History Main / Deconstruction

** It also deconstructs the idea of otherworldly heroes. The Crystal Gems sacrifice a lot to protect Earth, and they have humanity's best interests at heart, but they're also borderline [[SmugSuper Smug Supers]] who keep their distance from humans at best, and are GoodIsNotNice types that outright belittle them at worst, while showing very little concern or respect for them or their culture, outside of protecting the planet. In other words, when all is said and done the Crystal Gems are ''still'' aliens that have a hard time understanding their charges, though they're trying.

** Love triangles and unrequited love get thoroughly taken apart. Pearl, the smug, jealous lover who blames Greg for Rose's functional nonexistence in many works would hate him for petty reasons and a toxic person. Not so, as a former member of a SlaveRace, she looked up to Rose with fanatical devotion as the first Gem who ever showed her any kindness. She developed an unhealthy obsession with keeping her safe, sacrificing herself constantly and feeling useless without her who defined her existence. When she's gone, Pearl is forced to redefine who she is as a person while going through many painfully accurate breakdowns motivated by her genuine feelings of love. Meanwhile Greg feels he can't do anything to help, while knowing how Pearl feels and believing things can't change. While they eventually start to mend fences, it takes a long time of CharacterDevelopment on Pearl's part to find common ground and it's acknowledged several times that her grief will never fully go away. Loved ones cannot be simply forgotten about, and even for the winner of a love triangle, it's still a painful process.

* The episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' about them moving to "Citysville" deals with what would happen if their brand of heroics was applied to a real life city.

* ''Film/Joker2019'' deconstructs the entire idea behind ComicBook/TheJoker. Arthur is not an ultra-intelligent criminal mastermind who regularly terrorizes Gotham with outlandishly destructive schemes (at least, [[AmbiguousEnding not yet]]). He becomes a serial killer over the course of the story, but he's nowhere near the super-terrorist the comics make him out to be. This makes sense as Arthur lives in PerpetualPoverty, and has NoSocialSkills; he could never gather the resources nor the manpower to deliberately corral people over to his side and enact violence upon the populace. The only reason he's as much of a "threat" as he is is because people impose and project their own fears and/or needs upon him--everyone assumes that the three Wayne employees were murdered to make a political statement, and are quite surprised when Arthur explains he killed them "[[AssholeVictim because they were awful]]" - and though he ''did'', the in-universe populace thinks he's just doing it for shits and giggles when he had very good reason to do so. His seemingly random murders of people close to him are the result of slights (perceived or otherwise), not because he [[ForTheEvulz feels like it]]. All these attributes make him the most realistic version of the character ''ever filmed'', eventually showing that, by the end of the day, someone would have to go through ''hell'' to become as twisted as The Joker. It's to the point where neurocriminologist Adrian Raine, who studied the psychology of violent criminals for over 40 years, was floored by how [[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/joker-joaquin-phoenix-psychology realistic Arthur's transformation into a violent sociopath is depicted]].

Sometimes the best fodder for deconstruction in a story or setting is not its major themes, but [[LawOfConservationOfDetail the aspects that are discussed the least, if at all]]. For instance, a work in which gender, sexuality, poverty, race, politics, etc. should have been important but were never dealt with adequately is ripe for a deconstruction.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Often involves a deconstruction of something held in high esteem by the person on the receiving end.

* ''Literature/TheWarlordChronicles'' by Bernard Cornwell does a combination of this and {{Demythtification}} in regards to the KingArthur legends.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'' deconstructs the idea of the Things from the previous [[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar two]] [[VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash games]] with the Legion of Stationary. Things all are 3D real world objects in a world made of paper and are incredibly powerful, being able to shape the paper world around them, but are only used by Mario for several attacks and are entirely PlayedForLaughs. The members of the Legion of Stationary are basically Things... but these are '''not''' on your side, and their tremendous power is absolutely terrifying to the paper beings that encounter them. The Hole Punch and the Scissors show the level of danger such beings can present best, with the former punching out both the Sun to use it at its disco ball and the faces of forty Toads, and the latter being a ManOfKryptonite that can reduce ''anything'' into confetti if it so desires.

