Don't be a Big Sibling Bully. Most of Jinx's least-stable moments are born from reminders of what Mylo used to say to/about Powder, proving how deeply it all cut. She generally tends to fixate on him more than any other member of her family (besides Vi), and her hallucinations usually manifest as him criticizing and insulting her, which in turn drive her to commit her most dangerous and cruel actions. While accidentally killing her family when trying to help rescue Vander was obviously a big part of how her mind broke, it's evident that Mylo's regular bullying caused her a great deal of trauma on its own, particularly because Vi ended up finally, firmly taking his side when she hit her and called her a jinx for the accidental killing of their family.
You can't take back anything you say or do in the heat of the moment. After learning that Powder was responsible for the explosion that killed their family, Vi slaps her so hard her nose starts bleeding and agrees with Mylo that Powder's a "jinx" during a Moment of Weakness, which turns out to be the last things she says to her before getting arrested and dumped in Stillwater Hold. When she finally gets out and is able to reconnect with Powder, she's long since become Silco's right-hand woman "Jinx".
Listen when somebody tells you to stay out of a fight — Not just for your safety but also for theirs, especially when you've repeatedly proven that you're not able to actually help yet. How many lives could have been spared — and how much of her own trauma could have been avoided? — had Jinx just stayed out of Vander's rescue mission like Vi told her to?
Be honest when someone isn't ready for something. While he was too harsh about it, Mylo was ultimately right when he pointed out how Powder keeps making mistakes that screwed up the gang’s missions. Unfortunately, Vi always brushed it off and built-up Powder’s confidence way too high without actually helping her improve so she could actually help. It’s to the point where the first time Vi tells her that it's too dangerous and that she isn't ready, Powder is so emotionally devastated that she is in the middle of a complete emotional breakdown by the time we next see her. The only way she finds to snap out of it is finding a way that she can prove herself to Vi again, and we know how that went.
Ginger & Macie's relationship with Dodie shows you might be friends with someone just because you live nearby and/or it's convenient. Dodie routinely acts selfish and hypocritical and has no moral hang-ups about stabbing Ginger and Macie in the back whenever it's convenient for her, spending an entire episode enabling her mother's horrible behaviour. And yet despite this, they are both still tight friends with her.
In one episode, Macie's parents forget her birthday. Macie tries to communicate with them the only way they know how which is to schedule an appointment with them - which would take several months. Ginger hears this and busts into a private therapy session to call them out. This can easily be construed both as "Sometimes, you have to break the rules to do what's right", and also "Sometimes, people may need a little help to stand up for themselves".
Futurama: Downplayed in "Godfellas". The episode does indeed touch a little on the ideas of predestination, prayer, and the nature of salvation, and "God's" quote at the end "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" does have some deep meaning to it (as in, people tend to remember the bad things people do more than the good things), but fans tend to look into the episode a little too deeply. So much so that writer Mark Pinsky remarked that the episode might cause the viewer to need "to be reminded that this is a cartoon and not a divinity school class."
Justice League: The first episode, "Secret Origins", likely did not have an intended message, but it demonstrates what many could interpret as a pro-nuclear stance, as a general inadvertently gives Batman the idea to fund the Justice League, pointing out that humanity needs powerful weapons and forces to protect themselves. This actually inspires the league to build their own weapon to stop an alien invasion.
A plot point in the Miraculous Ladybug episode "Collusion" involves a big corporation replacing the Parisian police force with robots as part of an evil scheme to take over the city. The episode's release coincided with the idea of corporate-run A.I.s replacing humans in jobs becoming an incredibly hot-button issue, so it's easy to interpret that plot point as a deliberate Aesop condemning the idea, even if it wasn't the writers' intent.
The Owl House: The episode "Yesterday's Lie" seems to have several:
Don't knock something until you try it. Luz rejected the idea of going to the Reality Check camp, only to see that Vee not only liked the camp but she managed to make real friends who shared Luz's interest in the supernatural. Luz could've found friends without having to travel to another world.
Running away from home shouldn't be your first option for your personal problems. While Luz's life before meeting Eda wasn't perfect, she still had a decent home and a loving mother. Luz hurt her mother with her actions and ignored other options for resolving her personal problems.
If you want people to take you seriously, have proof for your claims, don't act high and mighty, and don't neglect morality in pursuing your claims. Jacob could've easily proven the existence of demons had he not alienated Vee and Camila by acting like a nut or planned to dissect a sentient creature.
Some episodes show that Penny is only friends with Dijonay and a frienemy with LaCineaga because of inertia (Dijonay was Penny's friend for years) and proximity (they both live near Penny). Zoey and Sticky are just about the only ones of Penny's friends who actually act like decent people, their only real crimes being that they followed Dijonay and LaCienaga when they were being a Jerkass.
