History Main / DeconstructioN

** ''Tintin and the Picaros'' has [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Tintin]] pulling an initial RefusalOfTheCall because he smells something fishy about the whole affair (he's right, but ends up coming along out of loyalty for his friends anyway), [[TheAlcoholic Haddock]] suddenly unable to enjoy alcohol and [[AbsentMindedProfessor Calculus]] showing some hidden MagnificentBastard tendencies. At the end of the story, it is made crystl clear that the heroes only helped San Theodoros experience yet another FullCircleRevolution. Oh, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Tintin wears blue jeans]], instead of his iconic plus-fours.

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!!Examples

[[folder:Film]]

* Near the start of the 2004 film ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', many superheroes get into legal trouble because of the collateral damage they cause. A deleted scene shows how difficult it would be to hide super powers (specifically, invulnerability). At a barbecue, Mr. Incredible accidentally hits his fingers with a large knife, ruining the knife and leaving him unharmed. To cover up what happened, he begins screaming, douses his hand in ketchup, wraps an apron around his hand, and he and his wife quickly leave the party. Bob then complains in the car about the necessity of wearing bandages on his hand for months, wearing scar makeup, and coming up with a surgery story to explain his still-intact fingers.

* In TheCableGuy, JimCarrey deconstructs the kind of character he usually plays. In the beginning we're introduced to what at first seems to be the same kind of quirky, eccentric, wacky, CatchPhrase spewing character seen in other JimCarrey films. However, as the plot unfolds Carrey's character becomes a deranged stalker, and goes from being a funny character, to a deeply disturbing one. We learn that this character is a severely mentally unbalanced social outcast, that his "wacky" antics are in fact reckless and dangerous, and actually ruin the life of the one person he considers to be his friend, and that his obsession with spewing famous [[CatchPhrase Catch Phrases]] come from the fact that he has an unhealthy obsession with TV, to the point that he has a hard time telling the difference between it and reality.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' deconstructs DemonSlaying with a butcher's knife; sure, the heroes defeat EldritchAbomination{{s}}, but [[HeWhoFightsMonsters they end up going insane]] themselves from the trauma and horrors they saw while fighting the things, their action end up [[BatmanGambit going exactly in the direction the Demons wanted]], the cities and kingdom they try to save end up mostly slaughtered (Tristram, that the hero was attempting to save in the first opus, ends up destroyed anyway in ''Diablo II'') and Angels, for most, don't give a crap as long as they are not reached.

* ''{{Scanners}}'' sets up a fairly standard [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]], as [[TheHero Cameron Vale]], blessed with PsychicPowers, is sent by wise old [[{{Mentor}} Dr. Paul Ruth]] to defeat Ruth's former pupil, [[BigBad Darryl Revok]], who also has PsychicPowers. Vale befriends a WhiteHairedPrettyGirl, Kim Obrist, who can help him infiltrate Revok's organization. Not unsurprisingly, it is revealed that both Cameron and Darryl are the two sons of Paul. With us so far? And then Darryl [[LampshadeHanging points out]] what kind of father would abandon his sons like that, and weaponize one against the other, and, indeed, [[GuineaPigFamily would test a potentially dangerous new drug on his pregnant wife]], thus making Cameron and Darryl psychic in the first place. "[[CallingTheOldManOut That was Daddy.]]" Also, the psychic stuff is [[BlessedWithSuck disgusting and creepy]]: scanning is presented not as a graceful and mystical power, but as a painful and unpleasant "[[BodyHorror merging of two nervous systems]]". The process is as unpleasant for the person being scanned (who suffer from headaches and nosebleeds at best, and can have their hearts stopped and heads exploded at worst) and the scanners themselves who suffer severe social and psychological side effects from hearing other peoples thoughts (the main character starts the movie homeless, and another scanner murdered his family when he was a child). Ruth's dream of a scanner utopia turn out to be NotSoDifferent from Revok's scanner-supremacy idea, as observed by Vale. Meanwhile, Cam and Kim never fall in love, as would be expected, because they're too scared for their lives.