** Finally, the show deconstructs the AmericanDream by showing how corrupt our institutions are, and any attempt to reform them is crushed by the system. The most positive embodiment of the dream is the character of Omar Little, who values self-sufficiency and individualism, all while being an inveterate criminal who has helped his community far more than the capitalist system has.

** The life of a KidHero would push the most [[ChasteHero abstinent teens]] to [[HormoneAddledTeenager give into their sexual desires]]. Also, there'd be no time for any serious relationships, only [[FriendsWithBenefits platonic sex between friends]].

* ''Fanfic/NewTamaran'': Of the personal lives of young costumed heroes, and a few other things.
** The life of a superhero or sidekick is not fitting for a ChasteHero or CelibateHero, as the stresses from hero work only increase the sexual anxiety of youth.
** Also romance isn't an option until retirement or semi-retirement[[note]]except for Superman and Lois Lane, it seems[[/note]]; until then, everyone is either a BattleCouple or FriendsWithBenefits.
** The people of Earth have been looking into deep space for decades, so they're well aware not just of extraterrestrial life but of interstellar conquerors. As a result, Earth's militaries are well-prepared for the event of an alien invasion.
** After his daughter was crippled, Commissioner Gordon has become much harsher on criminals, to the point of shooting to kill and personally performing executions.
** Wonder Girl, like her parents, is a soldier, and thus doesn’t have a [[ThouShaltNotKill No Killing rule]].
** After returning to Earth, the surviving Justice League members are so exhausted, physically and mentally, from intergalactic war that they retire from hero work.
** Likewise, many Titans have to retire or semi-retire to raise their children. Thankfully, new young heroes take their place.

* In Epilogue 3, after the Star Fems and Anime/CaptainHarlock settle on [[VideoGame/HaloWars Arcadia]], they form a simple society based on the views that Long preached. However, they seem to have come to these views naturally.

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/KendrickLamar's 2012 album ''good kid, m.A.A.d city'' deconstructs GangstaRap. The protagonist tries so hard to live the life portrayed in the genre but finds it's just empty and shallow. The violent side of it is bloody and pathetic. Drinking and doing drugs is just a way to put off with dealing with his problems. He finds casual sex to not be worth all he went through to have it and ends up getting an STD. He finally realizes at the end what a terrible lifestyle this is and decides to set himself straight but not without losing a lot to get there.
[[/folder]]

* Creator/MartinScorsese[='s=] ''Film/TheIrishman'' deconstructs Scorsese Mafia movies, and the ''entire'' Mafioso mythos. Quite possibly one of the bitterest, most depressing deconstructions ever filmed of the genre:

* Creator/MartinScorsese[='s=] ''Film/TheIrishman'' deconstructs Scorsese Mafia movies, and the ''entire'' Mafioso mythos. If associating with hostile criminals, making tough decisions, ruining your life, and killing a great friend is not enough, in the end, all you get in the present day is to create resentment among your loved ones and live a lonely life. The movie [[invoked]][[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped drives home relentlessly]] how men like Frank, Russell, Jimmy and other wiseguys are nothing but a pitiful shadow of what they once were. In other words, they are just people who belong to the past. All these attributes make this film one of the ''biggest'' deconstructions ever made of the Mafia genre, which is especially remarkable considering that Scorsese's own ''Film/GoodFellas'' was already a deconstruction of its own film genre, yet this film takes things [[UpToEleven to a new level]] of deconstruction, especially in the downfall of the American Mafia. Frank Sheeran himself is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of characters such as [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and [[Film/{{Casino}} Sam Rothstein]], showing just [[AlasPoorVillain how miserable and pitiful]] a man like them could become if he reached old age and lived in our times.
** In the Scorsese tradition, the film also deconstructs the idealized image of the American mafia, especially during the heyday of this criminal organization. Instead of showing mobsters in an honorable and positive light like ''Film/TheGodfather'', here is the opposite. The mafia is hostile and tyrannical towards Frank and Jimmy to such an extent that any mistake made by both could lead to imminent death. And as if it wasn't enough, there are [[AxCrazy utterly psychopathic]] people around the organization like Tony Pro, who won't hesitate to threaten you and your loved ones if you don't respect him enough. The fact is that, as Frank correctly points out, getting rid of him is practically an impossibility.

