History Main / UnbuiltTrope

* John Ford's ''{{Stagecoach}}'' is generally spoken of as the archetypal Western movie that practically made John Wayne's career - which it is. However, it is so much more than that. In fact, ''{{Stagecoach}}'' was billed - and, arguably, intended - as a lively character study, with several people from diverse backgrounds being forced into close quarters during a journey and (reluctantly) getting to know one another. Also, the Native Americans (Apaches, in this case) are depicted much more realistically than we have come to expect from classic Hollywood Westerns.

* A lot of early novels like TristramShandy and DonQuixote seem to be deconstructions of the form, with the author intervening, characters reading earlier parts of the story, etc, and yet they can't be deconstructing the novel because Don Quixote was (arguably) the first novel ever written, and Tristram Shandy one of the first in the English language.

* It's hard to tell nowadays, but {{Candide}} is a {{Deconstruction}} of the 17th Century equivalent of a NewAgeRetroHippie. [[ThePollyanna Dr Pangloss]], a caricature of Gottfried Leibniz (who Voltaire became familiar with through his physicist girlfriend [[HotScientist Émilie du Châtelet]]), espoused the "principle of sufficient reason" with the same gusto as his modern counterpart does the unifying power of the "Akashic Field". Call it "[[ScienceMarchesOn Pseudoscience Marches On]]".

* BraveNewWorld, one of the earliest classics of dystopian fiction, predating {{1984}} by a decade. However it was never meant as such, but as an "Ironic Utopia", where even with the mind control, drugs, lack of families, destruction of history and culture, undemocratic government, and predetermined destinys of the people, almost everyone is happy in blissful hedonism and society runs smoothly.

* To one who reads ''{{Watchmen}}'' today, the character of The Comedian feels like a deconstruction of the NinetiesAntiHero, when he was in fact largely the inspiration for many DarkerAndEdgier heroes, whose creators [[MisaimedFandom missed the point]]. Ironically, AlanMoore ended popularizing the [[NinetiesAntiHero Anti Heroes]] he set out to deconstruct.

* To one who reads ''{{Watchmen}}'' today, the character of The Comedian feels like a deconstruction of the NinetiesAntiHero, when he was in fact largely the inspiration for many DarkerAndEdgier heroes, whose creators [[MisaimedFandom missed the point]]. Ironically AlanMoore ended popularizing the [[NinetiesAntiHero AntiHeroes]] he set out to deconstruct.

* The GoldenAge of comics was significantly darker than the SilverAge and more mature than the DarkAge. Most of this is due to the fact that comics were only just escaping the influence of pulp fiction.

* ''UruseiYatsura'' was created as a parody of the MagicalGirlfriend genre back in the ''eighties'', making its main male character a [[TheLeisureSuitLarry pitifully lecherous]] JerkAss who rarely, if ever, appreciated the MagicalGirlfriend, outright claimed to ''not want'' her, and often came off as not deserving her in the first place... and its MagicalGirlfriend [[NotSoDifferent wasn't much better]], being naive, [[{{Tsundere}} bad tempered and jealously possessive]], flirtatious and lustful in her own right, and more frequently a ''cause'' of trouble then a solution to it. So popular was the series that its general take on the "main male" (as someone who didn't appreciate his MagicalGirlfriend and/or frankly deserved most of the trouble he got into) and "MagicalGirlfriend" (a well-meaning bumbler) became archetypes of the genre in their own right.

** It's also worth noting that ''Urusei Yatsura'' came long before the UnwantedHarem took off as a genre (for comparison: ''Urusei Yatsura'' ran from 1978 to 1987; ''TenchiMuyo'' from 1994 to 2000; ''LoveHina'' from 1998 to 2001) and practically reads as a parody or deconstruction of it. Ataru isn't the AccidentalPervert or [[UnluckyEverydude unlucky but kind-hearted everydude]] most harem leads are, but a genuine, unrepentant pervert who [[HaremSeeker openly expresses his desire for a harem]]. The girls ''don't'' fall over him but run away from him instead because he really ''is'' that shameless a lech who runs away from the one girl who actually wants him because he doesn't want to give up his dreams of a harem, even when it becomes clear that he'll ''never'' get the harem he wants due to [[RealityEnsues Reality Ensuing]].

** It's also worth noting that ''Urusei Yatsura'' came long before the UnwantedHarem took off as a genre (for comparison: ''Urusei Yatsura'' ran from 1978 to 1987. ''LoveHina'', the TropeCodifier for the UnwantedHarem, ran from 1998 to 2001) and practically reads as a parody or deconstruction of it. Ataru isn't the AccidentalPervert or [[UnluckyEverydude unlucky but kind-hearted everydude]] most harem leads are, but a genuine, unrepentant pervert who [[HaremSeeker openly expresses his desire for a harem]]. The girls ''don't'' fall over him but run away from him instead because he really ''is'' that shameless a lech who runs away from the one girl who actually wants him because he doesn't want to give up his dreams of a harem, even when it becomes clear that he'll ''never'' get the harem he wants due to [[RealityEnsues Reality Ensuing]].

* Amelia from TheSlayers looks almost like a parody of the very concept of the [[{{Moe}} moeblob]], with her naivete and GenkiGirl traits taken BeyondTheImpossible for comic effect. The twist comes when you realize that she's one of the TropeMakers, along with [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Rei Ayanami]]. (The latter has aspects of this, but was never intended to be anyone's idea of sexy. ''[[MisaimedFandom That]]'' [[{{Understatement}} didn't go as planned...]])

