Undermined by Reality may refer to:
- Broken Aesop: A story's narrative defies its message.
- Clueless Aesop: An Aesop about a subject too mature/at odds with the work's conventions to be effectively conveyed.
- Dated History: An older work contains historical information that becomes retroactively outdated following later discoveries that were made decades or even centuries after the original work's publication.
- Discredited Trope: A Trope that used to be played straight becomes less so over time, largely due to Real Life factors such as changes in technology and / or Values Dissonance.
- Distanced from Current Events: An element of a work is changed before or after release thanks to unfortunate timing of real-world events.
- Don't Shoot the Message: Audiences want to agree with the work's message, but can't due to poor handling or out-of-work happenings.
- Harsher in Hindsight: A certain event/joke/scene doesn't age well because of fictional or Real Life future events.
- Hypocrite: A character in the work is called out for not practicing what they preach.
- Lost Aesop: An Aesop is set up, and then promptly forgotten.
- Misaimed Marketing: Tie-in products at odds with a work's message.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: The unintentional controversy is at best deeply associated with these works, and at worst is the only thing people remember about them.
- Trope Breaker: When Real Life circumstances undermine the feasibility of certain tropes.
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