Basic Trope: A character learns that it's better to be honest and true to their own nature than to put on airs.
- Straight: Danny, a typically nerdy character, is persuaded to drop some of his usual interests and tastes in order to appear "cooler". After he does, he comes to realize that he doesn't really like the new version of himself much and misses his old interests, so he reverts to his old personality.
- Exaggerated: Danny undergoes an entire personality and imagery overhaul- only to end up completely overhaul himself back to who he was before with no traces of his previous personality remaining.
- Downplayed: Though he ultimately decides the "cool" schtick isn't for him, Danny nonetheless comes out slightly changed as a result, and has picked up some new hobbies he decided he liked while he was attempting to be cool.
- Justified:
- Someone who is comfortable in their own skin and accepts themselves for who they are is generally going to be more stable, content and happy than someone who is forcing themselves to artificially change their personality when they don't really believe in it or enjoy it.
- The 'new' Danny was unpleasant and unlikeable, or was a drastically unwelcome shift from the original.
- Inverted:
- Danny learns that if he wants to be successful and well-liked, he needs to change his ways for the better.
- To be well-liked, Danny must be like the other people whether he likes it or not.
- Subverted: Danny, a typically nerdy character, is persuaded to drop some of his usual interests and tastes in order to appear "cooler". After he does, everyone expects him to revert back to normal — however, Danny finds he quite likes the new Danny, so decides to make the change permanent.
- Double Subverted: He eventually gets sick of the new Danny and changes back.
- Parodied:
- Danny changes something incredibly minor about himself, such as the colour of the socks he wears. This ends up causing him such anguish that he dramatically realizes he needs to change back to the old colour.
- Danny is persuaded to change his personality, and was prepared to change back, but then he suddenly realizes that he is still himself, so he doesn't change back!
- Danny's teacher keeps telling her students they should be themselves, but when she notices the introverted Danny Eating Lunch Alone and keeping to himself during recesses, she starts badgering him about spending time with his classmates. Despite his repeated objections that make it obvious he chooses to keep his distance because he genuinely likes it and it helps him clear his head, his teacher completely ignores them until Danny decides to play along, after which she congratulates him for being himself.
- Charlie encourages Danny to Be Himself. Unfortunately, Danny is a Gonk with No Social Skills; "being himself" makes exactly zero difference.
- Zig Zagged: Danny is persuaded to drop some of his usual interests and tastes in order to appear "cooler". He ends up missing some of his old interests and tastes and goes back to them; others, however, he finds he doesn't miss so much. Similarly, while some of the newer elements of his personality change are not for him and discarded, others he quite likes or are beneficial to him so he decides to keep them.
- Averted: Danny isn't called upon to change his personality or change it back.
- Enforced: The show is for kids, and the producers want to do An Aesop about how it's okay to be yourself, and you don't have to succumb to peer-pressure if you don't feel comfortable doing so.
- Lampshaded: "You can do anything you want, Danny — you just need to Be Yourself."
- Invoked: Danny has been feeling discontented with his life of late and so intentionally goes out to try new experiences to either break out of his rut or remind him of why he has that comfort zone in the first place.
- Exploited: Alice's master plan requires someone with a certain personality. Danny is perfect for this plan, so Alice initiates the plan once Danny changes himself.
- Defied:
- Danny decides to assume a new identity he's more comfortable in, discarding his old one in the process.
- Getting tired of this "overrated cliché" of being yourself, Danny tells people to stop shoehorning that to others, including him. Because unlike the others, he is never entitled nor is obligated to be himself. He is equally comfortable putting up airs or being other than himself desirably.
- Discussed: "It's heartwarming when a good person shines with his own natural character, but would we ever want to give the same advice to a complete monster?"
- Conversed: "Isn't weird how whenever you change your personality, there's always that guy who says 'Be yourself'"?
- Deconstructed:
- Danny believes that he needs to 'be himself' and resists any attempts to change him, reasoning that people who don't like him for who he is aren't worth having around. Only problem is — that Danny 'really' is not nice and totally likeable, and really should make some changes to his behavior. Danny is dooming himself to loneliness and isolation through his own stubbornness and selfishness.
- Or worse, Danny is a sadistic murderer who really enjoys torturing and killing his victims. He is utterly unrepentant for his murders, and even boasts that he is just doing what he was born to do. He is clearly, in a most horrific way, being himself.
- The people telling Danny to "be himself" are toxic, destructive influences whose definition of "be yourself" is more along the lines of "sink with us", and he refuses to listen to them because he knows that they feel threatened by his attempts to better himself and would rather that he go back to wading in mediocrity.
- Danny has Asperger's syndrome and after hearing this advice, tries to be himself but he finds out that what people mean is "be generically relatable" as when he tries to be himself, he's rejected even harder when he embraces his nerdy self, which isn't endearing like a TV nerd, than when he tried too hard to be cool. So he tones down his nerdy interests and learns how to be "quirky" in a socially acceptable way. He's created this fake everyman persona in order to fit in but secretly resents everyone who told him to be himself.
- Reconstructed:
- Danny attempts to 'fake it until he makes it', but this leaves him as miserable as he would be being rejected as himself. He seeks out and eventually finds other people who are willing to accept his good, his bad and his ugly. Danny may not be popular, but at least he has true friends that he is willing to be loyal towards.
- "Be yourself" falls flat for our resident Jerkass, but the idea is re-structured into "be honest about who and what you are". This is much more helpful to Danny, since it provides both a springboard to self-improvement ("the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have it") and to self-acceptance ("...and that's okay.").
- Danny has finally had it and one day tells everyone what he thinks of "be yourself" and how in his experience, the response when he's himself comes across as "no, not like that". People realize that they had too narrow of an idea of what counts as socially acceptable so they work on being more accepting of people whose true self isn't the charming yet generically dorky everyman society told them a "true self" should be and Danny works on actually being himself. It's a bit of Character Development for Danny and his friends.
- Played For Laughs: Danny tried hard to be a cool suave womanizer, and was rebuked and told to 'Be Yourself'. The scene cuts to show Danny being an unhygienic Lazy Bum perpetually glued to his TV.
- Played For Drama: Danny struggles with how he should be and act. He is uncomfortable with and doesn't like acting against his inclinations, but knows that his unpalatable true self hidden well beneath his mask will alienate him from his family and close friends if it were revealed.
Want to go back to the trope? All you have to do is Be Yourself.