** Some episodes of FamilyGuy will deconstruct the cast's CharacterDerailment with them being aware of it.

* TheRenAndStimpyShow deconstructs every trope from [[GoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] cartoons, especially those having to do with morality and chaos, either by exagerating them to the point they become disgusting, or by showing just how unpleasant it would be to live through such events. The Character of Ren could easily be a deconstruction of ButtMonkey villain characters like Daffy Duck for example. While many of his schemes and plans seem to be immoral and self centered, they're usually motivated by survival, like in the short A Yard To Far, he tries to steal food, only because he's starving. On numerous occassions, Ren either breaks down into tears, or explodes into homocidal anger over the intense suffering he has to endure. Where as Ren could be seen as a deconstruction of a cartoon bad guy, Stimpy on the other hand could be seen as a deconstruction of good guy characters in general. He often suffers through the same misfortune as Ren, and is unusually upbeat about it, but only because he's not smart enough to understand the trouble he's in, and despite the fact that he seems to have more of a sense of right and wrong then his counterpart, he is still easily manipulated by Ren into immoral activities, because, [[GoodIsDumb again he's not smart enough to understand.]]
* There can be a very good case made for ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' being a deconstruction of ''JonnyQuest'' and ''DocSavage''-style [[TwoFistedTales stories]]. Some say spoof, some say deconstruction, some say [[DeconstructiveParody both]].
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' director Chuck Jones often used deconstruction on his cartoons. The best known example is ''DuckAmuck'': First the scenery changes, forcing Daffy to adapt. Then Daffy himself is erased and redrawn. Then the soundtrack fails, then the film frame, and so on until Daffy is psychologically picked clean. Another example is ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', which takes the base elements of a typical Bugs Bunny cartoon and reassembles them as a Wagnerian opera. (Conversely, you could also say that it takes the base elements of Wagnerian opera and reassembles them as a Bugs Bunny cartoon.)

** In "I Take Thee Quagmire" Peter tries get Quagmire out of a wedding by reminding him of his lustful nature, so Peter brings him The Statue of Liberty's foot. When Quagmire politely refuses, Peter rants about how difficult this stunt really was:
-->'''Peter:''' Hey, hey. Do you have any idea what I went through to get this? (Angry tone) A lot. A real lot. You think this is just, 'oh here comes Peter with the Statue of Liberty’s foot. Oh isn’t that just a gas.' No. No. The reality, the real reality, of getting this together was staggering. You know, this cost me $437,000 dollars. Don’t ask me how I got it. I had to call in a whole bunch of favors from people I’ve never even met. So the very least you can do is just rub up against…(putting his hands up in defeat) I don’t know.

*** At one point, Homer is about to drink a beaker of sulfuric acid when Grimes stops him. Grimes reacts ''exactly'' as we would expect a normal person to react—he's visibly freaked out, and when Homer blows off the danger with laughter, he shouts "''Stop laughing,'' you imbecile! Do you realize how close you just came to killing yourself?!" A series of such incidents, and everyone else's indifference to Homer's stupidity ultimately drives Frank Grimes into insanity [[spoiler:and death]].
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' deconstructs Homer's {{Flanderization}} into a {{Jerkass}} by having his friends and family actually ''react'' to it, up to and including [[spoiler:Marge and the kids leaving him]].

** The episode "1+ 1=Ed" is a deconstruction of how cartoons work, similar to ''DuckAmuck''.

** The movie in general deconstructs many parts of the series. For example, Eddy's {{Flanderization}} into a {{jerkass}} is deconstructed in that both his friends and neighbors are actually ''reacting'' to it, while most of time the Eds do something to deserve whatever they got, and even then the kids left them off the hook. Not this time, the kids now actually want to ''kill'' them (perhaps literally because of how hellbent they were to find them).

