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* YMMV/TheBoys2019: Stormfront (an {{expy}} for Franchise/{{Thor}}) is beloved by the masses for her affably snarky demeanour, while Homelander (a SupermanSubstitute) is considered old news because his imperfections are becoming more apparent with the arrival of some worthy competition. That's not a million miles away from describing the rivalry between the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]] and [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse DC]] cinematic franchises.
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* YMMV/TheBoys2019: Stormfront (an {{expy}} for Franchise/{{Thor}}) [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]) is beloved by the masses for her affably snarky demeanour, while Homelander (a SupermanSubstitute) is considered old news because his imperfections are becoming more apparent with the arrival of some worthy competition. That's not a million miles away from describing the rivalry between the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]] and [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse DC]] cinematic franchises.
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[[folder:Audiences analyse work in unintended ways 11/50]]
* WMG/BringMeTheHorizon: ''There Is A Hell...'' highlights the ups and downs of the existentialist's unending search for truth and anxious but profoundly victorious refinement of self. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic What Do You Mean, It's Not Didactic?]]
* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Extreme cases of this [trope] can result in WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic
* WMG/TheWizardOfOz: The entire film is a '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic pre-emptive allegory]]''' of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and its lasting effects
* Fridge/DevilMayCry5: One [[https://www.reddit.com/r/DevilMayCry/comments/b14igh/interesting_thing_i_noticed_about_the_dmc/ Reddit poster]] noticed something that could easily be a happy coincidence or just straight up sheer coincidence regarding three of the boss fights Dante encounters over all five titles. Dante's final boss fight with Vergil in ''3'' is in the Demon World, while Dante fights Nelo Angelo in the Human World in ''1'', and finally the twins battle on top of the Qliphoth far above the earth in ''5''. Practically '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic step for step]]''' on Creator/DanteAlighieri and his Virgil passing through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. '''Referencing a possibly unintended allusion'''
* YMMV/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn: The book is prefaced with a "Notice" threatening with various dire fates any reader who dares treat it as SeriousBusiness. The warning has been universally disregarded, often taken as [[SchmuckBait an invitation]].
* YMMV/TheMoomins: There's a book that uses the characters to illustrate concepts from existentialist philosophy. It works surprisingly well. '''Couldn't find the book, but could find several articles.'''
* YMMV/Alien3: [[http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/02/19/why-newt-and-hicks-had-to-die-in-alien-3 Some interpretations of the film]] claim it's an allegory for the AIDS crisis, with the Xenomorph as the infectious disease in question and Weyland-Yutani as the medical companies profiting off of a "criminalized" minority.
* Headscratchers/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsSlytherinHouse: That brings up a problem I had with the descriptions: One definition of "cunning" is "in a sly, deceitful way" (quote Dictionary.com), but another, quite common definition is "clever". If Ravenclaws are supposed to be smart ''and'' clever, which throws out the possibility that [[DitzyGenius the only requirement is Intelligence]], and Slytherin [[OnlySaneMan sorts with a bias for high Wisdom as well]], that basically leaves Slytherin with "''conniving'' and ambition". [[FantasticRacism And no part-Muggles]], [[AccidentalAesop unless they're]] ''[[MagicalNegro really]]'' clever and ambitious (I'm probably overthinking the last line's UnfortunateImplications [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic too much]]).
* YMMV/WinnieThePooh: Although the tone of the original stories and poems is mostly tongue-in-cheek, many texts and books have been written that analyze and explore the deeper aspects of the stories or use the setting and characters to illustrate complex philosophical ideas. Perhaps most famous are Benjamin Hoff's ''The Tao of Pooh'' and ''The Te of Piglet,'' which use the characters to explore and explain various Taoistic principles. It works surprisingly well.