%% * ''UruseiYatsura'' was created as a parody of the MagicalGirlfriend genre, making its main male character a [[TheLeisureSuitLarry pitifully lecherous]] JerkAss who rarely, if ever, appreciated the MagicalGirlfriend, outright claimed to ''not want'' her, and often came off as not deserving her in the first place... and its MagicalGirlfriend [[NotSoDifferent wasn't much better]], being naive, [[{{Tsundere}} bad tempered and jealously possessive]], flirtatious and lustful in her own right, and more frequently a ''cause'' of trouble then a solution to it. So popular was the series that its general take on the "main male" (as someone who didn't appreciate his MagicalGirlfriend and/or frankly deserved most of the trouble he got into) and "MagicalGirlfriend" (a well-meaning bumbler) became archetypes of the genre in their own right. BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan and ZeroNoTsukaima are both examples of modern anime works that have a similarly "imperfect" relationship between the male character and his MagicalGirlfriend.
%% ** Speaking of {{Magical Girlfriend}}s, [[TenchiMuyo Tenchi Masaki]] began as rather worse-tempered than the ExtremeDoormat and TheEveryman types who followed him in the UnwantedHarem genre. For the first several {{OAV}}s, he was most characterised by a justified but decidedly insensitive desire to just be left alone.
* ''MazingerZ'', while not quite the UrExample, is definitely the TropeCodifier for the SuperRobot genre. However, to a modern reader, it seems to constantly slip between an over the top parody, and a brutal deconstruction. The BigBad is smart enough to send the [[{{Robeast}} "Mechanical Beasts"]] in groups to attack Mazinger; the mecha, though nearly indestructible, doesn't provide much safety for the pilot inside; and the main character nearly destroys the town while he's trying to figure out how to pilot the mecha. And that's before [[WhamEpisode the villains take over a Japanese village in a very Nazi-like manner,(including systematically slaughtering the civillians that they considered "useless"), and use the women of the village as human shields for their latest Mechanical Beast]].

One day you decide to read [[{{AstroBoy}} an old comic]]. In it, a scientist's son dies and he becomes obsessed with making him anew, a perfect version that can never be beaten, at that! He's a madman! What's this... how can he [[KickTheDog yell at the little boy for not growing up]]? Did... he just ''[[MoralEventHorizon sell his "son" into slavery]]''!? [[GoshDarnItToHeck Mother of Pearl!]] You've never seen someone really [[{{Deconstruction}} examine the morality of Replacement Goldfish like that]]!

** Speaking of CowboyCop, ''DirtyHarry'' also qualifies as an unbuilt trope. Harry's methods aren't actually shown all that positively. His JackBauerInterrogationTechnique on the [[CompleteMonster Socpio Killer]] is [[GoryDiscretionShot downright horrific]] and ends up doing no good. And in the end [[spoiler: he throws away his badge after disregarding orders and endangering innocents.]]'

* ''MazingerZ'', while not quite the UrExample, is definately the TropeCodifier for the SuperRobot genre. However, to a modern reader, it seems to constantly slip between an over the top parody, and a brutal deconstruction. The BigBad is smart enough to send the [[{{Robeast}} "Mechanical Beasts"]] in groups to attack Mazinger; the mecha, though nearly indestructible, doesn't provide much safety for the pilot inside; and the main character nearly destroys the town while he's trying to figure out how to pilot the mecha. And that's before [[WhamEpisode the villains take over a Japanese village in a very Nazi-like manner,(including systematically slaughtering the civillians that they considered "useless"), and use the women of the village as human shields for their latest Mechanical Beast]].

** Additionally "subversions" in that the heroes do not stick together to the end, their victory meant the end, not the salvation, of a golden age, and they weren't trying to FIND a MacGuffin to use against the enemy, they already had it and were questing to destroy it...

* Dante's Inferno, despite being the TropeNamer of FireAndBrimstoneHell, and [[WordOfDante the source of many of the beliefs thereof]], actually depicts the lowest and worst level of hell as covered in ''Ice''. Further, {{Satan}}, far from being the Ruler of Hell, (the closest thing to a ruler is King Midas) is actually basically in Solitary Confinement (except for three humans whose faces he's chewing) and, far from being the omniscient EvilCounterpart of God, he's so stupid (or possibly [[MindRape Mind Controlled]]) that he can't figure out that his attempts to escape the ice, by flapping his wings, is [[SelfInflictedHell exactly what's making it so cold]].

* In the original heist and caper films, it was basically a rule that the rogue protagonists would generally end up dead, either killed by police or by their own in-fighting. The "best" result to be expected was the prospect of prison after all plans have fallen apart. By the 1960s, a lighter tone prevailed, and it is now fairly common for such characters to pull off a job successfully and get a HappilyEverAfter ending. So, while Tarantino's ''ReservoirDogs'' ''is'' a modern deconstruction, it is also a return to how earlier heist films worked.
** Just look at ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Crazy Gun Crazy]]'', a movie made in 1949. It involved a BonnieAndClyde couple that robbed banks -- and at the very end, they both die in a surreal, fog-filled landscape.
*** Of course, it's worth mentioning that the reason ALL of those old movies ended with the robbers/killers dying or having everything ruined for them was that the {{HaysCode}} only allowed violence/lay breaking if it was shown to be a BAD idea. A movie that made it seem glamorous to be a bank robber would never have gotten a seal of approval