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Hard Truth Aesop / Live-Action Films

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  • Bad Teacher: Elizabeth harshly tells Garrett that he should move on if a girl isn't into him.
  • The 'Burbs: At a certain point, behavior and circumstances can be so suspicious and bizarre that "there's probably an innocent explanation" can be dangerously irresponsible (finding actual human remains is probably well past that point). This makes more sense today in the age of "if you see something, say something". Though doing the investigation yourself instead of going to the professionals is a really, really bad idea.
  • Crossing Delancey:
    • From Izzy's perspective: if you try to be an independent-minded modern woman who can make her own decisions on life and love, maybe you shouldn't — your meddling elders may be right after all and you really should be with the nice Jewish guy they pick out, even if he's a lowly, seemingly boring pickle-seller.
    • Or, from Sam's (the pickle seller) perspective: if you're a really nice guy who's genuinely interested in the woman you've been introduced to, be prepared to be dragged though the dirt and feel like a complete schmuck before you can finally end up with her. (Amongst the things Izzy does to him: invites him out on a date just to pawn him off on her best friend; when she finally invites him back to her apartment for some time together, letting in the married neighbour who keeps coming round when he falls out with his wife, and with whom Izzy is heavily implied to be sleeping; third, standing him up on a date because the author guy she's been after tries to woo her.)
  • The Dark Knight: Batman, his manservant Alfred and Comissioner Gordon all concluding that sometimes a symbol matters more than the man behind the symbol, no matter what steps you need to take to protect it which in the next film didn't end up working out.
  • DC Extended Universe:
    • Man of Steel: Sometimes, there is no easy answer to a moral problem. Sometimes, you have to break your own moral code to serve the greater good. Superman learns that lesson all too well when he is forced to kill General Zod to save humanity. The movie never portrays this as an easy choice for Superman, he is visibly pained for being forced to take a life, but in the end, he chose the mission and innocent lives over his own personal comfort.
    • Early on in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Martha Kent gives Superman a rousing speech about being a hero, and a symbol, and then abruptly ends it by saying, "Or be none of it. You don't owe this world a thing. You never did." Although it's obvious from the context that what she's saying is "having super powers does not mean you are obligated to be a hero, especially to those who won't appreciate it" and "be a hero because that's what you feel is the right thing to do, not because people demand that you should"; people have had Comes Great Responsibility beaten into their head by superhero media for decades, so it elicits a very strong reaction.
    • The aesop of SHAZAM! (2019) is "Your real family is the people who care about you," which is family-friendly, but early in the movie, a social worker adds a blunt addendum: If someone's not making an effort to be part of your life, give up on them and move on (even if it's the mother that you love). Sometimes, there is no compromising. There are no misunderstandings that can be cleared up. Sometimes you might not even get closure.
  • Django Unchained shows that systems of oppression can be supported and reinforced by the oppressed if it gains them personal status and power. Calvin Candie's head house slave Stephen toadies up to his white masters while employing his considerable cunning on Candie's behalf to sniff out and ruin Django and Dr. King Schultz's plans to buy back Django's wife. In return, he enjoys a high standard of living and loves the power he wields over his fellow slaves.
    Django: You want me to play a black slaver? Ain't nothin' lower than the black slaver. A black slaver is lower than the head house nigger, and buddy, that's pretty fuckin' low.
    Dr. King Schultz: Then play him that way! Give me your black slaver.
  • Dredd: Democracy Is Bad. If people can't learn to live together peacefully on their own, all that's left is the Appeal to Force; the shotgun blast of Ma-Ma's enforcers, or the surgical ruthlessness of Dredd and his fellow Judges. Either way, civilization is held together by mutual self-interest or unreasoning fear; a fear the Judges know all too well how to exploit.
  • The film adaption of Ella Enchanted adds one of these that wasn't in the book. Unlike the version of Lucinda in the book who eventually comes back in the last third of the book to apologize to Ella for her Blessed with Suck "gift" and help her out at least a little, the Lucinda in the film utterly refuses to admit that she's done anything wrong and makes the situation worse. Some people absolutely refuse to take responsibility for how their actions have changed you negatively or hurt you, and unfortunately when that happens it's up to you to fix the problems that were thrust upon you. Which is a task you are more than capable of.
