Line #9 GenreDeconstruction/Film


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3	%%Note: If you wish to add examples, please explain in detail. For instance, sketch the basic premise of the genre that is being deconstructed and how the example deconstructs the genre.
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5	%%Also remember: Darker and Edgier is not inherently Deconstruction, nor is the inverse true.
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8	!!Films -- Animated
9	* ''WesternAnimation/EducationForDeath'': The film is a deconstruction of [[WartimeCartoon Wartime Cartoons]]. It avoids portraying Nazis as evil monsters, and demonstrates ''how'' a normal, compassionate young child can be trained into following such a cause: propaganda and [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil peer pressure]]. By the end of the film, you end up [[TearJerker feeling sorry for Hans and his friends as they are turned into heartless weapons for the Nazi regime and marched to their deaths in battle]].
10	* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' deconstructs the [[ThereAreNoAdults "having no parents would be great"]] trope by having difficulties pop up the very next day. A girl gets injured, everyone gets chronically lonely, and people get sick from eating nothing but bad food.
11	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'': All of the characters know they're in a fairy tale, and the fairy tale itself mocks, parodies, subverts and plays straight FairyTale tropes. One of the most moving scenes comes from this exchange:
12	-->'''Schmendrick:''' Then let the quest end here! I don't think I could change her back even if you wished it! Marry the prince and live happily ever after.\
13	'''Amalthea:''' Yes! That is my wish!\
14	'''Lír:''' No. Lady, I am a hero, and heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned. Unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.\
15	'''Molly Grue:''' ''(quietly to Schmendrick)'' But what if there isn't a happy ending at all?\
16	'''Schmendrick:''' ''(quietly)'' There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.
17	* ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'': Oh boy, there's a lot. Zombies come back from the dead to wreak havoc on a sleepy town thanks to a witch's curse. Except the witch was an innocent little girl, the zombies are completely harmless and rather pathetic compared to anything in Norman's horror movies, and the town uses the little girl's trial and hanging to pull in tourists and sell cheesy merchandise.
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20	!!Films -- Live-Action
21	* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' [[WordOfGod "does not actually deconstruct"]] the ZombieApocalypse genre. The fact that the zombies aren't actually dead but rather infected with a "rage virus" that takes hold instantly (preventing the token ZombieInfectee) and runs don't change the fact that the film follows the typical tropes of a Romero zombie-flick: A small group of survivors trying to adapt to their new world and other humans being a much more dangerous threat than the zombies. Creator/QuentinTarantino criticized director Danny Boyle for claiming to not have been inspired by Romero for those reasons, noting the similarities between the last act of ''28 Days Later'' and ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'', but it bears pointing out that, as illustrated by the DVD Special Features, the film's ending was originally envisioned ''much'' differently, so this could have been an honest case of two great minds thinking alike.
22	* ''Film/FortySevenMetersDown'' deconstructs the shark movie. The sharks are not the only threat but the entire ocean itself. The characters have to contend with lack of visibility at the bottom of the ocean. They lack oxygen and can't even swim directly back to the surface because they might suffer from the bends. The SoleSurvivor reaches the surface while fighting off sharks like a badass. [[spoiler:Except it was all just a dream. She has suffered the bends and is hallucinating. She is rescued but she is so damaged as a person and will never be the same.]]
23	* ''Film/BullDurham'': Both before and after this, sports movies typically had clean-cut heroes, outright villains, and every problem resolved by a BigGame that saves the day. This movie dumps ''all of that'' for serious character development and introspection, and that winning the game is unimportant compared to coming to terms with who you are--driven home by the fact that the Bulls' season ends on a rainout. By playing by none of the rules, ''Film/BullDurham'' is considered one of the best sports movies '''ever'''.
24	* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' deconstructs not only the horror movie genre, but the horror movie [[HorribleHollywood industry]]. [[spoiler:The Ancient Ones, a race of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that live beneath the Earth, are only satisfied by sacrifices that follow a specific set of rules - have five victims who follow familiar archetypes, have a HarbingerOfImpendingDoom warn them of what's to come, kill the Whore first, give [[FinalGirl the Virgin]] a chance to survive, and of course, make it bloody and sleazy - and they throw a fit whenever "the rules" aren't followed. In short, they're the great mass of mainstream moviegoers who demand familiarity rather than anything that pushes creative boundaries. The scientists, meanwhile, are horror filmmakers who've grown bored supplying the same old pablum to the Ancient Ones, and long to put a twist on their usual work, for once.]]
25	** Driving this idea home further, it's shown that every part of the world has its own [[spoiler:Ancient Ones, with their respective tastes corresponding to the horror movies popular in the places they're from. In Japan, for instance, the sacrifice resembles something out of a J-horror movie like ''Literature/TheRing'', with a classroom full of schoolgirls tormented by a StringyHairedGhostGirl.]]
26	* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'', while often regarded as the TropeMaker for the CannibalFilm and the apex of the genre, had a lot to say about the colonial MightyWhitey conventions that often permeated similar films. Its protagonists, an American film crew who's come to the Amazon to film cannibal tribes, are wholly irredeemable {{jerkass}}es whose belief in their own superiority, combined with their desire to exploit stereotypes of native tribes for consumption back home, led them to commit all manner of horrors, with their brutal deaths at the hands of the tribesmen they'd so badly abused portrayed as [[KarmicDeath righteous vengeance]].
27	* Critics such as John G. Cawelti have argued that ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' is all about deconstructing the "myth" of FilmNoir and the HardboiledDetective. Gittes isn't a tough, emotionally detached private eye, but rather a vulnerable, flawed AntiHero. Evelyn ''isn't'' a FemmeFatale, but everyone assumes she is (in part because of the misogynistic value system underpinning 1930s California). [[spoiler:And the villain is so rich, powerful and influential that Gittes is ultimately powerless to stop him or his conspiracy]]. And so on.
