History Main / ConceptsAreCheap

* More politicians than not, if not all politicians. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glittering_generality See also]] Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker fights crime for the grand glorious cause of Responsibility: he has the power to do it, so he has to do it. (It ''does'' spin out of his {{origin story}}, but still.) This may mean that he was doomed to become a superhero no matter what: he was introduced as a young genius almost on par with the other super scientists of the time like [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]], [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], and [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]. Thus, he had great power, and thus, great responsibility.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' [[{{Troperiffic}} gleefully]] plays this straight with [[IdiotHero Finn]], who loves to boast about his defense of "honour" and "justice" without actually having any idea what those things mean ("I swear." "Swear to what?" "I swear ''to justice!''") and fighting evil monsters 'cuz they're "evil". CharacterDevelopment means he's a lot less prone to this in later seasons, but he still won't object to randomly punching monsters.

** The Republic is shown to be highly ineffective and almost comically corrupt, and their clone armies are effectively [[SlaveMooks enslaved]] {{child soldier}}s and led by [[EliteAgentsAboveTheLaw an independent religious order not beholden to the government]]. They're the good guys though, because they say "freedom" a lot.

* ''Comicbook/AngelaMarvelComics'': its main character Angela, and by extension all Angels of Heven (this is the in-comic spelling), says her culture centres around materialism and EquivalentExchange. Justice? Honor? Family? All those big and important words they translate to '''Nothing''' or to put it more flowery:

Can't think of a convincing personal motivation for your hero? No problem. There are lots of useful words out there. [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords Useful words]] like [[ForGreatJustice "freedom", "justice", "peace" or "mankind"]]! [[LoadedWords Or "love"! Or "hope"! Or "good"!]] Yeah! "Freedom" stirs up lots of warm fuzzy feelings in people. Better yet, any villains who oppose our freedom-loving hero [[DesignatedVillain must be, by definition, evil.]] Better than ''that'', freedom is an abstract. If nothing specific is added, a reader can fill in the blank with ''whatever they want''.

Compare MeaninglessMeaningfulWords, LoadedWords, ForGreatJustice. Contrast JusticeWillPrevail. Unrelated to HighConcept.

** The Republic is shown to be highly ineffective and almost comically corrupt, and their clone armies are effectively enslaved child soldiers and led by an independent religious order not beholden to the government. They're the good guys though, because they say "freedom" a lot.

ValuesDissonance can hit with some of these concepts. ForScience was a cheap concept in TheFifties (positive or negative, depending on [[MadScientist the sanity of the scientist]]), but there are enough people real and fictional who claim that taking a stand for it does mean something (again, for good or [[ScienceIsBad ill]]).

* The Twelfth Doctor's MythArc in ''Series/DoctorWho'' reconstructs this trope. From the beginning, he is concerned with the question of whether he is a genuinely good person. This is for several reasons: he's a PragmaticHero as previous incarnations often were, he has a major GuiltComplex about the less-than-noble things he's done for the greater good then and now, and he isn't particularly [[GoodIsNotNice nice]] this time around. Seeing his first companion Clara Oswald, a MoralityChain who ''did'' think he was genuinely good in his previous incarnation, now have doubts because of his icier personality hurts him. Making matters worse, she's been with him so long that while she's braver and more self-sacrificing she's also more dishonest, reckless, oblivious to others' feelings, willing to endanger herself for the sake of adventure and accepting of the loss of innocent lives -- and he knows it's his influence at work. In his adventures he's forced to recognize, or recognizes on his own, that he's often NotSoDifferent from his adversaries, particularly ArchEnemy Missy. However, with the help of Clara and others, in the end he realizes that while he is not a flawlessly moral Good Man nor a Nice Man, he wants to be ''and is'' a Kind Man who chooses to try to help everyone he can -- no matter who they are or the risks he poses to himself (and those he cares about provided that they choose to risk their lives as well) in the process.

