Misused: Family Unfriendly Aesop

So a thread was just morgued for not having a wick check, so before I say anything else, please check out the newly-made Sandbox.Family Unfriendly Wick Check.

So, Family-Unfriendly Aesop is misused horribly. Most usage on the wiki is dedicated to it as a "Bad" Aesop- something that isn't only "Family Unfriendly" but flat out wrong or full of Unfortunate Implications or something. But it's not "Bad Aesop", it's "an Aesop that might be jarring and uncomfortable, but isn't actually wrong, and is mostly upsetting for going against the stereotypical lessons."

In other words, it's not that these Aesops are wrong or shouldn't be taught- it's that they're unconventional or dark or bring up uncomfortable truths. However, according to the Wick Check, 82% of it's usage is just "this is a bad Aesop", sometimes even a bad Accidental Aesop, finding issues where the writer didn't intend and complaining about anything the troper doesn't like about the work, whether or not it's a moral.

One big problem I ran into was that even the "correct" folder examples were a judgement call- with how complainy or negative a lot of them are written, it was hard to discern proper examples from examples where someone just wanted to rant, and I suspect even some of the good examples were written with the "Bad Aesop" idea in mind.

TL;DR: The trope is used to Complain About Aesops You Dont Like.

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 16th 2020 at 10:01:33 AM

Wick check looks good, so opened.

For possible rename options: Maybe Hard Luck Aesop?

Maybe Unconventional Aesop?

You know what they say about great minds...

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 16th 2020 at 10:58:50 AM

Yeah, this one is pretty bad. I think it might need a rename to something like Unconventional Aesop and the original cut or spun off to something in line with the misuse.

Dang

Edited by maxwellsilver on Mar 16th 2020 at 10:55:40 AM

Maybe split the trope into "bad message" and "uncomfortable but true message"?

Family-Unfriendly Aesop should be renamed to better reflect its meaning. Unconventional Aesop sounds good, and I believe Hard Truth Aesop was suggested in the previous thread.

The "Bad Message" examples all seem to be bash-y though, often attacking and nitpicking things that weren't even intentional. Sometimes it comes off as Unfortunate Implications-lite, but for Aesops, if the example is even about an Aesop. Not all of them are.

Uncomfortable Aesop?

Hmmm, Unconventional Aesop does sound good, too...

Unconventional Aesop makes me think of "weird" lessons like Space Whale Aesop or Spoof Aesop.

Uncomfortable Aesop is pretty good.

Hmm, good point. Uncomfortable Aesop works.

Unconventional Aesop.

I'd vote Uncomfortable Aesop.

I agree Unconventional Aesop lacks the "you probably don't want to hear/admit it" aspect.

I suggest Harsh Truth Aesop though. Sounds better.

Edited by BreadBull on Mar 17th 2020 at 5:12:31 AM

Personally, I think the way we should go about examples is this:

• The examples should be listed under An Aesop, explaining what the message(s) are, so they're definitely in the work and not just Accidental Aesop or Alternate Aesop Interpretation.
• Examples of what is currently called Family-Unfriendly Aesop should talk more about why these morals go against conventional wisdom.

I think this would help purge a lot of the misuse, along with a clearer name.

Any thoughts on the Peppa Pig example on FamilyUnfriendlyAesop.Western Animation? The example is caused by Values Dissonance and is not a matter of "hard truth"; the message is said to be OK in the United Kingdom, the source country, but bad in Australia, where the episode does not air.

I'm going to vote on the Hard Truth Aesop idea from earlier. I think it gets the point across the most that this trope is about unpleasant truths rather than "bad" morals.

Hard Truth Aesop.

What makes this YMMV?

^Probably that not everyone is going to interpret a moral as an "unpleasant" truth.

I think both Uncomfortable Aesop and Hard Truth Aesop are good. Not fond of Unconventional Aesop since, as mentioned, it sounds like another name for Space Whale Aesop.

Edit: Thought about it a bit more after initially posting this, and I'm leaning toward Hard Truth Aesop.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 17th 2020 at 8:26:32 AM

Any thoughts on what I said?

It did air in Australia, there is a little story on the examples list about how a big sister complained about it to her mother and THEN the episode was banned.

About the Peppa Pig aesop, I think it's not so much a case of values dissonance. It's not a question of values that spiders are considered dangerous in Australia but harmless in Britain; it's a scientific fact.

And it's definitely not a case of Family-Unfriendly Aesop. It's an Aesop that works under some circumstances (such as your living in a cool climate) but not under others.

Edited by GnomeTitan on Mar 18th 2020 at 9:19:36 AM

Alright, but what about the way I said how to write examples of this trope?

That might belong under a new trope. Situational Aesop, maybe?

Sounds fine to me, though it'd take a lot of wick rewriting.