Accidental Aesop / Live-Action Films

• While it is hard to tell whether Fifty Shades of Grey the book has any kind of aesop the movie, with added focus on the actual character interactions (plus whatever nuances the actors put in), can be easily interpreted as "BDSM is awesome, but you should get into it gradually and don't rush with contracts and hardcore practices, or it will destroy your relationship."
• Apaches: While the obvious one is for children to be careful, there’s an additional one for parents: watch your kids and don’t let them run buckwild through somewhere potentially unsafe. Had the parents not let the kids play on the farm, the 5 of them who died would still be alive.
• Army of the Dead: Do not assume that you are alone in remote roads. The lead convoy car soldiers had a Driver Faces Passenger conversation while the oncoming car decided to have their "fun" because they likely thought they were alone on the roads. The resultant crash starts the whole Zombie Apocalypse plot.
• Being There: While the movie's comedy comes from people putting so much faith and reverence into a man without much intelligence, the movie seems to also argue that people like Chance shouldn't be kept isolated from society. The Old Man not preparing Chance for the real world meant that when he died, Chance was forced from his home with no survival skills and would've been worse off if not for Ben's generosity. Chance's problems stem from being isolated from society more than any innate intelligence, and throughout the movie, he does show some emotional growth and mental development once he's given a chance to enter society.
• Billy Madison: The standard "Be Yourself" aesop slips in with minimal fanfare. Billy effortlessly connects with the elementary school kids because he's essentially an 8-year-old in a man's body. When he starts going to school with teenagers, he puts way too much effort into trying to be cool and is either avoided or mocked for it.
• Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life can be interpreted as having one of these (besides the Anvilicious "porn is bad" aesop): Don't forget to lock your bedroom door and store your porn in a secure location to prevent anyone from being accidentally exposed to it.
  • It also has the unintentional aesop that overbearing parenting and overzelous reactions and punishments can cause significantly more harm than the actual problem would if it were handled with more tact.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • SHAZAM!: Billy and Freddy spitting out their beer in disgust (after the robbery scene) is an effective tool against underage drinking.
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League: Keep your damn eyes on the road. If you grab a cheeseburger (truck driver about to hit Iris West), stare at a pretty guy you like (Iris herself) or have a heart-to-heart talk with your son (Elinore Stone), do not look away from the road if you are still driving under any of these circumstances. Iris had the luxury of having the Flash to save her. Elinore didn't and died while crippling her son Victor as a result.
  • Wonder Woman 1984:
    • An object being made of citrine, a stone used for forgeries, may be more valuable than it seems. Handle with caution in case that value is more negative than positive.
    • Don't focus on what's behind you or you will miss what's in front of you. Such as when Diana runs into a tree during the tournament, and how she is so focused on being with Steve that she can't deal with the task at hand.
    • You don't always get what you want, and sometimes, that can be a blessing in disguise.
  • The Suicide Squad: King Shark's portrayal makes a good case for training animals through kindness and not blaming them for their inherent urges. Waller and the government keep him locked up in prison where he can never better himself, even though the only crime we ever see him do is follow his animal instinct. When he's on the squad though, Ratcatcher treats Nanaue far better, sweetly appealing to his good nature and explaining why he shouldn't eat his friends. This very quickly gets through to him and he limits his feasting to the bad guys from that point on, with a simple talk bringing him far more growth than his colder captors likely ever could. This also makes the case that the dehumanizing prison environment is the wrong way to treat people who are a danger because their mental state makes them incapable of understanding right and wrong, and instead they should be treated with compassion and provided proper psychiatric help.
• While the aesop of Don't Look Up is that climate change is a very real, very bad thing that will kill all of us if we don't do something about it, it also has the unintended message of always testing equipment before using it, especially if it's for something as risky as saving the world. Had Peter Isherwell actually tested the BASH drones before trying to use it on the comet, his plan might've actually worked.
• Falling Down is a movie that preaches against responding to society's ills with unhinged violence. However, the film also seems to argue against antagonizing a total stranger. The reason why Foster is seen in a sympathetic light by many is that not all of his violence was unprovoked. The gangbangers, Neo-Nazi, and the impatient golfer went out of their way to provoke a man and suffered dearly for it. Meanwhile, the people who showed empathy and patience to Foster, like Prendergast, the house sitters, and the "Not Economically Viable Man", were spared his wrath.
