History DeconstructedTrope / Film

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' deconstructs the classic Disney aesop "you can be whatever you dream to be". Yeah, Jack ''dreams'' to be Santa, but dear Lord, [[BadSanta does he suck at it]]. Might be sensible ("Look Before You Leap, Think Of May Get Happen If You Commit A Mistake") or [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop family unfriendly]] ("Don't Try To Overcome Your Place In Life, It'll Only Lead To Destruction"), depending on how you view it. Or, taking a third option, it could be "if you like a totally different lifestyle, fine, but think twice in regards to taking it for yourself."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' deconstructs the classic Disney aesop "you can be whatever you dream to be". Yeah, Jack ''dreams'' to be Santa, but dear Lord, [[BadSanta does he suck at it]]. Might be sensible ("Look Before You Leap, Think Of May Get Happen If You Commit A Mistake") or [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop family unfriendly]] ("Don't Try To Overcome Your Place In Life, It'll Only Lead To Destruction"), depending on how you view it.
** A more reasonable interpretation might be "Don't try to [[PretenderDiss mimic]] or [[MightyWhitey usurp]] a foreign culture no matter how much you admire it, because it's not your culture to promote and [[ValuesDissonance there are nuances to it you can't possibly understand]]."

* ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' deconstructs the MadonnaWhoreComplex with regards to Esmerelda. Both Quasimodo and Frollo see her as each 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 idealises her heavily and becomes her DoggedNiceGuy; in the meantime, 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.

* ''WhipIt'' deconstructs the ShallowLoveInterest. Oliver seems like he's 100% the trope incarnate, as his character seems tailor-made to fall for Bliss and [[RomanticPlotTumor not do much else]]. In the end, though, it turns out he was just trying to get into Bliss' pants (he even gives away her old t-shirt to a groupie), and she later chides herself for falling for the act.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' as a whole is a deconstruction, and more specifically, one of DesignatedVillain, as the titular VillainProtagonist as [[spoiler:Metro Man's death would lead him to create a new enemy that is more evil than him]].

* ''PrivateBenjamin'' deconstructed BootCampEpisode by showing that while she overcame boot camp, we also see how the army changed her life outside the army.

* ''PrivateBenjamin'' deconstructed FishOutOfWater by showing that while she overcame boot camp, we also see how the army changed her life outside the army.

* ''Film/DeathSentence'' is a deconstruction of PapaWolf. Nick's desire to get vengeance on the gangster who killed his son pushes him to deliberately obstruct justice and starts a CycleOfRevenge that only ends up harming him and his further.
[[/folder]]

* ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' deconstructs the MadonnaWhoreComplex with regards to Esmerelda. Both Quasimodo and Frollo see her as each of them. Quasimodo only sees her as a pure Madonna while Frollo 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 personality itself and the reason he ends up with her is because he's the only one that sees her as an actual person.

** As in all Spielberg's movie, the relationship between father and son is important and implies [[InvisibleParents bad stuff]] most of time.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' deconstructs ScrewDestiny. So Merida wants to totally defy tradition, without back-up clans or thoughts of how this could affect her ''and'' others? [[spoiler: Well, 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"]] And for worse, [[spoiler: when a ReasonableAuthorityFigure like Elinor disappears, then the clans that she and Fergus held together start fighting against each other, and that means war will start soon.]] So it's up to Merida to go into a quest not ''just'' to prove her worth as a person, but to [[spoiler: rescue her bear-ized mother and siblings]] and fix up the mess that has been left - alongside becoming physically, mentally ''and'' emotionally stronger in the way.

* WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt deconstructed RedOniBlueOni through Moses and Ramses, respectively, by showing the qualities associated with them evolving in positive and negative ways as they mature.

** What's most jarring is that, just before's Scar's "Be Prepared" song, we have "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". Though the latter is much more colorful and cheery than the former, they're both essentially about the same thing: the singer's desire for power but not responsibility.
*** As "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" is sung by a child/cub that has only begun training to be king, I think we can cut Simba some slack for being excited about not having anyone tell him what to do. Scar, an adult, is another matter entirely.

* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' 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 and what happens when they decide to deviate from the roles they were given. Ralph is a PunchClockVillain 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. Another one is the DarkAndTroubledPast given as a in-game backstory to Sargent Calhoun. She suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which would prevent her from forming a real relationship, even though the first one may have been her game's fabrication. Another one is the status of the DummiedOut/glitched character and the sort of existence she has in a game that doesn't recognize her as a legitimate character.

