Deconstructing the Burning Wino Gambit

This trope has been a staple of most anime series since it was first used by the classic masterpiece My Brother Was A Dancing Robot *

Back then, the trope was meant to convey the despair and insanity characteristic of the Great Depression, but successive imitations began to ignore this aspect of the trope in favour of the more superficial and marketable ones. The trope has become stale, and a big indicator of unoriginality in any given show, as such, I consider it is due a deconstruction that critically examines the elements of this trope and gives it new life by removing the dead weight.

For this, I propose:

• Including an extended flashback with inner monologue in which we learn how the wino's circumstances and psychological issues led to his current situation.
• Have a giant monster eat the wino's head.
• Have a giant monster rape the wino, and thean eat his head.
• Make the wino a woman.
• Insert frames of a choir of Romanian girls at random points during the scene.

So, how about you, how would you deconstruct the Burning Wino Gambit?

I think Third Wave would like to talk to you.

WHAT is a burning wino?

A wino that is burning, naturally.

Have the wino burn someone else. Or is that subverting it?

Wait, link? I'm not familiar with this trope.

I'm not sure whether I should be annoyed or amused by this thread.

Somebody tell me what to think!!!

edited 29th Mar '11 5:14:49 PM by Gilphon

^^^That would be a sort of inversion, I think, even though the agency isn't so deliberately specified in most cases.

Psst! He's making it all up!

edited 29th Mar '11 5:22:56 PM by AndrewJ

...I completely fell for it. This might have been because I wasn't reading very carefully.

Christ guys way to ruin the joke

What just happened in this thread?

Someone made a bad joke and it fell through.

Someone made a good joke and it fell through because nobody got the reference.

What's the reference?!?

It's a Goro Goro Iki reference, philistine.

You're being confusing. Stop confusing people.

...Two weeks later.

???

edited 15th Apr '11 5:30:02 PM by chihuahua0

I personally can't believe people are unaware of the Burning Wino Gambit.

Obviously, the best way to deconstruct the Burning Wino Gambit is to have a wino that isn't burning. Unfortunately, nobody seems to be willing to try it.

edited 16th Apr '11 7:36:50 AM by Torquey

But would it really be the Burning Wino Gambit without a Burning Wino? While subversion is good, there are elements intrinsic to the trope that can't be discarded. Though it might work if the wino only looks like he's burning to the main character, who is experiencing a drug-induced prophetic-mindscrewy-lucid dream.

context

That was linked two posts ago...

So this thread was all a reference to that strip?

Never heard of it.

Now you have.

Bump.

While discussing the merits of playing with My Balls, it became apparent that while the idea of deconstructing the Burning Wino Gambit is something few would disagree with, without a broader audience, it's not bound to have the effect it ought to. To remedy this, I am committed to writing a gender-bending My Brother Was A Dancing Robot/My Balls crossover fic, in which the underlying sexist, classist, economic and religious implications of both series are put under a different light and examined thoroughly.
For similar reasons, I plan on adding Neon Genesis Evangelion, Madoka Magica and maybe Naruto. Some would claim that the clash between the established universes, tone and atmosphere of all these shows, plus the lack of a believable joining thread would make such an attempt merely a fan-pandering but meritless mess, these people are clearly unaware of my literary genius.