28	* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' deconstructs what {{Kaiju}} monster flicks had become over the decades by instead of focusing on the monster pounding other monsters' faces in or wrecking the military, you're given the perspective from ordinary people trapped in the crossfire... which makes one realize how horrific the bog-standard giant-monster movie plot would be if it really happened, accidentally reconstructing the original Godzilla in the process.
29	* The 1991 film ''Film/TheDarkBackward'' contains an animated sequence that deconstructs the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons: Tom's CaptainErsatz gleefully pursues Jerry's, hatchet in hand, and then cuts him in half with it (guts spill); then Spike's CaptainErsatz appears and blows the cat's brains out (literally) with a shotgun. The main character's mother laughs out loud at this scene.
30	%% * ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' for ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' in particular and the SuperheroTropes in general.
31	* ''Film/DeadPresidents'': The latter half seems to deconstruct [[TheCaper heist movies]]. Despite the veterans laying out a careful plan of action, the film reminds us that ThisIsReality. [[spoiler: Thanks to all of their individual issues, the veterans prove to be ill-fit for performing a heist. As a result, almost nothing goes as planned, several innocents are killed, and all of the participants of the heist end up either dead or incarcerated.]]
32	%% * ''Film/DeepBlueSea'' is fully aware it's a killer shark film, and [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] many tropes of the genre, especially the SortingAlgorithmOfMortality and SuperPersistentPredator.
33	* ''Film/DieHard'' deconstructs '80s action movies. Instead of the usual InvincibleHero, we get an [[TheEveryman average police officer]] who's thrust into the story while visiting his wife and then becomes the only person who can take on Gruber. [[spoiler:The bad guys aren't terrorists, only using that as a front for an [[BankRobbery elaborate robbery]].]] John does his best to ''avoid'' confrontations--his first goal is to ''get help'' from the local police--and gets hurt like anyone else would. By the end, John's a limping wreck held together by bandages and [[TheDeterminator determination]].
34	* ''Film/DontLookUp'' deconstructs the DisasterMovie, particularly ''Film/DeepImpact''. Unlike most films where the scientists are backed up by the government and people united together to save the world, this film’s government are idiots at best and complete sociopaths at worst and the people are ''heavily'' divided by the comet, especially after [[spoiler: the comet is revealed to have rare minerals for technology inside it]]. The ensuing political conflicts result in [[spoiler: '''almost everyone dying.''' The few who do survive are implied to not make it much longer.]]
35	* ''Film/TheElementOfCrime'' deconstructs FilmNoir (a genre already quite dark and cynical) by pushing some of the tropes to their limits, and by turning the others on their head (thus, the PrivateEyeMonologue becomes a dialogue between the detective and his therapist, and the DeliberatelyMonochrome is achieved by lighting all the sets with only street lamps), and yet ''still'' manages to be a {{Homage}} rather than a {{Parody}}.
36	* ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' deconstructs Romance movies by having nearly the entire movie take place after the honeymoon period of a new relationship when things start to fall apart. In fact, the thesis of the movie is effectively "romance can be so horrible that you will want to have your memory erased [[spoiler: [[DeconReconSwitch but when you add it all up, they're probably worth the angst]]]]".
37	* ''Film/FallingDown'' does this to the [[VigilanteMan vigilante movie]]. William Foster is a mild-mannered white-collar worker who one day snaps in frustration at the WretchedHive he lives in, not unlike Paul Kersey in ''Film/DeathWish'' (the film adaptation, at least[[note]]The original book was [[UnbuiltTrope a lot more scathing in its portrait of vigilantism]], to the point where its author Brian Garfield {{disowned\|Adaptation}} the films adapted from it.[[/note]])... but whereas Kersey's life was destroyed overnight by street crime run amok, Foster's [[RageBreakingPoint trigger]], the culmination of a months-long downward spiral after he was laid off from his job and his wife left him and [[TakingTheKids took their daughter with her]], was far more mundane, the bumper-to-bumper traffic he faced on the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles freeway in the middle of a sweltering HeatWave with his car's AC busted. While he does go after GangBangers and [[ThoseWackyNazis a neo-Nazi]] in his rampage and give a well-deserved [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech dressing down]] to a homeless PhonyVeteran, he also attacks less deserving targets like an AsianStoreOwner, the staff of a [[BurgerFool fast-food restaurant]], a group of construction workers, and ultimately his ex-wife for [[AllCrimesAreEqual various petty reasons]]. Worse, it's strongly hinted through the HappierHomeMovie we see of him and his family together that Foster ''always'' had issues with [[HairTriggerTemper anger management]], which had been [[DomesticAbuse poisoning his relationships and personal life]] even before things went downhill. Foster is ultimately presented as something more akin to a SpreeKiller than an avenging angel, and by the time the film is over, [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Sergeant Prendergast]] has spelled it out, in unambiguous terms, to both him and the audience: ''he's'' the bad guy.
38	%% * ''Film/EasyRider'' deconstructs the biker genre. At best the bikers are just harmless drifters but the people of the towns they visit regard them as menaces. They are both killed in the end by a trucker, seemingly for kicks.
39	%% * Whereas ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'' was Creator/ClintEastwood's deconstruction of westerns, ''Film/GranTorino'', which came out about a decade and a half later, is his deconstruction of his other big genre, the [[VigilanteMan urban vigilante film]].
40	* ''Film/EnoughSaid'' deconstructs the modern RomanticComedy. Think of any played to death trope in the genre. TheUnfairSex, WomenAreWiser, EasilyForgiven... just about every one is either flipped on its head or challenged by the film. And unlike most movies in the genre, the relationship between Eva and Albert isn't about passion, but companionship.
41	* ''Film/EveryoneSaysILoveYou'': Creator/WoodyAllen deconstructs TheMusical, by deliberately casting actors who are not trained singers, showing what it would ''really'' be like in a world where average people on the street just burst into song spontaneously. Performances range from the merely adequate to the nails-on-chalkboard.
