Misused: The Dog Shot First

The intended meaning, going by description and most examples: a scene is edited to remove moral ambiguity in the "hero" — the initial line says it's done to due to Executive Meddling, while a later line says it can happen without it, but that's an easy enough fix. However, some examples, such as the South Park and The Elder Scrolls one, just riff on the whole self-defense angle, and there are also some examples that are just scenes parodying the Han Solo argument. I also see misuse from other pages I checked: e.g. this Doctor Who episode and Brother, which go for another character attacking another and getting killed for it.

I don't know if it's worth creating some alternate trope about provoking someone so you can "justifiably" kill them, or another about a villain randomly attacking a hero so they can be killed in the narrative, or if we already have those to port those examples to.

The heavy Star Wars angle might be hurting here. The name's not without its basis if you know Shoot the Dog and "Han Shot First" is probably the most known example, but a lot of people are probably just reading it and assuming it's some element of the Han scene, not getting the "recut" part.

edited 13th Feb '15 5:01:58 PM by Lavaeolus

If it's only a few examples, removing them should suffice. We can't justify a TRS thread on only anecdotal evidence, sorry.