History BrokenAesop / TheEmojiMovie

''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'' doesn't do a very good job at conveying its morals, to say the least. They get {{broken|Aesop}} and {{lost|Aesop}} while the main lesson is handled {{clueless|Aesop}}ly. In fact, it does such a bad job with its {{Aesop}}s that it's the first individual piece of media ever to have a BrokenAesop subpage.

** Even throwing in a lesson about RealWomenDontWearDresses undermines the BeYourself [[AnAesop Aesop]] because [[StopBeingStereotypical it involves defining your life in opposition to gender roles,]] rather than accepting a unique identity of your own that includes a variety of traits.
** Jailbreak's cred as a sophisticated hacker falls ''[[InformedAbility significantly]]'' short of what the movie [[FauxActionGirl wants us to believe what she can do.]] Despite her claims to be strong and independent, she almost falls to her death in ''VideoGame/JustDance'', and her two displays of "hacking" in the movie (guessing the password to a firewall and deprogramming the bot that's trying to kill Gene) are both upstaged by [[TheLoad Hi-5]]. Conversely, her only noteworthy accomplishment happens when she embraces her princess side and whistles for the Website/{{Twitter}} logo, accidentally suggesting she was better off as a stereotype.

* ''WebVideo/TheMysteriousMrEnter'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVWym7KejfA made the case that]] even the blatant ProductPlacement falls flat. Emojis are so great at communicating ideas that a normal emoji would be insufficient to communicate the basic idea of love. The main message of BeYourself [[CluelessAesop makes little sense when it comes to technology,]] because customers want smartphones that follow their commands, not for the apps to [[BeYourself be whatever they want to be.]] The only reason that Textopolis was spared from destruction was because Gene ''glitched out'' when he was placed on the pedestal at the end, something that the creators of these apps want to avoid at all costs.

** Hi-5 [[FlatCharacter never dumps his narcissistic ways]] to become a more well rounded emoji.

* Hi-5 has to learn to stop being a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic jerk]] and learn the value of having true friends. [[FlatCharacter Yet he still yearns for popularity through the entire movie.]] Shortly after [[ShowDontTell he comes back and says he learned his lesson,]] he shouts about how "they love us" without any humility whatsoever. [[AesopAmnesia He presumably reverts back to being a jerk]]. To make matters worse, he got along with Gene just fine and they were able to work together to accomplish their own goals, suggesting that narcissism doesn't really harm your relationships and life goals.

* The whole concept of "Normal Badass" went into this: "Normal" characters without superpowers blatantly displaying superhuman physical and mental feats and everyone automatically saying it shows that it's one thing all human beings can achieve. Example: Batman becoming blatantly superhuman both physically and mentally, mastering EVERY field of expertise in existence and inventing new ones without any dedication just to show how awesome he is, defeating superhuman beings without any planning, fighting LITERAL armies of superpowered alien beings and trained soldiers, somehow managing to physically keep up with the most powerful members of the Justice League, etc. All of these completely illogical cases are instantly chalked up to how "Badass" he is, when it's actually a painfully obvious case of Plot Armor and other nonsense.

