Analysis / Hard Truth Aesop

• A benefit - and problem - of the Hard Truth Aesop is that it's so unexpected. It can make for a strong Twist Ending, but it's so surprising that it may dominate the story. Instead of leaving the audience something to think about after the show, they're busy scratching their heads and wondering, "Did they really say that? In public?"
• A Hard Truth Aesop is not necessarily cynical, idealistic stories can have them too if they have morals like "Take candy from strangers, because people are nice." Or if the story explores potential solutions to whatever Hard Truth the major characters are facing (such as a character hit with a Dream-Crushing Handicap who finds another equally satisfying career to pursue).
• While the Aesop may be upsetting, shocking, or utterly unexpected, these Aesops can be the truest and most useful kinds in life, as the real world can be unjust, cruel, or even incomprehensible. Pragmatism sometimes grants massively better odds of success than the moral high ground does. This tends to be true when attempting to gain power or change existing power structures as those with the power have a massive advantage in retaining it just due to already possessing it.
  • Looking at the bright side, at least there is a little chance that the said pragmatic method wouldn't hurt innocents. After all, pragmatism is all about finding alternate ways if the initial method doesn't go well.
  • Keep in mind, however, that despite the Aesop being presented as the hard truth, it does not mean that it automatically is true. The "hard truth" a work espouses can lead to more harm than good being done when applied to the wrong context ^Example  A protagonist uses serious and questionable realpolitik methods to work their way up to the highest position of a totalitarian empire so that they could change the terrible conditions of the said regime, but then the audience applies these extreme methods in their day-to-day life, manipulating and exploiting the people around them for far pettier and even self-serving causes such as winning bake sales, overzealously followed ^Example "Sometimes, Violence Really Is the Answer" being exaggerated into Violence Always Being The Answer even in situations where being violent really doesn't help, sometimes even to murderous degrees, or even downright wrong when one thinks about it more ^Example A hard-'truth' aesop claiming that since life sucks and the universe is cold and unfeeling, suicide really is the solution regardless of what everyone else says.

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