History Main / LostAesop

* ''Recess'' had quite a few of these in its time:
** One episode had the children stuck inside for Recess because it was raining outside. Miss Finster is delighted about this, hoping that keeping the children off the playground will turn them into mindless zombies as it did with a previous class of hers. TJ eventually gives an empassioned speech about how it's just water and can't hurt them before veering off into how adults are using the rain as an excuse to tell them what to do. He and the gang go outside to play in the rain and the sun comes out. At the end of the episode they are implied to have gotten sick from playing in the rain. So was the lesson "don't be afraid of water", "don't let adults tell you what to do", "staying indoors for too long will turn you into a zombie", "playing in the rain will make the sun come out"...you'll get a headache if you try to figure it out.

** This confusion is reflected in the [[ShowWithinAShow Book Within A Book]], ''A City With No People,'' where the rabbit-like character [[spoiler: representing Chi]] moves from bemoaning the loss of human-to-human interaction to deciding that "a city with no people" is perfectly all right as long as she has her "someone just for me."
** At this point, the viewer might as well accept that the only thing close to an Aesop in the story is "love doesn't make sense all the time".
** That's not the confusing moral; the series just gets over ScienceIsBad to deliver an Aesop [[FantasticAesop a few decades too early]] ("It's really love if [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the machine can love you back]]"). The ''really'' confusing Aesop is how Hideki falls in love with a [[UnfortunateImplications childlike intelligence]] [[HikaruGenjiPlan he effectively fathered]] [[SexIsEvil in a forced-to-be-chaste relationship]] and that's [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop totally cool and romantic.]]
*** What makes it ''[[BeyondTheImpossible even worse]]'' is that said machines [[spoiler:do not]] love you back! [[spoiler:Even Chi and Freya, the most advanced persocoms in the world, do not have true sentience, they're only following their programming!]]
*** The anime does end with the implication that a) Chii (and possibly all persocoms, now) is indeed capable of genuine love, and b) that it's at least possible for her to engage in sexual activity. The moral, if there is supposed to be one, is still pretty weird.

* In an example of how making an issue too complex can result in confusion, the second season of ''KaleidoStar'' couldn't decide whether ruthless competition was a ''good'' or a ''bad'' thing. Sora's non-confrontational manner and own self-doubts cost her her position as Kaleido Star, as she was usurped by the ambitious May and the icy Leon. Later, she decides to compete against the two of them to prove her worth, with the help of ex-Bad Boy now TheAtoner Yuri Killian. At the Circus Festival itself, [[spoiler: however, Sora realizes that achieving her own dreams in the contest means crushing everyone else, and ends up throwing the competition away rather than winning such a polluted and underhanded event]]. Yet Layla berates her for her unwillingness to compete, May is ''genuinely'' hurt (to the point of ''tears'' and a borderline HeroicBSOD) when Sora openly refuses to compete with her as well, and their viewpoint is presented to the audience as correct...when just a short while ago, Sora's decision not to step on other people on her way to the top was seen as a noble sentiment. The series tapers off into [[TakeAThirdOption the middle road of "competition]] ''[[TakeAThirdOption does']]' [[TakeAThirdOption encourage everyone to do their best"]]... but it ''does'' leaves some of the implications the show itself raised unanswered (Is it all right to trample over people who are polite and gentle? Are merciless tactics acceptable in the pursuit of stardom? Is it noble or weak to try and avoid a fight? If a rival who poses a good challenge has his/her wish rejected, is it valid for him/her to be upset or not?).

** That's not the confusing moral; the series just gets over ScienceIsBad to deliver an Aesop [[FantasticAesop a few decades too early]] ("It's really love if [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman the machine can love you back]]"). The ''really'' confusing Aesop is how Hideki falls in love with a [[UnfortunateImplications childlike intelligence]] [[HikaruGenjiPlan he effectively fathered]] [[SexIsEvil in a forced-to-be-chase relationship]] and that's [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop totally cool and romantic.]]

* ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Season One: Even the writers admit that they had written themselves into a corner concerning whether or not superheroes were a good or a bad thing. Thankfully, then the space alien computer showed up, and it was so cool, few cared until they reached the fridge.
** An earlier episode of ''JusticeLeague'' averted this in the finished product, but lost its Aesop when they were ''writing'' it. Batman and an [[KnightTemplar overly enthusiastic]] version of Batman from a [[EvilTwin a parallel world]] are engaged in a freedom vs. safety debate. When writing the exchange, the writers intended to have the "real" Batman win with his freedom argument, however when they gave the "evil" Batman a line about the murder of the Wayne family the writers could not think of any retort for the "good" Batman to make. They had meant for him to win the argument, but ended up convincing ''themselves'' that the "evil" argument was the right one. (At least, that it was the right argument from the Batmans' perspective.) Thankfully, they developed a retort for a later scene which featured one of the downsides of the totalitarian regime, and the final episode maintained its "Safety at all costs is not worth the price" message.

Has nothing to do with the ABC LiveActionTV show ''{{Lost}}''. Compare ChooseYourOwnAesop, where there are ''many'' possible Aesops to take away from the story.

** Given he supposedly wrote it in a few hours off the top of his head, he might not have meant it to have one at all.

*** What makes it ''[BeyondTheImpossible even worse]]'' is that said machines [[spoiler:do not]] love you back! [[spoiler:Even Chi and Freya, the most advanced persocoms in the world, do not have true sentience, they're only following their programming!]]

* BobAndGeorge: MegaMan [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000428c starts out warning against violence]], [[HypocriticalHumor lapses into firing at Roll]], and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000429c ends up warning against ice cream]].

* BobAndGeorge: MegaMan [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000428c starts out warning against violence]] and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000429c ends up warning against ice cream]].

* BobAndGeorge: He [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000428c starts out warning against violence]] and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000429c ends up warning against ice cream]].

** Another ''Simpsons'' episode with a LostAesop can be the 10th season episode "Lisa Gets an 'A'". This episode was about Lisa getting sick from having Homer shove her into a supermarket's ice cream freezer a little too long. Marge makes her stay home from school and she does so with Marge's advice that she forget about trying to learn and play some of Bart's video games. Lisa does so playing a ''CrashBandicoot'' spoof to the point she is hooked. In the process she gets a homework reading assignment: her class started reading ''{{The Wind in the Willows}}''. She spends the duration of her sick leave playing the game. When she goes back to the class, she had not read the book and her class is now being tested on it. Finally with some urging from Bart and Nelson Muntz, Lisa takes a cheat sheet and attains a very high grade. Later Principal Skinner calls her to the office to discuss the test: her lone test grade brought the entire school's GPA up to it's minimum standard and the school now qualifies for a grant. Even after Lisa deliberately confesses to having cheated, Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers try to have her stay quiet long enough so the school can get the grant money, feeling it would do a lot of good for the school. In the end Lisa fixes her grade in the privacy of her own home, while the school staff gets the grant money and they cash it at a liquor store. What... exactly is the message of this episode? [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop It's okay to cheat as long as it helps?]] No, that's not right. Could it be "Don't worry about your grades Lisa, you're surrounded by idiots"? No, measuring intelligence on nothing but academic achievements is rather asinine. Maybe it's [[CaptainObviousAesop Do your homework and don't abuse your sick leave?]] Eh, too blatant. Maybe it's... you know what, forget it. I'll just say the message truly lies in the subplot with Homer and his pet lobster Pinchy: If you adopt a lobster as a pet, don't give it a hot bath for too long or you'll accidently cook it. There, satisfied.
*** It's actually pretty clearly a FantasticAesop - "Lisa is the only person in Springfield with anything remotely resembling a moral code." Which... it's a ''Lisa'' episode, of course that's the Aesop.

->"You know, it's an interesting thing when you consider... The Earth people, who can think, are so frightened by those who cannot: the dead. Well, our ship should be regenerated; we'd better get started."

** An earlier episode of ''JusticeLeague'' averted this in the finished product, but lost its Aesop when they were ''writing'' it. Batman and an [[KnightTemplar overly enthusiastic]] version of Batman from a [[EvilTwin a parallel world]] are engaged in a freedom vs. safety debate. When writing the exchange, the writers intended to have the "real" Batman win with his freedom argument, however when they gave the "evil" Batman a line about the murder of the Wayne family the writers could not think of any retort for the "good" Batman to make. They had meant for him to win the argument, but ended up convincing ''themselves'' that the "evil" argument was the right one. (At least, that it was the right argument from the Batman's perspective.) Thankfully, they developed a retort for a later scene which featured one of the downsides of the totalitarian regime, and the final episode maintained its "Safety at all costs is not worth the price" message.