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Deconstructed Trope / Animated Films

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Disney

  • Big Hero 6 deconstructs the Death by Origin Story for both hero and villain. Hiro is deeply affected by Tadashi's death, to the point that he stops eating and refuses to attend the school that he worked so hard to get into. And when Callaghan coldly dismisses Tadashi's accidental death as Tadashi's own fault, he snaps and tries to kill him without a second thought. For Callaghan, it was the perceived death of his daughter Abigail that started everything and led him to his mission of revenge, with no regard for anyone who got caught in the crossfire. While most superhero stories are willing to accept the death of a loved one as a necessary step in a hero's development, Big Hero 6 shows how far the ramifications of such a loss can really spread, and it shows that such a traumatic event can turn someone into a villain just as easily as it can turn them into a hero.
  • In Coco
    • Miguel's great-great grandfather was Un-person and any reminders of him was banned by his family and for generations after. But because of this, the family missed glaring clues about the real reason why he didn't come home, the fact that Ernesto de la Cruz was using Héctor's guitar and that all the songs Ernesto was singing was suspiciously similar to those in the letters Héctor had written to Coco. This also leads Miguel to mistake his great-great grandfather as someone else since no one in his family would talk about it. All of this results in hastening Héctor's Final Death and almost ensuring that no one living or dead would know that Ernesto had murdered Héctor and stolen his songs.
    • The villain shows all the downsides of fully embracing their passions with a Be Yourself mindset (being selfish, opportunistic, willing to hurt others) and the lengths they were willing to go to secure their goals, where they poisoned and murdered their best friend Héctor and stole their songs to achieve the fame Ernesto always wanted.
  • Frozen (2013):
  • Hercules presents a deconstruction of Unskilled, but Strong and Does Not Know His Own Strength. As a child and teen, Hercules had no control over his Super-Strength, which led to him unintentionally destroying the marketplace while simply trying to catch a discus; he was treated as a social outcast as a result.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
    • The Knight Templar and The Fundamentalist tropes are deconstructed through Judge Claude Frollo.
      • For The Fundamentalist: As far as he's concerned, Frollo thinks he's Holier Than Thou than others, and so, anything he does, no matter how horrible it is, is justified by default. On top of this, he'll repeatedly use Psychological Projection to blame others for all of his issues. Ironically, it means he's not the pious Christian he thinks he is, and repeated attention is drawn to his hypocrisy. Plus, add some creepy lust for another gypsy woman and things really go downhill.
      • For the Knight Templar: He believes that All Crimes Are Equal, that the punishment for every single one is death, and assumes the gypsies are an Always Chaotic Evil race who cloud people's minds with "unholy" thoughts. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they have not done anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. He even torches a family's house, even though said family didn't even know about the gypsies. It causes Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person, especially if they're an authority figure.
    • The Madonna-Whore Complex with regards to Esmeralda. Both Quasimodo and Frollo each see her as one of them. Quasimodo only sees her as a pure Madonna because she stood up for him when he left Notre Dame for the first time. Therefore he idealizes her heavily and becomes her Dogged Nice Guy. On the flip-side, Frollo only views her as a Whore because she is a gypsy and tries to force her to be with him so she can become a Madonna and therefore "respectable". Phoebus on the other hand is attracted to her real personality in itself; the reason he ends up with her is because, out of the three, he's the only one that sees her as an actual person and goes beyond these strict definitions.
  • Lilo & Stitch deconstructs Promotion to Parent with the well-intentioned and loving Nani struggling to be a competent guardian and raise Lilo to the satisfaction of the Social Services, as well as balancing her job, dealing with Lilo's strange coping methods and coping with their parent's death herself. They still argue like sisters and Lilo even says, "I like you better as a sister than a mom."
