Corrective Lecture

You really like weather metaphors for me, huh?

"None of us wants to be here. I don't wanna be here. Radar doesn't want to be here. The doctors, the nurses. Certainly the wounded don't want to be here. But we've got to do our best. Understand, son?"

— Col. Potter, M*A*S*H

Sometimes, rules are broken. Sometimes someone is doing something foolhardy. Someone may be on the verge of making a bad decision. And someone is there to see it. There are a number of ways of addressing the problem. Some, like Grounded Forever, are a bit more extreme than others.

The Corrective Lecture, however, is at the milder end of the spectrum of potential actions that can be taken. It is usually the hallmark of a Reasonable Authority Figure, such as kindly parents, mentors, teachers, or military superiors.

The Corrective Lecture, interestingly enough, doesn't often incorporate "The Reason You Suck" Speech, the person delivering the lecture preferring to focus on why something is against the rules rather than on who broke them, i.e. "We don't allow this because it can get you or someone else hurt, not because we are singling you out."

It usually doesn't involve Calling the Old Man Out, either, though a junior officer who catches a superior doing something immoral or illegal can still use this.

It may overlap, in some settings with a Patrick Stewart Speech or a Kirk Summation. It is also the purview of the Compassionate Critic or part of Constructive Criticism.

Poorly delivered, or improperly understood, it can have the same effect as a Devastating Remark. In some cases, it could cause a Heel Realization or a My God, What Have I Done? moment. In a military setting, it may involve a Reminder of Duty. May overlap with Disobeyed Orders, Not Punished and The "Mom" Voice. Compare Familial Chiding.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Chapter 21 ends with Rentarou discovering that all the girls except Shizuka were trying to peep on him taking a bath and promptly lecturing them about their actions.
• Chihayafuru:
  • After Chihaya suffers a breakdown due to a devastating defeat at the hands of Yumi "The Disputer" Yamato, Doctor Harada gently lectures Chihaya on never surrendering cards, and her failure to thank her opponent for the match. It helps bring Chihaya back to herself.
  • After Chihaya loses to current queen Shinobi Wakamiya, she gets a lecture from Doctor Harada about not relying solely on her speed. When she loses to a slower opponent who focuses on patience and accuracy, Chihaya understands what Doctor Harada was trying to tell her.
  • When Chihaya bails on a study session to watch a match involving Taichi, she gets a lecture from Tsutomu who points out to her that Taichi puts in the work because if he didn't, his Education Mama would make him quit the club. Chihaya apologizes and buckles down to study.
• Tenchi Muyo!: In the first movie, after Ayeka and Ryoko accidentally serve as Moment Killers to Achika and Nobiyuki, Tenchi has to remind the two of them that if they interfere with his parents in the past, he stands a good chance of never being born. They take the lecture to heart.
• Wasteful Days of High School Girls: Mastaka "Waseda" Sawatari is a Tormented Teacher who frequently tries to warn Nozomu "Baka" Tanaka and Minami "Yamai" Yamamoto about the poor levels of their grades, as well as frequently trying to check on "Yamai" to see if she's engaging in Self-Harm or if she's being abused (It's neither, but she does give people cause to worry). At one point during a school assembly, the two of them start acting out, and so he has to take it beyond lecturing, dragging them up to the front of the hall with the rest of the faculty and holding them by their wrists so that they're on display for the whole school. But his preferred method of discipline is to lecture at length.

Comic Strips

• Calvin and Hobbes: In one story arc, Calvin causes the family's car to roll back out of the driveway into a ditch opposite the house. Calvin's parents are relieved that no one was hurt and lecture him on asking for permission for things and not attempting to handle something like a car on his own. Hobbes notes that it's a lot calmer than the time Calvin left earthworms in his father's sock drawer.
• The Far Side: One strip shows a young boy being lectured by his father about force, angle, trajectories, and the like after evidently putting a baseball through a window. The caption notes that the boy comes to dread his father's lectures over all other forms of punishment.
• Zits: Connie is frequently trying to correct Jeremy's behavior by lecturing her son on his bad habits and slothful nature. Unfortunately for her, she either runs into the problem of Jeremy tuning out and knowing when to look contrite or nod without actually listening, or, on those occasions when he does listen, he rolls his eyes at her, once to the comedic effect of them rolling out of his head and past his father.

