History Main / LostAesop

** A large part of Melon's backstory and Legosi's quest to catch him deals with [[MalignedMixedMarriage mixed-species children]] and the discrimination that they face--it's treated as the fault of an intolerant society, clearly making them an analogy for real-life mixed-race people, until it's revealed that mixed-species live genuinely miserable lives no matter what society thinks of them thanks purely to biology[[note]]Legosi's mother [[DrivenToSuicide killed herself]] because her fur fell out at a young age to grow scales in its place, and Melon can't taste food, leading him to torture and cannibalize innocents to be able to[[/note]]. This breaks the metaphor because there is no real-life correlation between mixed-race people and the disabled...so who exactly were this group supposed to be a stand-in for?

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', [[spoiler:Dumbledore]]'s backstory reveals that he once wanted to oppress {{Muggle}}s "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans for the greater good]]," which actually became the rallying cry of the [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem previous]] DarkLord. However, when Aberforth tries to argue that they shouldn't follow [[spoiler:Dumbledore]]'s instructions for these very reasons, Harry objects, saying that sometimes you really do have to do things for the greater good--and indeed, Harry later takes his faith so far that he [[spoiler:lets Voldemort kill him]] (sort of). So... does "the greater good" work as a justification for one's actions or not? Please also note that this whole subplot is only tangentially related to finding Voldemort's [[SoulJar Horcruxes]].

* In the children's book ''Potty, Poo-Poo, Wee-Wee'', a young dinosaur named Littlesaurus is [[ToiletTrainingPlot learning how to use his potty-chair]] but uses it for anything but pooping and peeing, poops on the floor and won't stop [[TitleDrop shouting the book's title]] in public despite the grown-ups (and his school friend) telling him that it is rude. Then, when his granny tells him that [[SharedFamilyQuirks his dad was just the same]] at Littlesaurus's age, Littlesaurus starts using the potty and accepting that shouting out potty words is rude, but the adults all [[NonSequitur randomly]] shout out the book's title. So, is the moral not to tell children what to do because eventually, they'll learn better? But the adults proved otherwise by shouting the potty words. Is it that it's OK to shout potty words? But they do have a point about it being rude and even Littlesaurus eventually agrees that it's rude. Is it to use the potty? Then, what was the point of Granny Dinosaur saying that Dad was just the same? And if it's not to shout potty words, then ''why did the adults shout the potty words at the end''?
* Possibly the case with ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', in which most of the events take place in an MMO VirtualReality called the OASIS and focuses on a world-wide treasure hunt associated with [[TheEighties '80s]] trivia. The main character spends most of his life in the OASIS, largely to avoid the CrapsackWorld he lives in (PostPeakOil world is not a nice place to live for most people). At the end, he seemingly figures out that RealLife is much better than the OASIS, but, if you're a reader, most of what you're read so far describes how beautiful and vibrant an environment the OASIS is, where things that divide us like race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation don't matter.

* The ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' episode "All About Beevil" mostly acts as a warning against trusting people, seeing Dustin first lose his bike to a scammer (the guy promised to improve it, but when Dustin went to pick it up, all he found was an empty lot), then get backstabbed when he tried to help Marah through a HeelFaceTurn. But at the end as he's reeling from Marah's betrayal, the other Rangers remind him of decisions to trust that worked out, and the "scammer" returns the bike saying that the printers must have mixed up his address on his business card. Dustin sums up, "Sometimes you just gotta trust people!" Uhh...
** That last line was said jokingly. Also, put all together... well, one person who seemed trustworthy wasn't, and one who seemed untrustworthy was. So... don't be paranoid but do keep your wits about you. The person who repeatedly tried to blow you up probably didn't get over it in one day, but with any given human it could go either way.
* The CentralTheme of ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' is supposedly one against [[ThePowerOfHate malice]] and {{revenge}}, but the story itself is spotty on how it portrays it. It features an entire arc revolving around a character the show [[HateSink encourages you to hate]] wherein the main characters get {{revenge}} on him for the wrongs he's inflicted on them over the course of the show, all while the viewer is encouraged to [[CatharsisFactor take joy in his misery]]. The final arc then switches to trying to do a moral about the CycleOfRevenge, but the problems the show portrays don't come from the {{revenge}} itself so much as [[spoiler:Aruto using an ObviouslyEvil driver that actively corrupts its user to get his revenge, [[IdiotBall for no reason]], when his Zero-Two Driver would have already been more than enough]]. The post-series ''Zero-One Others'' films then flip this theme on its head completely, and show the CycleOfRevenge the BigBad starts as leading to the mutual destruction of opposing antagonistic factions, and laying the groundwork for peace.