42	* ''Film/TheFinal'', a 2010 indie horror film, kills two birds with one stone by deconstructing both the "nerds get revenge on the bullies" plot and the "psycho classmate" plot. The outcasts don't want the simple comical revenge that so many such teen movie protagonists desire - they actually want the bullies to suffer ([[ColdBloodedTorture through torture]]) [[PayEvilUntoEvil the way they've been made to suffer throughout their school years]]. The "psycho classmates" are not simple outcasts with your average FreudianExcuse - it's implied they were generally good people whose crappy home lives, coupled with years of abuse from the bullies, turned them into the dark characters they are in the film. Indeed, they try to make sure that Kurtis, a friend who was nice to them, doesn't go to their "[[NastyParty party]]," and they don't torture people who didn't actively abuse them. The film then takes another deconstruction of the bullies themselves - Bridget, the AlphaBitch's best friend, tries to reach out to one of the outcasts, and gets offered a chance to save herself if she tortures one of her classmates. [[spoiler:The stereotypical Libby would've gladly taken up the offer, but she refuses and is punished for it.]] The film cleverly shows that [[BlackAndGrayMorality neither the bullies nor the outcasts are all that good]].
43	* ''Film/FridayNightLights'' is a harsh deconstruction of American sports culture. After numerous feel-good sports films in the '90s and early '00s, most of which focused on underdog stories and persevering under bad circumstances, ''Friday Night Lights'' revolves around the Permian Panthers, one of the most successful high school [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball football]] programs in the United States -- the people who would be the OpposingSportsTeam in any other movie. It highlights the extreme pressure, pathetic post-high school career aspirations, and utter obsession that colors the lives of the young players, several of them visibly buckling under the ridiculous expectations that the town places on their shoulders. One player is even abused out in the open by his father, a former star player himself who [[JadedWashout can't accept the harsh realities of life after football]]. Dillon (based on RealLife Odessa, Texas) is a DyingTown that has nothing going for it besides the Permian Panthers, and that infatuation ultimately leads to the team losing at the state finals. And it's all TruthInTelevision (it was based on [[Literature/FridayNightLights a non-fiction book]]), as anyone from UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} and the rural South could attest to, especially in the withering boomtowns and oilfields that stretch all across central Texas.
44	* ''Film/TheFullMonty'' deconstructed HeyLetsPutOnAShow as the men who put on a striptease for money are middle-aged, out of shape and are only doing it after losing their factory jobs. It's left unanswered if their show was a success.
45	* ''Film/FunnyGames'' is intended as a [[PostModernism Post Modernist]] deconstruction of {{Gorn}} and horror films by presenting it in the most bare-bones and [[{{Squick}} disturbing]] way possible. The whole film forces the viewer to examine ''why'' they are watching the film and being entertained by it. A number of scenes play with audience expectations, flatly telling the audience what they want to see and either giving it to them or denying it to them based on the whim of the author. One particularly taunting scene features [[spoiler:the female victim managing to gun down one of the attackers, only for this triumphantly cathartic moment to be snatched away as the other attacker ''rewinds'' the film and undoes it.]]
46	* ''Film/{{Gamer}}'' is a particularly nasty deconstruction of {{First Person Shooter}}s and [[SimulationGame social simulators]] like ''VideoGame/TheSims'', with ''actual people'' being [[AndIMustScream controlled by players as avatars for the games]]. The "Society" game is a very sickening take on {{Rule 34}} and ''VideoGame/SecondLife'' due to the above reason.
47	* ''Film/Gamera3AwakeningOfIrys'' is a particularly brutal deconstruction of {{Kaiju}} and [[{{Toku}} Tokusatsu]]. Giant monsters and huge superheroes fighting and rampaging through model cities is only fun when the camera isn't lingering over the horrific carnage of thousands of innocent people dying. The monsters are terrifying and [[EldritchAbomination eldritch]] creatures, with even good ones like Gamera being [[DestructiveSavior destructive]] and [[TerrorHero inscrutable to humans]], seemingly not caring about the CollateralDamage they cause with their interventions. Meanwhile, the more humanoid Toku hero meant to fight them, Irys, is [[HumanoidAbomination an equally inhuman and inexplicable monster itself]], quickly proving to be a DarkMessiah sent to kill Gamera and clear the way for the destruction of mankind. There are two [[TheKidWithTheRemoteControl kids with proverbial remote controls]], but the one connected to Gamera has had her bond violently severed (which contributes to his increasingly violent behavior), while the other is a mentally unstable young girl whose negative emotions [[PsychoactivePowers prod Irys into being a malicious creature]], [[spoiler:and Irys secretly intends to consume her to increase its own power and break free of her control]]. The action scenes are much more realistically quick and graphic than usual for the genre, and there aren't a lot of them; the primary focus is on the drama and terrors of being a normal person in a world where [[PhysicalGod gods]] walk the Earth. [[spoiler: Thankfully, by the end Gamera proves himself to be a truly noble creature when he rescues Irys' would-be victim, at the cost of his arm, before marching out to face an absolutely ''apocalyptic'' swarm of Gyaos.]]
48	* ''Film/{{Get Carter\|1971}}'' was intended to be this to the British gangster movie, and then ironically it became a classic of the same genre it was deconstructing. Watching ''Film/TheItalianJob1969'' and then ''Get Carter'', which Creator/MichaelCaine made back-to-back, really highlights the stark difference in their portrayals of gangsters: in the former and many other British crime films before it, gangsters are all either stupid or funny; in ''Get Carter'', gangsters are not stupid, and [[NightmareFuel they are certainly not funny]]. Jack Carter is a remorseless, cold-blooded killing machine motivated purely by revenge against other murdering sleaze-mongers who are not so different from him - and thus he comes across as an AntiHero. Deaths are treated matter-of-factly and there is little blood or drama (the one time blood is used copiously it's for maximum shock effect), the setting swaps glitzy London for [[OopNorth bleak Newcastle]], and there's no cheery pop soundtrack (or indeed any soundtrack at all) that defined previous flicks in the genre.
