History Main / HumansAreFlawed

* Literature/HarryPotter wrestles with this for the better part of a year in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' when it comes to [[BelatedBackstory Dumbledore's full backstory]]. Harry had viewed him until his death with a large degree of hero worship and it's not until after the fact that he began to realize that he was far from perfect. Harry spends most of the book mad at him for never telling him important things like the fact that he had a sister who died or that he had a brief "friendship" with the previous BigBad Grindelwald as a teen and the fact that he left Harry very vague instructions about how to defeat Voldemort. It's not until the very end of the book that Harry realizes that the former two things are very closely related and it was a very catastrophic example of a MyGreatestFailure that he'd never brought up because he still hated himself for all of it. He also realizes the latter is more out of protection for him than everything. So after getting a chance to hear the full story from his brother and talking to "him" in the limbo between life and death, Harry comes to realize that Dumbledore did love him and was a good man. He'd made one particular huge mistake in his life but at the end of the day he was a person and people make mistakes. He ultimately forgives him, so much that he names his younger son after him.

* An underlying theme on ''all'' Creator/JRRTolkien 's books, but especially ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. Zig-zagged with HumansAreTheRealMonsters, as Men are behind ''all'' the catastrophes befalling on Elves and themselves. Men are also the ''only'' race ''willingly'' turn unto Evil.

* This crops up quite a bit in the ''Franchise/Danganronpa'' series:

* ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa 2|GoodbyeDespair}}'' has Monokuma narrate about a fable about tengus living in the forest. It results in the humans building civilization on nature's behalf out of fear of said tengus. Monokuma diverts the story away from the tengus by proposing that humans are the true monsters for destroying the habitat of said tengus.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa V3|KillingHarmony}}'' has Monkuma and the Monokubs express their profound dislike for the human species. Monotaro begins by announcing that humans call bears "monsters", then elaborates from his point by saying that the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans are the real monsters]] because they demolish the habitats of wild animals (bears in particular). Monokuma finds out what Monotaro is implying with this and begins to relay his point, explicitly saying that all humans are self-centred creatures. As this is Danganronpa, [[spoiler:Shuichi]] responds to Monokuma [[VisibleSilence appropriately to his point]] - all of the cast except for [[spoiler:Kokichi]] continue to question the unfortunate situation of [[spoiler:Gonta]] having to be executed (he wasn't yet executed at that point, but he was condemned to an execution).

* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}''. A lot. Especially towards the end, where Spider constantly drops that, despite being a bastard and some sort of weird figure for the masses, he's still human like everyone else, along with all the great and the extra-evil that humanity does on a daily basis.
* This is one possible message of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': Because humans are flawed, our heroes will be as well, and thus our longing for perfect messianic figures to 'save us' is naive.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'', Morrigan Lugus claims that the very concept of [[GodIsFlawed "God" is flawed]] because it was formed by "stupid monkeys" who need religion like junkies need their stash.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': {{Discussed}} by Dr. Chen in Chapter 12. Indeed, after the Mass Awakening, the majority of the public have grown accepting of the Titans' [[PhysicalGod power and natural authority]] and their ecological importance, though there's still a minority that advocates attempting to kill Titans such as the Ghidorah-like [[AdaptationalHeroism Monster X]] out of paranoia. Vivienne Graham and human characters also deride the sheer reckless hubris of the military who deployed the Oxygen Destroyer, and the [[MegaCorp Mega-Corps]] who are utilizing Titan DNA.

* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' takes a similar approach. The entire reason for the plot was because human emotions were a flaw and the cause of 'man's inhumanity to man.' The ending, while portrayed positively, never exactly comes clear on whether restoring human emotion is a good thing.
* Played very oddly and combined with HumansAreSpecial in ''Film/GreenLantern2011''; what makes humans so special is that ''[[AtLeastIAdmitIt we're willing to admit that we're flawed]]''.

* In ''Film/TheGiver'', all emotions have been evolved out of humanity in order for it to overcome its flaws, and from a totalitarian standpoint it ''works'' -- but as Jonas and the Giver show the Community, emotions are what make life worth it and are part of what makes us special.
* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse has this as a recurring theme.
** In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Amazon myth tells that humanity is good and noble and just. However, since the movie takes place in World War One, Diana eventually comes to this conclusion - that there are humans that are violent and evil and cruel, but just as many that are what she was told about in her youth.
** At the end of ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Bruce Wayne acknowledges that humans are flawed, that they fight, kill, and betray one another, but they're still good and can rebuild and do better.
** In ''Film/Shazam2019'', the Wizard spent decades searching for a truly good person to fight as his champion and brought in dozens of people into the Rock of Ages to test them, only for each of them to fail. You'd think that Billy Batson, who takes on the eponymous hero's powers, would be that one person who passed the test, right? Wrong. The only reason the Wizard chose Billy was because he had no other choice after Dr. Sivana (who'd failed many years ago) invaded the Rock of Ages and freed the SevenDeadlySins, and Billy spends much of the movie fooling around with his new powers, only truly becoming a hero when his foster family is endangered. The implication that no one could ever pass the test says a lot about humanity.
* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': This is Ultron's reasoning why humanity needs to be wiped out -- we're [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves doomed to destroy ourselves]]. Vision ''agrees'', but comes to a different conclusion.
--> '''Vision''': Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites, and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that.
--> '''Ultron''': They're doomed.
--> '''Vision''': Yes. [[TheAntiNihilist But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts.]] It's a privilege to be among them.

