birthday party with the intent of finally becoming popular and getting laid. It ends with Thomas being indicted on 6 different charges, Costa awaiting the results of 3 paternity tests, J.B. being declared unfit to stand trial due to being special needs, and Dax under investigation for the disappearance of his parents.
* ''Film/CantHardlyWait'' deconstructed several high school tropes like Amanda the popular girl [[note]]Never wanted to be popular and has spent the last 4 years without any real friends[[/note]] and Mike the FutureLoser [[note]]Realized he had ruined his life but messes up his chance to make things right with Amanda and William. He forgets his moment of clarity the next day and continues with his path to mediocrity. William gets his revenge on him years later but by then it no longer seems deserved, just cruel and unnecessary[[/note]].
* ''Film/MeanGirls'':
** Gretchen deconstructs SatelliteCharacter with the film developing Gretchen more than [[AlphaBitch Regina]] herself. She confesses to Cady that she's secretly miserable being Regina's friend and has to pretend to like or not like certain things to get Regina's approval. She is such an insecure mess that she is willing to put up with any amount of crap just to follow Regina (while bitterly seething throughout the whole time). At the end of the film, we learn that [[spoiler: she has learned Cantonese to join another clique]].
** Regina deconstructs AlphaBitch. She's not really mean. She just has BrutalHonesty. She truly believes everyone likes her and hates Cady for turning them against her.
** [[DeconstructorFleet It also]] deconstructed MistakenForGay in the story of why Janis and Regina became enemies. Regina became more popular and Janis felt she was being pushed out. Regina got tired of what she saw as Janis' clinginess and accused her of having a crush. This caused their friendship to unravel. Janis' "coming out" sounds so sarcastic it's hard to take serious.
** The film also deconstructs PayEvilUntoEvil. After Regina humiliates and hurts Cady, she plots revenge with Janis and Damian. However, in the process Cady becomes the new AlphaBitch, alienates her old friends and causes her love interest to break it off because of how awful she's become. Cady muses that ruining Regina's life did not make her any happier, and all she did was create a vicious CycleOfRevenge.
* The Driver in ''Film/{{Drive}}'' is a deconstruction of the [[TheStoic Stoic hero]] of Seventies and Eighties action films. His heroic attempt to help his love interest by helping her husband work off his mob debts wind up [[spoiler: making her a widow]] and worsening the situation for ''both'' of them. His skill at driving is barely put to use, he desperately wants to get out of his situation but his stoic nature and sheer inability to negotiate makes him unable to talk his way out, and he only just survives most of the physical altercations he gets himself into due to being quicker than his opponents. Furthermore, his stoic demeanour is slowly chipped away over the film to reveal a blind, seething rage which quickly [[DidNotGetTheGirl leads to his love interest rejecting him]] and alienates him from his boss, who's his only other friend. He ultimately exits the film bleeding half to death, his boss dead, and neither the girl or the money to show for it.
* In addition to being a general GenreDeconstruction of war films, ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' goes to great lengths to deconstruct the ColdSniper trope with its portrayal of the protagonist and his closest companion. Both of them are Marine Corps [[labelnote:STA]]'''S'''pecial '''T'''arget '''A'''cquisition[[/labelnote]] snipers who relish being seen as calm, calculating badasses, and they join up to fight in the First Gulf War with the idea that serving as snipers will be the perfect way to prove themselves in the field. Over the course of the film, though, they gradually realize that the onset of computerized warfare is fast on its way to making their jobs obsolete, and it slowly becomes clear to the audience that their coolheaded attitudes are just facades--at heart, they're just confused young men with a lot of pent-up aggression who want an excuse to take it out on "the enemy".\\
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At the climax, when they ''finally'' get assigned to an assassination mission after an entire movie of waiting for one, [[spoiler:they're denied the chance to take the shot when their superiors suddenly decide to call in an airstrike instead. The companion subsequently has a mental breakdown while he begs his commanding officer to let him fire.]] When the Gulf War officially ends a few hours later, the two of them realize, with detached resignation, that they passed the entire war [[spoiler:without firing a single shot]].
* ''Film/DeathSentence'' is a deconstruction of the PapaWolf and the VigilanteMan. Nick's desire to get vengeance on the gangster who killed his son pushes him to deliberately obstruct justice and start a CycleOfRevenge that only ends up harming him and his family further.
* ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'' deconstructs teenage superheroes like Franchise/SpiderMan. Instead of realizing that with great power ComesGreatResponsibility, the three protagonists use their powers for their own purposes -- doing ''Series/{{Jackass}}''-style stunts, getting girls, getting [[BullyHunter revenge on bullies]], [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil showing complete lack of concern]] [[{{Ubermensch}} for those "beneath" them]]... [[spoiler:It's only when Matt is forced to kill his cousin Andrew to stop his rampage that he realizes the responsibility that comes with his powers.]]
* ''Film/PrivateBenjamin'' deconstructed BootCampEpisode by showing that while she overcame boot camp, we also see how the army changed her life.
* ''Film/YakuzaGraveyard'': Kuroiwa appears at first to be a CowboyCop played to the level of parody: He'll brawl with anybody, he beats up suspects and threatens to railroad them, he drinks, and repeatedly drives his fist into his palm when frustrated, even if he's talking to his superiors. But it becomes increasingly clear that he's a very sick man, whose constant anger is probably the product of all the beatings he took as a kid (because he grew up in Manchuria, despite being pureblooded Japanese). Gets even further deconstructed as he meets and eventually bonds with a Yakuza member over their shared racial struggles, straightforwardness, and love of brawling.
* ''Film/MyBestFriendsWedding'' deconstructs RelationshipSabotage. ClingyJealousGirl Julianne [[WhatTheHellHero gets completely chewed out for her actions]] to "steal" the guy she loves from his girlfriend, the GayBestFriend constantly tells her her idea is stupid, the NiceGuy is upset when Hell breaks loose, and [[spoiler: when the VillainProtagonist has to confront the other girl on the shit she did to her, ''all'' the women in the scene side with said girl and call the other girl "bitch", "slut" and "couple breaker" in the most hilariously awesome way ever possible.]]
* ''Film/TheRunaways'':
** The deconstructs FaceOfTheBand by showing how much the rest of the band resents the endless focus on Cherie Curie and how Cherie herself hates all the excessive spotlight, especially since she's still a teenager. And of course in this case the person being pushed as the FaceOfTheBand is only just the singer, while Joan Jett is the true Face hence why she kept her music career going. Bonus points for being based on fact too.
** The film also deconstructs MsFanservice, with the rest of the band being furious that Cherie's sex appeal is getting more publicity than their music. Again, the mental damage this leaves on Cherie is not ignored either.
* ''Film/{{Nikita}}'' deconstructed ActionGirl. She isn't a badass but a reluctant killer who barely escapes every assignment.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys is deconstructed with Solange from ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', who is married to Dimitrios and suffers through a loveless, unhappy marriage. Out of spite, she hooks up with Bond and laments to him that she had "so many chances to be happy" with "nice guys" but keeps being drawn towards bad men instead. Later in the film, her association with the man who helped orchestrate the bomb plot (Dimitrios) and the man who foiled it (Bond) is what got her tortured and killed.
* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' is a deconstruction of classic HollywoodTactics with usually gory results. Trying to out-ZergRush a faction that would make the actual Zerg proud? As in sending in millions of unprotected infantry without any support whatsoever? Or, never asking for space freighters to transport the infantry on the planet around? Placing all your space ships as close as possible to each other so the enemy anti-orbital artillery can conveniently land hit after hit? Yes, all of those are done by the humans and all of those end in utter failure. The bugs on the other hand are incredibly adept when it comes to tactics in this movie series. Unlike older cases where humans are facing mindless aliens who attack en-mass, they are dealing with a well coordinated HiveMind that knows proper tactics, has plenty of surprising and deadly tricks in reserve, and their basic mooks can take so much punishment that it takes a whole clip of ammo just to bring one down.
* The Little Bill storyline in ''Film/BoogieNights'' was included, among other reasons, to deconstruct the male fantasy of having a pornstar girlfriend/wife. Little Bill is wracked with jealousy and feelings of powerlessness by his wife's promiscuity, culminating in [[spoiler:his committing a double murder/suicide.]]
* ''Film/TheLastSeduction'' deconstructs the archetypical FemmeFatale plot by illustrating exactly what kind of woman would seduce a man into committing murder, and exactly what kind of man would fall for it, to a degree that is so extreme that it verges on BlackComedy. The short version? A very, very heartless woman and a very, very stupid man.