ValuesDissonance can hit with some of these concepts. ForScience was a cheap concept in TheFifties (positive or negative, depending on [[MadScientist the sanity of the scientist]]), but there are enough people real and fictional who claim that ScienceIsBad that taking a stand for it does mean something (again, for good or ill).

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Back in the day]] the title character spent a lot of time demolishing substandard ghetto housing, exposing political corruption and standing up for the rights of immigrants and the little guy. He was a New Deal superhero! But politics is bad for sales - even corrupt politicians buy comic books, after all. So Superman started to fight for the magnificent generality of "truth, justice and the American way" (the last part added in the 40s for the radio program), and as long as he limits himself to hitting supervillains in the jaw, it doesn't matter. No two people can agree on what Superman "really stands for" anymore, but they all agree it's ''very heroic''. "The American way" part is also often dropped in modern stories, although it's usually only Americans who complain about this.

Can't think of a convincing personal motivation for your hero? No problem. There are lots of useful words out there. [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords Useful words]] like [[ForGreatJustice "freedom" or "justice" or "peace" or "mankind"]]! [[LoadedWords Or "love"! Or "hope"! Or "good"!]] Yeah! "Freedom" stirs up lots of warm fuzzy feelings in people. Better yet, any villains who oppose our freedom-loving hero [[DesignatedVillain must be, by definition, evil.]] Better than ''that'', freedom is an abstract. If nothing specific is added, a reader can fill in the blank with ''whatever they want''.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', three fighters from the Second Universe, the magical girls Brianne, Kakunsa and Rozie, contantly talk about how they fight for "Love," and "Love" is unbeatable. The Pride Troopers of Universe 11 also often talk about "Justice."

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker fights crime for the grand glorious cause of Responsibility: he has the power to do it, so he has to do it. (It ''does'' spin out of his {{origin story}}, but still.) This may mean that he was doomed to become a superhero no matter what: he was introduced as a young genius almost on par with the other super scientists of the time like Hank Pym from ''ComicBook/AntMan'', Reed Richards from ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' and Tony Stark from ''ComicBook/IronMan''. Thus, he had great power, and thus, great responsibility.

* The basis for many a real life PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny. If you can't be bothered actually ''making'' your government democratic, then naming it so is the next best thing. Whether or not this actually fools anyone though is unknown.

** After their overwhelming success in the 2015 elections, the Polish ruling party [=PiS=] (Law and Justice) went to work on a series of reforms and other operations under the common name of "The Good Change". Several loud anti-government manifestations and badly received reforms later, they still haven't dropped the name. Tough it probably helps that polls show public support for the party did not decline, in fact, it rose above the support it received in election...

** Remarked on in ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'' when Rincewind explains why he doesn't support "worthy causes". He says they're much easier to pick up than another chance at life is, so why would he lay down his life for a cause?
** ''Discworld/NightWatch'', wherein a rant by Sir Samuel results in the rebels fighting for truth, justice, freedom, reasonably-priced love (as the [[UnusualEuphemism seamstresses]] objected to the inclusion of "free love")... and a hard-boiled egg, because at least the egg can be had by morning. [[spoiler: Not that he gets to eat it.]]
** Reacher Gilt in ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' loves to talk about freedom, but he really means "freedom for me". He certainly has no intention of letting Moist be free to run the post office while he has anything to say about it. Moist reads Gilt's statement to the Times and is awestruck at how Reacher has ''made'' the Concepts be Cheap.

* Makoto Naegi in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' genuinely believed in hope as a valuable concept, and it payed off in the final trial against the BigBad's DespairGambit. [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2 The second game]]'s Ultimate/SHSL Luckster Nagito Komaeda, Naegi's OddballDoppelganger, seems intended to satirize the idea by using the word in the context of doing horrible things like arranging for a murder to occur or helping the culprit to see who's hope was "stronger" under the guise of fighting for hope in general (instead of some specific hope). All while proving again and again that the he's more infatuated by the idea of hope, rather than having any hope of his own; Naegi may have been a HumbleHero, but he never went around calling himself 'trash' the way Komaeda does, and while while he was always sure to TurnTheOtherCheek by sending blame for people's misconduct towards The Mastermind, he never reveled in seeing followers of despair get punished.