* ''Fnafic/TheNightUnfurls'': Regarding the topic of human nature, [[KnightInSourArmor Kyril]] refrains from taking the [[HumansAreGood two]] [[HumansAreBastards extremes]], believing that humanity has the potential to commit both great good and deep evil. [[FantasticRacism Olga and Chloe]] [[HumansAreBastards don't approve]], however.

* In ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated'', a large part of the plot involves the characters of ''Anime/MyHime'' dealing with their personal problems, with the point being that by being imperfect and having to struggle against their flaws and improve themselves, they are stronger people than the "perfect" [[ParodySue SUEs]], who remain complacent.
* The main reason SPEAR and its predecessors maintain the {{Masquerade}} in the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' fanfic ''Fanfic/HeroesOfTheDesk''. It remains [[NoodleIncident unexplained]] precisely ''why'' TheWorldIsNotReady, but we get a CrypticBackgroundReference to the fall of the Roman Empire due to TheUnmasquedWorld.

* In ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'' Episode 75, Shadow the Hedgehog (of all people) uses this as his KirkSummation when Maledict gives him a WeCanRuleTogether speech. When Maledict tells him that the "monkeys" are nothing but mongrels who corrupted his perfect design, Shadow retorts in a very neat ContinuityNod to the show's ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' arc:
--> '''Shadow''': I made a promise to a girl I loved named Maria. I forgot that promise and I nearly wiped out an entire race because of it. You despise humans... and yet a human taught me the most valuable lesson of all; there are still things worth fighting for.

* ''Fanfic/ABrighterDark'': In this AlternateUniverse retelling of VideoGame/FireEmblemFates, the majority of the cast has pretty good intentions. Even characters who were previously utterly evil in the canon series are altered to have more believable ideals: the fighters on both sides of the war between Nohr and Hoshido are just trying to do what's right for their people. However their personal flaws and inability to communicate make finding peaceful resolutions impossible and is the primary cause of all the bloodshed that happens, despite both sides being made up of primarily decent individuals.

* A major theme in ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' is that humans can be just as cruel and bloodthirsty as the nearly AlwaysChaoticEvil demons that serve as the villains of the show, especially when driven mad with fear and paranoia.

* Played very oddly and combined with HumansAreSpecial in ''Film/GreenLantern''; what makes humans so special is that ''[[AtLeastIAdmitIt we're willing to admit that we're flawed]]''.

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Film/TheWorldsEnd''. [[spoiler:It turns out that humanity is the ''least'' civilized species in the galaxy, and the Network is trying to bring humanity to a level where it could be brought into the galactic community. However, to do so they have to remove anyone who doesn't want to be part of the Network; and because humanity doesn't like being told what to do, the Network need to replace ''a lot'' of people in an attempt to make them more acceptable to the galactic community. Arguably, the point of Gary, Andrew, and Steven's rebuttal is that "Humans are special ''because'' they are flawed"]].

* In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Amazon myth tells that humanity is good and noble and just. However, since the movie takes place in World War One, Diana eventually comes to this conclusion; that there are humans that are violent and evil and cruel...but just as many that are what she was told about in her youth.
* At the end of ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Bruce acknowledges that humans are flawed, that they fight, kill, and betray one another, but they're still good and can rebuild and do better.
* In ''Film/Shazam2019'', the Wizard spends decades searching for a truly good person to fight as his champion, and brings dozens of people into the Rock of Ages to test them, only for each of them to fail. You'd think that Billy Batson, who takes on the eponymous hero's powers, would be that person, right? Wrong. The only reason the Wizard chose Billy was because he had no other choice after Dr. Sivana (who'd failed many years ago) invaded the Rock of Ages and freed the SevenDeadlySins, and Billy spends much of the movie fooling around with his new powers, only truly becoming a hero when his foster family is endangered. The implication that no one could ever pass the test says a lot about humanity.

* "Savages" by Music/MarinaAndTheDiamonds is the contemplation of HumansAreBastards vs. HumansAreFlawed. She leans more towards the former but still asks, "Is it a human trait, or [[RousseauWasRight is it learned behaviour]]?" and says, "we can be bad as we can be good."