* ''IronManArmoredAdventures'' offers an interesting take on the teenage superhero genre in the fact the hero really couldn't care any less about school or fitting in, claiming it's a waste of time and instead stating that his work as a hero is more important. He then proceeds to cheat on his tests and homework in order to pass, since him being a hero gives him the latitude to do so, and high school is meaningless and doesn't matter once you graduate.
* "Epilogue" of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' can be taken as a deconstruction of the superhero genre, by having a woman deliberately make Terry [=McGinnis=] a superhero by killing his parents and replacing his dad's DNA with the DNA of Bruce Wayne, all in response to Batman growing older. It fits both invoked and deconstructed, because it shows the horrible consequences of making a superhero, as well as the kind of monster you would have to be to do it (killing innocent people to do something that might achieve a goal).

-->"I must admit, it's sadly anti-climatic. Behind all the sturm and batarangs, you're just a little boy in a playsuit, crying for Mommy and Daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic. [[{{Beat}} ...]] [[KickTheDog Oh what the heck, I'll laugh anyway!]]"

* The episode of ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' about them moving to "Citysville" deals with what would happen if their brand of heroics was applied to a real life city.

* The ''JimmyNeutron'' [[TheMovie movie]] deconstructs the [[ThereAreNoAdults "no parents would be great"]] trope by having difficulties pop up the very next day. A girl gets injured, everyone gets chronically lonely, and people get sick from eating nothing but bad food.
* "It's Oppo", a student film made by Cal Arts student Tyler Chen, deconstructs Nick Jr., as well as preschool television programs and morally unscrupulous media companies in general. Watch the (NSFW) video [[http://vimeo.com/11573607 here.]]
* In ''{{Undergrads}}'', college dorm life is deconstructed to counter its inspiration ''AnimalHouse''; Rocko's [[WackyFratboyHijinx Fratboy behavior]] is looked down on heavily by his frat brothers, who view him as a source of grief. Nitz' everyman status really puts only a grade above [[ThisLoserIsYou Gimpy]], the resident {{Hikikomori}} of the four of them.
* ''TransformersAnimated'' is a deconstruction of the whole Autobot-Decepticon War. Things ain't so [[BlackAndWhiteMorality black and white]] as before, in fact the Autobots' leadership is flawed and somewhat corrupt, with one higly racist, incompetent, cowardly jerkass general on it, who only is amongst the High Command because he blames his mistakes on Optimus Prime, whose status as TheMessiah makes him somewhat of a push-over, and its leader is ready to commit dirty tricks to defeat the Decepticons. The Decepticons however, are as much the monsters they were in G1, and though this time Megatron's pragmatic enough to blast [[TheStarscream Starscream's]] ass any time he tries to overthrow him. Starscream only survives thanks to the Allspark piece on his head. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Without it he would have died right from the start]]. Then comes the [[DarkerAndEdgier season]] [[AnyoneCanDie three]]...
* ''"HeyGoodLookin"'' by Creator/RalphBakshi (who else) is one big Deconstruction and TakeThat against anyone who believes that the [=1950s=] were really just like ''{{Grease}}'' or ''HappyDays''. The main character is ostensibly as cool as The Fonz but actually a DirtyCoward who can't back up his bragging, the PluckyComicRelief is actually a racist sociopath, their gang aren't really TrueCompanions despite looking like one, the supposed BigBad never [[MindScrew explictly]] does anything really bad and the ending's BrokenAesop is intentional about the [[SatelliteLoveInterest "romance"]] between the main character and Rozzie.
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[DeconstructiveParody comically]] deconstructs the entire underlying concept of the ''MyLittlePony'' franchise, [[GenreDeconstruction and similar "little girls' shows" in general]], by focusing on a cynical loner stuck in a SugarBowl where everyone else seemingly lives in perfect harmony. The other ponies' attempts to befriend her come off as antagonistic insanity to Twilight, and the fact that her peers are too absorbed by their joviality to take notice of the incoming SugarApocalypse doesn't help. The episode closes with a DownerEnding in which the fantasy setting that enables the existence of this too-perfect world [[CrapsaccharineWorld comes back to bite it]] in the [[HoldYourHippogriffs flank]] in the form of a MadGod seeking [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal vengeance]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds against the world that wronged her]], with Twilight left helpless to do anything about it and no less alone than she was before. Thankfully, [[DeconReconSwitch the next episode]] is spent [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstructing]] all the ideas that Part 1 dismantled.
** The means by which [[GodOfEvil Discord]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts the mane cast]] in the Season 2 premiere are designed to demonstrate the flaws inherent in their Elements of Harmony, thus picking up where the show's second episode left off by [[ZigZaggingTrope re-deconstructing]] ThePowerOfFriendship. As the ponies all see for themselves, sometimes Honesty can prove [[GoMadFromTheRevelation more painful than deceit]], Laughter can be [[CircleOfShame a cruel thing]], {{greed}} can reap rewards that Generosity can't hope to match, your Kindness can [[TheWoobie fail to help you in the face of the world's unfairness]], conflicting Loyalties can force you to [[SadisticChoice choose one at the price of abandoning the other]], and even [[ThePowerOfFriendship the Magic of friendship]] can be reduced to so much worthless tripe when [[WeUsedToBeFriends your friends turn on you]]. [[spoiler:Though Discord used subtle (in all but one case) but powerful brainwashing to achieve these effects, and in the end, he is HoistByHisOwnPetard and defeated because he thought his victory was assured]].