  • Fame: The Aesop is "You won't get anywhere without hard work, but hard work will not guarantee that you get anywhere". The film repeatedly shows that there are no guarantees in showbiz. Be true to yourself and follow your star, and you will be kicked to the curb by people who put their noses to the grindstone and pay their dues. Put your nose to the grindstone and pay your dues, and you might still lose to people who are less skilled but more socially adept or better connected. And even if you manage all that, you could still not get the job if you catch a casting director on a bad day. The film's tagline is "Seven harsh lessons and a hot lunch a day" for a reason.
  • Game Over, Man! (2018): Sometimes, the Role Model or person/people you look up to will turn out to be a Jerkass who will completely let you down, leaving you completely devastated unless you're lucky enough to be lifted up by a saving grace.
  • Get Out (2017): All racism is a form of "othering" another culture, and admiration can be its' own form of bigotry. This is demonstrated by the Armitage family who praise the talents of black people while seeking to possess their bodies, and lull Chris into a false sense of security and trust.
  • Groundhog Day: Getting the girl will solve your problems. Or "solving your problems will get you the girl." Neither one's all that family-friendly, but the core concept — that you can't move forward without solving your problems — is quite sound. Both assume Phil's problems were solved by getting the girl, which is disproved by the second-to-last loop, when he does get Rita, but the loop continues. In fact, when Phil gives up trying to seduce Rita, and becomes a whole person, he does get her.
  • In the third Halloweentown movie, Dylan (a half-human warlock who Does Not Like Magic) bonds with a girl named Natalie, only to have a minor freak-out when he discovers that her real form is a furry pink-skinned troll. Naturally she's offended and points out that from her perspective, he's pretty weird-looking himself. They eventually make up and are going to kiss at the end of the movie...only to agree that they're Better as Friends, because they each find the other too gross. Despite the general theme against Fantastic Racism in these movies, the point seems to be that physical attraction is an important component in a romantic relationship (with most, that's true, unhappy though such a message may be), which is especially surprising given that any other work would rather conclude with a more conventional True Beauty Is on the Inside aesop.
  • House Arrest: While most of the parent's issues get happily resolved, Donald and Gwenna do not find any common ground to save their marriage, and in the end they do get divorced. In a movie that mostly plays for escapism for children, Donald and Gwenna's failed marriage shows that in some cases there just isn't any love there and some relationships just aren't healthy, and its best (for most of the people involved, at least) if they part ways.
  • How to Lose Friends & Alienate People: If you want to rise within a particular system, you have to work within that system. Nonconformism may be an admirable trait, but refusal to fit in will never be rewarded. Also, personal integrity is a fine thing to have, but if you want to rise, you may have to do things that don't sit right with you, and only you can determine if the sacrifices are worth it.
  • I Shot Jesse James: Even if you stop a definitively bad and dangerous person, people won’t automatically treat you as a hero... especially if they know you carried it out in a very unheroic way.
  • Kiss Me, Stupid: "Adultery can sometimes be good for a marriage, depending on the circumstances of the adultery" and maybe more broadly "Sexual morality isn't always black-or-white."
  • The Land of Faraway: "If a child does not get along with its (foster) parents and surroundings, it should run far away from home. There will be a much better life somewhere else, and it will not be missed either."
  • Liar Liar:
    • As good a quality as honesty is, being brutally honest all the time will piss people off and get you into as much trouble as lying all the time.
    • Sometimes lying to someone is better than telling them the truth. As explained by Fletcher when he talks about how a pregnant Audrey asked if she looked fat and he said no, and that if he'd told her she looked like a cow, it'd have hurt her feelings.
    • Max then says "My teacher says that real beauty is on the inside". Fletcher responds "That's just something ugly people say". Physically attractive people usually fare better in society and are treated more favorably than average-looking or unattractive people, even if their beauty is only external. The (in)famous scene with the woman in the elevator also demonstrates this.