* WMG/SweetBroAndHellaJeff: The church episode '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic is an allegory for]]''' the state of Christianity, specifically why/how it split into so many denominations over the years '''Wild Mass Guessing namespace fills for the audience part'''
* Creator/ZdzislawBeksinski: While his work is ''drowning'' in recurring symbols and potential interpretation, Beksiński refused to confirm any reading of his work, citing that if he had anything profound he would want to talk about, he would just say it or write it down. This is said to be the reason why he wouldn't put titles on his work, believing that titling them would force his paintings into a metaphorical box.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Audiences find a lesson in a work where the author did not intend one 2/50]]
* PlayingWith/GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion, under Enforced: "We don't want to bring religion or politics ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic into this show]]'' and polarize the audience, so [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom we'll just avoid the issue]]." '''Implying the producers are aware of this'''
* DarthWiki/WarpThatAesop: Contestants will take a piece of {{media}}... and, through a number of [[SelectiveObliviousness deliberate misunderstandings]], a few {{Alternate Character Interpretation}}s, [[TwistingTheWords taking some things out of context]], '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic assuming that everything presented was meant to be taken as instructional and serious]]''', and reading in more than a little {{Fanon}}, make it seem like the creators were attempting to deliver a terrible, ''terrible'' [[AnAesop message to the kids at home...]] no matter how [[AssPull utterly off-base]] it is!
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Audience reaction, ambiguious authorial intent 4/50]]
* YMMV/Lost: See below. [[EpilepticTrees Some people think]] that there seems to be a little too much religious symbolism for it not to have some sort of message. Not only are there mentions of yin and yang, the I Ching, [[RhymesOnADime dharma, karma]]... '''I thought the creators were trying to encourage overanalysis, but I didn't follow the show.'''
* YMMV/TheCruxshadows: A fairly straightforward example. Most of the lyrics borrow from UsefulNotes/CarlJung in their use of archetypes, and from {{Creator/Plato}} and Creator/SorenKierkegaard in their philosophical message/s. '''Sub-examples are lists of references to things from classic literature, might be didactic'''
* TheBully: Fans who [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic have tried to analyze]] "Particle Man" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants have interpreted Triangle Man this way, noting that he ''hates'' Particle Man and Person Man, and fights them because he wins, but ''never'' messes with Universe Man.
* YMMV/TheBoys2019: Stormfront (an {{expy}} for Franchise/{{Thor}}) is beloved by the masses for her affably snarky demeanour, while Homelander (a SupermanSubstitute) is considered old news because his imperfections are becoming more apparent with the arrival of some worthy competition. That's not a million miles away from describing the rivalry between the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]] and [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse DC]] cinematic franchises.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Characters analyse a work in unintended ways 10/50]]
* YMMV/CandyLand: Candyland the Nature of the Absurd analyses the children's board game as though it were a deep philosophical work, courtesy of Webcomic/ExistentialComics.
* Fanfic/SoWhatColourIsYourToothbrush: Invoked for ''[[WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars]]'', of all things. Anna swears that the [[spoiler: climactic musical number is actually a philosophical debate between objectivism and nihilism]]. Chill says she's, like, 99% certain that that really wasn’t what the writers intended.
* Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlueLions, Anette: [[invoked]]Annette's songs are the target of over-analysis, to her dismay. They're supposed to be silly and mean no more than the words say, but Felix questions the lyrical content in her library cleaning song, and Claude assumes a song about growing flowers is really about bitter, regretful souls trapped in the underworld. If Annette and Felix get a paired ending on the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:the epilogue states that the songs she wrote remained popular for a long time, but their lyrics became distorted over the years and their original meanings forgotten.]]
* WebVideo/MonteFjanton: Played for laughs in-universe in the review of ''Film/TheGrief'': Felix comes up with a theory that Norah is Sarah's alter ego, and keeps bringing up evidence for it and praising Danne for how deep the movie is, but then he remembers that he's reviewing a Creator/DanneLehmussaari film.
* YMMV/LukeMochrieAndTheInners: Dave the Inner Hipster loves to make a case for misbegotten works being purposefully "ironic". It usually [[AnalogyBackfire doesn't go well for him]].
* Literature/TwentySixSixtySix: The Part About the Critics: A group of European literary critics discover the works of Archimboldi and bring them to '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic forefront of academic debate and prominence]]'''.
* Recap/StevenUniverseS3E21Beta: The concept is parodied in the meepmorps sequence. The leaf morp really is just about Steven giving Lapis a leaf, "Wow, Thanks" is Peridot's broken tape recorder with no function except to make her feel bad, and so on.
* Literature/HouseOfLeaves: ''The Navidson Record'' has, if Zampanò's writing is to be believed, '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic spurred countless theses and criticisms from academia]]''', both for its moving themes and character studies but also for the perplexing riddle of the [[TheMaze house]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic what it truly represents]].
