Line #193 Main/Deconstruction


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/VGCats https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomjerry_6855.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:''Franchise/TomAndJerry: [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=207 The Lost Episodes]]'' deconstructs AmusingInjuries.]]
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7	->"''Sometimes I think you enjoy breaking these little geniuses.''"\
8	"''There is an art to it, and I'm very, very good at it. But enjoy? Well, maybe. When they put back the pieces afterward, and it makes them better.''"
9	-->-- ''Literature/EndersGame'' on Deconstruction and {{Reconstruction}}
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11	"Deconstruction" literally means "to take something apart". When applied to tropes or other aspects of fiction, deconstruction means to take apart a trope in a way that exposes its inherent contradictions, often by exploring the difference between how the trope appears in this one work and how it compares to other relevant tropes or ideas both in fiction and RealLife. 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 Website/TVTropes, takes the form of questioning "''How would this trope play out with RealLife consequences applied to it?''" or "''What would cause this trope to appear in RealLife?''"
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13	This doesn't mean magic and other fantastic or futuristic elements, or any other tropes must be removed or attacked for failing to match up with their own pretensions of self-consistent reality, of course. While sometimes perceived as an aggressive attack on the meaning or entertainment value of a work or text, deconstruction is not properly about passing judgment (and in fact, the term "deconstruction" was picked over the German term "Dekonstruktion" to suggest careful attention to the detail within a text over violently emptying the work of all meaning). It means that all existing elements of a work are played without the RuleOfCool, RuleOfDrama, RuleOfFunny, [[RuleOfIndex and so on]], to see what hidden assumptions the work uses to make its point. Sometimes you will hear this referred to as "[[PlayingWithATrope played completely straight]]", and it can be thought of as taking a work more seriously on its own terms than even the work itself does, for the purpose of laying bare hidden meanings in the text. Often, the purpose of deconstructing a trope is to better understand its meaning and relevance to us in RealLife.
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15	For example, in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', when a cleric reaches the fifth level, they gain 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 [[ReedRichardsIsUseless completely ignored]]. A Deconstruction would explore how a society would react to that ability.
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17	Note that while deconstructions ''often'' end up [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, edgier,]] [[SadnessTropes sadder]] [[CynicismTropes and more cynical]] than the normal version, '''there is no reason they have to be.''' While the Deconstruction process can reveal things we weren't thinking about for a reason — a major contributing factor in why it tends to be depressing — Deconstructions are free to exist anywhere on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. Expanding on the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' example above, a cynical deconstruction would involve the food-creating clerics either being enslaved for their powers or becoming the ruling class in a {{Dystopia}}, while an idealistic deconstruction would involve the alleviation of scarcities and hardships based on class. Either one is perfectly valid, and while it is true that dystopian settings and outcomes carry a far greater amount of conflict [[AnthropicPrinciple and thus make for]] [[RuleOfDrama far better story fodder than positive ones,]] giving a Deconstruction a cynical outlook just for the sake of there being a plot is not necessary; [[EarnYourHappyEnding a story can be absolutely rife with conflict and still have an idealistic worldview overall.]][[note]]For example, the post-scarcity D&D society just described might not sound like an interesting place to set a story, but a writer could still prominently include it by having the story ''build up'' to that outcome, say, by showing the medieval society struggle with scarcity and/or following the cleric as he progressively learns the art of food creation magic over the majority of the plot, with the struggle over scarcity being purged from the setting at or near the story's climax as post-scarcity becomes a reality in-universe.[[/note]]
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19	Sometimes the best fodder for deconstruction in a story or setting is not its major themes, but [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail the aspects that are discussed the least, if at all]]. For instance, a work in which gender, sexuality, poverty, race, politics, etc. should have been important but were never dealt with adequately is ripe for a deconstruction.
