History Main / BeYourself

* [[{{Tsundere}} Mikoto]] teaches [[TheOjou Ritsuko]] this in the ''Manga/ToAruKagakuNoRailgun'' manga. Considering Mikoto is a tsundere who is always hding her feelings for the guy she likes, she's a ''terrible'' choice to dispense this and ends coming like a BrokenAesop or something. Now, ''Kuroko'', who is ''always'' herself, would have been perfect for this, [[HilarityEnsues and likely funnier to boot]].

!!Examples:

[[folder:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Invoked in ''Film/{{Cherry2000}}'', wherein the hip, New Age Californian villain orders his henchmen to spread out and be themselves!
* Double Subverted in ''AboutABoy'' where Hugh Grant's character Will, helps nerdy teen Marcus by buying him the latest trainers and teaching him about the latest music to fit in better with his classmates, is shown to be doing him a favour. Because his nerdiness really ''wasn't'' "himself", just who his mother ''wanted'' him to be, as evidenced in his mom and Will's argument.
* One of the songs in ''HighSchoolMusical'', "Stick to the Status Quo", features ''three'' people who move out of their group's normal behaviour (a geek who likes hip-hop dancing, a stoner who plays a cello, a basketball jock who bakes) and their friends exhort them ''repeatedly'' to "Stick to the stuff you know; stick to the [[LampshadeHanging status quo]]".
* Subverted completely in ''[[BertieAndElizabeth Bertie & Elizabeth]]''. Edward VIII was made to look like an uncommon jerk for being himself. George VI was praised for being a WisePrince. The message was "do your duty" not "be yourself". It helps that Edward VIII ''was'' a RoyalBrat with more of a care for his pleasure than his duty, and that George VI is to this day one of England's most beloved monarchs due to his [[InItsHourOfNeed steadfast]] [[TheHeart leadership]] [[PapaWolf during]] WorldWarII.
* One of the main themes in ''DeadPoetsSociety'', which is subverted when you consider that staying true to himself indirectly leads [[spoiler: Neil to be DrivenToSuicide]].
* Thoroughly deconstructed in ''FantasticMrFox''. Exactly what "being yourself" means to the animals in the film is never clear--they straddle the line between the humans and the truly wild wolf. At the beginning, they act like humans, with lawyers, gym teachers and newspaper columnists. The film later asks, how much like yourself should you be, when that self is brilliant but destructive? We never really get a good answer.
* ''HappyFeet'': The whole point of the movie's {{Aesop}} is that Mumble made all the difference in the world by being himself.
* Chris's mother says something of this nature to him in the movie ''Film/JustFriends''.

* In ''Film/HowToTrainYourDragon'' Hiccup is told a few times that he just needs to change, but eventually becomes respected for his own abilities. The quotation below becomes a set of ArcWords.

* Although it's not explicitly stated in ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' there's a definite undercurrent of this moral throughout the film. For example, Rapunzel encourages a group of [[spoiler:rough-and-tumble thugs]] to follow their dreams (even though they don't fit their image) and tells Flynn Rider that [[spoiler:she prefers his real name, Eugene.]]
* In ''Disney/WreckItRalph'', Ralph is the Bad Guy, and doesn't like it. The film even starts with his being told that they are needed to be bad.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* [[BrokenAesop Broken]] by ''FamilyMatters'' with "Stefan Urquelle". [[spoiler:And then reconstructed when Laura decides she loves regular Steve, instead of letting him be Stefan permanently.]]

* Ruthlessly parodied on ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'', when [[CloudcuckooLander Tracy]] gives one of these speeches at a high school graduation, which concludes, "Just be yourself, and I guarantee you every single person in this room will one day be President of the United States!"
* This is the moral of ''TheWeirdAlShow'' episode "One for the Record Books". Al spends the entire episode trying to break a world record in order to feel special until he finally learns that he's special just the way he is.
* ''{{Glee}}'': In one episode, token CampGay Kurt [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wants to be normal]], his standards for "normal" being his father, and musician John Mellencamp. For a glee club assignment, he performs Mellencamp's "Pink Houses", complete with false Southern accent. The teacher Will is visibly concerned, and by the episode's end, Kurt learns he was trying way too hard to be more like his dad, even if it meant not doing his hair and making out with [[TheBeard Britany.]]

* Inverted in the reality show ''BeautyAndTheGeek'' with an entire series being about men (and women) having to act in specifically uncharacteristic ways to ''get'' their smart or attractive partner.
* ''{{Warehouse13}}'': [[GenkiGirl Claudia]] has just been made an apprentice agent, and tries desperately to act the part. She naturally makes a fool of herself.

* ''SavedByTheBell'': Lisa pretends to be high-class to date a rich guy. She discovers he's a jerk when he scoffs at her old friends.
* ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'': Mr. Rogers delivered this message [[SincerityMode with great sincerity]] to his viewers, getting right to [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming the heart of the matter]]:

* A significant theme of Disney/Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'': Be yourself and follow your dream, even at the risk of death.
* Also a significant theme of Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' (and '''only''' the Disney version): Pretending to be the overbearing, pompous "Prince Ali" only alienates the hero from Princess Jasmine, who finds the earnest, resourceful "street rat" more appealing. In fact, the other characters feel trapped as well. Princess Jasmine, thanks to being a princess is forced to marry, while the Sultan is trapped by the law that says that his daughter must marry a prince. In the end, however, they realize that they can all get what they want while still being themselves. Additionally, in the memorable scene on the balcony, the Genie transforms himself into a bee and encourages Aladdin-- "bee yourself!"
* Almost every Disney movie has this, but ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' subverts it - being himself means thinking ItsAllAboutMe.