** The premise of "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E16Ethics Ethics]]" is about Worf getting paralyzed from an accident in the cargo bay (something falling on him). He wants to be euthanized since culturally, Klingons (his species) euthanize people with serious injuries since they consider being crippled a dishonor. Picard, somewhat unusually, supports this, but Dr. Crusher doesn't; she believes that she can eventually get him to accept life with a disability (Picard explains to her that getting someone like Worf to let go of deeply held beliefs is '''WAY''' harder than she seems to think, but she apparently doesn't listen). A visiting doctor suggests an experimental procedure which could fully cure Worf, but Crusher finds it too risky (the other doctor freely admits to it having a very low success rate in trials on holographic patients). However, the other doctor does the procedure and Worf recovers. It feels like there should be an Aesop (or possibly several) in there somewhere because most ''Star Trek'' episodes that focus on ethical concerns and/or serious topics like euthanasia tend to have them, however, it's unclear who you're meant to side with, or even if none or all of them are right. After all, the viewers clearly don't want Worf to die, but ''Star Trek'' typically does not go by the "ends justify the means" philosophy. It's also possible that there was never meant to be an Aesop as such - that the intent for the episode wasn't to take a side, but simply to make people think.
* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E13Obsession Obsession]]" is a monster-hunt story that revolves, for the most part, around Kirk's titular obsession with the monster. When the creature first attacked him and the ship he was serving on, 11 years earlier, he hesitated to fire at it and the creature killed half the ship's crew. In the episode itself, a young security officer on the Enterprise also hesitates when faced with the same creature, and the creature ends up killing several men. Both Kirk and the young officer blame themselves for their crewmates' deaths, and there is plenty of angst over the matter. How is this solved? Turns out that the creature is immune to phasers, and neither of the two men could've stopped it when they had the chance. The Aesop that was being set up is that "humans hesitate by nature, sometimes it can't be helped, and you can't spend your life blaming yourself for it". This is even outright explained by Spock. However it ends up being something like "failure is sometimes okay in hindsight" -- which is no Aesop at all. Needless to say, once the creature is revealed to be nigh-invulnerable, the episode proceeds with the monster-hunt and never touches on any of the above in any way.

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' suffers from this due to cut story beats, with the two most prominent (supposed) themes of the game being "the Passing of the Torch" and "Always run towards the fire (i.e. danger)". However, these two themes are barely touched upon with the story not being clear in what the audience should take away, both due to the fact that most of the new characters barely play an important role in the story, and if the audience should believe that Lilith decision to step away from the fighting after losing her Siren powers was correct or not since most of the cast supports her decision or at least can see why she did it while TagalongKid Ava condemns her for leaving the fight ([[spoiler:which she blames for her teacher and fellow Siren Maya's death even though it was her fault for disobeying her orders]]), with the game seemingly proving Ava right in her condemnation of Lilith as [[spoiler:she leaves the Crimson Raiders under Ava's leadership and does a HeroicSacrifice to prevent the destruction of Pandora]], something that was barely foreshadowed in the story. This problem came due to the developers cutting crucial character development for both Ava and Lilith due to the length of the cutscene and not wanting to slow the pacing of the game.