49	* ''Film/Godzilla1954'' deconstructs the AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever NuclearMutant monster genre of the 1950s. It was originally set as your typical giant monster awaken by a nuclear testing and goes on a rampage while the main characters are trying to figure out how to defeat it to save the day. The deconstruction sets in when the [[Creator/IshiroHonda director]] sets up the entire film as a ''post-war tragedy'' based on his [[ShellShockedVeteran horrified experience of the aftermath of]] [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki Hiroshima's destruction]]. And thus, Godzilla is treated as a TragicMonster and a [[BodyHorror horribly radioactive burn victim]] with keloid scars, a ShellShockedVeteran scientist who has discovered a terrifying source of energy, and the underlying message of nuclear warfare bringing tragedy just like it did nine years ago.
50	** ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' deconstructs AmericaSavesTheDay and {{Kaiju}} films. Japan's government is shown to be ill-prepared for Godzilla at any rate. Godzilla himself starts off as a clumsy bipedal thing with stubby arms that ''accidentally'' causes millions of dollars in collateral damage and unwittingly kills millions of people simply by flopping awkwardly down the street. Likewise, when he undergoes a TransformationSequence into his third-form, his body overheats to the point where he must return to the ocean to cool off. The JSDF are unable to provide any effective weaponry against him (and, at one point, are unable to attack because an evacuation was still ongoing). When Godzilla reappears in his fourth form, he's clearly an abomination of nature in constant agony covered in scars and various grotesque growths on his body (his tail has a vestigial head on the tip). And, when the US Military actually ''does'' manage to harm Godzilla (using armor-piercing bombs), it only succeeds in pissing Godzilla off and causes him to unleash his full fury via atomic beams from his mouth, dorsal fins, and tail demolishing a good portion of Tokyo. In the end, Japan is forced to live with Godzilla (albeit in a state of suspended animation via a coagulant forced into his body) with the knowledge that the US will not hesitate to nuke the area if Godzilla ever becomes a threat again. To say that it is ''not'' an action-packed cheesy romp with giant-sized creatures would be an understatement.
51	* ''Film/TheGunsOfNavarone'' deconstructs the "crack military team sent behind enemy lines" genre, what with the characters questioning the morality of the means they use to complete the mission or even the mission's relevance.
52	** Mallory is perfectly aware that the steps he takes to complete the mission are often immoral.
53	** Miller's deadpan snarking is his only defense to the madness of war.
54	** "Butcher" Brown has post-traumatic stress and is unable to kill enemy soldiers, putting the entire team at risk.
55	* ''Film/TheHeartbreakKid2007'' mows down the late 90s/2000s-era rom-coms with dizzy female leads by featuring Lila as a [[PsychopathicManChild psychopathic woman-child]]: immature, moody, irresponsible and all-around annoying. The "guy learns how to enjoy life" angle common in such movies is also obliterated by having Eddie keeping his sourpuss demeanor throughout the movie.
56	* ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' is a rather bitter deconstruction of the popular Creator/JohnHughes style teen movies at the time. The bad boy the heroine lusts after is actually a disturbed psycho who lures the heroine into his scheme to murder the popular kids and he even tries to [[spoiler: blow up the school and pass it off as a group suicide.]] She isn't happy to be part of the popular kids and it's actually that which makes her want to murder them. Also the GirlPosse aren't the cookie-cutter bad guys with one of them being bulimic and sick of being a butt monkey while another genuinely contemplates suicide.
57	* ''Film/HoneyBaby'' deconstructs the RoadTripPlot. While Tom and Natascha embark on a road trip and become closer as a result, they're still unhappy with themselves and their lives, and ultimately it's returning home that puts them on the path to self-actualization.
58	* ''Film/HuntingScenesFromBavaria'' is a deconstruction of the ''Heimatfilm'', a genre of films popular in German-speaking regions in the post-[=WW2=] era celebrating small-town life and depicting such settlements as idyllic locations untouched by war or any other real-life drama. The film shows this kind of idyllic image to be merely a façade, with the town populated by backwards, intolerant people who look down on outsiders and anyone they regard as non-traditional.
59	* 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:
60	** 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 modern day is to create resentment among your loved ones and live a lonely life.
61	** [[https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191107-is-the-irishman-the-end-of-the-gangster-movie-as-we-know-it This article]] emphasizes how the movie does a very good job of deconstructing the aftermath of the classic American Mafia during the last half-hour of the film, particularly from Mafia movies like ''Film/GoodFellas'' where the aftermath of said lifestyle in modern times is never shown. The result of such deconstruction is an incredibly depressing epilogue to the genre. In many ways, the film undermines what came before, and the central characters don't come out in a blaze of glory. Instead, [[AlasPoorVillain they march towards a lonely and desiccated retirement where everything they have worked for means nothing for modern times]]. The movie [[invoked]][[{{Anvilicious}} 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 to a new level of deconstruction, especially in the downfall of the classic American Mafia.
62	** Frank Sheeran himself is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of characters such as [[Film/GoodFellas Henry Hill and Jimmy "The Gent" Conway]], showing just how miserable and pitiful a man like them could become if they reached old age and lived in modern times.
63	* ''Film/JamesBond'':
64	** To a certain extent, ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' deconstructs earlier Bond films, and Martini-style SpyFiction in general, through features such as a conversation mocking the DoubleEntendre names of previous Bond girls, [=LeChiffre's=] comment about preferring simpler methods of torture to the {{Death Trap}}s endemic to the series, having Bond respond "Do I look like I give a damn?" when asked how he wants his martini, and generally treating his profession as an assassin more literally. His CowboyCop attitude is scrutinized more ruthlessly and his interactions with his allies sometimes prove fatal for them. At least some of these features were present in the original novels, making the film something of a {{Reconstruction}} as well.