* ''Film/PitchPerfect'' deconstructs CharacterSignatureSong by showing TheLeader of a collegiate ACappella group insisting on using the exact same set of songs throughout the competition, causing the judges and the audience to get tired and bored of their act. This also caused problems within the group because the members (especially TheHero) feel that they are being limited and held-back.
* ''Film/ManOfSteel'' deconstructs NighInvulnerable by showing that those with his gift still adhere to the laws of physics. For example, when Superman and his two Kryptonian adversaries were hit by Gatling guns, they followed the laws of conservation of energy and mass, and the bullets knocked them back a distance, but they were still durable enough to come out relatively unscathed. Also, when Superman held up a falling oil derrick, he was strong enough to hold it and durable enough to not be crushed but the steel floor wasn't, thus he fell through.
** It also deconstructs InvincibleHero. There's nothing stopping the villains from being invincible as well, especially since they're of the same super-powered, invincible species. Plus, put an invincible hero and an invincible villain against each other, you have a fair fight, more or less.
* ''Theatre/HenryV'' (the 1944 Laurence Olivier version) deconstructs MediumBlending. The first scenes are done on stage at The Globe but we see the theater's limitations. Its hard to move around because of the narrowness of the stage. The production even gets delayed because of rain (The Globe has no roof). When the play resumes, it is now on a sound stage.
* SecretRelationship is deconstructed through Anakin and Padme in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. After three years of sneaking around and hiding, their relationship is starting to wear on them and they are beginning to question if their marriage (now complicated by a pregnancy) is worth it but are afraid to admit it and avoid talking about anything that makes them uncomfortable such as when the political situation starts to find its way into their home. This lack of trust eventually drives Anakin over the edge to become Darth Vader.
** Later in the series, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' deconstructs the NerdInEvilsHelmet. Unlike the merciless, coldly menacing Vader, Kylo Ren is an immature, obsessive, entitled fanboy - and it's those immature and obsessive traits that led him to TheDarkSide in the first place. Nor do they wash the blood off his hands from his deeds - he may not be the most imposing person, but ultimately, he's still a murderer, and the movie doesn't seem interested in making any excuses for that.
* ''Film/IpMan'' takes apart OldMaster with Master Hung, who is badass enough to hold his own against Ip Man and Twister, but his age caused exhaustion to settle and it eventually [[spoiler: cost him his life]].
* BigBrotherInstinct is deconstructed through Charles and Raven in ''Film/XMenFirstClass''. Despite having good intentions about being concerned about his foster sister, Charles inadvertently becomes overprotective of her and denied Raven the chance to embrace her true appearance and abilities, as well as obliviously ignore her crush on him. This led to her turn to Erik as a mentor and love interest and eventually join him in his cause against humanity.
* The WorldOfSnark trope that's been an enjoyable staple of the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' is facing its own deconstruction from rival-produced ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'' and and the upcoming ''Film/SuicideSquad2016''. Both films have wise-cracking comic-book characters as their protagonists, but instead of being heroes they're amoral mercenaries with personality disorders. When they take a pause during life-threatening situations with dozens of potential casualties to say or do something funny, it's used to show how sociopathic they are (but is still PlayedForLaughs).
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'' deconstructs the JeanneDArchetype. The film offers the suggestion that Jeanne could have been suffering from some mental illness that made her think she was hearing voices from God. What's more is that her exposure to the horrors of war turns her into a BrokenBird. The film also offers a FreudianExcuse for why Jeanne would want to stop the English - namely the murder and rape (yes InThatOrder) of her sister - and suggests she may have been using the voices as an excuse to get revenge.
* ''Film/SunshineCleaning'' deconstructs the FallenOnHardTimesJob. The job in question - cleaning up after murders and crime scenes - is something that Rose and Norah fall into after hearing [[OnlyInItForTheMoney it pays well]]. Although disgusted by the work at first, Rose soon comes to find joy in what she does. When she meets up with her old high school friends later and talks about what she does, she realises she's proud of it.
--> "We come into people's lives when they've experienced something profound. And in our own small way, we help."
* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' deconstructed JerkassHasAPoint through [[spoiler: Admiral Marcus]] who was absolutely right that a war between the Federation and Klingons was inevitable and they needed to be prepared for the upcoming war. However, they arrogantly believed they could [[spoiler: control the dangerous Khan]] while their desperation to maintain control caused them to committing amoral acts, such as trying to kill the Enterprise crew to cover up their crimes. Though the Jerkass has a point, their Jerkassery caused them to go overboard.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' deconstructs the team's initial TeethClenchedTeamwork that occurred in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and continued in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''. While the Avengers were able to work together, they never fully trusted each other or worked out their initial grievances. All of this made it much easier for politics [[spoiler: and Zemo]] to drive a wedge in and break them apart.
* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' deconstructs the PapaWolf trope. Wade (whose daughter has been kidnapped) is one of the most unsympathetic characters in the film. He is willing to barter money over his daughter's life (despite being extremely wealthy), and his insistence on handling the ransom money is motivated mostly by his dislike of his son-in-law Jerry. As far as he knows, the kidnappers gave specific instructions for Jerry to bring the money, so going himself could very well endanger Jean. He charges into the drop-off with a concealed pistol and no information on the kidnappers other than the time and place of delivery. [[spoiler:His Clint Eastwood act when interacting with Showalter is completely ineffective, gets himself killed, and exacerbates the danger to his daughter's life even further]].
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' deconstructs EvenEvilHasLovedOnes. [[spoiler: Ego, Peter's father]] genuinely fell in love with [[spoiler: Meredith]] but their evil goals was still their ultimate ambition, leading them to [[spoiler: willingly give Meredith a brain tumor to kill her and stop himself from returning to Earth.]] This is also the case with [[spoiler: Peter]] whom he liked and bonded with. But once [[spoiler: Peter]] rebelled against him, he had no problem [[spoiler: using Peter as a living battery]]. In fact, the only reason why he bonded with [[spoiler: Peter]] is because the latter possessed the same powers as himself, making them useful. [[spoiler: Ego's other children weren't so lucky.]]
* ''Film/TheLastJedi'' viciously deconstructs LockedOutOfTheLoop. [[spoiler: Admiral Holdo refuses to tell anyone in the Resistance what the plan is to save them from the First Order fleet following them, or that there actually ''is'' a plan. As a result, Poe decides to take matters into his own hands, supporting Finn and Rose's unauthorized mission to hack into the enemy ship and destroy its tracking system. The plan ends up completely failing and almost got Finn and Rose executed by the First Order because the codebreaker they found turns out to be a DirtyCoward who sold them and the Resistance out as soon as they got caught. Then Poe and several others become convinced that Holdo is a traitor and they mutiny against her. Keeping people in the dark about such things is terrible for morale, and that low morale in a disorganized band of rebels is a recipe for desperate, rash, and even insubordinate behavior. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The end result is that 95% of the Resistance force gets wiped out]]. So long story short, [[PoorCommunicationKills if Holdo took the time to reassure everybody that she did have a plan and worked to have everybody trust her, most of the good guys could have survived the movie]]. It gets worse when Poe states that [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot he would have gladly gone along with Holdo's plan and would have trusted her if he had known she actually knew what she was doing]].]]
* Unusually for a spy movie, the ''Film/JamesBond'' film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' [[LuddWasRight deconstructs]] the concept of BigBrotherIsWatching. While C/Max Denbigh constantly spouts the idea of total surveillance and thinks the 00-agent program is outdated, [[DaChief M]] is more concerned about the undemocratic dangers of creating a PoliceState, and even directly questions C if all the data feeds might actually end up in the wrong hands. M even wonders whether C's surveillance plan will be able to deal with moral situations, especially if someone who just sits with such technology would be capable of pulling a trigger and killing someone. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Bond and M's suspicions regarding C and the Joint Intelligence Service/"Nine Eyes" program were correct, as C turned out to be a SPECTRE [[TheMole flunky]] and the program itself is a Trojan horse for world domination. If the data from all that surveillance isn't kept secure, then it's a double-edged sword, since [[NebulousEvilOrganization SPECTRE]] had bankrolled the formation of the Centre for National Security, and with this, they can have unlimited backdoor access to all the data gathered and use it to stay ahead of the opposition and destroy their enemies, namely 007]].
* ''Film/AGunfight'' is a deconstruction of the classic ShowdownAtHighNoon. The gunfight between Tenneray and Cross is short, brutal, and in no way heroic or romantic. It horrifies and disgusts the people who had paid to watch it.
* ''Film/AmericanAnimals'' deconstructs TheCaper. This movie (BasedOnATrueStory) shows why Hollywood style heists do not work when performed by amateurs.