** In the actual series itself, the Critic was supposed to grow and evolve to be more understanding (more like the real Doug in other words) while in [[WebVideo/DemoReel the plot hole]]. Ultimately, he came out even more of a {{Jerkass}} than when he went in. We don't see much of that evolution with the possible exception of his review of Timothy Green (which took place ''right'' after "The Review Must Go On") where he does express understanding of the hard work of the writers and actors at the end (but then again, he does the same thing in his earlier reviews like of ''Casper''), he's actually much harsher in a lot of his reviews and more of a Jerkass to his friends than before. Of course, given that ''Demo Reel'' was cancelled because people really wanted the Critic back, this might be more Doug taking his frustration out in his show than anything else.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' animated series comes to mind, first presenting the Aesop of "You can't engage in racial profiling, it's just wrong in multiple senses of the word" when an innocent, intelligent, and very moral black ''prosecutor'' of all people gets arrested and psychologically coerced and tricked into confessing to the "Xbox murder" that he never committed, because he was black... only to just minutes later reveal that a bunch of random middle-eastern men who seem to be innocent store owners are actually a terrorist front... oh wait, they're not really terrorists, just stereotypical Middle Easterners packing heavy firepower for self-defense but everyone believes they're terrorists because Ed Wuncler is [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney the son of a rich white man and therefore could never have been committing armed robbery against the store owners]]. We never truly find out if they're terrorists or just overly-cautious store owners and the Xbox killer is caught offscreen after he killed another victim, which makes it unclear if the message is that racial bias is right or wrong. The episode was a Lost Aesop on purpose: it was meant to be a satire of the Iraq War in which the Middle Eastern shopkeeper represented Saddam Hussein, so the idea with him was "He's a rotten person and the world's probably better without him in power, but he wasn't remotely involved in the crime we thought he was and we broke the law by going after him." Which is a valid message, but the way it was pulled off was still at odds with the other "racial profiling" plot and it was so incredibly dense that most viewers didn't get the message.

** "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E1AmazonWomenInTheMood Amazon Women in the Mood]]" seems to ''attempt'' some kind of Aesop about the futility of the battle of the sexes... which is slightly deflated by leaning on a lot of sexist humor (the men are [[CompressedVice suddenly played]] as universally StrawMisogynist, and the Space Amazon society is basically every lazy female stereotype put into an alien context) and DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale. There's a bit of mitigation in that [[OnlySaneMan Kif]] is legitimately horrified by the idea of "Death by Snu-Snu", but only because he's effeminate, cementing the idea that AManIsAlwaysEager even when it will ''literally kill him''.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'' probably sets the record for aesop being lost 5 seconds after being presented. One episode involves Orko being assigned to make the palace garden bloom again. After several catastrophic failures, he heads out to find help, and in doing so unwittingly unleashes the SealedEvilInACan MonsterOfTheWeek. Once the crisis is averted (with help from a newly arriving hero), Orko admits in the final scene that tending a garden is too much for him, and Man-At-Arms turns this into AnAesop: knowing what you can and can't do is a sign of maturity. ''One line of dialogue later'', He-Man adds that if you try your hardest, you can accomplish anything. A {{Stock Aesop|s}} that effortlessly contradicts the entirety of the episode's plot up to that point, including the already-delivered moral? Bad form.