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", the first episode, has many animal advocacy groups praising it for bringing attention to the plight of abandoned racing dogs. The writers had no idea at the time that it was such a big issue but were glad to raise awareness of it. It's no coincidence that the sport has all but disappeared in the years following this episode's airing.
"Two Cars In Every Garage And Three Eyes On Every Fish": Keep your relationship with your boss strictly professional and don't meddle with their personal affairs. Even if your intentions are good, it may end up biting you in the ass. Arguably, the episode's conflict begins when Homer notices Mr. Burns sobbing in his car and stops to ask him if he's alright. If Homer had just left Mr. Burns alone to sort out his personal issues and walked away, Burns probably would have cried himself out eventually and went home without further incident.
While it's good to have a little ambition and pride in your work, listen to the experts who warn you if your ideas are practical. Herb may have meant well, but giving Homer, someone with no automotive experience, control over designing a car and ignoring his engineers was a reckless move.
Don't live beyond your means. While it's pretty clear that Herb's company is in serious jeopardy of going under (which it does), this apparently doesn't stop him from living in a huge, luxurious mansion with all sorts of creature comforts. Also, Herb blows away even more money by spoiling Bart, Lisa, and Maggie with extravagant gifts and activities. As bad as things were with his company, Herb drove himself even further into ruin with his financially over-the-top lifestyle and spending.
The episode also pulls a small devil's advocate for Executive Meddling; since Herb's company is too out-of-touch and stubborn to make cars that appeal to their market, Herb deprives them of any control over making the new car. Notably, after the engineers are forced to obey Homer, his ideas start off halfway decent, though slowly devolve into an overpriced "monstrosity" that only he would find appealing, with a more consumer and budget-friendly revision aggressively shot down. Good marketing does come from actually listening to the consumers, but still having moderated professional assessment of what ideas do and don't work.
"Three Men And A Comic Book": Always negotiate payment for services rendered before engaging in said services. Such a lesson would have saved Bart a week of pointless torment.
"Blood Feud": While this isn't directly touched upon by any of the characters and isn't the actual moral of the story, the episode does make a good point about blood donation. Blood donations aren't just needed during events such as highly publicized disasters; people with serious illnesses, (in particular, the elderly and the chronically ill,) may end up needing one at any time, blood shortages can and do happen, and donating blood can mean the difference between life and death for somebody in that situation.
While the main lesson of the story is "don't wish suffering onto others", the other lesson of the episode seems to be "don't sink your family's financial future on a gamble." While Homer does behave like a spiteful Jerkass to Ned, Ned's problems aren't at all Homer's fault: Ned gave up a perfectly lucrative career in pharmaceuticals and suffered because he made a very bad investment. Ned even admits he was foolish to do that.
Also if you start a business, success doesn't just come to you; you have to market and promote it. Homer helps rescue Flanders' business by simply telling people about it, but if Flanders had known what he was doing, he would've done those things himself.
"Bart the Murderer", in which Bart is framed for murdering Principal Skinner and only exonerated when Skinner enters the courtroom alive and explains that he was trapped in his basement when a stack of newspapers fell on him, has Skinner state "Let this be a lesson to recycle", intended as a Spoof Aesop. With greater awareness of hoarding, this isn't a bad message.
"Flaming Moe's": Don’t be greedy. If Moe was so impressed with Homer’s drink he should’ve teamed up with him for exclusive rights to the recipe. Instead, he decides to take full credit and cut Homer out entirely. Moe would’ve made just as much money had he just included Homer, but he wanted it all to himself, which resulted in Homer ruining everything at the worst possible time out of spite.
"Homer The Heretic": Not going to church every Sunday isn't harmful by itself, but getting so caught up in hedonistic indulgences that you forget basic personal health and safety (like taking a nap while smoking a cigar surrounded by flammable magazines) will catch up with you eventually.
"Marge vs. the Monorail": Although Lyle's monorail scheme is presented more as the actions of a Snake Oil Salesman and a satire of government spending priorities more broadly, a lot of transit enthusiasts see the episode as a bit of forward-thinking commentary on the issue of gadgetbahns, a term used to describe experimental and often propriety public transport systems that are criticised for being heavily influenced by private sector demands, difficult to expand and maintain long-term, and taking political and economic capital away from more traditional but proven infrastructure projects.
"Itchy & Scratchy Land": The scene where it looks like Homer crashed the car due to falling asleep only for it to turn out to be a different car and he actually took Marge's advice of spending the night at a hotel can be seen as a lesson to not drive while tired, especially on long road trips.
"Lisa The Vegetarian": While the message of the story is "don't force your beliefs on others", the other message seems to be "if you have a certain lifestyle, seek out others who share it with you." Lisa is calmed by meeting people who share her belief in vegetarianism, namely Apu and Paul and Linda McCartney.
