History Main / DarkerAndEdgier

This is a common result of an ongoing work suddenly becoming subject to less censorship than it had been previously (as was the case with the Comics Code fading away). When the writers had previously been scarcely allowed to depict any violence, swearing, or innuendo at all, but are then finally given permission, you can fully expect them to go wildly overboard with it for a while (not unlike a young adult getting their first taste of freedom, before also learning restraint). This will of course attract some audience members and repel others, but eventually both the viewers and the writers will likely want to scale things back to some level ''between'' the original squeaky clean version and the later R-rated version.

This is a common result of an ongoing work suddenly becoming subject to less censorship than it had been previously (as was the case with the Comics Code fading away). When the writers had previously been scarcely allowed to depict any violence, swearing, or innuendo at all, but are then finally given permission, you can fully expect them to go wildly overboard with it for a while. This will of course attract some audience members and repel others, but eventually both the viewers and the writers will likely want to scale things back to some level ''between'' the original squeaky clean version and the later R-rated version.

This is a common result of an ongoing work suddenly becoming subject to less censorship than it had been previously (as was the case with the Comics Code fading away). When the writers had previously been scarcely allowed to depict any violence, swearing, or innuendo at all, but are then finally given permission, you can fully expect them to go wildly overboard with it for a while. This will of course attract some audience members and repel others, but eventually both the viewers and the writers will likely want to scale things back]] to some level ''between'' the original squeaky clean version and the later R-rated version.

This is a common result of an ongoing work suddenly becoming subject to less censorship than it had been previously (as was the case with the Comics Code fading away). When the writers had previously been scarcely allowed to depict any violence, swearing, or innuendo at all, but are then finally given permission, you can fully expect them to go wildly overboard with it for a while. This will of course attract some audience members and repel others, but eventually both the viewers and the writers will likely want to [[{{Reconstruction}} scale things back]] to some level ''between'' the original squeaky clean version and the later R-rated version.

** ''DarkerAndEdgier/{{Batman}}''

In fact this is often the purpose of a Darker and Edgier turn. Just as a LighterAndSofter tone is typically part of an attempt to bring a fictional world to children or to younger children, a "darker" tone is often intended to make a setting appeal to older children or adults. But unlike its opposite, a Darker And Edgier shift is often intended not to reach a new audience, but rather to keep an existing audience as it grows up. It can also be a result of child fans growing up as it's [[PromotedFanboy creators]] and continuing to think of the setting as something aimed at themselves and their peers instead of the original target age group.

!!Examples

* [[DarkerAndEdgier/AnimatedFilms Film — Animated]]
* [[DarkerAndEdgier/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]

As one could predict, this is fairly easy to screw up and poor use of these tropes may just result in DarknessInducedAudienceApathy if the setting gets too depressing or {{Narm}} if the edginess becomes just silly. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This doesn't make it a bad trope though]]-- when this is used subtly such as in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series it can create the effect of a series growing up with its audience.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/TheSmurfs https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_smurfs___hardcore.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:IT'S SMURFING AWESOME!\\

** DarkerAndEdgier/UltraSeries

* DarkerAndEdgier/{{Other}}

The excessive version is often known as "Grimdark" (one word), derived from the tagline of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. ("In the grim darkness of the far future, there is ''only war.''") Sometimes justified with the phrase "SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids". Usually shows up in DarkFic. If a pre-existing show undergoes a {{Retool}} under the guise of making things Darker And Edgier, expect JumpingTheShark, especially if there was ExecutiveMeddling involved. Blog/TheUnitedFederationOfCharles wrote an essay called, [[http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-is-grimdark.html What is Grimdark?]] which explains some of the history of the subject. WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions has [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=PQAWBeFnkg8 a video on this subject as well]]. "Grimderp" has in many parts of the Net become popular as a term for Grimdark that goes so far that it becomes {{Narm}}. When a specific character rather than the work as a whole is perceived as having become excessively Darker And Edgier, a popular term is "Edgelord". Which also gets applied to fanfic writers who produce exclusively Grimdark (or especially Grimderp) works. Future writers beware! Using this trope without knowing ''when'' to stop is a quick road to DarknessInducedAudienceApathy.

** DarkerAndEdgier/BioWare
** DarkerAndEdgier/FinalFantasy
** DarkerAndEdgier/TheLegendOfZelda

** ''DarkerAndEdgier/FinalFantasy''

** DarkerAndEdgier/FinalFantasy

The excessive version is often known as "Grimdark" (one word), derived from the tagline of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. ("In the grim darkness of the far future, there is ''only war.''") Sometimes justified with the phrase "SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids". Usually shows up in DarkFic. If a pre-existing show undergoes a {{Retool}} under the guise of making things Darker And Edgier, expect JumpingTheShark, especially if there was ExecutiveMeddling involved. Blog/TheUnitedFederationOfCharles wrote an essay called, [[http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-is-grimdark.html What is Grimdark?]] which explains some of the history of the subject. WebVideo/OverlySarcasticProductions has [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=PQAWBeFnkg8 a video on this subject as well]]. "Grimderp" has in many parts of the Net become popular as a term for Grimdark that goes so far that it becomes {{Narm}}. When a specific character rather than the work as a whole is perceived as having become excessively Darker And Edgier, a popular term is "Edgelord". Which also gets applied to fanfic writers who produce exclusively Grimdark (or especially Grimderp) works. Future writers beware! Using this trope without knowing ''when'' to stop is a quick road to DarknessInducedAudienceApathy.