** In "Feeling Pinkie Keen", [[TheSmartGuy Twilight Sparkle]] is repeatedly skeptical and repeatedly surprised at correlations between [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinkie Pie's]] physiology and imminent future events; depending on the series of nerve sensations and muscle spasms, seemingly unconnected events can be predicted. Twilight defaults to being an AgentScully for most of the episode (although, it should be said, she does at one point try and fail to get the kind of data on the phenomenon that she could handle), until at the end she's forced to accept the phenomenon she's actually been seeing all the time with her own eyes "on faith". The point is actually stated as being that you can accept some things even if you don't understand them, but Twilight wasn't even ''trying'' to understand anything for most of the time, just to deny it. After people noted the apparent message that science can't explain everything and therefore you should believe in some paranormal things or something similar, WordOfGod admitted that the aesop had got lost along the way. Then again, the comment by Creator/LaurenFaust about what it was really supposed to be about[[note]]There are some things where the evidence is inconclusive, so you have to either remain agnostic or take it on faith one way or another. ...Okay?[[/note]] still sounded like a lost aesop and hardly made the matter much clearer. Perhaps more to the point was her saying that it was supposed to be a funny episode about the characters' personalities interacting.
** "Over a Barrel" is about a conflict between settler ponies and Native American themed buffalo. The historical treatment of Native Americans certainly can't be discussed in it, so the conflict is one of misunderstanding and conflict of interest between equally powerful parties. But really it just seems like an excuse to put the ponies in a WildWest setting for some reason. Pinkie Pie tries to solve the situation by singing an extremely naïve song about how "You gotta share, you gotta care" that only escalates the conflict. However, the parties are actually quite willing to compromise as soon as they figure out how. The conflict is solved mainly because it wasn't that bad to begin with. The official aesop at the end, then, is pretty vacuous, and ends with "You've got to share; you've got to care." (Pinkie Pie: "Hey! That's what I said!") If that wasn't a stealth SpoofAesop, it's kind of confusing; is it good to assume everyone can just be nice and get along, or not? The aesop could be taken as "Everyone can be nice and get along, but only if they actually work out the details of whatever they're arguing about. Vapid slogans alone won't do the trick."

*** Scootaloo's motivation for joining the Washouts introduces the issue of finding something worthwhile to do with one's life in spite of a disability - she had accepted that there was no chance of her following Rainbow Dash into the Wonderbolts (on account of her being [[DreamCrushingHandicap unable to fly]]), and found the Washouts to be a satisfying second choice. As above, this issue gets utterly abandoned when Lightning Dust nearly gets her killed. If the Wonderbolts are a no-go and what she thought to be a worthy alternative is also bad, then what '''IS''' Scootaloo supposed to do with her life? There's also the fact that this is an unusually heavy issue for something as lighthearted as My Little Pony. That sort of thing that tends to grab the audience's attention, making it especially bad form to just throw it away.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' "Imaginary Fiend." The episode was about a boy who [[spoiler: made an imaginary friend, only the imaginary friend turned out to be real. He was still imaginary, but he could move things without being seen. In the end, the Powerpuff girls invented their own imaginary friend to fight him.]] In the beginning, the moral appeared to be "Don't invent an imaginary friend to blame on your actions," but [[spoiler: even Bubbles said it "Wasn't (Mike's) fault, he was evil to begin with."]] In the end, the message seemed to be [[spoiler: when you can't battle an imaginary-realistic friend, invent your own.]] \\
Not to mention what Buttercup says in the end:

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E8HomerSimpsonInKidneyTrouble Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble']]", Grandpa Simpson's kidneys explode, so Homer has to donate a kidney but wusses out, so they perform the surgery against his will. Is the moral about empathy? Well, no, because Homer runs away and leaves his father to die (twice, and never feels remorse about doing so). Is it about the comeuppance of an AssholeVictim? Well, not really, since nonconsensual surgery is hardly better than what Homer did. Is it a serious exploration of declining health? Probably not, because the entire impetus for Grandpa's kidney failure is [[PottyEmergency Homer wouldn't let him go to the bathroom]]. So is it just absurd BlackComedy in a WorldOfJerkass? Most likely, but if that's the case, why does the episode treat the fact that Grandpa is suffering and probably going to die in a 100% serious fashion? It seems like the only purpose of the episode was to establish Homer as a [[{{Jerkass}} terrible person]].

