History Main / ComputerEqualsMonitor

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' jokes with this, as Miles steals a computer and monitor from the bad guys, dragging both around for a while before Peter grabs the monitor and chucks it away, telling him they [[RealityEnsues don't need it]]. To be fair, Miles was panicking a bit and just grabbed everything.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
** A scene in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E8IRobotYouJane}} I Robot, You Jane]]" has Willow becoming annoyed with "Malcolm" (aka the demon Moloch) and appearing to turn off the computer just by punching the monitor's off button.
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E17Passion}} Passion]]", Angelus destroys Jenny Calendar's computer by throwing her monitor off of the desk, whereby it lands on the floor and explodes pleasingly. Justified as he's over two hundred years old, and doesn't really understand computers. Also, he only destroyed her current data, it was actually saved onto a floppy disk found later.
** Later, in the spinoff ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Harmony shorts out a computer by spilling coffee on the keyboard. In the Buffy universe, maybe trying to destroy a computer by breaking the monitor isn't so stupid after all.

* The NES version of ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' has you destroying a supercomputer before fighting the FinalBoss. Said supercomputer is really massive screen that requires ''missiles'' to destroy.

* ''Literature/LeftBehind [[TheFilmOfTheBook The Movie]]'' [[http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2008/12/lbtm-lone-gunmen.html falls to this trope]] in a particularly spectacular fashion - the [[RevealingCoverup conspiracy-preserving assassin]] shoots out the monitor ''and not the [[PlotArmor guy sitting in front of it]]''.

Damaging a monitor can be justified as making the workstation unusable until another monitor can be hooked up at worst, and possibly killing the computer anyways at best[[note]][=CRTs=] have powerful capacitors that can hold a very high voltage charge for a couple of minutes even after the power is unplugged. A well placed shot with a metal bullet can, possibly, cause the [=CRT=] to discharge the voltage into the data lines, killing the computer or at least the video adapter as well in the process[[/note]]. Even unplugging a monitor with the computer still on can on rare occasion be enough to cause severe damage if it's not designed to be hot-pluggable.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' jokes with this, as Miles steals a computer and monitor from the bad guys, dragging both around for a while before Peter grabs the monitor and chucks it away, telling him they don't need it. To be fair, Miles was panicking a bit and just grabbed everything.

** In the first game: when bad guys are removing all the evidence from the computers, one of the {{mooks}} shoots the monitor and is convinced that the job is done. Another one scolds him, telling him that he needs to wipe the hard drive, collect the USB sticks, and ''then'' shoot the mainframe.

* While not technically a computer (it's a game console), this is played pretty straight with the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Nintendo Switch]]. Everything is in the display housing, since it's basically a tablet (with controllers that attach to the side, although they can also be detached and used via Bluetooth).

* Teens WebVideo/{{React}} [[ https://goo.gl/5cm9R2 to Windows 95]] have the "test subjects" falling to this trope when asked to turn on an old school desktop PC.

* The NES version of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' has you destroying a supercomputer before fighting the FinalBoss. Said supercomputer is really massive screen that requires ''missiles'' to destroy.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Played in an ImagineSpot in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode ''Sue Ellen Moves In''. Spy!Sue Ellen pours water on a professor's keyboard which shorts out the entire computer system before making her escape, just after stealing a vital computer disc.

* In ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'', our hero needs to stop Fixer (who has been turned into a sentient computer program) from killing a rival, so he shoots him... in the holographic representation of Fixer's head instead of the computer projecting it. Naturally, this works.

Of course we are also there already in some ways - a [[DataPad smartphone or tablet]] is essentially a monitor with the computer built in. Just not in many examples from pre-2005.

!!Examples

[[folder:Fanfic]]

** May be semi-Justified with the sonic screwdriver, as if you look at the keyboards of some of the computers used, you can recognize them as Macs, with the monitors built in to the computer.
** Played very straight in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]'', when Ten destroys a supercomputer by throwing a chair at a monitor.
** Arguably in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive The Leisure Hive]]'': the misuse of a tachyonics machine in the climax is averted by the Doctor throwing a ceremonial helmet at its large round display screen.

* While not technically a computer (it's a game console), this is played pretty straight with the NintendoSwitch. Everything is in the display housing, since it's basically a tablet (with controllers that attach to the side, although they can also be detached and used via Bluetooth).

** Averted in ''[[VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory Chaos Theory]]'', where in order to remote-hack any computer, Sam must locate the actual hard drive instead of the usually more visible monitors. Averted even further in that computers with the monitors turned off or even destroyed can still be remotely hacked.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''. Averted (and used for a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}) when Baltar has been [[ClearMyName framed by the Cylons]] with fake footage showing him committing sabotage just before the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Baltar destroys the hard drive that's enhancing the image, only to whimper helplessly as he sees his face still staring out at him from the monitor, as he's destroyed the wrong computer. His actions only make him look more guilty than ever. For bonus points, the moment he is caught he is about to swing a chair at the monitor.

* Discussed in ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors''; Lotus and Junpei have a conversation about how a caveman would think that a monitor was the whole computer; this ties into the game's theme of passing information between two seemingly unconnected things.

* ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'': [[TheDitz Derek and Hansel]] are told incriminating files are in a computer, [[LiteralMinded and so try to expose them by breaking the monitor open in front of a crowd]]. The computer in question is an iMac, which has a built-in monitor. Even if the monitor was separate, they would probably have managed to destroy the tower anyway.

* Justified in ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'': the computer in question is an iMac, which has a built-in monitor. And, even if it was just a monitor, [[TheDitz Derek and Hansel]] would probably have tried to destroy it anyway… The files were [[TooDumbToLive in the computer]], after all.

** A modern remake of the Commodore 64 has been announced by Retro Games Ltd., the folks who brought us the [=C64=] Mini. True to its original’s form, the machine’s brains will be housed inside it’s keyboard.

** A modern remake of the Commodore 64 has been announced by the folks who brought us the [=C64=] Mini. True to its original’s form, the machine’s brains will be housed inside it’s keyboard.

** A modern remake of the Commodore 64 has been announced by the folks who brought us the [=C64=] Mini. True to it’s original form, the machine’s ARM emulation brains will be housed inside it’s keyboard.

* In the '70s BBC RadioDrama ''Earthsearch'', Fagor is rampaging through a MileLongShip while the Angels (the computers who run the spaceship) try to talk the KillerRobot into stopping. Fagor promptly destroys the comm unit, whereupon the Angels contact it on another, pointing out it's simply destroyed one out of a million comm units spread throughout the spaceship. So Fagor announces that it will destroy them all one-by-one!

* In ''Comicbook/{{Spawn}}'' computer monitors are shot to stop downloads.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* A Finnish newspaper strip had the mid-level boss Murikka first smash the computer screen in frustration, but after becoming more computer savvy, he then takes his anger out on the processor, and later on apparently sets out to go punch Bill Gates himself.
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Compare ComputerEqualsTapeDrive. See Also ScreensAreCameras and ShootTheTelevision.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the new series, in most episodes involving computers, the Doctor controls one by using the [[MagicTool sonic screwdriver]] on the monitor. The classic series preferred ComputerEqualsTapeDrive.