Condemned by History is a problem trope for many reasons. It leads to edit warring and confusion over what qualifies. In this thread we'll look for bad examples, and look for feedback. Here are the guidelines for this trope:
- The franchise has to be truly popular and loved at first. Things that are So Bad, It's Horrible don't count.
- Simply losing popularity isn't enough. We need to see an actual backlash, with liking it being considered bizarre. Otherwise, every not-so-famous film or concluded television series would be here.
Let's go!
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 16th 2024 at 4:23:01 AM
This was added and edited today.
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers was initially seen as just a harmless kids kids' cartoon about environmentalism with Green Aesops galore, but eventually those the kids who watched it grew up and realized environmental politics are far more complicated than cartoon supervillains polluting the earth For the Evulz. It's Admittedly, this was a conscious decision on the writers' part so that kids wouldn't think less of their parents who might work for such companies, but it's now widely believed that the show did its viewers a disservice by taking all nuance out of the issues it discussed.
I kind of doubt it, as I feel that was mostly in the 2000's and more people like it, not to mention the knowledge of what actual Big Oil/Coal corporations do make the villains look downright subtle.
I've also heard that kids at the time did take its message to heart and that led to its cancellation since the actual people responsible for these issues (the corporations who funded it to start with) didn't want to deal with it.
Granted that was on Twitter so that could just be wild assumptions.
Came for the tropes, stayed for the cleanup.I dunno if it'd violate TV Tropes' policy on NSFW content, but I'd have to wonder if the Girls Gone Wild series of videos would be considered Condemned by History since a lot of dirt on Joe Francis has been unvealed.
Nah, opinion on Girls Gone Wild has always been mostly negative. Even when it was new, people said Francis was exploiting the girls.
Ukrainian Red CrossWould Overwatch count? During its first couple of years, it was super popular and beloved, but nowadays is viewed much more negatively due to various hated changes, the lore completely grinding to a halt, and the many PR disasters Blizzard has gone through since around 2018.
It might count as Overshadowed by Controversy if it isn't already there.
Do you think that the Aladdin can be included here. Here is my skeleton:
- Aladdin: When it first came out in 1992, the movie was, while not without its controversies (e.g., [{Fake Nationality casting primarily White American and British actors]] such as Robin Williams and Gilbert Gottfried as supposedly Middle Eastern actors, significant Artistic License with the cultures of various Muslim countries, etc.), well received by critics, to the point of winning two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. In addition, the film itself was to some extent accepted by some Middle Eastern viewers at the time, as it was one of the few mainstream Western depictions that presented their people in a positive light in spite of its own use of Orientalist stereotypes.
- Over the years, however, Aladdin has been subject to retroactive criticism from both Middle Eastern and Western viewers for a number of reasons:
- First, there was the aforementioned Orientalist stereotypes about the Middle East, as a lot of non-Middle Eastern (particularly White American) viewers who grew up watching Aladdin as children came of age and began learning about both the Middle East (and larger Muslim world) as they actually exist and the stereotypes that Western works had long used to characterize such regions. This had not been helped by the War on Terror (which began a decade after Aladdin was released AND was the time period that a lot of the children who grew up with the movie came of age), which prompted a larger conversation about the Western world (particularly the United States)' relationship with Muslim-majority countries.
- Second, there is the aforementioned casting of non-Middle Eastern actors such as Williams and Gottfried as the Genie and Iago, respectively, and the very Westernized designs of the movie's leads, Aladdin and Jasmine (especially when contrasted with the stereotypically Arab features of the movie's Big Bad, Jafar). The criticisms against such character designs and castings largely took place during a larger debate about Hollywood's history of depicting people of color during the 2010s, which was when a lot of the kids who grew up watching Aladdin attended college and began learning about the Middle East.
- Over the years, however, Aladdin has been subject to retroactive criticism from both Middle Eastern and Western viewers for a number of reasons:
I've heard those criticisms, but yeah it's still a widely loved movie.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallI agree that it doesn't belong on the page. There's some Values Dissonance, and some elements were iffy even back then, but the film is still liked overall. If it were Condemned by History, one of the following would likely have happened: (a) the remake flopped instead of grossing a billion dollars, or (b) Disney buried Aladdin instead of remaking it.
Edited by MathsAngelicVersion on Sep 21st 2023 at 10:34:14 AM
I heavily doubt it was anywhere close to being more than a Vocal Minority criticizing the movie for being racist back then.
I mean, yeah the film won awards, the lead actor won an award IIRC, the film had Splash Mountain, and Zippity Doo Da was a well-liked song (and still is, independent of its origins).
Edited by WarJay77 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 2:10:06 PM
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wallpart of me wonders if the name Condemned by History is attracting new confusion along the lines of these questions, compared to the name Deader Than Disco which had different issues but was pretty unambiguous on what "dead" meant versus the ambiguity in "condemned". this might be something to explore further in a separate thread, but it should be obvious that things like Aladdin or Song of the South weren't "widely loved then widely hated" like everyone understands disco was; even with the racism within them that's rightfully critiqued and condemned, aspects of them still permeate pop culture. both of them do definitely fit within Values Dissonance, and at least for Song of the South, it's already famous as a case of Bury Your Art.
Edited by NoUsername on Sep 22nd 2023 at 1:02:45 AM

I’d say not because the movie has always been controversial.
Once Upon A Time.