  • The Lion King deconstructs Conveniently an Orphan, and in turn other missing parent tropes which were common in Disney movies up to that point. Simba has long-lasting psychological scars from losing his father - and though part of it was because he blamed himself, it served as a reminder that losing a parent can be pretty traumatizing for a kid. Up until The Lion King, Disney movies (even the darker ones) never really delved into the effects of losing a parent, and sometimes didn't even bother to explain what happened to take the parents out of the picture. From the late 90s onward, there were noticeably more heroes with two parents, any missing parents were at least acknowledged, and the loss of a parent is treated as a significant part of The Hero's development.
Simba: Look, sometimes, bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it! So, why worry?
Nala: Because it's your responsibility!
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas deconstructs the classic Disney Aesop "You can be whatever you dream to be". Yeah, Jack dreams to be Santa, but dear Lord, does he suck at it. Might be sensible ("Look before you leap," "Think of what may happen if you make a mistake") or Hard Truth Aesop ("Don't try to overcome or change your place in life, it'll only lead to destruction"), depending on how you view it. Or, taking the third option, it could be "If you like a totally different lifestyle, fine, but think twice before taking it for yourself, since it's completely different from what you know, and you might make huge mistakes regardless of your intentions."
  • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe deconstructs the Butt-Monkey trope through Candace. Specifically, her latest attempt to bust Phineas and Ferb doesn't end in the usual stammering, but a full-on rant about how everything goes right for them while she constantly gets beaten down by the universe. In fact, her desire to escape this trope almost leads her to swear off her brothers to stay on Feebla-Oot thanks to seemingly finding a kindred spirit in the planet's leader.
  • Wish deconstructs Godzilla Threshold. Magnifico has a book of forbidden magic in his study room, locked in a magical glass safe and never opened for the fear of magic corruption inside. Magnifico swears he would never use it unless his kingdom is threatened by a completely unknown threat. However, that unknown threat he deems to be necessary emergency is just Star trying to help Asha reclaim her family's ungranted wishes. The fact that the threat is so minuscule in reality yet the consequences of forbidden magic are so great only showcase how far off the deep end Magnifico has gone.
  • Wreck-It Ralph deconstructs and plays around with several tropes regarding the roles that characters play in a given work: What kind of psychological effects that these roles have on the characters outside the stories and what happens when they decide to deviate from the roles they were created for. Ralph is a Punch-Clock Villain who isn't appreciated for the vital role he plays in his video game and decides to be a hero by going to another game. This causes a lot of havoc that puts several game worlds in jeopardy which he then has to stop and becomes a true hero in the process. Another one is the Dark and Troubled Past given as an in-game backstory to Sergeant Calhoun. She suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which would prevent her from forming a real romantic relationship, even though the first one may have been her game's fabrication. Another one is the status of the Dummied Out/glitched character and the sort of existence she has in a game that doesn't recognize her as a legitimate character.
    • The sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, deconstructs Living Emotional Crutch by exploring the unhealthy aspects of Ralph's friendship with Vanellope. The film starts with Ralph happy and content with his life as he regularly hangs out with Vanellope, but we find out later that Ralph spends so much time with her that they haven't been apart in six years. Furthermore, he's only happy because his self-worth is entirely dependent on Vanellope's opinion of him, to the point that he panics over minor disagreements with her. This clingy behavior in turn prompts Vanellope to keep important things from him that she knows will upset him, which is why she tells Shank instead of him that she wants to stay in Slaughter Race. Upon discovering this, Ralph makes a series of bad decisions that put their friendship (along with Vanellope herself, and eventually the entire internet) in jeopardy until he comes to terms with how unhealthy his mindset is.
  • Although the main plot of Zootopia is a missing-animal crime drama and a Conspiracy Thriller, the movie also features a very thorough deconstruction of the World of Funny Animals trope along the way. Habitats for animals of different sizes and climates, the need for civilized behavior against base instincts, and prejudices based on species stereotypes are all essential aspects of the plot.

