Discussion BrokenAesop / LiveACtionTV

Removed:

• 7th Heaven: Many, many times, though the episode "Tunes" stands out as the most glaring example. In the episode, the show attempts to have a pro-woman equality message, though in the process, the message itself becomes muddled because the show also intermixes a "rap music causes misogyny" message in the same episode. In short (for full details, see YMMV page under "Designated Hero"), 7th Heaven states that women should be equal to men, which in itself is a great message, and that hip hop shouldn't be listened because of its treatment of women. However, while an equality message would work if the episode were written better, the message becomes broken twice over because of the way female characters were written in the past, as well as its rap message. In earlier seasons, Lucy and Mary were depicted as boy crazy, and later became shrill stereotypes of female characters in later seasons (though both were exalted because they were great mothers and wives), while many career women were frequently depicted as selfish, rude, uncaring, and often in the wrong. Additionally, John Hamilton (Matt's then-roommate/friend) calls out a doctor after the latter asked him to simply put rap music on during a surgery, calling it "prejudicial" that the doctor would assume him, being black, would be all for it; Matt also states that people shouldn't listen to hip hop because it causes more ignorance about the plights of women (to be specific, he says "Ignorance is the enemy"). However, that statement becomes cracked because the whole episode is basically an excuse to rip on rap listeners, thus the show becoming prejudicial towards them, and if the writers did their homework, they would know that there are numerous female rappers (e.g. Missy Elliott) and tons of women who listen to rap music themselves. As a result, the writers come off as both ignorant and prejudicial towards both women and rap listeners; though in the case of women, this was likely unintentional (considering that the episode's writer was show creator Brenda Hampton).

This is a real wall of text, but from what I can gather, an episode can't have a female empowerment message because the female characters aren't written well (which seems subjective) and there can't be any misogyny in hip hop because female rappers presumably aren't misogynist (which doesn't prevent misogyny coming from male rappers). Further, I don't think the latter would qualify as a "broken" aesop unless the show acknowledged that non-misogynous rappers exist. Instead, the entry just disagrees with the aesop.

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has, since the beginning of the show, supported vehemently the idea that the circumstances of one's life don't matter because everyone has freewill, and as such, any villain is a villain because they choose to be evil. The show heavily backs this idea, especially when the protagonists use it as a justification to punish the villains, and portrays villains that try to justify their circumstances simply not wanting to take responsibility for their actions. Come the Framework arc, the protagonists are thrown into a matrix where their greatest regrets are erased. The world is taken over by HYDRA, and many of the protagonists work for or assist HYDRA due to having lived different lives, including The Heart of the group, who becomes HYDRA's second-in-command and eventual leader, and kills and tortures multiple people without a care in the world. Yet, with the exception of one of them, all of the protagonists insist they're not at fault because they had their memories rewritten, and the show backs this idea, and not one of them are ever held accountable for their crimes or actions in the Framework. Apparently, circumstances do matter, but only when it's the good guys who do evil things.

Deleted this because because Fitz was brainwashed and given Fake Memories. Framework!Fitz was effectively a different character from real!Fitz, and the former is effectively dead. Ward was never brainwashed, only trained. So there really is no comparison.

The Doctor Who example from "The Parting of the Ways" is questionable. Nine was played from beginning to end as having something resembling PTSD over the events of the Time War and it's reasonable to interpret the scene as him simply being unable to bring himself to destroy an inhabited planet again, despite the consequences. Cowardice, yes (by his own admission), but not really a Broken Aesop.

cutting two Fresh Prince Of Bel Air examples:

• The second one is about how Will quits a Western Philosophy class in College, because he thinks it will be too hard for him. But the moment after he dismisses Will from the class, the professor changes into a total different person, who Will starts to like. Will is reprimanded for quitting the class too soon, but nobody seems to care about how wrong and weird it was that the professor changed his personality like that...

The professor doesn't suddenly change. Him and Will get off on the wrong foot and Will antagonizes him from the beginning. We only see him reacting to that until after he dismisses Will. His behavior is consistent and doesn't affect the Aesop.

• Not to mention the episode, where Will pretends that his baby cousin Nicky is his own son. He gets the attention of a girl and many gifts (including a trip to Hawaii), until he finally confesses that he only lied about being a single father. So all these gifts go to another man, who supposedly is a real single father, except that he confesses to Will that he too only was lying! So the aesop doesn't become "never tell a lie" as much as "if you're going to lie, don't be stupid enough to confess that you're lying".

Do I need to say it? The twist ending is clearly Played for Laughs. (A Stock Aesop like "do what's right morally, whether you're rewarded for it or not", stands anyway.

I don't understand the basis for thinking TNG's The Game was trying to prove an Aesop. On it's face, it's just an episode about an alien using technology to brainwash the crew, just like plenty of other technologies in other episodes. The medium happens to be a game, but there are no quotes or elements in the story that hint at an Aesop or lesson.

• Despite the moral being to treat the gangers as humans, the Arc of the season is kicked off by having the Doctor melt Amy's ganger with his screwdriver. By the logic of "The Almost People", this was an act of murder, as the ganger had feelings of its own.

Amy was connected to her ganger. Her consciousness was in the ganger while real body was being held in that box. She was the only consciousness involved; there was no other ganger. Therefore, no murder. All the Doctor did was cut the connection and return her to her rightful body.