What does Deconstruction REALLY mean?

Contrary to popular belief, correct me if I'm wrong, deconstruction is NOT adding realism to components of fiction, although it may be one of the results.

The problem here is that it hasn't been even properly defined. Does anyone know the closest we have to its definition?

What we call Deconstruction appears to be "breaking" a trope by portraying it without the side-effects that normally get pulled along with it. For instance, deconstructing superpowers by showing what happens without their Required Secondary Powers. The other way mentioned on that page is to show what elements would logically precede the trope, rather than hiding them, e.g. heroes' mental illnesses in Watchmen.

Deconstruction means something else outside of here, but I can't read Wikipedia's artist-ese well enough to say what.

edited 15th Jul '11 5:28:19 AM by Yej

I know what it means here. I have a feeling that comparing deconstruction's real definition and TV Tropes' would be like comparing Italian and American pizza.

At what point do we distinguish a deconstruction from a reconstruction?

Yeah, I think Reality Ensues and Deconstruction are intermeshed.

It's a personal peeve of mine - I don't see how unmasking the fallacies of escapist fiction accomplishes much.

Isn't it usually used when the tropes aren't explicitly being portrayed as escapism?

edited 15th Jul '11 7:35:34 AM by Yej

No, just the opposite I believe.

The problem with defining deconstruciton is there are at least 3 major definitions. These definitions often contradict each other.

Definition #1 (the TV Tropes definition) has the author doing the deconstructing, while definition #2 has the audience doing the deconstructing.

1) A story-telling device where tropes are examined and taken apart.

2) A method of analysis created by Jacques Derrida. Incredibly confusing, but popular among academics when analyzing works. *

3) OMG, this story is awesome and deep!

edited 15th Jul '11 7:42:24 AM by LadyMomus

Isn't #2 our Death of the Author, more or less?

Pretty much. Death of the Author tends to be one of the central tenants of deconstruction. Deconstruction focuses on the society at large while ignoring the writer.

Death of the Author is a simple principle, but deconstructions tends to add a lot of complexity. YMMV on whether the complexity is necessary (or helpful).

In a country which spawned more than two-thirds of the planet's lawyers, Death of the Author was kind of inevitable.

For whatever it's worth, I recall my Ascended Fridge Horror trope idea being compared to Deconstruction... and is now considered a form of it.

edited 15th Jul '11 9:06:36 AM by neoYTPism