Fan Works

• Inter Nos: At one point in the story, two of Shizuru's soldiers accost a slave bringing food to their master, stealing the food the slave had been carrying. The slave's master is a wealthy politician in the port city of Argus whose support Shizuru needs. She is thankful it's not a rape charge, as that necessitates by law the cuttingoff of noses. She is forced to administer a flogging, but the true punishment is the lecture she gives in front of her assembled soldiers about how she has always dealt fairly with them, and that none of them need to steal, that their behavior reflects badly on her, the army as a whole, and the citizens of their nation in the eyes of the foreigners in the port city. By the time she's done with the lecture, the two guilty parties are in tears, begging for the lash. Nao, Shizuru's Torture Technician, notes they were hurt worse by Shizuru's words than by the whip.
• Pound and Pumpkin Cake's Adventures (and Misadventures) in Potty Training: In "The Streak", Pinkie Pie gives the Cake twins a tongue-lashing for flushing themselves and Gummy down the toilet.
• Windows of the Soul: Shinri Fujino, Shizuru's father, and Natsuki have been butting heads, largely because he initially suspected her of being a nasty Social Climber using Shizuru for her own gains. He revises that opinion of her after Natsuki saves Shizuru's life from an assassin, and agrees to teach her some of his kenjutsu techniques. During the initial session, he knocks the wind out of her twice but is impressed with her ability to dodge, noting her reflexes are above normal. Then he sits to explain to her that her mistake was not, as she assumed, in attacking, because sometimes attacking was good. He tells her that her attack was strong, and if it had connected, it would have definitely been damaging, but she was so focused on getting to him that she neglected to account for his own sword, leaving herself open to attack.

Film — Animated

• The Lion King (1994): After rescuing Simba and Nala from the hyena pack in the elephant graveyard, Mufasa orders Zazu to take Nala home while he gives Simba a serious lecture about his reckless disobedience nearly getting the two lion cubs killed, and how he has to be more responsible if he expects to become king one day.

Literature

• The Truth: After it's discovered that the person producing the tabloid news is Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler, he gets a lecture from Sacharissa offscreen and we later see him looking tired and defeated.

Live-Action TV

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Grissom, as supervisor, has to often lecture his subordinates to help them work a case. One of the most frequent lectures Grissom will give is to remind people that they are there to examine evidence and go where it leads, not lead the evidence where they want it to go.
• Doctor Who: "The Beast Below" sees The Doctor deliver a rather stern one to Amy Pond. She had chosen to forget the plight of the Star Whale because she knew it would leave The Doctor with an "impossible choice", the lives of the thousands of people on Starship U.K., or the Star Whale. He tells Amy pointedly "You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know." She proceeds to redeem herself by Taking a Third Option and revealing that the Star Whale volunteered for service.
• M*A*S*H:
  • At one point, after one of Klinger's latest attempts to garner himself a Section 8 and a trip home, Col. Potter pulls him aside and gives him a mildly reprimanding lecture.
    Col. Potter: None of us wants to be here. I don't wanna be here. Radar doesn't want to be here. The doctors, the nurses. Certainly the wounded don't want to be here. But we've got to do our best. Understand, son?
  • In "Period of Adjustment" Potter delivers another one to Klinger after Klinger goes out drinking with BJ after inheriting the clerk's job from Radar and has trouble keeping up. But instead of reprimanding him, Potter tells Klinger that he needs time to make the job his own and that Potter would help him any time he needed. Potter himself had received a mild one from Fr. Mulcahy, who pointed out that Potter had gotten the broken-in version of Radar, whom Col. Blake had taken under his wing, and that Klinger deserved no less.
  • "Fallen Idol:" After a subpar performance by Hawkeye in OR while nursing a severe hangover, Potter delivers one to Hawkeye.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: Attempted by Kirk in "Charlie X", when he attempts to explain to Charlie why slapping Yeoman Rand on the butt was not appropriate behavior, but also not trying to come down hard on Charlie, who had (as Kirk believed at the time) no supervision as a child, being the sole survivor of a crash when he was young. Kirk, trying to avoid having The Talk with Charlie, can only sum it up by saying, "There's no right way to hit a woman."
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Encounter At Farpoint". Being pursued by Q, Picard orders an emergency saucer separation and puts Worf in charge of the saucer section. Worf protests "I am a Klingon. For me to seek escape when my captain goes into battle..." But Picard shuts him down with a simple correction and a Reminder of Duty, "You are a Starfleet Officer, Lieutenant."