* The Aesop of every single ''KimPossible'' episode where [[ThisLoserIsYou Ron Stoppable]] [[IJustWantToBeSpecial gets to be special for one episode]]. It is discussed in "The Cupid Effect", where Wade suggests the idea, yet Ron dismisses it: [[ThisIsReality "That only works in cartoons."]]

* It's what both Fievel and Tanya learn by the end of ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail: Fievel Goes West'', and it's shown that they've learned it more through action than words; i.e. Tanya washing her make-up off and Fievel turning his hat right-side-in so it's blue again and not a cowboy hat. A rare example of the trope executed in a way that doesn't come off as sappy. Also inverted when Tiger saves the day and gets the girl by going from peace-loving to badass via training montage. Kind of [[BrokenAesop breaks the whole aesop]] if you think about it.

* In the second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Tenzin comes to learn that he'll never be his father and shouldn't try to be. You wouldn't think a man in his early fifties would need this, but when your dad was a hero who ended a 100-year war ''and'' you have to carry on his nearly extinct-culture...

[[folder:Real Life]]
* You (and other friends you have).
[[/folder]]

* This is a major idea, plot point, and overall Aesop delivered in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. Becomes darkly twisted in the case of [[spoiler:Adachi, who is implied to happily embraced his Shadow with next to no difficulty since at this point he no longer feels the need to repress his sociopathic urges]]. A similar case would be [[LonersAreFreaks Mitsuo]], where his shadow represents that he's a worthless human being, which he rejects with a feeble attempt at claiming that his life is actually worth something. Although, the boss fight after, an outer shell that looks like an 8-bit character, implies what happens to people like that, and that part of themselves is the shell they hide behind, but it's not as "self" as whats under it.

* One of the main themes in "TenshiniNarumon", where it mainly applies to the heroine, Noelle, but as it turns out, most of all to [[spoiler: Mikael]]

* Thoroughly deconstructed in FantasticMrFox. Exactly what "being yourself" means to the animals in the film is never clear--they straddle the line between the humans and the truly wild wolf. At the beginning, they act like humans, with lawyers, gym teachers and newspaper columnists. The film later asks, how much like yourself should you be, when that self is brilliant but destructive? We never really get a good answer.

* Chris's mother says something of this nature to him in the movie ''JustFriends''.

* When Tucker tires of his geeky (and for that episode, unlucky) lifestyle in ''DannyPhantom'', his friend Sam suggests a change and makes him a Goth like her. Tucker however finds the experience horrifying, refusing the dreary make-ups and accessories, causing him to revert to his original self. Subverted the entire time because Sam ''tricked'' him into accepting who he is by making his short lived experience as a Goth as terrifying as possible.

* In ''((JoyToTheWorld)) Joy struggles with dealing with her mothers attempts to make her act, and dress, more like a girl.[[http://www.joyslittleworld.com/joy-to-the-world/08-choices/ Joy hates dresses ]]

* Subverted in the ''HighwayToHeaven'' episode, ''Friends'', in which the lesson is that it's okay to be yourself if you're not fat. Jenny is a fat girl who doesn't have any friends. The lesson she must learn in the episode is that she needs to lose weight for people to like her.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', this is key to understanding the Dragon Scroll's message, which contains the power to make whoever reads it one of the greatest kung fu masters in existence. [[spoiler: It's a blank scroll that shows nothing but the reflection of the reader's face.]] Or rather, the true secret of the Dragon Scroll is that [[spoiler: [[ArcWords there is no secret ingredient.]] The most important factor in your success is you and your desire/determination to improve yourself.]]

[[folder:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}

* Near the beginning of ''TheCatReturns'' When Haru asks the Baron if there is anything she can do in return for his help: Baron: Yes, there is something. Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.

* Near the beginning of ''TheCatReturns'' When Haru asks the Baron if there is anything she can do in return for his help:
"Yes, there is something. Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear."

[[folder:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]

* In ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'', this actually gets {{deconstructed}}. One of Wizard's allies goes and talks with a guy who she sees as being down on his luck. She soon finds that he became a Phantom and talks with him about that and for a while, she actually manages to get through to him, realizing that [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch he doesn't like what the Phantoms are doing]] and doesn't like being ordered around to do exactly that. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Then she suggests just doing what he wants]]. Turns out that the Phantom was a recurring enemy to Wizard whose major encounter with him involved assaulting a woman so that [[WouldHurtAChild her son would succumb to despair]]. See, he likes wanton destruction more than just breaking the wills of people, and that he'd prefer doing the former more often. It actually becomes bad for all parties involved. It's bad for Wizard's ally who [[spoiler:soon gets held hostage by the Phantom]], bad for Wizard since the Phantom grew so much in power that he would have ''died'' in one encounter, and bad for the BigBad himself since the Phantom is going out of his control and might wind up undermining his own goal of creating more Phantoms by making them despair (they can't despair if they're dead).

* This is a major idea, plot point, and overall Aesop delivered in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. Subverted in the case of [[spoiler:Adachi]]. [[spoiler:It's implied that he happily embraced his Shadow with next to no difficulty since at this point he no longer feels the need to repress his sociopathic urges]]. A similar case would be [[LonersAreFreaks Mitsuo]], where his shadow represents that he's a worthless human being, which he rejects with a feeble attempt at claiming that his life is actually worth something. Although, the boss fight after, an outer shell that looks like an 8-bit character, implies what happens to people like that, and that part of themselves is the shell they hide behind, but it's not as "self" as whats under it.