DreamWorks Animation

  • Megamind as a whole is a deconstruction, and more specifically:
    • The premise is a deconstruction of the Designated Villain trope, as the titular Villain Protagonist as Metro Man's death left him so lacking in purpose it would lead him to create a new enemy that is more evil than him.
    • Holding Out for a Hero is also deconstructed. The people of Metro City (minus Roxanne) were so dependent on Metro Man to solve all their problems that when they lose him, there is no one brave enough to stand up to the titular villain. This only ends up demoralizing the villain since everything is so easy for him and everyone was too cowardly to challenge him. The whole mess started because Metro Man faked his own death because he was suffering from burnout over the fact that everyone expected him to solve all their problems without consideration for what he wanted to do, that he decided to just quit so he could finally have his own life.
    • Ascended Fanboy is deconstructed through Hal/Titan. As a regular human, he secretly despised Metro Man because he thought the girl he had a huge crush on was in love with Metro Man. When he gains superpowers, he abuses them to attempt to impress the said girl and win her over, only for the said girl to reject him. And when she does? Decades of pent-up aggression are promptly unleashed, and nobody is safe from his wrath.
  • The Prince of Egypt deconstructs Red Oni, Blue Oni through Moses and Rameses, respectively, by showing the qualities associated with them evolving in positive and negative ways as they mature.
  • Shrek regularly deconstructs the usual fairy tale tropes. Shrek wasn't any knight or prince going to save Fiona; he only did it so he could live in peace in the swamp, and after he struck a deal with Farquaad. It also deconstructs Beast and Beauty, as Fiona transformed into an ogre at night and thus also became a "beast" like Shrek and after Shrek gives her True Love's Kiss instead of transforming her or Shrek into a human, Fiona becomes an ogre. And realizes, she would be happier this way.

Pixar

  • Brave:
    • Deconstructs Screw Destiny. So Merida wants to totally defy tradition, without back-up plans or thoughts of how this could affect her and others? Her mother Queen Elinor and her three little siblings shall forcibly be transformed into bears, when she asks a very mischievous witch for help to "change her mom" without specifying anything. And for worse, when a Reasonable Authority Figure like Elinor disappears, then the clans that she and Fergus held together start fighting against each other, and that means war will start soon... with one of the reasons being Merida's "Plucky Girl" action of "winning her own hand", which the noblemen saw as a massive insult from their royalty. So it's up to Merida to go into a quest not just to prove her worth as a person, but to rescue her bear-ized mother and siblings and fix up the massive mess that has been left - alongside becoming physically, mentally and emotionally stronger on the way.
    • In general, Brave is a punch to the face of the typical "Tomboy Princess hates girly things, is a rude asshole to any women she views as 'inferior' to herself, treats people like crap because SHE'S STRONG, and wants to be the Head Bitch In Charge without any back-up plans AND without facing consequences for her entitled behavior fantasy." The super feminine Elinor turns out to be the one who actually holds the whole realm together , so when Merida tries to be a "Strong And Empowered Wimmen" she unintentionally throws off the VERY delicate balance between the clans and the royalty, AND her family as well as herself end up suffering massive consequences, then she has to become a sort-of only sane girl as Bear!Elinor begins to lose her human conscience, and by the end of the movie the same girl who fought hotly with her mother is crying her heart out at the prospect of losing her and her siblings forever.
    • In regard to the Tomboy Princess trope itself... Merida's frustration at society's expectations of her is treated sympathetically, as her distress doesn't come out of nowhere and you can understand her fear of being seen as just a pawn in her family's plans through the prospect Arranged Marriage. However, as said above, the negative consequences of her headstrong and selfish backlash are what set the plot in motion, forcing her to atone for her actions and find a compromise between her desires and her responsibilities. Actually admitting that she was too proud for her sake is the catalyst for the spell breaking.
  • The Incredibles deconstructs both Impossibly Cool Clothes and Badass Cape with the character of Edna Mode, a superhero costume designer. One of Edna's most memorable scenes comes when she points out the unfortunate side effect of making costumes out of bulletproof "Mega-mesh": cape-related accidents are deadly, and the accidents happen more often than you think.
  • Turning Red deconstructs Laser-Guided Karma. Tyler's Birthday Party Gone Wrong is his own fault. He tries to appear cool but everyone is bored until Mei shows off the panda. Then when he attempts to bully her into continuing the entertainment, showing No Sympathy when she says she needs time alone, Mei pounces on him and roars in his face. All he can do is cry and say that he's sorry. However, he is still a 13-year old boy who suffered scratches and bruises from the assault, and could've ended up a lot worse had Mei's mother not shown up at that moment. Even Mei, who has every right to be mad at him, is ashamed of what she did to him.