65	** Bond movies have always had a tension in the character of Bond, between "flashy guy with clever lines, cool toys, and beautiful women", and "cold, ruthless assassin." ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' and its sequel, ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', push the dial almost all the way towards the "assassin" element, but it was present in most of the earlier Bond films (particularly the Timothy Dalton films), as well as being Bond's whole character in the original novels.
66	** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' and ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' take the Deconstruction aspects even further by literally and figuratively asking on whether Bond is even relevant in a Post Cold War era of cyber espionage. [[spoiler:The movies ultimately concludes that he is and Bond is Reconstructed even more so than before.]]
67	* ''Film/BattlesWithoutHonorAndHumanity'' (Jingi Naki Tatakai) is a deconstruction of the {{Yakuza}} films popular in Japan around the same time, which tended to portray the Yakuza as a chivalrous, honorable organization of [[SwornBrothers blood brothers]]. In the film, besides the main character, they're money-grubbing, backstabbing, treacherous, and vicious. Every vow of brotherhood or loyalty has been violated and the time-honored traditions of the Yakuza seem ludicrous, outmoded, or just plain crazy. The name of the film demonstrates this - "Jingi" is the term for the Yakuza code of honor.
68	%% * The 2008 movie ''Film/{{JCVD}}'' is a deconstruction of ActionGenreHeroGuy, with a large heaping of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, starring [[Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme one such archetype himself]].
69	%% * JidaiGeki films underwent an increasingly cynical Deconstructionist phase during the 1960s that arguably led to the genre going out of vogue for a good deal of the 1970s:
70	%% ** ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}''
71	%% ** ''Film/{{Sanjuro}}''
72	%% ** ''Film/SamuraiAssassin''
73	%% ** ''Film/TheSwordOfDoom''
74	%% ** ''Film/{{Harakiri}}''
75	* ''Film/LakeviewTerrace'' deconstructs the "neighbor from hell" genre. Chris and Lisa are terrorized by their policeman neighbor Abel. Abel, in turn, sees them as hedonists who set a bad example for the neighborhood (his children see them having sex in their pool).
76	* ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen''
77	** Whether intentionally or not, It's basically a movie about a SuperVillain who [[FreudianExcuse suffered great personal tragedy]] and is now trying to bring down the justice system that failed him. There's no superheroes, no setpieces, and [[spoiler:his plan ultimately fails thanks to Nick figuring the last bomb's location out. And he only was able to do that because Clyde accidentally killed Nick's assistant, whose boyfriend happened to have access to the right information, but wasn't willing to risk his job. Until his girlfriend, ostensibly just a woman who got killed off, was killed by Clyde.]]
78	** Alternatively, it's a deconstruction of revenge thrillers. Instead of reveling in the VigilanteMan pursuing his own brand of justice, once he quickly succeeds in SlowlySlippingIntoEvil we find ourselves rooting for the people within the system trying to put a stop to his out-of-control RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
79	* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' is often cited as the archetypical EpicMovie, even though it largely subverts the genre's conventions. The hero isn't an upright, masculine strongman but a neurotic, AmbiguouslyGay genius; there's no love interest (unless you count [[HoYay Sherif Ali]]); the elements (namely the desert), and the hero's [[ObstructiveBureaucrat own commanding officers]], are more of an obstacle than the enemy; the Arabs [[WeAreStrugglingTogether have their own ambitions]] which often run counter to Lawrence's. Even the battle scenes are marginalized, Creator/DavidLean preferring SceneryPorn over bloodshed. It culminates in a DownerEnding where [[spoiler:the protagonist [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge gives in to mindless killing]], the Arabs collapse, the British take over, and Lawrence can't [[DoomedMoralVictor even claim a moral victory]])]].
80	* Both ''Film/TheLongGoodbye'' and ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' are deconstructions of film noir, specifically Creator/RaymondChandler's Literature/PhilipMarlowe stories, although ''Lebowski'' is also [[DeconstructiveParody played for laughs]]. In both films, the protagonist is more or less a loser who lives by himself and comes to the wrong conclusion at the end of the case, but it's not a big deal since it never really mattered in the first place.
81	* The made-for-TV movie ''Film/MenDontTell'' can be seen as the deconstruction on the DomesticAbuse genre. Rather than the man abusing the woman, it's the woman abusing the man. What's worse is that everyone viewed him as the abuser and he's even arrested. In fact, the only reason why the wife is exposed as the abusive one is because their daughter (who was also being abused by her) got up the courage to testify against her, saving her dad in the process.
82	* Though it portrays Jesus in a favorable light, ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' is a pretty harsh deconstruction of society's romanticized view of life in the time of Christ, and of biblical stories in general. As it points out, the Romans weren't just cruel oppressors with ZeroPercentApprovalRating - they did more to improve the Judean people's lives than anyone before them. Conversely, "God's chosen people" had criminal justice that could be just as brutal and unfair as the Romans, and they were never a noble LaResistance - they spent more time getting involved in petty squabbling amongst themselves than they did resisting the Romans. And in any case, having a cult of devoted followers who expect you to solve all of their problems isn't nearly as cool as you would think. And getting betrayed by your friends and "sacrificing" yourself on the cross? It's only inspiring '''''when it's not happening to you!'''''
83	* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': The Milla Jovovich version plays out the way the true Joan of Arc story went until she is captured by the English, at which point it deconstructs the entire mythology surrounding Joan of Arc.
84	* ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'' (at least the 1998 version) deconstructs ''Film/KingKong1933''. The ape isn't an island-dwelling monster, but an otherwise normal African gorilla with extreme giantism. The female lead has more in common with Dian Fossey then the screaming damsel in distress of ''Kong''. And when Joe finally does go on his "rampage" it's because he's confronted with the poacher that killed his mother.
