History Main / FantasticAesop

* Anime/PrincessMononoke: Don't shoot elder nature gods if you don't want them to turn into {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* ''Film/TheTimeMachine2002'' had a ButterflyOfDoom follow the time traveler around when he tried to change time to save his fiance- the lesson being presumably "don't use time travel to change the past".

* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'': One tract has a completely sincere example- a talentless kid sells his soul to the devil for incredible fame and basketball skills. The Fantastic Aesop is "don't sell your soul to the devil"... except the end of the comic outright says the devil never had his soul. In other words, the kid traded nothing for ridiculous success.

Compare with SpaceWhaleAesop: the lesson itself is reasonable, but the consequences are unrealistic. Often a clear metaphor or analogy to real life can come across as a fantastic aesop if interpreted in its most literal form- check out DarthWiki/WarpThatAesop for those examples.

** In Series/TheGoodPlace episode "Best Self," Michael tries to put an aphoristic button on their afterlife experiences so far. He comes up with such statements as, "The real bad place was the friends we made along the way," which Eleanor dismisses as "nonsense."

* IRobot (along with almost every robot story, including [[{{Theatre/RUR}} the one which coined the term "robot"]]): Don't make artificial servants in the shape of humans, because they ''will'' develop human emotions, including the desire not to be held in servitude, and they ''will'' be faster, stronger and more durable than humans, regardless of their designed function (computers and mechanical labor devices ''not'' shaped like humans will never develop or understand emotion, although there is a level of processing power at which any device will spontaneously develop the ability to commandeer all forms of machinery, full access to and comprehension of all existing data and media, and the intention to destroy humanity).

Contrast with DissonantAesop. Though these two tropes may seem similar, an important distinction between this and the DissonantAesop is that the former teaches a lesson which could not be applied in the real, current world. The DissonantAesop tries to teach a lesson that can apply to our world, but it just comes off as nonsensical or ineffective when looked at within the context of its setting and world.

[[folder:Fanworks]]
* ''Fanfic/EakinsHardReset'': After being killed by the Elements of Harmony, Twilight's reaction is that there's probably a decent friendship report somewhere in the fact that "misusing the power of friendship can not only hurt you, but can make every particle in your body explode at the same time". A valuable lesson for us all.

* The English dub of the ''Anime/SonicX'' pilot has a good one; the city's Special Forces, policemen driving racecars, are chasing Sonic when he gets on top of one of their cars.
-->'''Driver:''' Hey, you! This is dangerous! It's irresponsible! What happens if kids start trying this?\\

* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs'': In the short "Super Strong Warner Siblings" (which parodies ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''), Yakko tells the kids in the audience that "playing with giant bugs isn't cool".

Often [[SpeculativeFiction Science Fiction and Fantasy]] stories will use metaphors or analogies to teach a [[{{aesop}} moral lesson]] which ''does'' apply to the real world -- for example, using FantasticRacism to apply to a lesson about real-world discrimination. Though if things aren't handled well, it's easy to end up with the fantasy setting [[BrokenAesop undermining the intended message]] -- for example, delivering a lesson about discrimination using a race established to be a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil legitimate threat]] Other times the lesson just has no direct relevance at all (at least without a generous level of interpretation) -- such as teaching a moral lesson against using TimeTravel or TheDarkSide to fix your problems.

Often [[SpeculativeFiction Science Fiction and Fantasy]] stories will use metaphors or analogies to teach a [[{{aesop}} moral lesson]] which ''does'' apply to the real world -- for example, using FantasticRacism to apply to a lesson about real-world discrimination. Other times the lesson just has no direct relevance at all (at least without a generous level of interpretation) -- such as teaching a moral lesson against using TimeTravel or TheDarkSide to fix your problems.