* A ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' episode opens with Tish distraught that her report card has a negative comment about her being too much of a perfectionist. Later, the other guys ask her to paint a seaweed statue for an auction. She paints the statue, saying, "It's not perfect, but it's good enough..." but then she decides that a different kind of seaweed would work better for the statue, and she ends up returning the statue unpainted because she didn't have time to paint the rebuilt statue. After the auction, Tish is disappointed at her perfectionism streak screwing up the job... and then one of the teachers buys up the statue. The ep ends with her [[MediumAwareness straightening up the shot]] before the usual "Later days!" So... is perfectionism supposed to be good or not? It could be taken as saying not to get too hung up on being perfect, because the finished product is still good. That would be a better message to send than just "don't try too hard to be perfect," because some perfectionists try so hard because they think they'll outright fail otherwise. If Tish's statue hadn't sold, it would have confirmed that not being perfect made it a failure, but as it is, it shows that Tish still succeeded while managing to let it go.

* ''Manga/ACentaursLife'' has strong themes about [[StockAesops how racism is bad]]. Except that it goes so far that the society depicted is restrictive to the point that accidental racism is a crime that will get someone sent to a reeducation center (accidental racism being things like riding on a centaur's back because she picked you up to carry you to get medical aid after you collapsed due to exhaustion). It could also be argued, however, that that would appear to be the point. It's a social satire of Japanese political correctness -- the regime enforcing these standards is clearly depicted as authoritarian and dangerous, with armed guards at police checkpoints, as well as mocking the FiveTokenBand trope (MagicalGirl shows in this universe are forced by law to include one member of each race and switch the protagonist every season), etc. Part of the issue with this Aesop is how the PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad is not a major theme of the manga, instead being more of a background element--which, in turn, makes it difficult for the reader to figure out how far the author thinks political correctness should go.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E1AmazonWomenInTheMood Amazon Women in the Mood]]" seems to ''attempt'' some kind of Aesop about the futility of the battle of the sexes... which is slightly deflated by leaning on a lot of sexist humor (the men are [[CompressedVice suddenly played]] as universally StrawMisogynist, and the Space Amazon society is basically every lazy female stereotype RecycledInSpace) and DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale. There's a bit of mitigation in that [[OnlySaneMan Kif]] is legitimately horrified by the idea of "Death by Snu-Snu", but only because he's effeminate, cementing the idea that AManIsAlwaysEager even when it will ''literally kill him''.

** The series definitely isn't shy about one of its main Aesops being "[[PredjudiceAesop racism is bad]]", but it also goes out of the way to show the differences between herbivores and carnivores that are not just the result of ingrained prejudice but also of fundamental, biological incompatibility. It also shows that many of the problems of the series' society come from clueless politicians making laws to force coexistence without actually understanding the groups' wants, at times even making a fair case that peaceful coexistence between the two groups is actually impossible.

* ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'' can't really decide whether its Aesop is that racism and segregation are wrong, or a necessary measure to maintain the peace of society. The stifling atmosphere caused by forcing carnivores into lifestyles that they're not suitable for is shown to breed lots of unnecessary, prejudice-based resentment between them and the herbivores that needs to be fixed. On the other hand, it's also shown that without any restrictions placed on them, carnivores would be killing and eating herbivores, and that creating a voluntary, egalitarian society where both groups live in peace is nearly impossible due to that.

* ''Manga/ACentaursLife'' has strong themes about [[StockAesops how racism is bad]]. Except that it goes so far that the society depicted is restrictive to the point that accidental racism is a crime that will get someone sent to a reeducation center (accidental racism being things like riding on a centaur's back because she picked you up to carry you to get medical aid after you collapsed due to exhaustion). It could also be argued, however, that that would appear to be the point. It's a social satire of Japanese political correctness -- the regime enforcing these standards is clearly depicted as authoritarian and dangerous, with armed guards at police checkpoints, as well as mocking the FiveTokenBand trope (MagicalGirl shows in this universe are forced by law to include one member of each race and switch the protagonist every season), etc.

