History Main / DeconReconSwitch

* Likewise, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'''s first half is a deconstruction of Homer's character: his antics wind up dooming the town, the family are forced to flee Springfield for their lives, and ultimately, [[spoiler:Marge takes the kids and leaves him, intending it to be permanent]]. ''That'' [[HeroicBSOD finally gets through to him]], and he spends the rest of the movie trying to fix everything that he's destroyed.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' spent three seasons tearing apart [[DeconstructorFleet many, many sitcom tropes]], and showing how [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome believing them will make a person lonely and miserable]]. By Season 4, Bojack, by putting in the effort, actually begins to get the happiness he craved.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Naveen's luxurious life as a prince caused him to become a [[RoyalBrat spoiled]], [[TheCasanova arrogant womanizer]] which led to his parents cutting him off from their money. He's also a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter, having been surrounded all his life by flatterers and flunkies. When he assumes that Tiana is a true princess just because of how she's dressed, he thinks he's found an easy out of his curse, and this multiplies their problems. The reconstruction comes when his growing feelings for Tiana cause him to become less self-absorbed and be willing to renounce his goals to help her achieve her dreams and their FourthDateMarriage allows them to invoke TrueLovesKiss much more successfully the second time around.
** ''The Princess And The Frog'' also has elements of this for Disney movies, though in a different way than the above. While Franchise/{{Disney Princess}}es have a reputation for waiting around for whatever they want, Tiana is a borderline workaholic; Naveen, meanwhile, is a spoiled lothario, and their attempt at forcing TrueLovesKiss only makes everything worse. By the end, however, they're in love, get married and everything works out like in your average Disney fairy tale.
** Doctor Facilier is a deconstruction of the MagicalNegro. He offers to use his magic to seemingly improve the lives of others with nothing to gain from it, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that he's manipulating his customers for his own ultimate gain. Mama Odie is a reconstruction with a twist. She could use her magic to fix everything, but she wants the protagonists to earn their happy endings.

* Likewise, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'''s first half is a deconstruction of Homer's character: his antics wind up dooming the town, the family are forced to flee Springfield for their lives, and ultimately, [[spoiler:Marge takes the kids and leaves him, intending it to be permanent]]. ''That'' [[HeroicBSOD finally gets through to him]], and he spends the rest of the movie trying to fix everything that he's destroyed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'', The Eds' friendship is deconstructed with Edd questioning his friendship with Eddy and Ed after being forced to leave the cul-de-sac after another scam goes wrong, leaving the neighborhood kids injured and wanting to violently punish the Eds, his friends acting immature, not taking the situation they're in seriously, and constantly pranking him. [[RageBreakingPoint The last straw for him]] is when they pretend [[QuicksandSucks drown in quicksand]] and Double D becomes fed up and decides to end their friendship, choosing instead to face the kids' wrath then go anywhere with them. Luckily for them, Eddy has a HeelRealization about how he has been a bad friend and apologizes to Double D, this convinces him not end their friendship and he accepts the apology, and the three becomes friends again, reconstructing their friendship.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the "forgiveness" Aesop present in many other works undergoes this process. In "The Southern Raiders," there's no way in hell that Katara's going to [[spoiler:forgive the man who killed her mother in cold blood, especially when he's not even ''repenting,'']] but she ''will'' [[spoiler:forgive Zuko, who has thoroughly reformed himself]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Korra is a decon-recon of the ActionHero. The villains are [[GrayingMorality more morally grey]] and represent [[VillainHasAPoint legitimate social issues]] that can't be resolved through ass-kicking, with Korra's attempts to do so being [[LeeroyJenkins reckless to a fault]] or [[DestructiveSaviour causing collateral damage]] that's more liable to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero hurt the heroes and aid the villains]]. But then the villains [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope descent into clear-cut evildoing]] and need an ass-kicking to stop, enabling said social issues to be resolved properly. Korra's wins ultimately come at [[PyrrhicVictory increasingly high costs]] that leave her physically and emotionally crippled by the end of Season 3, where the continued existence of problems despite her efforts and others able to take care of things while she recovers make her think her being an Action Hero is unneeded. This causes Korra, who's defined her self-worth by being such, to go into a HeroicBSOD that last three years and two-thirds of the final season, recovering once she reconstructs her worth. [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed The continued existence of problems]] mean such an ActionHero will always be needed, with all her hardships making her, and redefining herself as, a diplomat who's able to resolve conflict without the costs of fighting but still able to fight if need be.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' spent its first two-and-a-half seasons as one of the most scathingly vicious and depressing takedowns of organized religion in modern-media history- but ended its run by allowing just a tiny crack of light into that oppressive darkness, showing that while the entire town of Moralton may be astoundingly [[CrapsaccharineWorld screwed up]], religion is only an excuse for the citizens to justify their own actions, and not the reason ''why'' they're so depraved - i.e., the problem comes not from the existence of religion or people's faith in God, but from their willfully misinterpreting the lessons of the Bible to push their own agendas. Despite everything that happens to him, Orel being the only ''truly'' devout person in Moralton and its only really noble person is emphatically not a coincidence, and the strength of his faith above all else is what ultimately allows him to [[EarnYourHappyEnding find his happy ending.]]