* ''Film/Shazam2019'':
** Billy is determined to [[IWillFindYou reunite with his missing mother]], going great lengths to find her while getting in trouble with the law and continually running away from foster families who had happily taken him in. [[spoiler: He does find her ... but he becomes disappointed with the reunion he had expected to have, as his mother reveals she had knowingly abandoned him when he was three, due to the stress of being a single mother with no support. And despite being found by her lost son, she shows him zero affection and makes no attempt to want to be a part of his life now.]]
** It also deconstructs the OnlyThePureOfHeart trope. Shazam has vowed to make sure that his successor will be pure of heart after the last champion turned evil, but he's completely unable to find a human who's pure-hearted enough to meet his standards even after decades of testing countless children. Not only that, but one of these children was so emotionally devastated by basically being told by Shazam that he wasn't a good enough person that he grew up to be the embittered villain Silvana who tells Shazam that he'll never find someone pure of heart and also that telling a vulnerable, impressionable child that they're not worthy enough to be special is needlessly cruel. Ultimately, Shazam is forced to settle for the best candidate he has, Billy, who isn't pure of heart and initially uses his newly-acquired powers in selfish ways but eventually develops into a hero who proves to be worthy of his powers.
* The original ''Film/{{Gojira}}'' deconstructs GodzillaThreshold by showing how dire a situation would be to employ such tactics as well as the severe consequences of such actions. Daisuke Serizawa ends up deciding to use the Oxygen Destroyer but only after being severely torn against using it in the first place and allowing Godzilla to live. Bear in mind that, by this time, Godzilla had already killed hundreds if not thousands of people (with survivors over-crowding hospitals suffering from either radiation poisoning, severe injuries, or both). He is understandably concerned with what might happen if the device ends up in the wrong hands, and ultimately agrees to use it but only once. To ensure this, Serizawa ultimately commits a HeroicSacrifice by choosing to die alongside Godzilla rather than allow himself to be forced to develop another Oxygen Destroyer. The consequences of such actions, however, are that there's actually an entire species of Godzilla (meaning humanity has to use less effective ways to deal with them) and that the Oxygen Destroyer itself lead to the creation of [[spoiler:Destroyah]].
** ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' later deconstructs both the GodzillaThreshold and AmericaSavesTheDay by showing just how desperate the US is at stopping Godzilla. Long story short, they first try using armor-piercing missiles that manage to make Godzilla bleed. But, it also enrages Godzilla to the point where he begins demolishing Tokyo by firing atomic beams from his mouth, dorsal fins, and tail. This only causes the US to decide the best course of action is to essentially nuke Japan. Thankfully, Japan is able to stop Godzilla by freezing him alive via coagulant but [[spoiler:it's only a temporary solution and the US is still perfectly willing to nuke Tokyo once Godzilla inevitably wakes up again.]]
* ''Film/PlanB'' deconstructs GayBravado by showing that men joking about being boyfriends or pretending to be attracted to other men as part of a ZanyScheme to hook up with a girl becomes much less funny when the men involved really ''are'' falling in love with each other but are unable to recognize or admit it because of ingrained machismo that often gives rise to this trope in the first place.
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* In ''Film/Shazam2019'', Billy is determined to [[IWillFindYou reunite with his missing mother]], going great lengths to find her while getting in trouble with the law and continually running away from foster families who had happily taken him in. [[spoiler: He does find her ... but he becomes disappointed with the reunion he had expected to have, as his mother reveals she had knowingly abandoned him when he was three, due to the stress of being a single mother with no support. And despite being found by her lost son, she shows him zero affection and makes no attempt to want to be a part of his life now.]]
** ''Film/Shazam2019'' also deconstructs the OnlyThePureOfHeart trope. Shazam has vowed to make sure that his successor will be pure of heart after the last champion turned evil, but he's completely unable to find a human who's pure-hearted enough to meet his standards even after decades of testing countless children. Not only that, but one of these children was so emotionally devastated by basically being told by Shazam that he wasn't a good enough person that he grew up to be the embittered villain Silvana who tells Shazam that he'll never find someone pure of heart and also that telling a vulnerable, impressionable child that they're not worthy enough to be special is needlessly cruel. Ultimately, Shazam is forced to settle for the best candidate he has, Billy, who isn't pure of heart and initially uses his newly-acquired powers in selfish ways but eventually develops into a hero who proves to be worthy of his powers.