      Woman: Everybody's been real nice.
      Fletcher: Well, that's because you have big jugs...
  • Manchester by the Sea: Sometimes, grief is something that one has to learn to live with, rather than completely recover from. Even then, that is often much easier said than done. In fact, this is the reason why the film was created in the first place.
  • Master and Commander: Midshipman Hollom's entire character arc basically states "Being a Nice Guy is not enough to win most people's respect; you need other traits to back it up." Hollom is certainly friendly and compassionate, but too incompetent to be a serious contender for a real officernote , too indecisive to command, and too much of a doormat to command men. Despite his desperate attempts to bond with the crew, practically everybody on the ship disrespects Hollom on some level. When a drunken sailor not only refuses to salute Hollom as he passes but also deliberately bumps into him and refuses to apologise, Captain Aubrey sees the incident, has the offending sailor flogged and then takes Hollom aside to chew him out for a spineless attitudenote . From then on, the crew all become extra deferential to Hollom and faced with a mountain of insecurities plus fears he is a Jonahnote , Hollom begins to suffer Sanity Slippage and eventually jumps overboard.
  • Me Before You: If someone really doesn't want to keep on living, and it's physically painful for them, then sometimes you have to let them make their own decisions — even if it does affect you very badly.
  • Moulin Rouge!: The Unconscious Argentinian flat-out states that man can't love a prostitute and expect it to end well. "When love is for sale to the highest bidder, there can be no trust. Without trust, there can be no love." While this runs counter to the Bohemians' theme ("The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"), The Power of Love between Christian and Satine wins only a brief triumph before The Duke's jealousy (and a case of tuberculosis) destroys everything.
  • Mr. Holland's Opus: Your life's work is what you're doing while pursuing your dream, it doesn't just begin when you reach the dream itself. Trying to seek perfection is a worthwhile goal but it means that your work may never see the light of day. Mr. Holland's opus — as in, the actual piece of music — only gets performed when he is laid off... but it is performed by his former students, which are suggested to be his real accomplishments.
  • Mrs. Doubtfire: Sometimes, divorce actually is the best option for a struggling married couple, especially if children are involved, since the couple being apart from each other can help them not spend all of their time fighting one another and thus be the parents that they need to be for their children. Likewise, most couples who get divorced don't get back together and two people who are way too different from one another cannot function together as a romantic couple, especially not in the long run. The original script actually did have Daniel and Miranda get back together, but their actors were both divorcees themselves and had the script changed, as they didn't want to give kids of divorced parents false hope that their parents might remarry.
  • Now, Voyager has a lesson hidden within a Mental Health Recovery Arc that simply becoming more physically attractive will not solve all your problems. While Charlotte getting a glamorous makeover helps start off her journey, she still has to work hard on her mental transformation as well as her physical one. In fact, a lot of first act conflict comes from Charlotte being unprepared for the extra attention her glamorous new look gets her.
  • Orange County: Shaun learns the hard way that college is not a guarantee that he'll become a successful writer. He sees that enough students at Stanford party as much as the kids at Orange County, and the writer Marcus Skinner tells him that he doesn't need to go to a top school to build his career. While the college in Orange County is not Ivy-League material, he can do well there because of his skills and drive.
  • Parenthood offers several tough-but-true Aesops about the nature of being a parent, and what an unrewarding and frustrating job it can be.
    • Larry, the Black Sheep of the family, is nevertheless his father Frank's favorite child because of how alike they are. At the end of the movie, though, Frank realizes that he screwed up raising Larry by constantly making excuses for him and bailing him out of trouble. When he tries to give him some Tough Love and finally set him on the right path, Larry just makes another excuse and ducks out responsibility again for a get-rich-quick scheme. Frank is forced to admit that Larry is never going to change because he doesn't want to do work hard. Sometimes people don't, and you have to accept that.