* The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS22E17LoveIsAManyStrangledThing Love Is a Many Strangled Thing]]" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' does this to the RunningGag of Homer strangling Bart. The show recognizes how abusive this behavior is, and when Homer goes into therapy after embarrassing Bart, he casually brings his stranglings up to the therapist (voiced by SpecialGuest Creator/PaulRudd), and he ends up going through extensive roleplaying sessions in order to break him out of the habit. However, as a result, Bart's sociopathic behavior gets worse than ever, and after unsuccessfully trying multiple times to get Bart to show compassion towards Homer, the therapist ultimately freaks out and ends up strangling Bart himself.

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': The title character became a superhero because he wanted fame and glory. His entire hero career he remained a glory hound who [[IWorkAlone refused to team up with other heroes unless there was no other choice]] because he didn't want to share the spotlight and who didn't seem nearly as skilled as he thought he was. On the other hand he was repeatedly put through hell and kept going and when [[LetsGetDangerous he got serious]] because someone was in actual danger he quickly and efficiently dealt with the threat.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' ''[[SamuraiJack/TropesSeason5 final season]]'' take apart and rebuild the mythology of the series.
** Take Apart: This season is more than just DarkerAndEdgier. It clearly shows the consequences and cost of being a warrior stranded in the future fighting an immortal creature that is a personification of evil. Many elements of the first four seasons that had [[FridgeHorror uncomfortable implications]] are explored in depth as well as the toll it would take on Jack and those involved. To wit:
*** Jack is fine with destroying robots in brutal ways with fluids and parts flying everywhere, but this season makes it clear that in all that time, he never knowingly took a human life. This didn't matter so much at first, as it was primarily Aku who was after him, and Aku prefers sending machines and monsters. This season shows what would happen if others besides Aku wanted to come after him and DIDN'T use robots or machines but real people. When Jack takes his first human life in self-defense, he is horrified and disgusted with himself and even when he resolves to kill in self-defense, he is still haunted by his actions and victims.
*** Jack and Aku learn the hard way that by some fluke, Jack has been rendered [[TheAgeless ageless]] and therefore continues to live no matter how many centuries pass (provided that nothing physically harms and kills him). It was fine for Jack being in a stalemate with Aku for only a few years and provided that there was a chance to go home. With the last of the time portals destroyed and Aku effectively withdrawing from open conflict, Jack has to wander around playing the good Samaritan putting out small fires while the overall inferno (Aku's subjugation of the world) blazes unabated. Saying that this has not been good for either Jack or Aku's mental health, would be an understatement.
*** While things were shown to be bad under Aku's rule in the previous seasons, this season in particular doesn't pull any punches about what a CrapsackWorld the Earth is ruled by Aku. The new opening of the show is downright bleak and when Jack fights his first serious villain, the audience can clearly see the butchered corpses of the villagers Jack went to save. Jack is later forced to show Ashi a good hard look at how bad the world of Aku is when he shows her a single beautiful tree that was once part of a grand forest. Aku destroyed every tree but that one because he wanted people to despair at what once was. Later Ashi kills a torturer who was using brainwashed children as weapons.
*** Spending 50 years going around fighting the forces of Aku using any and every weapon you can find may make you an unbelievably skilled warrior, but it will also take a toll on your mind. What's more is that Jack was only going through the motions without any resolve or determination behind his actions. Add that to the fact that he's suffering from some very serious internal turmoil and guilt lead to a very strong but also mentally unbalanced protagonist.
** Rebuild: At the beginning of the season and primarily towards the end, many of the elements deconstructed are slowly put back together. While things have overall seemed lost and Jack had lost himself to despair and rage, it is shown that one man can make a difference and that many small actions over time can produce huge results.
*** While Jack became horrified that he had to kill, he still killed in self defense. Moreover, he gave his attackers plenty of warning and the chance to walk away with their lives. Regardless of the Daughters of Aku's circumstance and how much choice they had in their actions, Jack was justified in his actions and conducted himself as a hero showing concern for his foes and only used lethal force as a last resort. Even Ashi, a former Daughter of Aku turned ally to Jack, acknowledges that while Jack may have killed her sisters, he bears no fault or blame for the act (that falls squarely on their terrible mother).
*** It turns out that going around helping people all of the time in spite of (or because of) the world being a terrible place does make a difference: people will be grateful for the little bit of hope that you've given them. Do it enough and word starts to spread a about a man dressed in white saving people from the forces of evil incarnate. A man who can't be stopped or beaten. A man who (so far as the general population knows) can't be broken. You're not just a guy going around helping people and fighting Aku's forces anymore. You've become a folk hero: a legend to inspire everyone who dreams of being free from Aku.

* ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' is a book starring a somewhat offbeat fellow, Gary Karkofsky, who finds a magic cloak and decides to become a supervillain. The book Deconstructs the NinetiesAntiHero and UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks by having Gary disgusted by heroes who kill and overly psychopathic villains. It also serves as a Decon-Recon Switch because Gary, himself, is a well-written NinetiesAntiHero. The book, notably, treats LighterAndSofter superheroes significantly more sympathetically than most examples of the {{Capepunk}} genre.