** ''Discworld/NightWatch'', wherein a rant by Sir Samuel results in the rebels fighting for truth, justice, freedom, reasonably-priced love (as the [[UnusualEuphemism seamstresses]] objected to the inclusion of "free love")... and a hard-boiled egg. The egg, at least, can be had by morning. [[spoiler: Not that he even gets to eat the egg.]]

** ''Discworld/NightWatch'', wherein a rant by Sir Samuel results in the rebels fighting for truth, justice, freedom, reasonably-priced love (the [[UnusualEuphemism seamstresses]] objected to the inclusion of "free love")... and a hard-boiled egg. The egg, at least, can be had by morning. [[spoiler: Not that he even gets to eat the egg.]]

Compare MeaninglessMeaningfulWords, LoadedWords and ForGreatJustice. Contrast JusticeWillPrevail. Unrelated to HighConcept.

* In ''Anime/ConcreteRevolutioChoujinGensou'' this is a recurring theme with [[AntiVillain Sword Phantom Claude]], who has come to believe that while [[SuperHero superhumans]] may claim to fight for peace, justice and freedom for all mankind, it is impossible to be an IdealHero who truly fights for all three.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', three fighters from the Second Universe, Brianne, Kakunsa and Roasie, contantly talk about how they fight for "Love," and "Love" is unbeatable. The Pride Trropers of Universe 11 also often talk about "Justice."

* The defining concept for the Marines in ''Anime/OnePiece'' is "[[ForGreatJustice Justice]]", to the point that the kanji for "justice" is emblazoned on the backs of their uniforms. However, each Marine (aside from the corrupt ones who are simply in it for themselves) has their own interpretation of the concept, from the more heroic interpretations, to interpretations that justify committing genocide, or killing Marine [=POWs=] for being weak enough to be captured.

* In ''Videogame/DragonAgeInquisition'', Cassandra wonders what the Inquisition will stand for after the BigBad is defeated. The Inquisitor can remark that it's a little optimistic to be thinking about such matters when they haven't won yet. Cassandra's concerns are quite understandable, since she used to be a member of an organization that stood for justice and order that eventually became more concerned with its own power. Since said organization the Seekers [[spoiler:was descended from the original Inquisition]], her fears that the same fate might befall the Inquisition have merit.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Back in the day]] the title character spent a lot of time demolishing substandard ghetto housing, exposing political corruption and standing up for the rights of immigrants and the little guy. He was a New Deal superhero! But politics is bad for sales - even corrupt politicians buy comic books, after all. So Superman started to fight for the magnificent generality of "truth, justice and the American way" (the last part added in the 40s for the radio program), and as long as he limits himself to hitting supervillains in the jaw, it doesn't matter. No two people can agree on what Superman "really stands for" anymore, but they all agree it's ''very heroic''. "The American way" part is also often dropped in modern stories, although it's usually [[CaptainObvious only Americans who complain about this.]]

* Makoto Naegi in ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}}'' genuinely believed in hope as a valuable concept, and it payed off in the final trial against the BigBad's DespairGambit. [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2 The second game]]'s Ultimate/SHSL Luckster Nagito Komaeda, Naegi's OddballDoppelganger, seems intended to satirize the idea by using the word in the context of doing horrible things like arranging for a murder to occur or helping the culprit to see who's hope was "stronger" under the guise of fighting for hope in general (instead of some specific hope). All while proving again and again that the he's more infatuated by the idea of hope, rather than having any hope of his own; Naegi may have been a HumbleHero, but he never went around calling himself 'trash' the way Komaeda does, and while while he was always sure to TurnTheOtherCheek by sending blame for people's misconduct towards The Mastermind, he never reveled in seeing followers of despair get punished.