    • Susan admits that she was had a "wild" period as a teenager and married her husband Nathan because he had a strong, dominating personality which excited her. But now that they've had a child and Susan has had time to mature, she's realizing that the traits she once loved about Nathan are now flaws which love kept her from seeing, especially his utter refusal to compromise and obsession with controlling everything in his life (including Susan's diet and their daughter's cognitive development). She nearly leaves him for it, and while they end up staying together, it's only because they both agree that changes need to be made. The Aesop is thus "People change over time, and if you expect things to always stay the same just because you love each other, you're doomed to disappointment."
    • Gil and Karen's oldest son, Kevin, turns out to have emotional problems that require therapy. Gil hopes that spending more time with him and having an elaborate birthday party will be enough to "solve" the issue, but this proves futile. Karen drops the Aesop clearly when she points out that there is no quick fix for deep-rooted mental and emotional needs, and sometimes being a parent means swallowing your pride (Gil is clearly embarrassed about the fact that Kevin needs therapy) and doing what's best for your child even if it makes you uncomfortable or requires sacrifices.
    • Frank gets another one when he laments that, while he does love his children, there are times when he outright hates being a father, especially because, in his own words, "the caring, the worry, the pain...it never, never ends." Becoming a parent is not just a full-time job, it's a job that lasts as long as your children are alive. To see a movie categorized as a family comedy (or, more realistically, a dramedy) outright say that "family can be a terrible, painful responsibility that never goes away" is most definitely a hard truth.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean:
    • The Curse of the Black Pearl:
      • When Jack saves Elizabeth from drowning, the movie launches into a case study of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, as the act immediately outs him as a pirate, and Elizabeth unsuccessfully tries to defend him over the fact that he's just saved her life. Norrington doesn't even disagree with Jack even though he means that the good deed was merely the cause to be brought to justice for his previous crimes.
        Norrington: One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness.
        Jack: Though it seems enough to condemn him.
        Norrington: ...indeed.
      • Jack teaches Will that honour is not, in itself, a tool for accomplishing anything, particularly winning a real fight, especially against someone who cares more about winning than feeling good about fighting fairly.
    • In Dead Man's Chest, various characters have the book thrown at them for helping Jack in the first movie because, again, a good man can be at odds with the law.
  • The Princess Diaries: Mia's appearance is a big part of becoming a princess, which is a harsh truth for any public figure. Her original look was fine for a high school student, but being expected to be in the public eye would require her to look more 'professional' (which for women usually means having to look like a supermodel). Lily even lists this standard to live up to as a reason why Mia should turn down the job at first.
  • Pyewacket drops a very dark Aesop on the nature of grief; some people cope with it in different ways, and sadly it's possible for one person's coping mechanism to hurt another. Leah's mother has them move house for a fresh start and, while she is definitely benefiting from it, Leah herself ends up even more miserable than before. So while the movie may have helped Mrs Reyes, it just drove the wedge between her daughter even further.
  • Rambo:
    • Rambo IV: Sometimes Violence Really Is the Answer. Naive pacifistic missionaries try to go into Burma and help stem the violence, after being detained Rambo brought in a group of mercenaries and had to massacre dozens of enemy soldiers in order to retrieve them.
    • Rambo: Last Blood: When Gabriela insists on meeting her father to learn the reason why he abandoned her, John tells her that not everyone has good reasons behind their actions and the world is filled with heartless people who are nothing but absolute scumbags. She finds out the hard way that John was right and she should've listened.
  • Rocket Science viciously deconstructs the popular "try your hardest and you can overcome anything" moral. Some obstacles just can't be surmounted no matter how hard you try. And sometimes you just Don't Get The Girl. Oh, and life isn't fair.
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home: This movie takes a serious look at what "great responsibility" means. Peter tries to apply what Tony taught him about knowing when to let adults take charge of a dangerous situation, and it blows up in his face when Quentin Beck gets access to Edith and Fury is unapologetic about endangering his classmates. When Adults Are Useless is at play, true responsibility is stepping up to the plate to save lives no matter how many mistakes you make. You can hate it, but you can still do it.
