Basic Trope: The latest trend will corrupt vulnerable youth (and in some cases, adults, too), and cause society's downfall.
- Straight: Alice and her Junior High friends are into a particular hobby or fandom. Her parents, who don't "get it," worry that her interest will make her go from a well-behaved straight-A student to hedonistic self-destructive hooligan.
- Exaggerated:
- The hobby in question? Knitting.
- Within weeks of adopting this trend, the entire town of Troperville has degenerated into a chaotic drug-addled blood orgy.
- Due to her new hobby, Alice is becoming more social and her grades are on the rise. Her parents still insist that it's actively ruining her life.
- Alice, a perfect church girl, turns into an Omnicidal Maniac after getting into the trend.
- Downplayed: Alice's interest keeps her from doing her homework on occasion, which worries her friends and parents, but otherwise her life is quite normal.
- Justified:
- Alice is genuinely engaging in risky behavior or hanging out with a bad crowd as she pursues her hobby
- Perhaps related to the above, Alice's parents have noticed unsettling changes in Alice's mood, behavior, or personality since she got involved with her hobby (for example, she's become noticeably more irritable, her grades are slipping, she's been in trouble with the law, etc.)
- Alice's parents are trying to teach her that Peer Pressure Makes You Evil.
- Inverted:
- Alice and her friends worry about some TV show their parents are into.
- The (innocuous) hobby Alice's parents are concerned about has been around for a while, and indeed they may have participated in it themselves.
- Alice's parents think that the latest trend/fandom will improve Alice's life even though she's not interested.
- Subverted:
- The "hobby" in question that Alice's parents are worried about is actually a slang term for a drug, or some other type of risky activity.
- Alice's mom participates right alongside her daughter, and finds nothing wrong with it.
- Double Subverted:
- It turns out that activity or drug either does not exist or is not nearly as popular as that email forward Aunt Peggy sent made it out to be.
- Other parents think Alice's mom is too permissive.
- Parodied:
- Satan is put in charge of music on the radio and TV.
- In order to keep Alice safe from the world, her parents lock her away in a tower, guarded by a fierce dragon.
- Alice's parents are concerned by her obsession with building foster homes for unwell orphans, and they try to introduce her to good ol' Hollywood Satanism.
- Zig Zagged: Alice's mom receives an email forward from her sister, detailing a hobby that "all the teens are into." Immediately, her worry levels spike, and she talks to Alice, who has never heard of this big new thing, and Snopes (or an analog to it) confirms it as something that's out there but not common. Three weeks later, it has come to Alice's school...and it turns out to be No Mere Windmill...but Alice is above the influence anyway.
- Averted: Alice's mom actually does her research and stays involved in her daughter's life (without being a helicopter parent, of course) before she flies off the handle.
- Enforced:
- Truth in Television, Satire, Trend Aesop, Very Special Episode
- "Everyone is accusing our show of teaching kids to be bigoted/violent/overemotional just because it's the new fad, so let's make an episode where the main character is shunned by her parents for liking something completely innocent."
- Lampshaded: "Alice, turn off that Devil Music!"
- Invoked: Alice mentions a hobby, interest, or genre of music that wasn't around back in her parents' day.
- Exploited: Moral Guardians and Media Watchdogs implore parents to Think of the Children!
- Discussed: "Did you hear about the Otaku killer? Man, those nerds are Ax-Crazy!"
- Conversed: "Here We Go Again!: another moral outrage provoked by Public Medium Ignorance."
- Deconstructed:
- Alice's parents are so convinced that their daughter's new hobby/interest is dangerous and destructive in her life that they continually hound and berate her about it until she can't take it any more—with the result that while the hobby or interest they were worried about was genuinely harmless or inspiring, Alice rebels by taking part in an activity that really is dangerous and corrupting.
- Alternately, the scrutiny and judgment of her parents causes Alice to lose all trust in her family and run away, after which she gets into deadly (but completely unrelated) trouble.
- Reconstructed:
- It turns out, however, there was more to the hobby/interest than Alice was aware of, so that even as she continues resisting and denying them, secretly she realizes the truth and regrets getting involved in it. Eventually an intervention saves her from the bad influence of her activity, she understands that her parents were only acting out of love to try and protect her, and she is able to return to a normal life, wiser and more cautious.
- Alice is found and rescued in time before anything truly terrible happens to her, and the experience makes her so grateful that she and her family are closer than ever afterward.
- Played For Laughs:
- The entire plot plays out exactly like an Afterschool Special complete with Narmy dialogue, Bad "Bad Acting", and cheesy soundtrack, regardless what the genre of the work in question normally is.
- Alice's makeup and clothing change to reflect the "corruption", either completely contrary to the hobby/interest (knitting somehow results in her coming to resemble and act like Marilyn Manson) or as an impossible exaggeration (Alice ages over time into an old woman with heavy age makeup and frumpy clothing).
- Played For Drama: Not only is the hobby or interest in question one that can start off quite innocuous and entertaining but turn into something of genuine concern without the teenager even being aware of it until it's too late, but it's something that actually happened with a true Downer Ending. All of the ramifications and results are explored realistically and painfully, and worthwhile Aesops are imparted even as it's noted there are plenty of new hobbies and fandoms which aren't dangerous at all.
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