"Lisa The Iconoclast": Wait until you have enough proof to back up your claims before revealing a major historical discovery. The entire first half of the episode has Lisa trying to get people to believe her when she calls Jebediah Springfield a fraud despite not readily having access to the most crucial evidence proving it's true. Aside from Homer who believes her because he knows she tends to be right about this kind of thing a lot, everyone else is quick to judge her for making (mostly) baseless accusations against a beloved icon with nothing substantial to give it legitimacy (such as the confession hidden in the fife and the silver tongue exhumed from Jebediah's grave).
In "The Thing And I", Bart, despite being "evil", is merely an obnoxious troublemaker while Hugo, despite being "good", kidnaps Bart and tries to to do experimental surgery on him without his consent and has done it to animals. Bart was raised in a (mostly) loving family while Hugo was imprisoned. One could make an aesop about Nature Versus Nurture.
In "Citizen Kang", Kang and Kodos are revealed to be aliens impersonating Clinton and Dole, but people vote for them anyway and Kang wins against human third-party candidates. This makes a good case against blindly voting for a party, no matter how bad the candidate.
"Hurricane Neddy": If you want to help someone, make sure you're actually up to the task, otherwise you'll be a liability. Springfield may have meant well trying to build Ned a new house, but they still did a crappy job due to not knowing anything about construction, thus setting off decades of suppressed rage within Ned. They might have been better off if they pooled their resources and hired someone to do it themselves.
"Don't let resentment and envy consume you and prevent you from accepting apologies from people who genuinely want to befriend you".
Combined with the rant at Homer's house, and his own Butt-Monkey role in most other episodes (see below) one could also interpret it as not obsessing over things from face value. After all, the Grass is Greener on the other side.
The entire episode can be interpreted as a repudiation of the Hard Work Fallacy. Grimes makes a big deal about how little reward he has reaped from his lifetime of hard work, but doesn't understand that there are more factors to success than just hard work. Homer was successful because he valued the people in his life, was sociable enough to make fast friends with anyone (from local drunks to politicians and celebrities), and was nice enough to sincerely try making amends with Grimes by inviting him to dinner. While Grimes is overwhelmed with envy and tries to humiliate the man out of raw spite.
"Dwelling on self-pity and envy will ruin your life, not make it better. Appreciate what you have and take the opportunity when it's offered to you, not wait for the next one." Grimes' envy blinded him to his own accomplishments, he broke through every wave of struggle and achieved a lot in life despite his awful childhood, but he couldn't appreciate any of them because he felt Homer was given far better opportunities than he deserved. Grimes was so honed in on Homer's accomplishments and validating his own hard work that he refused to learn how Homer got these opportunities in the first place or how they truly affected his life.
"Hyperfocusing is good in some situations and bad in others." Grimes was able to get his degree in spite of a world that hated him, and we're all proud and everything. Unfortunately that desire to accomplish a specific goal against all odds is far less of a virtue when that goal is to shame a coworker. Grimes started off with the reasonable conclusion that someone as grossly incompetent as Homer shouldn't be in charge of safety. But this fell apart when he was more mad at Homer for getting him in trouble for the acid accident than he was at whoever left an open beaker of sulfuric acid on the coffee table. He was so focused on hating Homer he forgot what the problem was in the first place.
Don't work somewhere that makes you miserable or disrespects your opinion. While Grimes does have good reasons to dislike Homer, most of the problems at the plant stem from how it is run. Homer's own co-workers are apathetic to his antics while Burns is the one who punishes Grimes while also making dumb decisions like keeping acid in a break room and revoking Grimes' promotion in favor of hiring a dog to be an executive.
"The Cartridge Family", in which Homer buys a gun and joins the NRA, satirizes American gun culture, but Word of God was surprised that viewers saw a strong aesop about the importance of gun safety (they did try to give both sides reasonable arguments), saying that the only message they intended was that irresponsible idiots like Homer should be forbidden from owning guns.
The DVD Commentary states that the episode's Green Aesop, which arises after Homer leaves Springfield so badly trashed that they have to relocate the entire town was entirely unintentional.
One could also see it as a lesson against petty grudges or standoffish behavior, with Homer's fanatically spiteful retaliation towards one slight doing far more damage to him, his family and the whole town, when just amicably filing a complaint could have likely quickly solved things.
Another interpretation could be that hand-and-foot public service provision doesn't work. Having the garbage department do everything is shown to bankrupt the town, necessitating a reach for increased revenue that backfires horribly.
Homer agrees to have cities pay him to bury their trash for them because he desperately wanted to avoid a garbage workers' strike, and thisliterallyblows up in everybody's faces, with Springfield getting so badly trashed that they relocate the entire town. So, this shows that strikes are a good thing because they force much-needed change. If Homer had to deal with striking workers, he would've gotten to a solution that wouldn't have endangered Springfield.