* ''FanFic/ARabbitAmongWolves'': [[spoiler: The ghost of Adam]], surprisingly enough, takes this view. He sees most of humanity, not as malicious, but naïve about what faunus experience. Largely because they don't know what it is like to be seen as subhuman.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': The Chaos gods are usually agreed to be the worst of Mankind's enemies. Unfortunately, since they are basically made of emotion (rage, love, desire, and hope), humanity keeps fueling them even when defeating their agents in the material plane.

* While it first appears to set up a HumansAreTheRealMonsters message, ''VisualNovel/EienNoAselia'' in the end opts for this. You have your instantly nice and understanding characters like Yuuto and Lesteena, your neutralish characters like Kouin and the populace at large, and finally the evil people like Shun and Soma. The populace eventually grows to accept Yuuto and the spirits and see them as heroes, while Shun gets a decent motivation in a NewGamePlus and a SympathyForTheDevil moment.

->'''[[{{Satan}} Lucifer]]:''' They are broken, flawed abortions!\\
'''[[ArchangelGabriel Gabriel]]:''' Damn right, they're flawed! But a lot of them try... to do better... to forgive.

* This is a major theme of ''VideoGame/BioShock''. No matter what kind of [[{{Utopia}} ideal society]] a person tries to create -- an Objectivist city of laissez-faire capitalism, a culture based on altruism, or even just [[GoldenMeanFallacy an attempt at overthrowing institutionalized racism]] -- human flaws inevitably doom it.

* This brought up in Chapter 28 of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', where Kat the roboticist is depressed due to finding out that the creator of the Court's robots also [[spoiler:cooked up a plan to [[MurderTheHypotenuse assassinate the fae lover of the woman he obsessed over]], [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone then spent the rest of his life regretting]] [[IfICantHaveYou that he basically left said woman in a ditch to starve to death]], all while his co-conspirators hatched this plan alongside him to protect the [[ScienceVsMagic technologically-advanced court from the magical denizens of the Giliti Woods]].]] Her irritation is interrupted after she finds a baby pigeon and takes it to her friend Paz, an animal lover who works with [[UnfortunateImplications lab rats]]. Kat has a breakdown after learning all the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters things]] the Court does, but Paz reminds her that the Court (and indirectly, the robots who are the original roboticist's descendants, who spend every waking moment trying to better themselves or be helpful) is also capable of recognizing its flaws and changing them:

* In ''Film/TheGiver'', all emotions have been evolved out of humanity in order for it to overcome its flaws, and from a totalitarian standpoint it ''works''-but as Jonas and the Giver show the Community, emotions are what make life worth it and are part of what makes us special.

* In ''Film/Shazam2019'', the Wizard spends decades searching for a truly good person to fight as his champion, and brings dozens of people into the Rock of Ages to test them, only for each of them to fail. You'd think that Billy Batson, who takes on the eponymous hero's powers, would be that person, right? Wrong. The only reason the Wizard chose Billy was because he had no other choice after Dr. Sivana(who'd failed many years ago) invaded the Rock of Ages and freed the SevenDeadlySins, and Billy spends much of the movie fooling around with his new powers, only truly becoming a hero when his foster family is endangered. The implication that no one could ever pass the test says a lot about humanity.
''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'':

--> '''Vision''': Yes. But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them.

* ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' is largely about this. [[AllLovingHero Tenma]] and Johan come to different conclusions from this premise.

* This is one possible message of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'': Because humans are flawed, our heroes will be as well, and thus our longing for perfect messianic figures to 'save us' is naive.

* In ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated'', a large part of the plot involves the characters of ''Anime/MaiHime'' dealing with their personal problems, with the point being that by being imperfect and having to struggle against their flaws and improve themselves, they are stronger people than the "perfect" [[ParodySue SUEs]], who remain complacent.
* The main reason SPEAR and its predecessors maintain the {{Masquerade}} in the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' fanfic ''FanFic/HeroesOfTheDesk''. It remains [[NoodleIncident unexplained]] precisely ''why'' TheWorldIsNotReady, but we get a CrypticBackgroundReference to the fall of the Roman Empire due to TheUnmasquedWorld.

* In ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' Episode 75, Shadow the Hedgehog (of all people) uses this as his KirkSummation when Maledict gives him a WeCanRuleTogether speech. When Maledict tells him that the "monkeys" are nothing but mongrels who corrupted his perfect design, Shadow retorts in a very neat ContinuityNod to the show's ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' arc:

* ''FanFic/ABrighterDark'': In this AlternateUniverse retelling of VideoGame/FireEmblemFates, the majority of the cast has pretty good intentions. Even characters who were previously utterly evil in the canon series are altered to have more believable ideals: the fighters on both sides of the war between Nohr and Hoshido are just trying to do what's right for their people. However their personal flaws and inability to communicate make finding peaceful resolutions impossible and is the primary cause of all the bloodshed that happens, despite both sides being made up of primarily decent individuals.