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew, under TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: He's not a huge fan of things that would be covered under WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic or EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory.[[invoked]] He generally rejects the idea that a movie has any meaning other than what is obviously presented. If the movie has to be heavily analysed to grasp some meaning, then he feels that the meaning is likely just made up. '''Aversion'''
* YMMV/Deadpool2013: The late Creator/TheCynicalBrit argued in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjeZjmAfOU this video]] that the game is a parody of [[RatedMForManly macho]], {{testosterone poison|ing}}ed, [[StayInTheKitchen chauvinistic]] meathead protagonists like VideoGame/DukeNukem and other [[NinetiesAntihero edgy anti-heroes from the 90s]], or a {{deconstruction}} of overblown shooter franchises like ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''. Deadpool is... really not that serious. '''Sounds like one person's interpertation'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Character reaction, ambiguous intent 2/50]]
* Funny/BrowsHeldHigh, under VaseDeNoces: "'''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic This of course symbolizes that the director wants this film to be symbolic]]''' [[TakeThat fuck this I'm not reading into this.]]"
* Film/LAStory: The hilarious, rambling, erotic critique Harris gives about... a painting of a large, red rectangle.[[invoked]]
-->'''Harris:''' I like the relationships. I mean, each character has his own story. The puppy is a bit too much, but you have to over look things like that in these kinds of paintings. The way he's *holding* her... it's almost... filthy. I mean, he's about to kiss her and she's pulling away. The way the leg's sort of smashed up against her... Phew... Look how he's painted the blouse sort of translucent. You can just make out her breasts underneath and it's sort of touching him about here. It's really... pretty torrid, don't you think? Then of course you have the onlookers peeking at them from behind the doorway like they're all shocked. They wish. Yeah, I must admit, when I see a painting like this, I get emotionally... erect.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Zero-context examples and Wicks with Pothole Trouble 11/50]]
* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' is watched today for its groundbreaking special effects, futuristic architecture, and kickass robot - not its romantic plot or political message (as the screenwriter intended). This often ties in with ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic its own trope]]''. '''Not sure what is meant by this; sounds like the film might be didactic. There's no entry for the film on the page.'''
* JustForFun/TheUglyBarnacle: {{Invoked}}, {{Exaggerated}} and of course [[spoiler:PlayedForLaughs]] '''Doesn't explain how the story is re-interperted'''
* YMMV/BoneThugsNHarmony: '''Commented-out full ZCE'''
* Literature/Speak: Made fun of InUniverse through the English teacher's opinion of ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'' '''See Hairwoman in the Other category'''
* YMMV/BrightEyes: The fanbase tends to look for meaning in every line. '''Commented out ZCE'''
* YMMV/LadyChatterleysLover: '''Full ZCE, commented out by me'''
* Recap/GameOfThronesS2E9Blackwater: She tells him a bedtime story about a mother lion and her cub. "She loved him very much... but there were other things that lived in the woods, evil things. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic Like stags.]]"
* Music/BertineZetlitz: Invoked by herself in interviews, where she has explained that "Fake Your Beauty" came about because it rhymes with "shake your booty", a phrase which was popular to include in songs at the time. '''Missing how people interpert the song'''
* YMMV/FridayMusic: [[http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/6148/1300154451929.jpg This]] [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible academic]] [[EverybodyIsJesusInPurgatory postmodern]] [[WildMassGuessing analysis]] of the song. Also contains references to UncannyValley and HeWhoFightsMonsters. '''Dead weblink, but it would fit under unintended audience reading if written correctly.'''
* Characters/MyGirlfriendIsShobitch, under Akiho Kosaka: Her with intimate relationships. '''Likely misuse, but there's not enough context to tell'''
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: See also FauxSymbolism and WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Multiple categories fit 3/50]]
* ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' (and only ''Combat Evolved'') is a post-modernist work of art, comparable to the Iliad, the Chief descended from Rambo AND Captain America, and... look, you just [[http://bit.ly/alomDe got to read it]].