* For a movie where [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/tj-miller-slams-silicon-valley-cast-for-not-doing-enough-to-stop-trump_us_59701345e4b062ea5f8f1e26 women have "limitless potential"]] there don't seem to be any interestingly written female characters.[[note]]Though to be fair, [[DamnedByFaintPraise the movie generally struggles in the interestingly written character department.]][[/note]] The only female emojis we see with major speaking roles are [[ControlFreak Smiler, a generic order obsessed villain who runs society like a dictator,]] [[PrincessClassic a generic princess,]] [[RealWomenDontWearDresses Jailbreak, a]] {{Jerkass}} who accomplishes nothing except [[HeroicBSOD breaking Gene's heart,]] [[LoveInterests and the generic love interest.]] There is also [[DullSurprise Gene's mother Mary, who's little more than a particularly emotionless]] ExtremeDoormat and Akiko Glitter, who's a genuine NiceGirl [[spoiler: but who is so expendable that [[DesignatedHero our hero Gene]] leaves her to die in the trash can.]] Note that the most significant female character other than the villain, Jailbreak [[spoiler: fits ''three'' out of those six characteristics.]] And it gets even worse outside of the phone, where Addie is merely a SatelliteLoveInterest with less character than the ''emojis''.
* If Jailbreak is meant to be a strong independent-minded female role model, then why does she learn to fit in with the same societal expectations that she found sexist? It seems to suggest that you can only save the day by following tradition, since revealing herself as a princess is treated as an empowering moment. And why does the movie treat her as being incredibly selfish for [[EntitledToHaveYou rejecting Gene's fairy-tale views of romance?]]
** The fact that it's the male character who learns to value freedom while the female character who learns to conform and become a potential love interest also sends uncomfortable implications about a woman's place in the world...
** Also, Jailbreak's heavy-handed rants about women being denied positions of power and the ability to voice their own ideas seems at least a little misplaced when you realize that Smiler, ''the leader of the Emojis'', is female! It actually makes Jailbreak's inability to achieve a high position in life seem like a product of her own {{Jerk Ass}}ery, incompetence, and unwillingness to conform to standards, rather than the product of a "broken system", and makes it seem like she's just [[NeverMyFault whining and making excuses]]. This has the very unfortunate effect of implying the same about people in real life who complain about the Glass Ceiling...

** Jailbreak's cred as a sophisticated hacker falls ''[[InformedAbility significantly]]'' short of what the movie [[FauxActionGirl wants us to believe what she can do.]] Despite her claims to be strong and independent, she almost falls to her death (in ''VideoGame/JustDance'', of all places) and her two displays of "hacking" in the movie (guessing the password to a firewall and deprogramming the bot that's trying to kill Gene) are both upstaged by ''[[TheLoad Hi-5]]'', of all people. Conversely, her only noteworthy accomplishment happens when she embraces her princess side and whistles for the Website/{{Twitter}} logo, accidentally suggesting she was better off as a stereotype.
* If the movie was supposed to mock and critique excessive use of technology, then this is sure as hell broken when the simple act of sending a text ultimately saves the day. Also, because we don't get to see the real problems that it causes, none of the human characters learn the drawbacks of their [[PhoneaholicTeenager obsession with smartphones.]] For their lack of trying, the movie just makes this behaviour seem normal.

** The fact that it's the male character who learns to value freedom while the female character who learns to conform and become a potential love interest also sends [[UnfortunateImplications uncomfortable implications]] about a woman's place in the world...
** Also, Jailbreak's heavy-handed rants about women being denied positions of power and the ability to voice their own ideas seems at least a little misplaced when you realize that Smiler, ''the leader of the Emojis'', is female! It actually makes Jailbreak's inability to achieve a high position in life seem like a product of her own {{Jerk Ass}}ery, incompetence, and unwillingness to conform to standards, rather than the product of a "broken system", and makes it seem like she's just [[NeverMyFault whining and making excuses]]. This has the [[UnfortunateImplications very unfortunate effect]] of implying the same about people in real life who complain about the Glass Ceiling...

* For a movie where [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/tj-miller-slams-silicon-valley-cast-for-not-doing-enough-to-stop-trump_us_59701345e4b062ea5f8f1e26 women have "limitless potential"]] there don't seem to be any interestingly written female characters.[[note]]Though to be fair, [[DamnedByFaintPraise the movie generally struggles in the interestingly written character department.]][[/note]] The only female emojis we see with major speaking roles are [[ControlFreak Smiler, a generic order obsessed villain who runs society like a dictator,]] [[PrincessClassic a generic princess,]] [[RealWomenDontWearDresses Jailbreak, a]] {{Jerkass}} who accomplishes nothing except [[HeroicBSOD breaking Gene's heart,]] [[LoveInterests and the generic love interest.]] There is also [[DullSurprise Gene's mother Mary, who's little more than a particularly emotionless]] ExtremeDoormat and Akiko Glitter, who's a genuine NiceGirl [[spoiler: but who is so expendable that [[DesignatedHero our hero Gene]] leaves her to die in the trash can.]] Note that the most significant female character other than the villain, Jailbreak [[spoiler: fits ''[[UpToEleven three]]'' out of those six characteristics.]] And it gets even worse outside of the phone, where Addie is merely a SatelliteLoveInterest with less character than the ''emojis''.