*** Still, the episode takes care to pull yet another DeconReconSwitch at the end when [[spoiler: Twilight goes along with her own "destiny" being seemingly forced upon her because, much like a genuine cutie mark, it's something she truly wants]].

* To an extent, Season 3 of ''CodeLyoko'' can be considered as a deconstruction of the show's concept of WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld by showing us the long term consequences of a bunch of kids trying to prevent a hightly intelligent AI from taking over the world while keeping a normal life. The result? Their grades start dropping due to the time taken from them by XANA's attack, XANA actually outsmarts them and ends the season with TheBadGuyWins, gradually destroying their virtual world in the process, and their attempt to get a new recruit ends up creating a SixthRangerTraitor. Even the relationships get deconstructed, as, after two seasons of UnresolvedSexualTension, Yumi gets sick of it and decides that Ulrich and she are JustFriends.

* ''Franchise/EverAfterHigh'' lovingly pokes fun at the horrible implications of the Fairy Tale universe while being [[AffectionateParody very upbeat and cheery about it. ]]

* ''{{Scanners}}'' sets up a fairly standard [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]], as [[TheHero Cameron Vale]], blessed with PsychicPowers, is sent by wise old [[{{Mentor}} Dr. Paul Ruth]] to defeat Ruth's former pupil, [[BigBad Darryl Revok]], who also has PsychicPowers. Vale befriends a WhiteHairedPrettyGirl, Kim Obrist, who can help him infiltrate Revok's organization. Not unsurprisingly, it is revealed that both Cameron and Darryl are the two sons of Paul. With us so far? And then Darryl [[LampshadeHanging points out]] what kind of father would abandon his sons like that, and weaponize one against the other, and, indeed, [[GuineaPigFamily would test a potentially dangerous new drug on his pregnant wife]], thus making Cameron and Darryl psychic in the first place. "[[CallingTheOldManOut That was Daddy.]]" Also, the psychic stuff is [[BlessedWithSuck disgusting and creepy]]: scanning is presented not as a graceful and mystical power, but as a painful and unpleasant "[[BodyHorror merging of two nervous systems]]". The process is as unpleasant for the the person being scanned (who suffer from headaches and nosebleeds at best, and can have their hearts stopped and heads exploded at worst) and the scanners themselves who suffer severe social and psychological side effects from hearing other peoples thoughts (the main character starts the movie homeless, and another scanner murdered his family when he was a child). Ruth's dream of a scanner utopia turn out to be NotSoDifferent from Revok's scanner-supremacy idea, as observed by Vale. Meanwhile, Cam and Kim never fall in love, as would be expected, because they're too scared for their lives.