85	* ''Film/MyBestFriendsWedding'' deconstructs the romantic comedy genre by initially appearing to follow the standard romance plot of a female protagonist trying to win the man of her dreams from the RomanticFalseLead's clutches, only to have its protagonist come to realize that ''she'' is actually the Romantic False Lead, the man she thought she could win back is genuinely in love with the woman she thought was the Romantic False Lead and vice versa, and her {{Zany Scheme}}s to break them up weren't cute or endearing but incredibly petty and mean-spirited.
86	* ''[[Film/{{Neighbors2014}} Neighbors]]'' deconstructed WackyFratboyHijinx comedies. It shows how reasonable people would act surrounded by characters from these movies, and how the frat guys are pathetic, petty [[ManChild man-children]] who are unwilling to accept maturity. In turn, the "reasonable" couple antagonizes the frat boys to recapture the excitement of their youth.
87	* ''Film/NightMoves'' (1975) is another noir deconstruction. Gene Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a pro football player-turned-private investigator. He asks a lot of questions, but rarely gets straight or complete answers. He sees a lot of things, but they're usually obscured by distance or obstacles (such as windows or screen doors) or seen only on an incomplete filmstrip. He both literally and figuratively spins in circles during the movie, and ends (as does the audience) knowing who the bad guys were but not why any of it happened. On another level the film is a deconstruction of the entire idea of American masculinity in the post-Watergate, post-Vietnam era; Harry's glory days are behind him, and he does what he does not because he's any good at it, or because he particularly enjoys it, but because he simply doesn't know what else to do.
88	* ''Film/TheOtherGuys'' does this to police action movies. CowboyCop behavior is actually ''insanely'' [[DestructiveSavior destructive]], not to mention [[NoKillLikeOverkill massive overkill]] that would probably get you killed in real life. That is exactly what happens to the [[DecoyProtagonist buddy cops]] in the opening, and the real protagonists prove to be a pair of normal, unappreciated cops who seethe with jealously over how the reckless assholes of the department are treated as cool role models, while their BoringButPractical detective work flies under the radar. It is also pointed out how most action movie heroes seem to waste their talents on small-time, mockable petty criminals instead of more powerful and influential organized criminals like [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt businessmen]] or [[TheDon big-name mob bosses]].
89	* ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'' deconstructs the stereotypical 1950s ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' style sitcom, and with it the whole phenomenon of 1950s nostalgia; it starts off as a typically wholesome, innocent and carefree place (especially when contrasted to the 1990s, a lengthy opening montage reeling out all the social problems seemingly endemic since the 1950s), but the introduction of color into the black-and-white environment gradually peels things back to reveal the stifling and repressed attitudes towards race, gender and sexuality seething under the surface, and the social problems of the decade that such nostalgia frequently overlooks.
90	** The movement to stop the spread of color in Pleasantville is analogous to [=McCarthyism=].
91	*** The movie is a double deconstruction as the 90's free spirit girl is shown to be just as one dimensional, in that she never really cares for anything, and only when she does can she be part of a fully realized world.
92	* ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'' deconstructs TeensAreMonsters films so prevalent in the 50's. The teens get into trouble seemingly out of boredom.
93	* ''Film/RiskyBusiness'' deconstructs 80s teen sex comedies and the wacky hijinks common in them. While Joel's antics are funny, he's also a terrible person who takes advantage of his friends, Lana, and Lana's prostitute friends to get out of a mess that he made and refuses to take any responsibility for it, instead preferring to cover it up. He's basically no better than Lana's sleazy pimp, with the only difference being that Joel is rich and privileged enough to get away with his actions.
94	* ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' harshly deconstructs America's hedonistic take on life in TheSeventies. Sure, there were beautiful clothes, music, and lots of dancing, but there was a dark side to the life led by such people as Tony and his friends. For example, Tony, who turns to hedonism as a way to cope with his own life as a lower-class Brooklyn guy with a ''really'' DysfunctionalFamily, has no thought for the future (and the culture as a whole didn't either), and his friends are involved with [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll drugs, drinking, and casual sex]] which causes them huge problems.
95	* ''Film/{{Savageland}}'' deconstructs the horror genre by showing what would happen after the events of your typical horror movie gorefest (in this case [[spoiler:a small-scale ZombieApocalypse]]). The mass murder of a small town makes national news, a traumatized survivor gets wrongfully convicted for the deaths, people hijack the incident to use as a platform for their own political views, and massive controversy erupts once evidence of unnatural events becomes public.
96	* ''Film/{{Scanners}}'' sets up a fairly standard [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]], as [[TheHero Cameron Vale]], blessed with PsychicPowers, is sent by wise old [[{{Mentor}} Dr. Paul Ruth]] to defeat Ruth's former pupil, [[BigBad Darryl Revok]], who also has PsychicPowers. Vale befriends a white-haired girl, Kim Obrist, who can help him infiltrate Revok's organization. Not unsurprisingly, it is revealed that both Cameron and Darryl are the two sons of Paul. With us so far? And then Darryl [[LampshadeHanging points out]] what kind of father would abandon his sons like that, and weaponize one against the other, and, indeed, [[GuineaPigFamily would test a potentially dangerous new drug on his pregnant wife]], thus making Cameron and Darryl psychic in the first place. "[[CallingTheOldManOut That was Daddy.]]" Also, the psychic stuff is [[BlessedWithSuck disgusting and creepy]]: scanning is presented not as a graceful and mystical power, but as a painful and unpleasant "[[BodyHorror merging of two nervous systems]]". The process is as unpleasant for the person being scanned (who suffer from headaches and nosebleeds at best, and can have their hearts stopped and heads exploded at worst) and the scanners themselves who suffer severe social and psychological side effects from hearing other peoples thoughts (the main character starts the movie homeless, and another scanner murdered his family when he was a child). Ruth's dream of a scanner utopia turns out to be much like Revok's scanner-supremacy idea, as observed by Vale. Meanwhile, Cam and Kim never fall in love, as would be expected, because they're too scared for their lives.