Others

  • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, as described in this video (spoiler warning) by Bob Chipman for The Escapist, is a deconstruction of Darker and Edgier, specifically its use as a shorthand for authenticity and 'realness'. When Emmet and Rex Dangervest travel to the Sistar System to rescue Emmet's friends, they find them living in a Stepford Suburbia of pastel colors, vapid pop music, and an extremely girly aesthetic, with everybody (save for Lucy) brainwashed into happiness under the watchful, Obviously Evil eye of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi. A perfect environment for our rough-and-tumble heroes to slap back into reality, right? Except they're Not Brainwashed — they genuinely enjoyed being in the Sistar System versus the Crapsack World of Apocalypseburg, and Queen Watevra meant no ill will. As it turns out, Emmet was being manipulated by Rex, the real Big Bad, into destroying the Sistar System because he saw it as childish. And it's all presented as an explicit metaphor for how two siblings, Finn and Bianca, play with their Legos — Finn thought that Bianca wasn't playing with them the 'right' way (i.e. the way an adolescent boy fixated on being 'mature' might play with them, as opposed to a young girl), and took her attempts to play with him as a hostile intrusion on his fun. In short, a narrow focus on making everything Darker and Edgier is presented not as a sign of maturity and depth, but to the contrary, as a juvenile dismissal of numerous other ways of looking at the world in favor of Testosterone Poisoning.
  • Leo: The "talking creature must be kept a secret" storyline is deconstructed in the trailer. While Leo initially wants no one to know that he can talk, he suddenly gains a lot of attention and respect for the fact that he can. Suddenly, he learns about life from the world he never got to see just as much as the children around him seem to learn from his own wisdom.
  • Over the Moon deconstructs Devoted to You and I Will Wait for You through the two main characters.
    • Fei Fei is still wracked with grief over her mother's death years after and she refuses to accept that her father has found a new love. She wants her father to always and only love her mother, just like she had heard in her mother's stories of Chang'e and Houyi. Her inability to move on from her mother's death causes trouble when her father introduces her to her soon-to-be stepmother and stepbrother and Fei Fei misses opportunities to love new people in her life and bond with her otherwise likable new mother and brother.
    • After being separated from her lover Houyi for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, Chang'e desperately tries to find a way to reunite with Houyi, continuing to wait and pine for him. Her determination in her hopeless quest and refusal to healthily cope in her grief causes her to become haughty, cold, rude and demanding to everyone around her. Even when she is briefly reunited with Houyi, he gently tells her she has to move on rather than waste eternity trying to bring him back.
  • ParaNorman deconstructs All of the Other Reindeer. Norman Babcock tries to take the constant bullying with grace but often finds his heroics hampered by almost every living person's low opinion of him. It doesn't help that the witch (in fact, an 11-year-old girl) died because of this.
  • Sausage Party brutally deconstructs Anthropomorphic Food, as it shows precisely how painful it is for such food to be Eaten Alive by humans. Since they believed that humans would simply bring them to "The Great Beyond", most of the foods don't react well upon discovering the truth.
  • The Swan Princess deconstructs She's All Grown Up. The Prince and the Princess were reluctant to have their marriage arranged since they were kids. They meet each other again as young adults and the Prince immediately consents to the marriage after seeing how beautiful the Princess had become. She is instead offended because he can't come up with a reason to marry her beside her beauty. Unfortunately, it's played straight afterward for no given reason.

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