* Near the start of the 2004 film ''Film/TheIncredibles'', many superheroes get into legal trouble because of the collateral damage they cause. A deleted scene shows how difficult it would be to hide super powers (specifically, invulnerability). At a barbecue, Mr. Incredible accidentally hits his fingers with a large knife, ruining the knife and leaving him unharmed. To cover up what happened, he begins screaming, douses his hand in ketchup, wraps an apron around his hand, and he and his wife quickly leave the party. Bob then complains in the car about the necessity of wearing bandages on his hand for months, wearing scar makeup, and coming up with a surgery story to explain his still-intact fingers.

** The means by which [[GodOfEvil Discord]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts the mane cast]] in the Season 2 premiere are designed to demonstrate the flaws inherent in their Elements of Harmony, thus picking up where Season 1, Episode 2 left off by [[ZigZaggingTrope re-deconstructing]] ThePowerOfFriendship. As the ponies all see for themselves, sometimes Honesty can prove [[GoMadFromTheRevelation more painful than deceit]], Laughter can be [[CircleOfShame a cruel thing]], {{greed}} can reap rewards that Generosity can't hope to match, your Kindness can [[TheWoobie fail to help you in the face of the world's unfairness]], conflicting Loyalties can force you to [[SadisticChoice choose one at the price of abandoning the other]], and even [[ThePowerOfFriendship the Magic of friendship]] can be reduced to so much worthless tripe when [[WeUsedToBeFriends your friends turn on you]]. [[spoiler:Though Discord used subtle (in all but one case) but powerful brainwashing to achieve these effects, and in the end, he is HoistByHisOwnPetard and defeated because he thought his victory was assured]].

For example, in ''DungeonsAndDragons'', when a cleric reaches fifth level, he gains the ability to cast ''create food and water''. Normally, the impact this would have on a society (especially a [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy medieval or pseudo-medieval]] one) is completely ignored. A Deconstruction would explore how a society would react to that ability.

{{Reconstruction}} is when the trope is then put back together, usually in a way that strengthens the trope. Think of it as Deconstruction taking apart your broken car engine, and Reconstruction puts it back together so it runs again. Deconstruction and reconstruction can become {{Cyclic Trope}}s. A set of conventions is established (the initial "construction" of the genre or ideas that are used in the story), this set of conventions is played straight until some author gets bored or frustrated with the implications the fantasy brings and decides to show us the unworkability of these conventions via a deconstruction of them. Atop the ruins, a more realistic narrative (i.e. one that accepts the criticisms of the earlier deconstruction) is then built via reconstruction, and in the future, this narrative gets deconstructed, etc. Cycles of deconstruction and reconstruction are basically how a genre or a trope evolves.

* In TheCableGuy, JimCarrey deconstructs the kind of character he usually plays. In the beginning we're introduced to what at first seems to be the same kind of quirky, eccentric, wacky character seen in other JimCarrey films. However, as the plot unfolds Carrey's character becomes a deranged stalker, and goes from being a funny character, to a deeply disturbing one. We learn that this character is a severely mentally unbalanced social outcast, and that his "wacky" antics are in fact reckless and dangerous, and actually ruin the life of the one person he considers to be his friend.

*** The series also takes a look at {{All Men Are Perverts}} and {{Hot For Teacher}}, seeing as how several of the boys Miki and Mayumi have gone after are visibly disturbed at having women who are both authority figures and older than them by at least a decade come onto them. Miki and Masaki have shown that they are willing to coerce a boy into sex (namely, Masaki). Masaki himself is never escatic at getting to have sex with Mike and Masaki, with him being coerced into sex and his family problems being brought by Mayumi.

-->"I must admit, it's sadly anti-climatic. Behind all the sturm and batarangs, you're just a little boy in a playsuit, crying for Mommy and Daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic. [[KickTheDog Oh well, I'll just laugh anyway.]]"

* AdventureTime is a deconstruction of fantasy elements applied in a positive way. Characters go through trouble, the world is in danger every day, and very few people have good values.