** It ''specifically'' features religious references all over the place. Heck, even the main theme is ''Gregorian chanting''. '''Part weblink to a book and ZCE, part ambiguous intent'''
* YMMV/BobDylan: Just about everything Bob Dylan ever wrote. It doesn't even seem to matter what he says in interviews about what a song does or doesn't mean (although more often than not now he just avoids those sorts of questions altogether). '''Vauge example'''
** Bob never answered those questions; he's just more subtle now. Ed Bradley asked him in the 2000s if his latest album was a new departure, and Bob ran Bradley into the dirt with a story about how an old jazzman showed him this "mathematical chord progression" that emotionally effected the listener every time. Back in 1965, some (even more) hapless reporter asked Bob about his "message" (captured on camera in ''Film/DontLookBack'') eliciting the scathing reply:
--> "What's my message?" Bob seizes a mercury arc light from the coffee table. "'Keep a cool head and always carry a light bulb!'" '''Unintended audience analysis'''
** Or the ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' interview by Nat Hentoff: Bob ended up editing all his answers into surrealistic evasions, with Hentoff's cooperation. (Allowing the subject to edit his answers is SOP at ''The Paris Review'', interestingly. But not like that.) '''Not sure where this fits'''
* YMMV/NewsAt11:
** Given the subject matter of the album, it's not difficult to have multiple interpretations. Is it an attempt to capture the [[JustBeforeTheEnd last moments of normalcy]] before the United States changed forever? Is it an attempt to ignore the attacks by delaying the inevitable, then switching to Creator/TheWeatherChannel when it becomes unavoidable? Is it a commentary on the phoniness of pre-9/11 American life? Is it a look into a parallel universe where the attacks never happened, September 11, 2001 was just another normal day, and the night watchman at the World Trade Center fell asleep watching the weather? '''Audience interpertation, ambiguous intent'''
** Website/{{YouTube}}r Pad Chennington [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W713p9UkgZk talked about his own experience]] with the album as he listened to it on the 16th anniversary of the attacks, with 9/11 footage piped into one headphone and ''News At 11'' piped into the other, describing it as "two different dimensions, reality and romanticism, at war." '''Combining two works makes me think it doesn't count'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Referencing didactics in general 3/50]
* LeFilmArtistique: A ShowWithinAShow is sometimes the stereotypical artistic independent movie, the kind which practically requires a '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic didactic analysis]]''' to convince people that, though it does not aim to entertain the LowestCommonDenominator in any way, it's a profoundly meaningful work of TrueArt.
* Literature/It: AuthorTract: One occurs against a specific style of writing a few chapters in: we're given details about Bill's struggle in a college writing class, particularly with the man who is the instructor and would-be mentor. Whereas Bill is interested in writing stories for their own sake and cultivating his talent, the instructor insists '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic everything must be didactic]]''' and is more interested in every story being an allegory for a stereotypically left-leaning political or social statement. On a whim, Bill submits one of his works -- one which the teacher had flunked (had, in fact, scribbled "'''PULP CRAP'''" across the front page of) to a horror fiction magazine and gets high praise and a reasonably good cheque; he pins a copy of the acceptance letter to the cork board on the door of the instructor's office. This is the start of a nasty falling out which ends with Bill dropping out of college and going on to become a success anyway.
* Literature/AnarchistCookbook: It was '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic written to protest]]''' UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar that contained various instructions for things like phone phreaking and, most controversially, building homemade explosives. '''It is didactic in the sense that it's presented as a manual.'''
[[/folder]]
[folder:Other 4/50]
* Funny/TheBoondocks: Everything about the arc where [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/post/139081159742/the-boondocks-comic-strip-1171-1st-panel-michael Caesar somehow convinces]] [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/image/139090073618 Huey to take a vacation]]. It starts with Huey having absolutely no idea [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/post/139261852448/the-boondocks-comic-strip-1174-1st-panel-huey how to relax...]]
** The next few strips thus solely feature Huey laying on a lawn chair, sipping lemonade, trying to relax... but mostly just letting out his inner CloudCuckoolander as his mind goes on random tracts of complete nonsense, [[LemonyNarrator all while the narration snarkly gushes about how]] '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic supposedly deep and insightful his thoughts are.]]''' At one point, the narrator even [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/image/139265869128 actively forces]] him to stop thinking about politics. '''This trope isn't for narrators commenting on characters.'''