** At the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E3PlanetOfTheOod Planet of the Ood]]", the title species deal with the villain, Mr. Halpen, who enslaved them, by [[KarmicTransformation forcibly turning him into another Ood]] and promising he'll be cared for as [[HiveMind one of their own]]. Donna doesn't quite know how to feel about this and comments that she doesn't feel she knows right from wrong anymore. The Doctor replies, "It's better that way. People who know for certain tend to be like Mr. Halpen," which sounds a lot like AnAesop -- and in no way applies to the episode we just watched. Halpen was an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive amoral businessman who only cares about his profit]], not some kind of dogmatic KnightTemplar (whereas fighting against him ''was'' presented as a matter of plain right vs. wrong, and the Doctor and Donna certainly never seemed conflicted as to which side they should be on).

* ''Manga/ACentaursLife'' has strong themes about [[StockAesops how racism is bad]]. Except that it goes so far that the society depicted is restrictive to the point that accidental racism is a crime that will get someone sent to a reeducation center (accidental racism being things like riding on a centaur's back because she picked you up to carry you to get medical aid after you collapsed due to exhaustion), coming across as PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad. It could also be argued, however, that that would appear to be the point. It's a social satire of Japanese political correctness -- the regime enforcing these standards is clearly depicted as authoritarian and dangerous, with armed guards at police checkpoints, as well as mocking the FiveTokenBand trope (MagicalGirl shows in this universe are forced by law to include one member of each race and switch the protagonist every season), etc.

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' was billed as ultimately being a thematic exploration of heroes dealing with their mental health, with a big conflict surrounding the morally-ambiguous Sanctuary, an AI-run therapy center for superheroes [[AIIsACrapshoot that may or may not provide what they actually need]]. However, due to a miasma of various plot developments and [[ExecutiveMeddling behind-the-scenes politicking]], Sanctuary and the ethical discussion over its form of therapy [[AbortedArc end up suddenly dropped midway through the series]] in favor of a murder mystery plot, where it's revealed that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally West]] experienced a terrible mental breakdown that resulted in [[AccidentalMurder fatal consequences]]]]. Writer Creator/TomKing asserts that the book is about healing and recovery, which the story does wrap up with -- it ends with [[spoiler:Wally confessing to the terrible mistake he made and opening up to the trauma that led up to it, with his friends and loved ones coming to his side to help him through his turmoil]] -- but this is in lieu of leaving many initial thematic threads completely unresolved. Several critics have highlighted how answering the discussion over therapy ''should'' have thematically cohered along with [[spoiler:Wally]]'s fate, but the fact they end up incomplete renders both plot points [[ShaggyDogStory nakedly moot in moral resolution]] (and because the primary antagonistic figure -- the Sanctuary AI, which was a major catalyst for [[spoiler:Wally's breakdown]] -- is never dealt with, harsher critics claims that the story ultimately sides with its practices, provoking an even messier interpretation of the book's aesop).

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' was billed as ultimately being a thematic exploration of heroes dealing with their mental health, with a big conflict surrounding the morally-ambiguous Sanctuary, an AI-run therapy center for superheroes [[AIIsACrapshoot that may or may not provide what they actually need]]. However, due to a miasma of various plot developments and [[ExecutiveMeddling behind-the-scenes politicking]], Sanctuary and the ethical discussion over its form of therapy [[AbortedArc end up suddenly dropped midway through the series]] in favor of a murder mystery plot, where it's revealed that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally West]] experienced a terrible mental breakdown that resulted in [[AccidentalMurder fatal consequences]]]]. Writer Creator/TomKing asserts that the book is about healing and recovery, which the story does wrap up with -- it ends with [[spoiler:Wally confessing to the terrible mistake he made and opening up to the trauma that led up to it, with his friends and loved ones coming to his side to help him through his turmoil]] -- but this is in lieu of leaving many initial thematic threads completely unresolved. Several critics have highlighted how answering the discussion over therapy ''should'' have thematically cohered along with [[spoiler:Wally]]'s fate, but the fact they end up incomplete renders both plot points [[ShaggyDogStory nakedly moot in moral resolution]] (and because the primary antagonistic figure -- the Sanctuary AI -- is never dealt with, harsher critics claims that the story ultimately sides with its terrible practices).