We have many subtropes; most examples of Deconstruction will fit in one of those.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has a rather clever deconstruction: SCP-076-2 "[[CainAndAbel Abel]]" is a man who randomly appears in a stone coffin and occasionally breaks out, slaughtering everyone in his way with summoned weapons before the SCP Foundation eventually brings him down with overwhelming firepower. Now, an AxCrazy OneManArmy who is [[LightningBruiser superhumanly tough and strong]], [[{{Hammerspace}} able to summon weapons from nowhere]], [[RespawnPoint reappears in the same place upon death]], [[PersonOfMassDestruction slaughters people by the hundreds]] [[ForTheLulz for fun]], and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality sees nothing morally wrong with his brutal rampages]]? That's pretty scary, but think for a second. Who does that remind you of? That's right: ''he's a video-game player character''.

** VideoGame/DiabloIII, on the other hand, goes for a {{Reconstruction}}.
* BioshockInfinite deconstructs SteamPunk by focusing on the dystopian elements of late 19th and early 20th century society that most SteamPunk settings ignore. The racism, religious fanaticism, eugenics, and abusive work practices of the time period that other SteamPunk works avoid in favor an idealised nostalgia, are instead brought to the surface.

* BioshockInfinite deconstructs SteamPunk by focusing on the dystopian elements of late 19th and early 20th century society that most SteamPunk settings ignore. The racism, religious fanaticism, eugenics, and abusive work practices of the time period that other SteamPunk works avoid in favor an idealised nostalgia, are instead brought to the surface.

* ''Secret Plot'' and [[MeaningfulName "Secret Plot Deep"]] initially/ostensibly comes off as another HotForTeacher / HotForStudent H-manga series about [[HotTeacher hot teachers]] and the various boys they seduce, specifically [[BiggusDickus Masaki]] ''then'' it sets in how much of a CrapsackWorld they live in:

-->-- ''EndersGame'' on {{Deconstruction}} and {{Reconstruction}}.

The simplest and most common method of applying {{Deconstruction}} to tropes in fiction among general audiences and fan bases, and the method most relevant to TVTropes, takes the form of questioning "''How would this trope play out with RealLife consequences applied to it?''"

For example, in ''DungeonsAndDragons'', when a cleric reaches fifth level, he gains the ability to cast ''create food and water''. Normally, the impact this would have on a society (especially a [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy medieval or pseudo-medieval]] one) is completely ignored. A {{Deconstruction}} would explore how a society would react to that ability.

We have many subtropes; most examples of {{Deconstruction}} will fit in one of those.

* DeconstructionFic (When a {{Deconstruction}} takes place in a FanFic)

* {{Reconstruction}} (the inverse of {{Deconstruction}})

'''Please note: This page has been edited for clarity's sake. Please do not add any more examples. Add them to GenreDeconstruction or DeconstructedTrope or the appropriate subtrope. Where possible please move examples to these subtrope pages. This page is about {{deconstruction}} as a ''method'', and thus should be stripped down to meta-examples.'''

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' experienced a successful {{Deconstruction}} with ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', a mildly successful {{Reconstruction}} with ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'', a failed Deconstruction with ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'', and a very successful {{Reconstruction}} with the 2009 film.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has a rather clever {{deconstruction}}: SCP-076-2 "[[CainAndAbel Abel]]" is a man who randomly appears in a stone coffin and occasionally breaks out, slaughtering everyone in his way with summoned weapons before the SCP Foundation eventually brings him down with overwhelming firepower. Now, an AxCrazy OneManArmy who is [[LightningBruiser superhumanly tough and strong]], [[{{Hammerspace}} able to summon weapons from nowhere]], [[RespawnPoint reappears in the same place upon death]], [[PersonOfMassDestruction slaughters people by the hundreds]] [[ForTheLulz for fun]], and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality sees nothing morally wrong with his brutal rampages]]? That's pretty scary, but think for a second. Who does that remind you of? That's right: ''he's a video-game player character''.