* Characters/Speak, Hairwoman: InUniverse, she is obsessed with every little possible symbol that can be found in ''Literature/TheScarletLetter''. '''Sounds like Not Symbolic'''
* ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' is a good example of the second point [spoiling plot points]. The french edition's summary used for promotion reveals all the important plot points up to volume 6. Of a 7 volumes series. '''Actually TrailersAlwaysSpoil'''
* YMMV/EscapeFromTomorrow, under FauxSymbolism: There's a scene featuring a shot featuring the Disneyworld castle and a statue of Walt Disney that pans up to show the word "JESUS" written in the sky. A visual comment on the religious-level fanaticism surrounding Disney, or an incidental shot of a random skywriter (Christian ones in particular not being uncommon around Disneyworld) the filmmakers threw in '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic because it looked meaningful]]'''? '''Sounds like Not Symbolic'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audiences analyse work in unintended ways 11/50]]
* WMG/BringMeTheHorizon: ''There Is A Hell...'' highlights the ups and downs of the existentialist's unending search for truth and anxious but profoundly victorious refinement of self. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic What Do You Mean, It's Not Didactic?]]
* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Extreme cases of this [trope] can result in WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic
* WMG/TheWizardOfOz: The entire film is a '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic pre-emptive allegory]]''' of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and its lasting effects
* Fridge/DevilMayCry5: One [[https://www.reddit.com/r/DevilMayCry/comments/b14igh/interesting_thing_i_noticed_about_the_dmc/ Reddit poster]] noticed something that could easily be a happy coincidence or just straight up sheer coincidence regarding three of the boss fights Dante encounters over all five titles. Dante's final boss fight with Vergil in ''3'' is in the Demon World, while Dante fights Nelo Angelo in the Human World in ''1'', and finally the twins battle on top of the Qliphoth far above the earth in ''5''. Practically '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic step for step]]''' on Creator/DanteAlighieri and his Virgil passing through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. '''Referencing a possibly unintended allusion'''
* YMMV/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn: The book is prefaced with a "Notice" threatening with various dire fates any reader who dares treat it as SeriousBusiness. The warning has been universally disregarded, often taken as [[SchmuckBait an invitation]].
* YMMV/TheMoomins: There's a book that uses the characters to illustrate concepts from existentialist philosophy. It works surprisingly well. '''Couldn't find the book, but could find several articles.'''
* YMMV/Alien3: [[http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/02/19/why-newt-and-hicks-had-to-die-in-alien-3 Some interpretations of the film]] claim it's an allegory for the AIDS crisis, with the Xenomorph as the infectious disease in question and Weyland-Yutani as the medical companies profiting off of a "criminalized" minority.
* Headscratchers/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsSlytherinHouse: That brings up a problem I had with the descriptions: One definition of "cunning" is "in a sly, deceitful way" (quote Dictionary.com), but another, quite common definition is "clever". If Ravenclaws are supposed to be smart ''and'' clever, which throws out the possibility that [[DitzyGenius the only requirement is Intelligence]], and Slytherin [[OnlySaneMan sorts with a bias for high Wisdom as well]], that basically leaves Slytherin with "''conniving'' and ambition". [[FantasticRacism And no part-Muggles]], [[AccidentalAesop unless they're]] ''[[MagicalNegro really]]'' clever and ambitious (I'm probably overthinking the last line's UnfortunateImplications [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic too much]]).
* YMMV/WinnieThePooh: Although the tone of the original stories and poems is mostly tongue-in-cheek, many texts and books have been written that analyze and explore the deeper aspects of the stories or use the setting and characters to illustrate complex philosophical ideas. Perhaps most famous are Benjamin Hoff's ''The Tao of Pooh'' and ''The Te of Piglet,'' which use the characters to explore and explain various Taoistic principles. It works surprisingly well.
* WMG/SweetBroAndHellaJeff: The church episode '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic is an allegory for]]''' the state of Christianity, specifically why/how it split into so many denominations over the years '''Wild Mass Guessing namespace fills for the audience part'''
* Creator/ZdzislawBeksinski: While his work is ''drowning'' in recurring symbols and potential interpretation, Beksiński refused to confirm any reading of his work, citing that if he had anything profound he would want to talk about, he would just say it or write it down. This is said to be the reason why he wouldn't put titles on his work, believing that titling them would force his paintings into a metaphorical box.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Audiences find a lesson in a work where the author did not intend one 2/50]]
* PlayingWith/GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion, under Enforced: "We don't want to bring religion or politics ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic into this show]]'' and polarize the audience, so [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom we'll just avoid the issue]]." '''Implying the producers are aware of this'''
* DarthWiki/WarpThatAesop: Contestants will take a piece of {{media}}... and, through a number of [[SelectiveObliviousness deliberate misunderstandings]], a few {{Alternate Character Interpretation}}s, [[TwistingTheWords taking some things out of context]], '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic assuming that everything presented was meant to be taken as instructional and serious]]''', and reading in more than a little {{Fanon}}, make it seem like the creators were attempting to deliver a terrible, ''terrible'' [[AnAesop message to the kids at home...]] no matter how [[AssPull utterly off-base]] it is!