97	* Before VisualNovel/SchoolDays, ''Film/TheBeguiled'' (starring Creator/ClintEastwood) showed why taking advantage of a bunch of ready and willing teenage girls is a bad idea.
98	* One could argue that the first live-action ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie deconstructed the gang's main quirks. In the cartoon, Daphne often became the DesignatedVictim, but took it in stride, even cracking a quip about it occasionally. In the movie, however, she openly despises the fact that she's "always the damsel in distress", and this combined with the fact that she blames it on the "incompetence" of the others makes her the most bitter and reluctant to get the gang back together. Velma was always [[TheSmartGuy the smart girl]], but the movie portrays her as an under-appreciated InsufferableGenius. Fred was the de facto leader of Mystery Inc, and as such was often the voice of reason. The movie shows him as a literal OnlySaneMan who struggles to keep the conflicting personalities of the team from getting out of hand - and that's when he's ''not'' being portrayed as an insensitive jerk. Surprisingly, Shaggy and Scooby are actually almost identical to their cartoon incarnations but in the second movie, they become deconstructed as well; Their cowardly and clumsy behavior causes the team to see them as a burden, and when they found it out, they try their hardest to improve themselves. Of course, it ends up bad and when the team is exiled from their hometown, Shaggy's self-esteem is at rock bottom.
99	* ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'', of course, was a deconstruction of the [[SlasherMovie slasher horror film]] genre, with almost all of its characters being GenreSavvy and [[DiscussedTrope talking about what would happen next if this were a slasher film.]] This was done so successfully that "deconstructing the slasher genre" became a genre of its own.
100	* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' deconstructed the samurai mythos. Samurai aren't allowed to change occupations so they sell their services or (like the bandits) resort to crime.
101	* The film ''Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue'' is arguably one for the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series, showing a much more realistic and gruesome look at the themes of forced genetic engineering, {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}lion, and giant bug people that were present through the franchise's Showa era.
102	* ''Film/SnowWhiteATaleOfTerror'' deconstructs the original fairytale characters and especially the Disney film. Claudia starts out as a loving woman who wants to bond with her new stepdaughter, but Lilli shies away from her and that ends up leading to Claudia's FaceHeelTurn. Also, the miners aren't cheerful dwarves, but outcasts from the kingdom.
103	* "''Stahlnetz''" ("Steel Net") , a German series of MadeForTV crime movies, deconstructs PoliceProcedural. The officers are people with their own problems and shortcomings, far from being neatly divided into squeaky clean and corrupt bastards. The criminals are also realistic, many being bullied, pushed or outright coerced into crime while still being definitely bad people, whereas others are monsters, despite looking like ordinary people on the outside. Victims also come with their share of problems, some being an AssholeVictim, others being [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished punished for being nice]]. The police solves cases through hard work, including setbacks, rather than beating half the underworld. And despite each film finishing with the crime resolved and criminals caught, the realistic portrayal of both the criminals and victims means most films have a BittersweetEnding, if not a [[DownerEnding Downer]]. (Ironically the only story with a (relatively) HappyEnding is also the most brutal of all).
104	* ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' deconstructs [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the Original Series]], showing that even in the 23rd century, despite countless advancements in science and technology, [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou space exploration is still a dangerous business]].
105	* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' Prequel Trilogy can be viewed as a deconstruction of the Original Trilogy. The OT was standard SpaceOpera with all of its tropes played straight. The PT, however, is far more morally complex and ambiguous. In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', every victory that the heroes attained in the previous two films (and for the first part of that one) was in fact the villain's plan all along. Anakin becomes a near perfect deconstruction of the MessianicArchetype. Obi-Wan's bold statement of "Only the Sith speak in absolutes" is the exact opposite of what everything else in the film depicts about the nature of the Sith and Jedi and their worldviews.
106	%% * ''Film/{{Super}}'' is yet another movie asking "What would a superhero be like in real life?" The answer is "[[Film/TaxiDriver Travis Bickle]]."
107	%% * ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' is a deconstruction of RealityTV. Oddly enough, ''before'' (1998) the huge proliferation of Reality TV in the 2000s took place, although they had certainly existed for some time by then.
108	* ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'' is one for HillbillyHorrors, featuring the rural hicks as the heroes and the college kids as the villains. However, it's also a partial {{Reconstruction}}, since [[spoiler:Chad, the actual villain of the movie, is revealed to actually ''be'' an evil hillbilly who turns into a crazed killer by the end. He just doesn't stereotypically look like one. His origin story, in which his crazy hillbilly father raped his mother (resulting in his conception), is a straight example.]]
109	* Creator/MNightShyamalan presented a deconstruction of SuperHero stories with ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}''. The main character [[HowDoIShotWeb has no idea about the nature of his powers or about how he should use them]], and the one who teaches him how to use them [[spoiler:[[VillainsActHeroesReact is the villain]]]].
110	* ''Film/TheWrestler'' is a deconstruction of sports movies in which the fallen and ailing sporting hero's RedemptionQuest is to triumph against physical adversity and win a big bout against an old rival, which thus solves his current problems and allows him to move on with their lives with renewed success and appreciation from the fans. Here, what would be the subject of such a quest in such movies - a big reunion bout with his main rival in the past - in fact isn't; Randy's ''real'' RedemptionQuest is to build a new life for himself outside of the ring by fixing things with his estranged daughter and find love with Cassidy, the stripper with whom he has fallen in love. [[spoiler: He ultimately fails at both, and the fact that he enters the big bout is in fact a symbol of his failure in this. Although he wins the bout, it's strongly implied that his heart problems mean that the effort killed him in the process. In addition, his victory was inevitable, as all wrestling duels are shown to be [[{{Kayfabe}} scripted]], and Randy is still a beloved AllAmericanFace who just can't lose.]]