* ''Literature/WildCardsTheHardCall'' seems to be making a statement on acceptance, beauty, and medical experimentation but what that statement is couldn't be more opaque.
** The comic's Aesop is actually a condemnation of [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]] plots in superhero fiction: "Just because you gained great powers in an accident, it does not mean you have some great destiny." It recognizes the UnfortunateImplications of such stories, because the flip side of that is that people who died or were crippled in accidents were destined to have bad things happen to them. In short, it is an Anti-Nihilist tract about shit happens for no reason, and people try to find a reason.

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' was billed as ultimately being a thematic exploration of heroes dealing with their mental health, with a big conflict surrounding the morally-ambiguous Sanctuary, an AI-run therapy center for superheroes [[AIIsACrapshoot that may or may not provide what they actually need]]. However, due to a miasma of various plot developments and [[ExecutiveMeddling behind-the-scenes politicking]], Sanctuary and the ethical discussion over its form of therapy [[AbortedArc end up suddenly dropped midway through the series]] in favor of a murder mystery plot, where it's revealed that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally West]] experienced a terrible mental breakdown that resulted in [[AccidentalMurder fatal consequences]]]]. Writer Creator/TomKing asserts that the book is about healing and recovery, which the story does wrap up with -- it ends with [[spoiler:Wally confessing to the terrible mistake he made and opening up to the trauma that led up to it, with his friends and loved ones coming to his side to help him through his turmoil]] -- but this is in lieu of leaving many initial thematic threads completely unresolved. Several critics have highlighted how the discussion over therapy ''should'' have resolved along with [[spoiler:Wally]]'s fate, but the fact they end up incomplete renders both stories [[ShaggyDogStory nakedly moot in moral resolution]] (and because the primary antagonistic figure -- the Sanctuary AI -- is never dealt with, harsher critics claims that the story ultimately sides with its terrible practices).

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' was billed as ultimately being a thematic exploration of heroes dealing with their mental health, with a big conflict surrounding the morally-ambiguous Sanctuary, an AI-run therapy center for superheroes [[AIIsACrapshoot that may or may not provide what they actually need]]. However, due to a miasma of various plot developments and [[ExecutiveMeddling behind-the-scenes politicking]], Sanctuary and the ethical discussion over its form of therapy [[AbortedArc end up suddenly dropped midway through the series]] in favor of a murder mystery plot, where it's revealed that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally West]] experienced a terrible mental breakdown that resulted in [[AccidentalMurder fatal consequences]]]]. ComicBook/TomKing asserts that the book is about healing and recovery, which the story does wrap up with -- it ends with [[spoiler:Wally confessing to the terrible mistake he made and opening up to the trauma that led up to it, with his friends and loved ones coming to his side to help him through his turmoil]] -- but this is in lieu of leaving many initial thematic threads completely unresolved. Several critics have highlighted how the discussion over therapy ''should'' have resolved along with [[spoiler:Wally]]'s fate, but the fact they end up incomplete renders both stories [[ShaggyDogStory nakedly moot in moral resolution]] (and because the primary antagonistic figure -- the Sanctuary AI -- is never dealt with, harsher critics claims that the story ultimately sides with its terrible practices).

->'''Director of Central Intelligence''': What did we learn, Palmer?\\
'''Palmer''': I don't know, sir.\\
'''DCI''': I don't fuckin' know, either. I guess we learned not to do it again.\\
'''Palmer''': Yes, sir.\\
'''DCI''': I'm fucked if I know what we ''did.''
-->-- ''Film/BurnAfterReading'', conversation before end credits

'''DCI''': I don't fuckin' know, either. I guess we learned...''not'' to do it again.\\

'''DCI''': Fucked if I even know what we ''did.''