* This is a major theme of ''VideoGame/BioShock.'' No matter what kind of [[{{Utopia}} ideal society]] a person tries to create -- an Objectivist city of laissez-faire capitalism, a culture based on altruism, or even just [[GoldenMeanFallacy an attempt at overthrowing institutionalized racism]] -- human flaws inevitably doom it.

* This seems to be a major theme in ''VideoGame/{{The World Ends With You}}''. Ultimately humans are flawed creatures obsessed with themselves until they clash with other people and their viewpoints, show with Neku's character growth. The act of having to clash itself suggests that only conflict causes humans to grow in any meaningful way.
* In ''Videogame/DmCDevilMayCry'', [[BigBad Mundus]] mocks Dante's desire to free humanity from demons by claiming that humans had freedom before he came, and in his words "They fought. They killed. They starved. I brought ''order''." [[spoiler:Vergil also believes this is true, and wishes to rule humanity [[WeCanRuleTogether alongside Dante]] after Mundus is defeated. He believes humans are like children that need to be protected from themselves. Dante counters this by pointing out that they would never have defeated Mundus without the aid of Kat, a human.]]

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* VideoGame/MassEffect has this as one of its main themes. Humans, as well as every other race in the galaxy [[spoiler:except the [[SapientShip Reapers]]]], have both good and bad individuals in them, and while there are many lawless areas in the galaxy, and the ObstructiveBureaucrat tendencies of many politicians, the Citadel species are overall doing their best. [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] can even say this in VideoGame/MassEffect2.

* [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Danganronpa 2]] has Monokuma narrate about a fable about tengus living in the forest. It results in the humans building civilization on nature's behalf out of fear of said tengus. Monokuma diverts the story away from the tengus by proposing that humans are the true monsters for destroying the habitat of said tengus.
* [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony Danganronpa V3]] has Monkuma and the Monokubs express their profound dislike for the human species. Monotaro begins by announcing that humans call bears "monsters", then elaborates from his point by saying that the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans are the real monsters]] because they demolish the habitats of wild animals (bears in particular). Monokuma finds out what Monotaro is implying with this and begins to relay his point, explicitly saying that all humans are self-centred creatures. As this is Danganronpa, [[spoiler:Shuichi]] responds to Monokuma [[VisibleSilence appropriately to his point]] - all of the cast except for [[spoiler:Kokichi]] continue to question the unfortunate situation of [[spoiler:Gonta]] having to be executed (he wasn't yet executed at that point, but he was condemned to an execution).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Christianity teaches that humans exist in a fallen [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin state]], with Jesus stating in the Gospel of Matthew that "...out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." (NKJV) At the same time, the faith teaches that every human being is made in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_of_Godv Image of God]], and as such, has infinite inherent worth.

Compare/contrast HumansAreBastards when humans beings in general are depicted as being inherently [[JerkAss Jerkasses]] to each other, and HobbesWasRight when humans play nicely with each other only because [[AppealToForce they are forced to do so]]. These human flaws may lead to other races considering that HumansAreTheRealMonsters.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' takes an interesting stance on this -- when Roy dies, he's told that since he's mortal, it's not really reasonable to expect him to stay perfectly straight-and-narrow all the time, and making the effort is what's really important. This is repeated when he's allowed into the afterlife even though he didn't fulfill his father's Blood Oath; because he ''kept trying'', he gets a pass, where his father consciously abandoned the quest and is thus stuck in limbo until a member of his family defeats Xykon. Thus it's less "Humans suck because they are flawed" and more "Humans are flawed, but that's okay because it doesn't have to define them."

** [[spoiler:Gabriel]] subverts this somewhat, since while he does state that humans are flawed, he also finds them better than most angels, since "a lot of them try to forgive each other. To do better."

** In terms of mankind specifically, this is the opinion of the [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]] along with thinking that HumansAreBastards. To the elves, mankind lives pitifully [[WeAreAsMayflies short lives]] filled with [[HumansAreWarriors violence and savagery]]. Their version of the CreationMyth even states that mankind was specifically created out of the "weakest souls" to ''be'' bastards by a JerkassGod.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' has this final viewpoint on humanity. While the show doesn't shy away from how vicious and cruel humanity can be, [[spoiler:the BigBad was revealed to ultimately be someone that [[ForHappiness desired for everyone to be happy]] until he was driven insane try to listen to the general public's sadism and bloodlust.]] In the end, the shows that nearly everyone can change for the better if someone is willing to show them the way.