* The theme of Emoji prejudice against Gene is pushed hard to [[GayAesop represent the struggles of the LGBT community,]] according to WordOfGod[[invoked]]... but Gene actually experiences very little FantasticRacism when he's just walking through the streets of Textopolis making various faces - for the most part, the other emojis on the street seem to either like him or not care about his transgressions. The emojis Gene encounters who actually ''do'' talk down to him can be counted on one hand. Society actually allowed him to have a chance to use his talents, and he failed miserably. The only time he does get treated with major hostility is when he screws up majorly on the job in a way that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero puts the entire phone in danger]] which, honestly, [[StrawmanHasAPoint is fair]].

* WebVideo/WisecrackEdition [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpIqNpWtKEU made the case that]] the lesson of [[BeYourself "you should reject societal expectations and express who you truly wish to be"]] couldn't escape unbroken. Sure, Smiler was defeated and the Emojis learn that it's perfectly fine to express more than one emotion. However, there is still the fact [[FullCircleRevolution that they are stuck with one ''function'',]] [[SlaveRace to serve Alex.]] [[CluelessAesop Emojis were invented for this very specific purpose,]] so Textopolis is a [[{{Metaphorgotten}} terrible metaphor.]] The movie constantly validates the idea that they should only peruse society's intended purpose for them. In RealLife, the pressure to conform can easily prevent people from [[BeYourself being themselves.]]

The movie doesn't do a very good job at conveying its morals. They get [[BrokenAesop broken]] and [[LostAesop lost]] while the main lesson [[CluelessAesop is handled cluelessly]]. In fact, it does such a bad job with its {{Aesop}}s that it's the first individual piece of media ever to have a BrokenAesop subpage.

The movie doesn't do a very good job at conveying its morals.]] They get [[BrokenAesop broken]] and [[LostAesop lost]] while the main lesson [[CluelessAesop is handled cluelessly]]. In fact, it does such a bad job with its {{Aesop}}s that it's the first individual piece of media ever to have a BrokenAesop subpage.

The movie doesn't do a very good job at [[{{Anvilicious}} conveying its heavy handed morals.]] They get [[BrokenAesop broken]] and [[LostAesop lost]] while the main lesson [[CluelessAesop is handled cluelessly.]] In fact, it does such a bad job with its {{Aesop}}s that it's the first individual piece of media ever to have a BrokenAesop subpage ''[[EpicFail all to itself]]''.

* Hi-5 has to learn to stop being a [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic jerk]] and learn the value of having true friends. [[FlatCharacter Yet he still yearns for popularity through the entire movie.]] Shortly after [[ShowDontTell he comes back and says he learned his lesson,]] he shouts about how "they love us" without any humility whatsoever. He presumably reverts back to being a jerk. To make matters worse, he got along with Gene just fine and they were able to work together to accomplish their own goals, suggesting that narcissism doesn't really harm your relationships and life goals.

* WebVideo/WisecrackEdition [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpIqNpWtKEU made the case that]] the lesson of [[BeYourself "you should reject societal expectations and express who you truly wish to be"]] couldn't escape unbroken. Sure, Smiler was defeated and the Emojis learn that it's perfectly fine to express more than one emotion. However, there is still the fact [[FullCircleRevolution that they are stuck with one ''function'',]] [[AppeaseTheVolcanoGod to serve Alex.]] [[CluelessAesop Emojis were invented for this very specific purpose,]] so Textopolis is a [[{{Metaphorgotten}} terrible metaphor.]] The movie constantly validates the idea that they should only peruse society's intended purpose for them. In RealLife, the pressure to conform can easily prevent people from [[BeYourself being themselves.]]