* Creator/JonBois lampshades this in his video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9H9LwGmc-0 The Search for the Saddest Punt in the World]]", a listing of various times in football where a team should clearly have tried to advance the ball or gone for a field goal rather than punting. He spends most of the video explaining these instances as a cautionary tale, where players were so cowardly that they GaveUpTooSoon and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, proclaiming that "this is what losing teams do"... then, at the end, he reveals that, of the ten instances listed, six ended in victory for the punters, one was a tie, and of the three that lost, one followed up that game with a lengthy winning streak, including a Super Bowl. He concludes that he has no idea what he's trying to say.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', a BelatedBackstory for [[spoiler:Dumbledore]] reveals that he once wanted to oppress {{Muggle}}s "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans for the greater good]]," which actually became the rallying cry of the [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem previous]] DarkLord. However, when Aberforth tries to argue that they shouldn't follow [[spoiler:Dumbledore]]'s instructions for these very reasons, Harry objects, saying that sometimes you really do have to do things for the greater good--and indeed, Harry later takes his faith so far that he [[spoiler:lets Voldemort kill him]] (sort of). So... does "the greater good" work as a justification for one's actions or not? Please also note that this whole subplot is only tangentially related to finding Voldemort's [[SoulJar Horcruxes]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' special ''Misty Island Rescue''. The film is supposedly about making good decisions... only the writers themselves can't seem to decide whether or not Thomas should make decisions and think for himself, and the other characters never seem to object to Thomas's stupid choices, making the whole thing quite vague. The nearest to an accurate evaluation is when the Locos suggest to Thomas to simply accept you'll make bad choices every once in a while (though since this was in reaction to a feat that almost got them lost in the middle of nowhere forever even that might not be the best evaluation).

* One episode of WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek focuses on Craig being the only healthy kid left when a germ starts going around. He is led to believe that it was a BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor type curse after wishing that he wasn't surrounded by kids who eat gross things. It's framed as an IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam routine, but it doesn't take a detective to figure out that being a picky eater was what protected him from the sickness.

* ''WesternAnimation/HelloKitty'': The episode "Replying Properly" begins with a rather obvious Aesop about "always answer when someone calls your name", but then it turns into "slang is bad" (i.e. Mama Cat saying "shouldn't you say 'yes' instead of 'uh-huh'?"), which escalates when [[SpaceWhaleAesop a monster appears who gets bigger when he hears 'yeah, what?', but smaller when he hears 'yes']]. Then, they all play hide-and-seek and Kitty answers upon being called, giving herself away, so...don't call someone's name when they're playing hide-and-seek.

* Because the Marvel ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' crossover was written by multiple authors, most of whom didn't agree with the direction Marvel was going, the moral behind the story seems to jump from book to book.

* ''WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure'' unfortunately suffers from lost aesops. The story is about coming to terms with the loss of a friend [[spoiler: except Christopher Robin gets found again. This undermines any symbolism to coping with loss and undermines the self-actualization that the characters experience. This story also doesn't account for the fact that reality sucks, and that while some things can be attributed to imagination and fear, some things are REALLY not.]]

While it's obviously a more confused (and less subtle) cousin of the BrokenAesop, the Lost Aesop also claims kinship to the YoYoPlotPoint, since it's the recurring nature of a relatively small "error" that sets up a whole lot of confusion. The fact that the Lost Aesop seems more likely to occur in works that are produced by a group rather than a single person might also suggest the reason for the mangled moral was that the opinions and viewpoints of the writing team varied greatly. Meanwhile, it is the polar opposite of the CaptainObviousAesop and AnvilOfTheStory. This is not to be confused with AesopAmnesia, where a moral is set up but suddenly forgotten a few works later.