** "[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E22MarksAndRecreation Marks and Recreation]]" has Rumble learn that a pony's cutie mark doesn't prevent them from developing skills in other areas. This both serves as a metaphor for being well-rounded and dispels some of the darker fan theories surrounding cutie marks.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is generally pretty good at avoiding this, but it still runs into it on occasion: "Cutie Mark Chronicles" is a good example, as its moral is that friendship is important because everyone has a special connection with their friends, even before they've met. Which is a nice thought, and may very well be true InUniverse, but in real life it's entirely impossible to become really good friends without having ever crossed paths in the past.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]] devotes a good deal of time to discussing the Aesop that "Just because you're immortal doesn't mean you should stop caring about mortals."

* At the end of the [[Franchise/TombRaider Nanase Craft]] parody comic in Webcomic/ElGoonishShive, the fairy Circe makes a point of [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/nanasecraft-72 accepting the differences]] in our bodies that make us unique over using a magical item to "fix" ourselves.

* ''Film/BoggyCreek2TheLegendContinues'': Bigfoot searchers should leave Bigfoot alone -- he's a part of nature's unspoiled beauty. Even Crenshaw comes to this conclusion by the end!

* The "moral" for ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' and its "sequeL' ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' is basically "Don't use magic recklessly or frivolously, or you might cause a RealityBreakingParadox and kill yourself."

* The "moral" for ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' and its "sequeL' ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakened'' is basically "Don't use magic recklessly or frivolously, or you might cause a RealityBreakingParadox and kill yourself."

* The "moral" for ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' and its "sequeL' ''Mage/TheAwakened'' is basically "Don't use magic recklessly or frivolously, or you might cause a RealityBreakingParadox and kill yourself."

* ''Blog/SliceOfLife'': From [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/478908 the twins encounter]] with Discord:

* ''Blog/SliceOfLife'' from [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/478908 the twins encounter]] with Discord:
--> '''Pumpkin:''' "I learned not to accept favors from semi-omnipotent beings of pure chaos."

A common Fantastic Aesop is a warning against the use of magic or non-existent technology -- when the work seems to be warning aginst the use of ''any'' new technology, see ScienceIsBad and LuddWasRight. Other common uses include the ButterflyOfDoom (be careful with time travel!) or BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, in cases where the wish is literally granted, immediately, by magic.

--->'''Driver:''' Hey, you! This is dangerous! It's irresponsible! What happens if kids start trying this?\\

* ''Manga/FrankenFran'': [[OnceAnEpisode Practically every issue]] Fran observes a flaw of human nature and takes some bit of wisdom from it that the reader can share. Things like, "Don't get so addicted to being revived from death by a maestro surgeon that you keep killing yourself over and over", or "Don't turn yourself into an anime character for love, or your skin will molt off and your lover will crush you to death trying to escape the alien you appear to be", or maybe "Inner beauty may shine through a layer of bandages, but those bandages are there to cover something ''horrifying''".

* ''Anime/PomPoko'' spends a lot of time establishing the negative impact industrialization and city expansion have on local nature [[FantasticAesop and its resident supernatural creatures]].

* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'': One tract has a completely sincere example- a talentless kid sells his soul to the devil for incredible fame and basketball skills. The FantasticAesop is "don't sell your soul to the devil"... except the end of the comic outright says the devil never had his soul. In other words, the kid traded nothing for ridiculous success.
* ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'': FantasticAesop: The story is essentially a result of Quesada wanting to split up Mary Jane and Peter, but at the same time didn't want to imply a "divorce is okay" moral. Apparently, he was fine with impossibly implying "making deals with the devil is okay".
* ''ComicBook/TheVision2015''

* Film/BoggyCreek2TheLegendContinues: Bigfoot searchers should leave Bigfoot alone -- he's a part of nature's unspoiled beauty. Even Crenshaw comes to this conclusion by the end!

* Blog/SliceOfLife From [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/478908 the twins encounter]] with Discord:

* ''WebAnimation/Kurzgesagt'':{{Discussed|Trope}} in ''What if the World turned to Gold'': after any attempt to turn the Earth into gold causes an apocalypse of some sorts, the narrator comments that there's probably a lesson to take away from it, but he's not sure what it is.

A situation in which the characters learn some sort of moral or lesson which is impossible to apply in RealLife. The lesson may be perfectly reasonable in context- but totally useless to the audience, who presumably live on modern day planet Earth.