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Audience reaction, ambiguious authorial intent 4/50]]
* YMMV/Lost: See below. [[EpilepticTrees Some people think]] that there seems to be a little too much religious symbolism for it not to have some sort of message. Not only are there mentions of yin and yang, the I Ching, [[RhymesOnADime dharma, karma]]... '''I thought the creators were trying to encourage overanalysis, but I didn't follow the show.'''
* YMMV/TheCruxshadows: A fairly straightforward example. Most of the lyrics borrow from UsefulNotes/CarlJung in their use of archetypes, and from {{Creator/Plato}} and Creator/SorenKierkegaard in their philosophical message/s. '''Sub-examples are lists of references to things from classic literature, might be didactic'''
* TheBully: Fans who [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic have tried to analyze]] "Particle Man" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants have interpreted Triangle Man this way, noting that he ''hates'' Particle Man and Person Man, and fights them because he wins, but ''never'' messes with Universe Man.
* YMMV/TheBoys2019: Stormfront (an {{expy}} for Franchise/{{Thor}}) is beloved by the masses for her affably snarky demeanour, while Homelander (a SupermanSubstitute) is considered old news because his imperfections are becoming more apparent with the arrival of some worthy competition. That's not a million miles away from describing the rivalry between the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]] and [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse DC]] cinematic franchises.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Characters analyse a work in unintended ways 10/50]]
* YMMV/CandyLand: Candyland the Nature of the Absurd analyses the children's board game as though it were a deep philosophical work, courtesy of Webcomic/ExistentialComics.
* Fanfic/SoWhatColourIsYourToothbrush: Invoked for ''[[WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars]]'', of all things. Anna swears that the [[spoiler: climactic musical number is actually a philosophical debate between objectivism and nihilism]]. Chill says she's, like, 99% certain that that really wasn’t what the writers intended.
* Characters/FireEmblemThreeHousesBlueLions, Anette: [[invoked]]Annette's songs are the target of over-analysis, to her dismay. They're supposed to be silly and mean no more than the words say, but Felix questions the lyrical content in her library cleaning song, and Claude assumes a song about growing flowers is really about bitter, regretful souls trapped in the underworld. If Annette and Felix get a paired ending on the Azure Moon route, [[spoiler:the epilogue states that the songs she wrote remained popular for a long time, but their lyrics became distorted over the years and their original meanings forgotten.]]
* WebVideo/MonteFjanton: Played for laughs in-universe in the review of ''Film/TheGrief'': Felix comes up with a theory that Norah is Sarah's alter ego, and keeps bringing up evidence for it and praising Danne for how deep the movie is, but then he remembers that he's reviewing a Creator/DanneLehmussaari film.
* YMMV/LukeMochrieAndTheInners: Dave the Inner Hipster loves to make a case for misbegotten works being purposefully "ironic". It usually [[AnalogyBackfire doesn't go well for him]].
* Literature/TwentySixSixtySix: The Part About the Critics: A group of European literary critics discover the works of Archimboldi and bring them to '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic forefront of academic debate and prominence]]'''.
* Recap/StevenUniverseS3E21Beta: The concept is parodied in the meepmorps sequence. The leaf morp really is just about Steven giving Lapis a leaf, "Wow, Thanks" is Peridot's broken tape recorder with no function except to make her feel bad, and so on.
* Literature/HouseOfLeaves: ''The Navidson Record'' has, if Zampanò's writing is to be believed, '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic spurred countless theses and criticisms from academia]]''', both for its moving themes and character studies but also for the perplexing riddle of the [[TheMaze house]] and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic what it truly represents]].