• In the 2005 remake of Fun with Dick and Jane, Dick Harper learns he's being promoted to vice president of communications at Globodyne, and he gets so excited that he tells his wife Jane that she can quit her job as a travel agent since his new salary can easily support their family. However, he soon discovers he's actually gotten Promoted to Scapegoat since Globodyne implodes almost immediately, and afterwards, he learns that Jane actually took his advice and quit her job, so now both need new jobs to support themselves. After both struggle to find work, they try Cutting Corners before both get sick of it and they soon turn to robbing local businesses for money. So, this shows that before you quit a job, you should make sure that there's some way to support yourself afterwards. If Jane had waited to see if Dick's new position as vice president would actually work out, she would have still had her job and they wouldn't have had to struggle as much to make ends meet.
• Ghostbusters: the film is often taken to have a libertarian, pro-capitalist message because our heroes start a small business that benefits society yet butt heads with the government and regulatory agencies who try to hold them back. However, this was never the intention of the filmmakers and simply came about as part of a common Slobs Versus Snobs dynamic found in many of their works.
• The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), made at the height of the Red Scare, was praised by people on both sides of the issue who assumed the villainous pod people were meant to be analogous to either Communists or people being swept up by Senator McCarthy's witch hunts. Director Don Siegel was quick to say that he did not intend to portray any kind of message and just thought he was making a simple alien invasion film. Seeing as the film ends with the hero shouting into the camera "They're here already! You're next!", opinions are still divided. The McCarthy/HUAC furor had more or less died down by the time the movie was made, so the director was probably telling the truth.
• Knives Out:
  • Fran the housekeeper was a fan of murder mysteries and attempted to solve the case on their own without notifying the police of the crucial evidence they found. This eventually would lead to her death and almost lets the culprit destroy evidence incriminating them. Don't assume you are competent to do something just because you consume a lot of media about it. And even if you do find useful information, you're probably not qualified to understand or handle the consequences unless you are a trained professional.
  • Harlan's death could have been avoided if he had simply listened to Marta's advice to call an ambulance after his alleged fatal morphine overdose. If there is a trained professional that you trust and they are giving you reasonable advice, you should listen to them.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Doctor Strange (2016): Stephen Strange's accident was caused by his use of a smartphone while driving, so the potential Aesop is "Distracted driving can get you out of a good career... and into a great career."
  • Ant-Man can serve as a pretty bleak (but sadly accurate) reminder how hard it is for an ex-convict to find work, even after they've served their time.
  • Black Panther (2018): "Checks and balances are vital for a stable government." The villain Killmonger's whole plan is to usurp T'Challa as king of Wakanda and wage war against the outside world, serving to both destroy Wakanda and send a message against the mistreatment of African- and African-descended people around the world. If Wakanda had any system of government besides one that rested sole power in the hands of its monarch—such as elected representatives or a high court able to overturn the leader's decisions—Killmonger wouldn't have been able to just waltz in and take over the most technologically-advanced nation on Earth by way of ritual combat and have the nation be forced to go along with his self-destructive crusade.
  • Avengers: Infinity War: Many saw an Aesop that Love Is a Weakness; the heroes unwillingness to sacrifice loved ones, hesitation to do so until too late, and letting their emotions get in the way repeatedly causes them to fail to stop Thanos while Thanos's willingness to sacrifice loved ones and hesitating at nothing resulting in him getting everything he wanted. The next movie goes for the opposite message, which wouldn't be the case if the Aesop here was intentional.
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Read the terms and conditions before you sign anything. Shang-Chi signed his name on the way to meet his sister assuming it's a visitor's log. He actually signed up to join the underground fight club.
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Work as a team. The Illuminati don't coordinate their efforts, leading Wanda to pick them off one at a time.
• Exploitative nudity and historical inaccuracy notwithstanding, The Naked Witch could be interpreted as an unintentional feminist parable with the moral: Women are not sex toys to be used and discarded at your whim.
• Night of the Living Dead (1968):
  • George A. Romero always maintained that he did not intend to make any comments about race in the film. He hired Duane Jones, a black stage actor, to play the hero because "he gave the best audition." Much of the movie's dialogue was improvised by the actors during filming, with only a loose adherence to the script. It was only when the film was released that Romero said he became aware of the implications of Jones's character being black. However, some critics continue to insist that it's highly implausible for someone in the 1960s to cast a black actor as the lead without being aware of the significance. For better or worse, Romero subsequently started adding intentional but far less subtle aesops in all his following zombie films.
