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| - The desire to end a story on An Aesop is natural and strong: it's often the only thing that elevates the story above a piece of insubstantial fluff. The trouble, however, is that it doesn't always work. It might be Executive Meddling, a Writer on Board, the writers being high, the writers thinking the audience won't notice, or just plain bad writing, but the moral of the story feels awkwardly tacked-on; as though somebody else wrote it and added it at the end after the writers were already done. Common methods of breaking An Aesop include:
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| abstract
| - The desire to end a story on An Aesop is natural and strong: it's often the only thing that elevates the story above a piece of insubstantial fluff. The trouble, however, is that it doesn't always work. It might be Executive Meddling, a Writer on Board, the writers being high, the writers thinking the audience won't notice, or just plain bad writing, but the moral of the story feels awkwardly tacked-on; as though somebody else wrote it and added it at the end after the writers were already done. Basically, a Broken Aesop is a story where the moral presented just doesn't match the moral that the story actually contained (and unlike the Spoof Aesop, they don't do it on purpose). It's an Anvilicious Ex Machina. Or just plain hypocrisy. Common methods of breaking An Aesop include:
* A Compressed Vice, a Reset Button, or a Snap Back: There's a lesson, but because the sequel/next episode/next installment forgets it happened or pretends it didn't happen, there are no consequences.
* Have the resolution rely on a Deus Ex Machina, Fantastic Aesop, or Karmic Twist Ending.
* Distorting the moral into "It's only wrong if someone else does it" or "only if the bad guys do it."
* Trying to present a moral ambiguity and failing badly.
* Trying to present a moral absolute between two choices when there were other options the work failed to consider.
* Trying to teach Be Careful What You Wish For by using a Literal Genie or Jackass Genie who doesn't actually give you what you wished for.
* Saying anyone can do anything they set their mind to by their own resolve, when the character was born into royalty or privilege, born with some sort of superior genetic power, or otherwise revealed to be from a powerful, significant bloodline explaining their greatness.
* Trying to prove that everybody is important but only once they achieve something. So still only skilled or famous people are important, they just act in an alternative way. Especially common when facing a "Well Done, Son" Guy.
* Commonly in Rpgs, Thou Shalt Not Kill Aesop followed by the next major battle having the characters kill something (with the exception of games with Never Say "Die" in play, such as Earthbound ). Not to be confused with a Family-Unfriendly Aesop, where the lesson is followed, but the Aesop itself is strange and/or non-standard, though the two can overlap. Compare Analogy Backfire, which is when an analogy (which may or may not contain an Aesop) makes a point that is the opposite of what it was supposed to. See also Values Dissonance. Important Note: As tempting it may be, please do not add meta-fictional examples (which are more along the lines of a Clueless Aesop). Only add examples where the aesop is broken within the narrative itself. This means do not add examples such as; 1.
* "How many trees got cut down to produce that Anvilicious book warning us about deforestation?" 2.
* "How much money did that film with the message against being greedy or about money not being everything or the Anvilicious anti-capitalist message gross at the box office?" 3.
* "How great looking were the actors in that work telling us that looks aren't everything or that it's what's on the inside that counts?" 4.
* "Why is a television show/video game giving an aesop about how people need to watch less TV/spend less time playing video games?" 5.
* "Why is this movie/TV show/song telling us about how the entertainment industry is evil?"
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