  • Star Wars
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan opens with the Kobayashi Maru simulation, a test to see how Starfleet cadets deal with an unwinnable scenario, with Kirk the only cadet to have ever beaten the simulation. When asked how, Kirk reveals that he secretly reprogrammed it to make it possible to win, which came from a refusal to admit he might lose. The separation of dealing with an unwinnable scenario and finding any trick possible to win is the core theme of the film. In the climax, in the face of complete destruction, Spock chooses a Heroic Sacrifice as the only logical solution, which forces Kirk to admit that he's spent so much time "cheating death and patting myself on the back for my ingenuity" that he never learned the real lesson behind the Kobayashi Maru: how you face defeat is just as valuable as how you find victory.
  • Steel Magnolias: As M'Lynn being concerned about Shelby's pregnancy and the fallout shows, it doesn't matter if you think your child is making a mistake, if you're the parent, if you only mean well, or even if you're right... if your kid is an adult, they ultimately have a right to make their own choices, and you either have to back off or risk alienating them.
  • Stop-Loss: Brandon ultimately chooses to return to the army, despite the horrors in store for him. The Aesop here being that there are sometimes no easy ways out of a bad situation, and the lesser of two evils is the best one can hope for.
  • Terminal City Ricochet: Ace announces to the TV audience at the end of the film that ultimately, it was they who allowed Glimore to take power and that only they can overthrow him.
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Even if you experience a great tragedy, even something as severe as your child being murdered and never receiving closure as to who did it or why, you can't use that as an excuse to let anger and grief turn you into a terrible person.
  • tick, tick... BOOM!: Jonathan Larson spent eight years on the script for his sci-fi musical Superbia, and expects the workshop presentation will be his big break in musical theater, in the process neglecting his personal relationships in the name of his career. In the aftermath, however, his agent tells him that though investors were impressed by his talent, none want to produce Superbia because the material is too risky. She gently but firmly reminds him that rejection is the life of a writer, and the only thing he can do is keep writing and hope something will stick.
  • Time Changer: Russell's original manuscript was actually rather progressive (for him), as it advocated being a good person and doing good deeds because it's the morally right thing to do, rather than doing so because of your religious faith. In the end, he's convinced by the "evil" future where people actually follow this and have become more non-religious as a result, that you can only be a good person if you accept Christianity.
  • Tolkien: Artistic ventures cannot survive unless you have friends and family to support you. Otherwise, the journey is lonely. Tolkien started writing in earnest after the war, where his family made him balance his work and pleasure. Christopher Wiseman stops composing, and most of his pieces predate the war.
  • Trading Places: After Louis' problems start, he tries to get help from his friends and fiance... only for them to ditch him. The lesson is that sometimes the people calling you their "friend" are selfish jerks who won't sacrifice for you.
  • TRON: Legacy: Creating an open and free system that is accessible to everyone isn't always a good thing, because all entities are not created equal, and some entities, when given infinite rights and access, will use them to force their will upon others, and remove their infinite rights and access. Sometimes proprietary is the way to go.
  • Utøya: July 22:
    • There are no safe places left anymore. Tragedy can strike at any time, at any place. Very terrifying, but sadly true.
    • Doing what's right comes at a cost. In the worst case, you die for it. That doesn't mean it's wrong to do so, but you must be aware of the cost.
    • No matter how clever and brave you are, if you are caught in a shooting, and don't have skills useful against attackers, you run or hide ASAP — trying to play a hero will get you uselessly killed.
  • Vice: The Stinger gives the notion that being part of the Lowest Common Denominator puts you in the same league as the people who take their politics way too seriously.
  • The Wrong Man: The cops insist that "an innocent man has nothing to fear from the law". The film shreds that assumption by showing how the legal, medical, and social stigma from being accused of a crime can ruin an innocent man, his marriage, and his family, while also eating his already low income. And ultimately, while the film does end happily for them, said resolution comes entirely from blind luck, and an "act of God". Ultimately, the legal system can and will crush the innocent.

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