  • A particular example of this is the ending of the film, where Ben, having survived the night, walks out of the house to meet with police... and is immediately shot, apparently mistaken for a zombie, and his corpse is burned in a pile with the dead, his story left untold. According to Romero, it was meant to be a simple tragic accident. However, the imagery and treatment of the scene invokes a lynching or extrajudicial killing, of the sort that were legion in the South at the time, so well that it's hard to write an analysis of the film that doesn't at least point out the idea that they killed him on purpose.
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower — if you're struggling to fit in, hang out with much older kids, drink alcohol and take drugs.
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles:
  • Whatever your frustrations in life, blowing up at people will only make your situation worse. While Neal had every right to be angry over not getting a car, unleashing a Cluster F-Bomb on the clerk and mocking the cab driver didn't do him any favors. Del, despite his frustrations, manages to get favors from people because he keeps a level head.
  • Your good intentions don't excuse careless or grotesque behavior. Del may mean well, but his slobbish behavior, reckless driving, and somewhat insensitive nature don't do him any favors with Neal either.
• Problem Child: The message of the first two films seems to be "if different people have problems, they should sit down and talk their problems out rather than sniping at one another." On one hand, the people around Junior are often unpleasant jerks who seem to want to make him miserable. On the other hand, the often-violent revenge he takes doesn't actually solve anything and makes him even more hated. The only person who Junior tries to be nice to is Ben, and that's because Ben is the only person who tries to understand Junior's point of view. If Junior and his victims could learn to be nice, there would be less conflict.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — When making an agreement, be sure the terms are actually beneficial to you and leave as little to interpretation as possible, otherwise you leave yourself open to Loophole Abuse and Exact Words by a more savvy party. Case in point, Barbossa exploits loopholes overlooked by the other party twice, first when he takes Elizabeth hostage because she neglected to include her own release when exchanging the medallion for their cessation of their raid on Port Royal; and again when he forces Elizabeth to walk the plank after Will exchanges his blood to lift the curse for Jack's crew's safety and Elizabeth's release but failed to specify where or when she was to be set free.
• Rock: It's Your Decision was clearly meant to warn teenagers about the evils of rock music, however, most of the songs featured in the movie were for the most part harmless, with a few even having positive messages. Rather, it can be interpreted as warning viewers of the dangers of indoctrination and radicalization with the lead protagonist starting out as an average teenager who just happens to like rock music who gets warped by controlled adults, eventually turning him into a fundamental fanatic who alienates all his friends.
  • One could also read Jeff's hate filled speech in the end where he completely misses the point of the songs he list off, as a example of how hateful people with their mind made up can easily misinterpret the meaning of a song to fit their agenda.
  • Also Jeff starts having issues with his girlfriend and best friend once he becomes anti Rock and Roll. While the movie is attempting to paint Jeff as the good guy in this scenario, it can instead come off as how fundamentalism can push people away from you. Likewise Jeff's judgmental attitude can be read instead about how no one will put up with your behavior when you constantly vilify what they like and try to get on your moral high horse about it.
• The Christian movie Second Glance is an It's a Wonderful Plot movie with the main character who wishes he wasn't a believer getting to live one day of his high school life as if he never had been. While this is mostly a vehicle for the Aesop that non-Christians are all horrible shits who'll just ruin their own happiness so your current unsatisfying life as a Christian is still better, there's a couple of whoppers that seem to have snuck in by accident. The worst one is when the main character finds out his parents are now divorced and his little sister was never born because, as an angel explains, the main character wasn't a believer and didn't pray for their marriage. The message to any teenagers in the audience whose parents are already divorced: "This is all your fault. Clearly you weren't right with God or it wouldn't have happened. Now you've essentially murdered your potential younger siblings."
• The aesop of Seven Pounds is probably not "don't use your cell phone while driving," but that's what at least one critic concluded. It also isn't killing yourself is wrong unless you give your organs away, nor is it likely to be don't commit suicide by poison if you intend to donate your organs.
• Sleepaway Camp is a Slasher Movie that is mostly well-known for its controversial Twist Ending that contains Unfortunate Implications about transgender people, transwomen in particular, but the ending can also be read in the complete opposite way: being forced to present as the gender you don't identify as (like Peter being forced to pretend he's his dead sister) can cause major psychological problems which might end up ruining your life.