111	** Not only that, but there is no real animosity between Randy and his old rival, The Ayatollah. The people he has real problems with are those outside the ring. In fact, during their match, [[spoiler: The Ayatollah tries to help Randy when he realizes that he's having a heart attack.]]
112	* Similarly, {{Western}}s in the 1960s went through [[SpaghettiWestern a deconstructionist phase]]:
113	%% ** ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' - a remake of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'', although ''Yojimbo'' was an adaptation of Creator/DashiellHammett's ''Literature/RedHarvest''
114	%% ** ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore''
115	%% ** According to WordOfGod, ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' was intended as a swipe at classic {{Western}} movies. Its violence was, for the time, gratuitous; and while stylish, was uncomplicatedly so - an attempt by [[Creator/SergioLeone Leone]] to remind the viewer of what kind of men really were in the Wild West. The torture sequence is legitimately brutal, and accompanied by SoundtrackDissonance. As for the character of Blondie (The Good), he's both significantly more fleshed out (and, as a result, less invincible) than he was in the previous two ''[[Film/DollarsTrilogy Dollars]]'' movies, showing tenderness, affection and pain; and yet the title 'The Good' draws attention to what a bastard he is (performing the kind of actions that were [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality fairly standard in Westerns at the time]]). The two times his title pops up on screen, it's after he's been a particularly MagnificentBastard (delivering a BondOneLiner to someone he's abandoning in the desert, and pretending to hang someone for his own personal amusement). Of course, [[MisaimedFandom it's considered the archetypical Western nowadays]], probably because it's just so good.
116	%% *** [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim "If you're gonna shoot, shoot.]] [[TalkingIsAFreeAction Don't talk."]]
117	%% ** ''Film/HangEmHigh''
118	%% ** ''Film/TheWildBunch'' - Creator/JohnWayne is said to have complained that this film "killed the Western".
119	%% *** Even though it kinda started with ''Film/TheSearchers'', in which Wayne's hero is unabashedly racist towards Native Americans - even toward his own adopted nephew, who is one-eighth Cherokee.
120	%% *** He's still the hero in that movie, however, while his Comanche counterpart dies shamefully. And he's really no more racist than many of the other characters. What really makes him frightening is that he's both racist ''and'' insane.
121	%% ** ''Film/HighPlainsDrifter''
122	%% ** ''Film/ElTopo''
123	%% ** ''Film/{{Django}}''
124	%% ** Worthwhile deconstructions later on include Creator/RobertAltman's ''Film/McCabeAndMrsMiller'' and Creator/JimJarmusch's ''Film/DeadMan''.
125	%% ** ''Film/RustlersRhapsody'' is a parody and deconstruction of the singing cowboy westerns such as those with Creator/RoyRogers.
126	** ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'' is a particularly sharp deconstruction of American westerns, but also of the {{spaghetti western}}s that Creator/ClintEastwood himself starred in. In particular, the portrayal of the main character shows how an [[TheAce ace gunfighter]] might have lived out his later years. His character progression also goes in reverse, unraveling into his former state to undo the character development he's acquired. Many standard conventions of westerns are also subverted, including the quickdraw contest, the hooker with the heart of gold, and the triumphant ride into the sunset. The scenes with the dime novel author are dedicated to exposing the falsehoods of the folklore surrounding the "wild west" and the myths created by writers telling the stories to either make them sound more excitng or more heroic than what actually occurred. The movie in particular makes a point about how there is absolutely nothing glorious about killing a person and to murder someone even if you think it is for a heroic reason and no matter how seemly awful the victim might have been as a person, the act of murder is a guilt you have to carry for the rest of your life.
127	** In the early '50s there was ''Film/TheGunfighter'', depicting its protagonist as a bitter, tormented loner. More sympathetic treatments of Native Americans occurred in ''Film/FortApache'', ''Film/BrokenArrow1950'' and ''Devil's Doorway'' before it became the norm.
128	%% * Park Chan-Wook's "Vengeance" trilogy, which includes ''Film/SympathyForMrVengeance'', ''Film/{{Oldboy\|2003}}'', and ''Film/SympathyForLadyVengeance'' is very much a deconstruction of the revenge film. This is most true in the first film, in which all the violence committed only leads to further despair.
129	* ''Film/WhenTrumpetsFade'' does this to western World War II war films. However, it goes further in not only showing that WarIsHell, but ditching many tropes such as the [[FireForgedFriends Fire-Forged]] BandOfBrothers ultimately prevailing against all odds. Manning has only his own survival at stake, and will happily sacrifice his men to save himself. In fact, none of the soldiers appear to fancy themselves to be dying and bleeding for any lofty goals like duty or home and country. There's nothing glorious about the battle of Hurtgen Forest, which is mostly forgotten.
130	* ''Film/YoureNext'' goes even further than ''Scream'' did in deconstructing the SlasherMovie. The villains aren't murdering the family ForTheEvulz like in other slashers, but actually have a motive; namely, monetary gain. While their first few kills go exactly as planned, they eventually start making minor fuck-ups that lead to their plan ultimately failing; the only reason why they have any success in the first place is because [[spoiler:the plan was an inside job]]. The attackers are ''not'' invincible monsters, just normal humans. Wearing a Halloween mask to commit a crime, however scary it makes you look, is also seen to be fatally impractical, as breathing is difficult and peripheral vision is cut off entirely. Likewise, they're seen reacting normally to pain, with one stepping on a wooden plank with nails hammered into it needing assistance from his partners-in-crime to escape. Also, this is one of the few slashers where [[TheDogBitesBack the would-be victims actively defend themselves from their tormentors]]. For that matter the movie shows what would happen to the would-be slasher villains if they took on someone that had actual experience in combat training and prepared for potential issues like a break in that occurs in the movie; [[CurbStompBattle The result is that they would be horribly out match against someone that is actually more dangerous then them.]]
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Context GenreDeconstruction / Film