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew, under TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: He's not a huge fan of things that would be covered under WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic or EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory.[[invoked]] He generally rejects the idea that a movie has any meaning other than what is obviously presented. If the movie has to be heavily analysed to grasp some meaning, then he feels that the meaning is likely just made up. '''Aversion'''
* YMMV/Deadpool2013: The late Creator/TheCynicalBrit argued in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjeZjmAfOU this video]] that the game is a parody of [[RatedMForManly macho]], {{testosterone poison|ing}}ed, [[StayInTheKitchen chauvinistic]] meathead protagonists like VideoGame/DukeNukem and other [[NinetiesAntihero edgy anti-heroes from the 90s]], or a {{deconstruction}} of overblown shooter franchises like ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''. Deadpool is... really not that serious. '''Sounds like one person's interpertation'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Character reaction, ambiguous intent 2/50]]
* Funny/BrowsHeldHigh, under VaseDeNoces: "'''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic This of course symbolizes that the director wants this film to be symbolic]]''' [[TakeThat fuck this I'm not reading into this.]]"
* Film/LAStory: The hilarious, rambling, erotic critique Harris gives about... a painting of a large, red rectangle.[[invoked]]
-->'''Harris:''' I like the relationships. I mean, each character has his own story. The puppy is a bit too much, but you have to over look things like that in these kinds of paintings. The way he's *holding* her... it's almost... filthy. I mean, he's about to kiss her and she's pulling away. The way the leg's sort of smashed up against her... Phew... Look how he's painted the blouse sort of translucent. You can just make out her breasts underneath and it's sort of touching him about here. It's really... pretty torrid, don't you think? Then of course you have the onlookers peeking at them from behind the doorway like they're all shocked. They wish. Yeah, I must admit, when I see a painting like this, I get emotionally... erect.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Zero-context examples and Wicks with Pothole Trouble 11/50]]
* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' is watched today for its groundbreaking special effects, futuristic architecture, and kickass robot - not its romantic plot or political message (as the screenwriter intended). This often ties in with ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic its own trope]]''. '''Not sure what is meant by this; sounds like the film might be didactic. There's no entry for the film on the page.'''
* JustForFun/TheUglyBarnacle: {{Invoked}}, {{Exaggerated}} and of course [[spoiler:PlayedForLaughs]] '''Doesn't explain how the story is re-interperted'''
* YMMV/BoneThugsNHarmony: '''Commented-out full ZCE'''
* Literature/Speak: Made fun of InUniverse through the English teacher's opinion of ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'' '''See Hairwoman in the Other category'''
* YMMV/BrightEyes: The fanbase tends to look for meaning in every line. '''Commented out ZCE'''
* YMMV/LadyChatterleysLover: '''Full ZCE, commented out by me'''
* Recap/GameOfThronesS2E9Blackwater: She tells him a bedtime story about a mother lion and her cub. "She loved him very much... but there were other things that lived in the woods, evil things. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic Like stags.]]"
* Music/BertineZetlitz: Invoked by herself in interviews, where she has explained that "Fake Your Beauty" came about because it rhymes with "shake your booty", a phrase which was popular to include in songs at the time. '''Missing how people interpert the song'''
* YMMV/FridayMusic: [[http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/6148/1300154451929.jpg This]] [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible academic]] [[EverybodyIsJesusInPurgatory postmodern]] [[WildMassGuessing analysis]] of the song. Also contains references to UncannyValley and HeWhoFightsMonsters. '''Dead weblink, but it would fit under unintended audience reading if written correctly.'''
* Characters/MyGirlfriendIsShobitch, under Akiho Kosaka: Her with intimate relationships. '''Likely misuse, but there's not enough context to tell'''
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: See also FauxSymbolism and WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Multiple categories fit 3/50]]
* ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' (and only ''Combat Evolved'') is a post-modernist work of art, comparable to the Iliad, the Chief descended from Rambo AND Captain America, and... look, you just [[http://bit.ly/alomDe got to read it]].