For example, in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', when a cleric reaches fifth level, he gains the ability to cast ''create food and water''. Normally, the impact this would have on a society (especially a [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy medieval or pseudo-medieval]] one) is [[ReedRichardsIsUseless completely ignored]]. A Deconstruction would explore how a society would react to that ability.

** In Epilogue 3, after the Star Fems and Anime/CaptainHarlock settle on [[VideoGame/HaloWars Arcadia]], they form a simple society based on the views that Long preached. However, they seem to have come to these views naturally.

"Deconstruction" literally means "to take something apart". When applied to tropes or other aspects of fiction, deconstruction means to take apart a trope so as to better understand its meaning and relevance to us in RealLife. This often means pursuing a trope's inherent contradictions and the difference between how the trope appears in this one work and how it compares to other relevant tropes or ideas both in fiction and RealLife. The simplest and most common method of applying Deconstruction to tropes in fiction among general audiences and fan bases, and the method most relevant to Wiki/TVTropes, takes the form of questioning "''How would this trope play out with RealLife consequences applied to it?''" or "''What would cause this trope to appear in RealLife?''"

This doesn't mean magic and other fantastic or futuristic elements, or any other tropes must be removed or attacked for failing to match up with their own pretensions of self-consistent reality, of course. While sometimes perceived as an aggressive attack on the meaning or entertainment value of a work or text, deconstruction is not properly about passing judgment (and in fact, the term "deconstruction" was picked over the German term "Dekonstruktion" to suggest careful attention to the detail within a text over violently emptying the work of all meaning). It means that all existing elements of a work are played without the RuleOfCool, RuleOfDrama, RuleOfFunny, [[RuleOfIndex and so on]], to see what hidden assumptions the work uses to make its point. Sometimes you will hear this referred to as "[[PlayingWithATrope played completely straight]]", and it can be thought of as taking a work more seriously on its own terms than even the work itself does, for the purpose of laying bare hidden meanings in the text.

* Creator/MartinScorsese[='s=] ''Film/TheIrishman'' deconstructs Scorsese Mafia movies, and the ''entire'' Mafioso mythos. The last-half hour of the movie answers a lot of the nagging questions about its genre and returns answers so simple, direct, and reasonable that they are also probably the most depressing answers possible. If associating with hostile criminals, making tough decisions, ruining your life, and killing a great friend is not enough, in the end, all you get in the present day is to create resentment among your loved ones and live a lonely life. The movie [[invoked]][[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped drives home relentlessly]] how men like Frank, Russell, Jimmy and other wiseguys are nothing but a pitiful shadow of what they once were. In other words, they are just people who belong to the past. All these attributes make this film one of the ''biggest'' deconstructions ever made of the Mafia genre, which is especially remarkable considering that Scorsese's own ''Film/GoodFellas'' was already a deconstruction of its own film genre, yet this film takes things [[UpToEleven to a new level]] of deconstruction, especially in the downfall of the American Mafia. Frank Sheeran himself is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of characters such as [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill]] and [[Film/{{Casino}} Sam Rothstein]], showing just [[AlasPoorVillain how miserable and pitiful]] a man like them could become if he reached old age and lived in our times.