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21	Also note that '''DarkerAndEdgier, RuleOfDrama and CynicismTropes ''do not'' by themselves turn works into Deconstructions''', even if it means showing how dark and edgy something can be made. There are plenty of dark, edgy and dramatic tropes that are used without ever exploring the meaning behind them, or their realistic implications -- indeed, the RuleOfDrama often implies that dramatic plot developments are being introduced for their own sake when they ''don't'' necessarily make sense. While some of the most acclaimed works in their respective genres are deconstructions, and many deconstructions [[TrueArtIsAngsty do utilize dark, cynical and dramatic tropes in the setting]], [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it is the careful use and analysis of them that makes them acclaimed, not because they just have those tropes in them]]. See '''Administrivia/NotADeconstruction'''.
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23	{{Reconstruction}} is when the trope admits its flaws and ''then'' gets put back together, usually in a way that strengthens the trope. Think of Deconstruction as taking apart your broken car engine, and Reconstruction as putting 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 a major element in how genres and tropes evolve. In philosophy, this evolution is also known as thesis-antithesis-synthesis.
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25	See also SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome for when this happens temporarily, usually for humor rather than deconstruction, and FridgeHorror, which is what people often think of deconstruction: revealing how really terrifying and dark something is by thoroughly thinking about it.
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27	'''Please note: This page has been edited for clarity's sake. Please do not add any more examples. Add them to GenreDeconstruction, DeconstructedTrope, DeconstructedCharacterArchetype 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.'''
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30	%% All Anime and Manga examples have been migrated to subtropes, per the notice above. Please do not add new examples here.
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32	%% All Audio Drama examples have been migrated to subtropes, per the notice above. Please do not add new examples here.
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34	!!Example subpages:
35	[[index]]
36	* Deconstruction/ComicBooks
37	* {{Deconstruction/Film}}
38	* {{Deconstruction/Literature}}
39	* Deconstruction/LiveActionTV
40	* Deconstruction/VideoGames
41	* Deconstruction/WesternAnimation
42	* Deconstruction/OtherMedia
43	[[/index]]
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45	!!Sub-tropes:
46	[[index]]
47	* AscendedFridgeHorror: When the creators themselves acknowledge the FridgeHorror of their own works and incorporate it into the story.
48	* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Deconstructing a character type (TheHero, TheLancer, AntiVillain etc.).
49	* DeconstructedTrope: Deconstructing a single trope.
50	* DeconstructionCrossover: Works which involve {{crossover}}s from multiple fictional universes in order to deconstruct those fictional universes.
51	* DeconstructionFic: When a deconstruction takes place in a piece of FanFic.
52	* DeconstructionGame: VideoGames which deconstruct some aspect of the video game medium itself.
53	* DeconstructiveParody: Works which {{parody}} other works (or whole genres) by pointing out how silly and unrealistic they are, and hence deconstructing them.
54	* DeconstructorFleet: Works which go out of their way to subvert, deconstruct or otherwise play with as many tropes as they can.
55	* ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems: Works set on seemingly fantastic worlds whose denizens spend much of their time dealing with the same ordinary matters people do in RealLife.
56	* GenreDeconstruction: Deconstructing an entire genre, typically with all of its associated tropes and thematic concerns.
57	** {{Capepunk}}: Deconstructions of the {{superhero}} genre are common enough to warrant their own page.
58	** MagicalGirlGenreDeconstruction: Similarly, MagicalGirl series have so many deconstructions that they also have their own page.
59	* InternalDeconstruction: Works which deconstruct aspects of their own premises or settings.
60	* Administrivia/NotADeconstruction: A brief primer on tropes that are often confused with deconstruction.
61	* {{Reconstruction}}: The inverse; namely, works which acknowledge the implied criticisms of deconstructions and incorporate them into their stories in an effort to improve them.
62	** DeconReconSwitch: The point at which a work shifts from deconstructing a genre to reconstructing it.
63	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: When a common trope gets deconstructed or subverted by having realistic consequences.
64	* JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs: A list of how and why numerous tropes that are common in works of fiction would be negatively impacted by the laws of reality.
65	* UnbuiltTrope: For when the trope (or genre, or character) was deconstructed [[TropeMakers at the time it was made]], or, at the very least, popularized.
66	[[/index]]

Context Main / Deconstruction