"Saddlesore Galactica" had Lisa taking part in a competition wherein the other team cheats (by using glow sticks, expressly against the rules) and wins. She spends the rest of the episode appealing to progressively higher authorities until finally then-President Bill Clinton himself overturns the results. The aesop in this case is pretty explicitly spelled out: if things don't go your way, you can always whine to someone until they do. Thing is, it was clearly meant to be a Spoof Aesop; Marge points out that a pretty lousy moral to take away from this, and Clinton simply replies that he's a pretty lousy president. Be that as it may, "Calmly and logically appeal to authority figures when faced with an injustice, and escalate to higher authority if you need to" isn't really that bad a moral.
"Don't Fear The Roofer": If you ever become friends with someone, make sure everybody knows it — with extensive proof — ASAP, otherwise you will be seen as crazy.
"The Book Job": Writing is a job like any other that deserves respect. Even if the end result is bad, the author has filled hundreds of pages - which sounds easy until you actually try it - and should be paid for their work.
"Lisa Gets The Blues": If you're not the best at something just give up. Lisa only got the Yips when told there is Always Someone Better and was cured only after being told that wasn't the case.
Workplace regulations exist for your safety and everybody else's.
If you're feeling ill, stay at home. If Homer had stayed home when his stomach was acting up, his Homerizing virus would have been limited to infecting Marge and the pets instead of infecting the rest of Springfield and the world.
Sofia the First: In the premiere episode "Just One of the Princes", Prince Hugo constantly makes fun of Sofia for failing to ride her flying horse and James for helping her. In the season 2 episode "The Flying Crown", it's revealed that when he's not bullying any students at Royal Prep, he's at home being pushed by his father in sports and bullied by his older brother to live up to the family legacy. Bullying is unacceptable, but some people will do it anyway because they're miserable at home.
South Park: Parodied in-story in "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs". The kids decide to write the most offensive book ever written, which to their surprise becomes an instant bestseller even though people can't stop throwing up when they read it. Almost immediately, people start reading numerous and drastically conflicting political messages in the story. The kids, who only wanted to be offensive, find this all very annoying.
Focus on what you're good at. Don't squander your talents trying to be something you're just not cut out for. Also, learn to let go of old grudges. The series Big Bad Plankton aims to run a successful restaurant and drive Mr. Krabs out of business because of an old falling out and subsequent rivalry since they were children. But the Chum Bucket serves terrible food and is chronically devoid of customers, so Plankton constantly schemes to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, and does so by inventing many, many hi-tech gadgets to help in his schemes. But as one episode shows, he could easily make a living by simply getting into the electronics business and selling his inventions, meaning that Plankton is stuck in his position because he refuses to move on from his past and play to his strengths instead.
"The Krusty Slammer": Prison rehab is a much better way of reforming prisoners than corporal punishment. The prisoners only seemed to have a change of heart once SpongeBob provides them with luxury and compassion, whereas, when Mr. Krabs was attempting to keep them miserable per the orders of the warden hiring him to keep them locked up, they were just as bitter and resentful as they were during their days of crime.
Superman: The Animated Series: In "The Late Mr. Kent", Superman, while working as Clark Kent, uncovers evidence that could exonerate a prisoner on death row, but, while driving, a car bomb goes off, and Superman has to think up a way to save the prisoner without giving away his secret identity. Although they don't delve into the death penalty's morality, the episode makes the point that it isn't an effective deterrent against crime because of how easily it can get imposed on innocent people. Given that Clark's evidence is destroyed in the blast, the importance of backing up one's data is directly addressed.
Wander over Yonder: "The Little Guy" shows just how empty someone's life is when they buy into hateful propaganda, especially if they aren't a hateful person. Wesley is constantly abused by his fellow Watchdogs, for example by being the victim of physical assault, being forced into the back of an audience that he can't see over, and getting left behind by Lord Hater's ship when tracking Wander. After finding Wander, Wesley is so paranoid thanks to Hater's demonization of Wander that he ends up unable to appreciate their genuine kindness, nearly attacking Wander and Sylvia when they cook a meal to share and only taking a chance when he realizes just how hungry he's gotten. Only after spending some time learning that Wander and Sylvia aren't at all like Hater's propaganda made them out to be does Wesley find genuine happiness and something he can believe in, ultimately staging their capture and faking his own death to free them so he can go his own way and follow Wander's example in kindness.
, a term used to describe experimental and often propriety public transport systems that are criticised for being heavily influenced by private sector demands, difficult to expand and maintain long-term, and taking political and economic capital away from more traditional but proven infrastructure projects.