• The Sound of Music: Liesl and Rolfe's subplot can have a different Aesop in the movie, thanks to Rolfe becoming an Adaptational Jerkass - that being that differing political views can often be the death knell for a relationship. Indeed, Baroness Schroeder and Capt. von Trapp's engagement falls through just as much because the former wants to comply with the Nazi party (albeit just for a quiet life) while the latter is unwilling to abide by them.
• Terminator: Dark Fate accidentally inverts the aesop of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. While the latter film preaches that all human life is precious and a machine is only ever as bad as its programming, Dark Fate makes the case that even the most important person is completely expendable and AI will always be bad no matter how or why it was created.
• The film adaptation of 300 is often interpreted to glorify secular, westernized countries standing against the religious extremism and intolerance of the Middle East. However, some critics pointed out that in the film, Persia is a massive, wealthy and culturally diverse empire bent on expanding its influence throughout the world, while the Spartans are a small group of dedicated, zealous fighters who are willing to break the rules of war and martyr themselves to resist the invaders. Some viewers interpreted Persia as representing the United States and Spartans representing the terrorists.
• Tommy Boy:
  • Tommy and Richard start out struggling to sell break pads thanks in large part to Tommy's inexperience, which is exacerbated by Richard's insults after each failed meeting. But once Richard offers Tommy genuine sales advice rather than snide insults, their working relationship improves considerably and they become an excellent partnership. So, the lesson here may be that students finding it difficult to learn often respond better to positive reinforcement than negative reinforcement.
  • Richard's Deadpan Snarker attitude may be kind of justified toward Tommy, but his lack of people skills and smug behavior toward almost everyone he meets prevents him from being a good salesman or having any friends despite his technical intelligence. Tommy may not be intellectually gifted, but his friendly persona, charm, and eventual craftiness ultimately keep Callahan Auto from falling apart. Hard work doesn't matter if you act like a smug Jerkass who puts other people down to the point of alienating them.
  • Businessmen like Zalinsky are glorified con men and their PR campaigns should always be taken with a grain of salt.
• The Truman Show: If someone you know is having a breakdown, don't belittle their feelings or put your material needs above them, or you'll make their problems worse and drive them out of your life. Meryl choosing to do Product Placement in the middle of a serious conversation finally destroys her "relationship" with Truman. If Meryl had chosen to put Truman's mental health above her own needs, or at least pretended too, she could've convinced him to stay in Seahaven.
• Tucker & Dale vs. Evil: The film seems to have as its message "unless you are actually trained in combat, or you have no choice, don't try and play the action hero and call the authorities if you're in a dangerous situation." Allison's friends may have meant well, but they were clearly out of their depth, not just in assessing the situation but in actually fighting the "deranged hillbillies." If Allison had been in danger, she would've been screwed. Chad himself seems somewhat physically capable but since he's a mentally unhinged jerk with a severe grudge, he creates more problems than he solves.
• Utøya: July 22, a reenactment of the Breivik Massacre (which happened on the island Utøya on 22. July 2011) from the perspective of the victims, contains lots of very necessary Aesops, but also unintentionally the following: "sometimes, bravery and wit are useless against violence. Then, Violence Really Is the Answer."
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?:
  • Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Tormenting your primary caretaker while you are wheelchair-bound will leave you in a very precarious situation if the caretaker decides enough is enough.
  • Sibling rivalries are painful to overcome, but it is how you prevent future conflict. If Blanche and Jane had tried to talk things out years ago, the tragedy of the movie wouldn't have occurred. Instead, they let the anger fester into a decades-long grudge match that ended with Elvira dead, Blanche (possibly) dying, and Jane likely headed for the madhouse.
  • Just because someone is "polite" does not make that person "good." Blanche's seemingly posh demeanor masks an incredibly vindictive woman who tried to kill her sister, lied about it, and tormented that same sister for years over something she didn't do. Jane, despite her many flaws, was ultimately the more mature sister, and anyone who could see through Blanche's airs and falsehoods could've figured out how toxic she was.
  • Show business is a brutal slog that brings painful psychological consequences. If Blanche and Jane had not been exposed to that life, they probably would've grown into much happier adults.
  • Obsessing about past fame will leave you miserable, and you should move on and do something different with your life. Jane would probably be happier if she moved on from "Baby Jane."
• Very Bad Things: One of the reasons things go to hell is because Laura is a Bridezilla who wants a perfect wedding, so given how terribly things turn out for her and everyone because of that, you can easily read it as having the moral of "Don't obsess over perfection."

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