* Before there was deconstruction, there was Creator/ECComics and especially Harvey Kurtzman's Magazine/{{MAD}} whose famous parodies of movies often made fun of the obvious conventions and cliched stories. Specific examples include:
** A movie cowboy ([[AwesomeMcCoolname Lance Sterling]]) and his adventures with a real cowboy (John Smurd). Whereas the handsome Lance defeats the villain after a shootout and fist fight, getting a girl and a hero's celebration, the plain-looking John gets knocked out and beaten up, then kills the villain by taking him by surprise, only to be greeted with a fairly homely woman and lynched for murder.
** ''Superduperman'', a classic story and influence on ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'', is a brutal send-up of several classic Superman tropes - the TwoPersonLoveTriangle, LovesMyAlterEgo and the LetsYouAndHimFight of Superduperman and Captain Marbles which causes considerable property damage and ends only because the hero [[CombatPragmatist fights dirty]].
** Their parodies of ''Popeye, Archie'' and ''Mickey Mouse'' were similarly brutal and funny, exposing the nasty subject of BettyAndVeronica as a classic adolescent male fantasy.
* The ComicBook/{{Superman}} arc "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, And The American Way?" is a deconstruction of the "violent superhero", or the idea that superheroes have to be violent and murderous to be realistic, and that they should kill their enemies. It shows that Superman isn't stupid because he follows moral codes. He has ''considered'' breaking them, but he decided that would be wrong. He has all the power in the world, and yet he choses to use them for good, while the Elites, the antagonists of the comic, have all the same powers and chose to use them to act like tyrants and petty murderers instead, all the while claiming moral superiority because they hurt bad guys.
* Many of the Marvel superheroes of the early 1960s could be seen as early deconstructions of the superhero genre [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny before their styles and formulas became standard issue genre tropes]], long before Alan Moore's ''Watchmen'' (see below), by showing that while gaining super powers may have allowed ordinary people to do good, even save the world, it didn't necessarily make their lives better. Though this is more true of the early Marvel stories than later on:
** Spider-Man in the original stories was seen as a very interesting and original take on the superhero stories in that it featured a working class teenager as a superhero whose powers he initially tried to exploit for monetary gain [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism by using his new found power to get rich, albeit on a small scale and use his power to strike back at his tormentors.]] The result? His empowerment fantasy goes to his head and he learns a famous lesson in responsibility. He struggles to pay rent and pay his way to college, take care of his ailing Aunt May and, in the Steve Ditko stories, the tensions between his personal life and superhero-work meant that people saw him as cold, aloof and snobbish which also upsets his early dates with his crushes. This aspect was toned down greatly when Steve Ditko left and Peter Parker attracted a circle of friends and incredibly attractive girlfriends.
** Elsewhere, the X-Men were mutants born with great powers that enabled them to do good when harnessed properly, but they were feared and hated and are generally victims of horrible double standards compared to other superheroes.
** Bruce Banner turned into the super strong Incredible Hulk thanks to a gamma bomb explosion, endowing him with the strength and stamina to battle threats that even some other super strong heroes may struggle with, but Bruce has little to no control over the Hulk, which often results in a lot of property damage and turning Bruce into a fugitive hunted all over the world by the army.
** Matt Murdock got enhanced senses after being blinded by radioactive waste, but his whole life has been an uphill battle from his humble beginnings to being a respected lawyer by day to having his personal and professional lives torn apart time and again, and losing some of the women he loved along the way.
** The Fantastic Four, the first big Marvel hit, was seen and welcomed as a reaction to other superhero stories. Namely the fact that the team dispensed with the secret identity along with masks. They also in the early stories featured highly dysfunctional figures, with Johnny Storm being a real hothead and ArrogantKungFuGuy about his powers and Ben Grimm/The Thing being the first example of a Monster-As-Superhero who was prone to temper tantrums, frustration over his feelings for Sue and his anger at Reed, with their adventures being the only thing keep them together at least in the Jack Kirby era.
* The Marvel hero Freedom Ring was meant to be a deconstruction of the way most teen superheroes were handled. His creator, Robert Kirkman, wanted to have a young hero who would struggle to use his abilities and ultimately die early on in his career in order to contrast the ease with which most teenage characters adjust to their powers. Since Freedom Ring was also one of the few gay superheroes Marvel published, this lead to some UnfortunateImplications and an apology from Kirkman.

* ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' actually took Batman out of the permanent bubble of ComicBookTime and pushed him in a future Gotham that is very much the contemporary 80s America of Ronald Reagan and Bernie Goetz. Batman's vigilante actions become a topic of political and social commentary, his actions an affront to the police and (later) the US Government, and he inevitably operates as an outlaw that brings him in conflict with ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''.
* ''Comicbook/KickAss'' shows us what it would be like if a teenager without super powers ever became a superhero (like Spider-Man). The main character gets beaten within an inch of his life in every encounter, and things get even ''worse'' after he dons the mask; his only super power is that he has a metal plate in his head.
* WordOfGod said that the SeriesFinale for the ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' comics was the album ''Tintin in Tibet''. The next three albums (''The Castafiore Emerald'', ''Flight 714'', and ''Tintin and the Picaros'') are deconstructions of the ''Tintin'' series in general.
** ''The Castafiore Emerald'' has Hergé trying to keep a plot where not much happens still suspenseful,
** ''Flight 714'' [[VillainDecay ridiculizes]] Tintin's ArchEnemy, Rastapopoulos,
** ''Tintin and the Picaros'' has [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Tintin]] pulling an initial RefusalOfTheCall because he smells something fishy about the whole affair (he's right, but ends up coming along out of loyalty for his friends anyway), [[TheAlcoholic Haddock]] suddenly unable to enjoy alcohol and [[AbsentMindedProfessor Calculus]] showing some hidden MagnificentBastard tendencies. At the end of the story, it is made crystal clear that the heroes only helped San Theodoros experience yet another FullCircleRevolution. Oh, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Tintin wears jeans]], instead of his iconic plus-fours.
* ''ComicBook/TheGreatPowerOfChninkel'' deconstructs the hero myth, in particular the MessianicArchetype, and the UnlikelyHero tropes.
* Creator/GrantMorrison apparently tried to deconstruct Cyclops/Scott Summers, the X-Men's fearless leader, following his being possessed by Apocalypse, with his ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' run, by trying to show the insecurities and emotional vulnerability behind his stoicism.
* ''ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni''
** In issue #4 of ''Rick and Morty vs. TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Jerry, benefiting from his character's heightened Intelligence and Charisma, explains to Morty that Rick [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech isn't actually "cool", but merely acts "cool"]]. That is; whilst Rick normally can exploit his MadScientist skills to achieve ridiculous feats and impress people, that doesn't make him a ''good person''--in fact, he's a downright lousy person who, as Jerry puts it, isn't good about caring for other people.
** "Painscape" can be considered this to Rick’s status as a JerkSue InvincibleHero, as well as a SpiritualAntithesis to the first series:
*** Like in Chapter I, Jerry’s knowledge and skill allows him to rally everyone together and utilize their skills to hold back the invading horde. Unfortunately, this time, this strategy doesn't work; since Rick tends to create overpowered characters, the longer they remain in the Prime Universe, the more the rules of reality change [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem to suit their needs]], until they are eventually able to just NoSell any and every attack from Jerry and the rest of the army, requiring the intervention of an also-overpowered Rick to defeat them.
*** The flashback also shows how Rick, {{Munchkin}} that he is, kept creating D&D characters that he soon discarded for not being strong enough for his standards. Him doing so is what causes the entire conflict "Painscape", which is made worse by the fact that the characters he created are, like him, overpowered by anyone else's standards to the point of eventually becoming invincible.
* In ComicBook/TheBoys, Creator/GarthEnnis quite interestingly deconstructs his own previous and preferred protagonists. What happens when a NominalHero who is also TheUnfettered actually manages to fulfill his goal? [[spoiler: He sets a new, bigger and more destructive one, and continues to damage everything around him to fulfill these goals, until everything that made the character heroic or sympathetic is gone and the ProtagonistsJourneyToVillain is complete.]]