Radio

• Adventures in Odyssey: In one episode, Bart Rathbone is having a '60s nostalgia festival. Connie is eager to participate, though her employer John Avery Whitaker is less than pleased with the whole thing, explaining that the '60s was a time of ridiculous fashions and music. Connie initially just takes this as Whit being uncharacteristically grumpy, especially after she finds a book of poetry written by a local author. She seeks out the author, who is living in Odyssey, to ask him about it. He is now running a drug rehab center under a new name and is off-put by Connie's questions about that time at first, but later explains to her in a lecture that when you clear away the nostalgia, while people like him had been fighting perceived injustices, they'd fallen for the lie of "If it feels good, do it" and torn down a lot of good things as well while offering nothing in their place. The drug rehab center, which he runs, and which Whit donates to, is but one consequence, he tells her, of the irresponsibility of high ideals without regard for consequences.

Religion

• Several chapters of The Book of Mormon are Alma giving his son Corianton a talking to, after Corianton ran away from his preaching responsibilities to chase a particularly attractive harlot. Alma's lecture mixes disappointment, encouragement to do better, and some revelations he's received in answer to the questions and uncertainties that led Corianton to stray in the first place. Corianton is later mentioned to be an effective missionary and in line to inherit the sacred records, so apparently the lecture was effective.

Video Games

• Animal Crossing: Mr. Resetti will lecture the player about the importance of properly saving and quitting, instead of resetting the game. Each and every time you reset.
• In the Game Boy Color version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Ron, and Hermione each have special abilities in addition to spellcasting; while Harry can use Chocolate Frog Cards for special attacks and Ron can sic Scabbers on enemies, Hermione's unique ability is that she can give lectures to power up the party.
• Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: After you and your partner are caught for sneaking out in the middle of the night, Carracosta gives the Player Character and Their Partner a long lecture explaining why what they did was dumb and dangerous. The parter gets out of it by falling asleep, though the protagonist is not so lucky. The lecture lasts for hours, even if we don't hear most of it. The protagonist seems to have drowned most of it out, as the text only reads things like "*Nag* *Nag* *Nag* *Whine* *Whine* *Whine* *Gripe* *Gripe* *Gripe*." Even though the partner did not have to listen, they end up getting punished in the morning anyway by being forced to clean the house.
• Touhou Project: Eiki is stereotyped by the fandom as constantly lecturing not just her lazy subordinate Komachi but anyone whose behavior she objects to (and being a judge of souls, there's quite a lot she can say on the subject).

Web Animation

• RWBY: When Weiss goes to Professor Port to air out her grievances about Ruby being picked as leader of Team RWBY instead of her, he immediately dismisses such comments. Instead, he sternly lectures her on her behavior and that because she came from a rich family and got everything she wanted, she's throwing a tantrum over something she wanted but was given to someone else. In the end, Port advises Weiss to not fret over what she doesn't have, but to savor what she does, by being the best person she can be. This lecture would change Weiss for the better for the rest of the series.

Web Comics

• Paranatural: Doorman gives one to Isaac when he sees him lashing out violently (due to feeling excluded from the Activity Club). Doorman sympathizes with the unfairness of the situation but warns that his anger risks him recklessly harming his friends with his powers. Doorman pushes him that he needs to find peace of mind in self-reflection, rather than aggressive catharsis if he is going to heal. It helps that he gets this across in the form of half a dozen weather-related puns.

Western Animation

• SpongeBob SquarePants: In the episode "Sailor Mouth", after SpongeBob and Patrick learn a swear word and start innocently cussing in front of everyone at the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs is not happy. When SpongeBob and Patrick explain that they had no idea that the word was bad, Mr. Krabs explains to them what bad words are, and tells them to never use that word again. Of course, they do it anyway.
• Steven Universe: Garnet gives one of these out to Pearl eventually, regarding what she needs to do to earn back her trust (after fusing under false pretenses), and why it's necessary for Pearl to develop a stronger sense of her own identity for the good of everyone including herself.

---