* ''TheBreakfastClub'' was the definitive deconstruction of stock cliche high school movie characters for a whole generation, to the point where every teen movie made since has responded to it in one way or the other. The Jock is under heavy pressure from his father and his self-esteem has been seriously damaged; The Nerd is in detention because he cracked under his own share of pressure from his EducationMama and getting an F gave him a meltdown; The Cute Girl is a pawn for both of her parents and hides lots of insecurities behind her make-up; the Strange Girl is seen as a weirdo by everyone and exploits it for both her amusement and emotional effects; and the Bad Boy has no respect for anyone because he's from an abusive household and lashes at others to hide his pain and anger.
* Aside from showing the nightmarish life of an alcoholic, ''TheLostWeekend'' served to debunk the "lovable drunk" movie stereotype.

** The third film also deconstructs the FreudianExcuse. Sidney's ShutUpHannibal to [[spoiler:Roman]] implies that the {{Freudian Excuse}}s of all the killers throughout the series are just that, excuses they use to cover for themselves and try to get sympathy when, in truth, [[CompleteMonster they just enjoy killing people]].

* In addition to being a general GenreDeconstruction of war films, ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' goes to great lengths to deconstruct the ColdSniper trope with its portrayal of the protagonist and his closest companion. Both of them are Marine Corps [[hottip:STA: '''S'''pecial '''T'''arget '''A'''cquisition]] snipers who relish being seen as calm, calculating badasses, and they join up to fight in the First Gulf War with the idea that serving as snipers will be the perfect way to prove themselves in the field. Over the course of the film, though, they gradually realize that the onset of computerized warfare is fast on its way to making their jobs obsolete, and it slowly becomes clear to the audience that their coolheaded attitudes are just facades--at heart, they're just confused young men with a lot of pent-up aggression who want an excuse to take it out on "the enemy". [[spoiler: At the climax, when they ''finally'' get assigned to an assassination mission after an entire movie of waiting for one, they're denied the chance to take the shot when their superiors suddenly decide to call in an airstrike instead. The companion subsequently has a mental breakdown while he begs his commanding officer to let him fire; and when the Gulf War officially ends a few hours later, the two of them realize, with detached resignation, that they passed the entire war without firing a single shot]].

* In the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' series, Sidney evolves from a straight FinalGirl into a deconstruction of such. Even in the first film, there's a quick scene of a shameless tabloid journalist ([[TheCameo played by]] [[Film/TheExorcist Linda Blair]]) asking her "[[IfItBleedsItLeads how does it feel to be almost brutally murdered?]]" In the second film, her life has grown to be defined by her status as the survivor of a massacre, and while this has brought her fame, fortune, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines movie deals]], and (by the fourth movie) a bestselling autobiography, it also means that she is constantly having to look over her shoulder for [[HereWeGoAgain the next wannabe Ghostface]]. And then she has to repeat the entire experience, watching her friends getting slaughtered all over again [[spoiler:by [[MamaBear the pissed-off mother]] [[{{Beowulf}} of the last killer]], looking for payback against Sidney for [[YouKilledMyFather killing her son]]]].\\

* ''{{Inception}}'' is a deconstruction of the {{Determinator}}. [[spoiler:The eponymous act involves placing a single, simple idea deep into an unwitting subject's subconscious--that they will ''never'' be rid of. This single idea will define them for the rest of their lives, and both the primary protagonist and antagonist demonstrate how it can backfire. ''Spectacularly''.]]

* StreetsOfFire deconstructs the DistressedDamsel plot. Cody's doing it for money, and Ellen is rescued about halfway through, the problem then becomes ''keeping'' her safe.

* The Driver in ''Film/{{Drive}}'' is a deconstruction of the [[TheStoic Stoic hero]] of Seventies and Eighties action films. His heroic attempt to help his love interest by helping her husband work off his mob debts wind up [[spoiler: making her a widow]] and worsening the situation for ''both'' of them. His skill at driving is barely put to use, his stoic nature and sheer inability to negotiate makes him unable to talk his way out, and he only just survives most of the physical altercations he gets himself into due to being quicker than his opponents. Furthermore, his stoic demeanour is slowly chipped away over the film to reveal a blind, seething rage which quickly [[DidNotGetTheGirl leads to his love interest rejecting him]] and alienates him from his boss, who's his only other friend. He ultimately exits the film bleeding half to death, his boss dead, and neither the girl or the money to show for it.

* ''TheBreakfastClub'' was the definitive deconstruction of stock cliche high school movie characters for a whole generation, to the point where every teen movie made since has responded to it in one way or the other.