** It ''specifically'' features religious references all over the place. Heck, even the main theme is ''Gregorian chanting''. '''Part weblink to a book and ZCE, part ambiguous intent'''
* YMMV/BobDylan: Just about everything Bob Dylan ever wrote. It doesn't even seem to matter what he says in interviews about what a song does or doesn't mean (although more often than not now he just avoids those sorts of questions altogether). '''Vauge example'''
** Bob never answered those questions; he's just more subtle now. Ed Bradley asked him in the 2000s if his latest album was a new departure, and Bob ran Bradley into the dirt with a story about how an old jazzman showed him this "mathematical chord progression" that emotionally effected the listener every time. Back in 1965, some (even more) hapless reporter asked Bob about his "message" (captured on camera in ''Film/DontLookBack'') eliciting the scathing reply:
--> "What's my message?" Bob seizes a mercury arc light from the coffee table. "'Keep a cool head and always carry a light bulb!'" '''Unintended audience analysis'''
** Or the ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' interview by Nat Hentoff: Bob ended up editing all his answers into surrealistic evasions, with Hentoff's cooperation. (Allowing the subject to edit his answers is SOP at ''The Paris Review'', interestingly. But not like that.) '''Not sure where this fits'''
* YMMV/NewsAt11:
** Given the subject matter of the album, it's not difficult to have multiple interpretations. Is it an attempt to capture the [[JustBeforeTheEnd last moments of normalcy]] before the United States changed forever? Is it an attempt to ignore the attacks by delaying the inevitable, then switching to Creator/TheWeatherChannel when it becomes unavoidable? Is it a commentary on the phoniness of pre-9/11 American life? Is it a look into a parallel universe where the attacks never happened, September 11, 2001 was just another normal day, and the night watchman at the World Trade Center fell asleep watching the weather? '''Audience interpertation, ambiguous intent'''
** Website/{{YouTube}}r Pad Chennington [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W713p9UkgZk talked about his own experience]] with the album as he listened to it on the 16th anniversary of the attacks, with 9/11 footage piped into one headphone and ''News At 11'' piped into the other, describing it as "two different dimensions, reality and romanticism, at war." '''Combining two works makes me think it doesn't count'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Referencing didactics in general 3/50]
* LeFilmArtistique: A ShowWithinAShow is sometimes the stereotypical artistic independent movie, the kind which practically requires a '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic didactic analysis]]''' to convince people that, though it does not aim to entertain the LowestCommonDenominator in any way, it's a profoundly meaningful work of TrueArt.
* Literature/It: AuthorTract: One occurs against a specific style of writing a few chapters in: we're given details about Bill's struggle in a college writing class, particularly with the man who is the instructor and would-be mentor. Whereas Bill is interested in writing stories for their own sake and cultivating his talent, the instructor insists '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic everything must be didactic]]''' and is more interested in every story being an allegory for a stereotypically left-leaning political or social statement. On a whim, Bill submits one of his works -- one which the teacher had flunked (had, in fact, scribbled "'''PULP CRAP'''" across the front page of) to a horror fiction magazine and gets high praise and a reasonably good cheque; he pins a copy of the acceptance letter to the cork board on the door of the instructor's office. This is the start of a nasty falling out which ends with Bill dropping out of college and going on to become a success anyway.
* Literature/AnarchistCookbook: It was '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic written to protest]]''' UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar that contained various instructions for things like phone phreaking and, most controversially, building homemade explosives. '''It is didactic in the sense that it's presented as a manual.'''
[[/folder]]
[folder:Other 4/50]
* Funny/TheBoondocks: Everything about the arc where [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/post/139081159742/the-boondocks-comic-strip-1171-1st-panel-michael Caesar somehow convinces]] [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/image/139090073618 Huey to take a vacation]]. It starts with Huey having absolutely no idea [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/post/139261852448/the-boondocks-comic-strip-1174-1st-panel-huey how to relax...]]
** The next few strips thus solely feature Huey laying on a lawn chair, sipping lemonade, trying to relax... but mostly just letting out his inner CloudCuckoolander as his mind goes on random tracts of complete nonsense, [[LemonyNarrator all while the narration snarkly gushes about how]] '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic supposedly deep and insightful his thoughts are.]]''' At one point, the narrator even [[https://hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth.tumblr.com/image/139265869128 actively forces]] him to stop thinking about politics. '''This trope isn't for narrators commenting on characters.'''
* Characters/Speak, Hairwoman: InUniverse, she is obsessed with every little possible symbol that can be found in ''Literature/TheScarletLetter''. '''Sounds like Not Symbolic'''
* ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' is a good example of the second point [spoiling plot points]. The french edition's summary used for promotion reveals all the important plot points up to volume 6. Of a 7 volumes series. '''Actually TrailersAlwaysSpoil'''
* YMMV/EscapeFromTomorrow, under FauxSymbolism: There's a scene featuring a shot featuring the Disneyworld castle and a statue of Walt Disney that pans up to show the word "JESUS" written in the sky. A visual comment on the religious-level fanaticism surrounding Disney, or an incidental shot of a random skywriter (Christian ones in particular not being uncommon around Disneyworld) the filmmakers threw in '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic because it looked meaningful]]'''? '''Sounds like Not Symbolic'''
[[/folder]]
