History Main / MenaceDecay

* In the 1990's, the InteractiveMovie ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' was actually debated in the U.S. Congress (most infamously by Senator Joseph Lieberman) for its "shameful", "sick", and "disgusting" depictions of "extreme sexual violence" against women (translation: teenagers in pajamas giving campy B-movie performances as they're chased around a house by vacuum-cleaner-wielding vampires wearing pantyhose on their heads). The level of "mature" "violence" in a game "for children" shocked the nation, and the controversy around the game was directly responsible for the creation of the ESRB rating standards; Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America's then-president Howard Phillips went as far as to affirm that the game would never appear on their hardware. Almost 30 years later, in 2017, ''Night Trap'' was ported to the [=PS4=], Xbox One, and [[HilariousInHindsight Nintendo Switch]]...and rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB.

See also: ValuesDissonance, MotiveDecay, VillainDecay, RuleAbidingRebel, FairForItsDay, SeinfeldIsUnfunny. Often occurs when the child is NotAllowedToGrowUp.

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' suffers for this now. The kids are bratty, certainly, but by today's standards don't really deserve all the perils they're put in. This especially applies to Augustus, whose vice of overeating is unhealthy but doesn't harm anyone but himself, and Violet, whose "vice" of gum chewing is considered much less vulgar in modern culture than it was in Creator/RoaldDahl's generation. This trope is also probably why in more recent adaptations the kids are made much, much more intolerable. One can argue that they never really ''deserve'' [[DisproportionateRetribution what they get]], but it's a classic Creator/RoaldDahl over-the-top parody of morality tales -- and it all comes from cause and effect, in the same way jumping into a lion's cage will get you mauled! On the other hand, [[SpoiledBrat Veruca Salt]] has managed to remain exactly as terrible now as she was then.

* A reader can see this in between the generations in the two different ''Literature/{{Petaybee}}'' trilogies -- Murel and Ronan get into far more mischief than any of the "troublemakers" in the first series.

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' suffers from this within the series run, weirdly enough. Jess is introduced as a TroubledButCute [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad boy]] with a DarkAndTroubledPast, shipped to Luke because his behavior was out of control back in New York City. Lorelai frets he'll be a bad influence on Rory when the two strike up a friendship and then a romantic relationship. Despite this, the only thing we see of his bad boy behavior is smoking, skipping school, and pulling pranks, in addition to having a general disdain for authority. He leaves in season 3. Not two seasons later, Rory herself drops out of Yale and is ''arrested'' after ''stealing a yacht'' in an impulsive reaction to dropping out of college. She narrowly manages to avoid being charged with a felony, and still ends up doing community service. To say nothing of her boyfriend Logan, who drinks and parties all the time instead of studying, who insists he can't be in a relationship (an initially is in a "no strings" one with Rory), and engages in activities that could actually kill him.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In the 1990's, the InteractiveMovie ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' was actually debated in the U.S. Congress, most infamously by Senator Joseph Lieberman, for its "shameful", "sick", and "disgusting" depictions of "extreme sexual violence" against women (translation: teenagers in pajamas giving campy B-movie performances as they're chased around a house by vacuum-cleaner-wielding vampires wearing pantyhose on their heads). The level of "mature" "violence" in a game "for children" shocked the nation and the controversy around the game was directly responsible for the creation of the ESRB rating standards; Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America's then-president Howard Phillips went as far as to affirm that the game would never appear on their hardware. Almost 30 years later, in 2017, ''Night Trap'' was ported to the [=PS4=], Xbox One, and ''[[HilariousInHindsight Nintendo Switch]]''... and rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB.
* When ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' was introduced, he was intended to be a cool 1990s-era character with an attitude. Though not as TotallyRadical as his western portrayals, his original Japanese image was also that of a sassy and {{badbutt}} character that was meant to contrast with his rival mascot Mario. Over the 1990s, the emphasis on Sonic being a MascotWithAttitude decreased, which is why he was given a "cool" new redesign for ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. Looking at Sonic's Classic design, many fans don't even think of him as cool. He's soft and cute like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, with his Modern design being seen as the "cool" one. It doesn't help that most of his 2010s portrayals depict Classic Sonic as Sonic's youthful younger portrayal (despite the fact Classic Sonic was a [[VagueAge 15-18 year old]] in his heyday). Even the more modern Sonic design tends to be seen as relatively straight-edge, with his only real sign of "attitude" being that he sometimes heckles Eggman; the mere fact that he ''himself'' gained a darker, edgier counterpart meant to appeal to teenagers in Shadow shows just how much Sonic's edge had vanished over the years.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson was a genuine target of [[MediaScaremongering moral panic]] in the early '90s over his bad attitude, his big mouth, and his lack of concern for school, with many parents and MoralGuardians fearing that he was a bad role model for children. His portrayal in those early episodes can make him seem like a RuleAbidingRebel even by the standards of ten years later, never mind today, especially with many of his catchphrases from that time having [[MemeticMutation entered the broader '90s lexicon]]. Of course, once "Bartmania" kicked in and he became a pop culture sensation, the writers proceeded to make him a perfect example of the flip side of this trope, making his KickTheDog moments more frequent in order to keep his reputation as a hellraiser. He's not at Eric Cartman levels yet, but he's definitely pushing the envelope on the 'comedic' part of ComedicSociopathy, whether he's [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty burning down a summer camp]] or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E16BartVsAustralia almost starting a war with Australia]]. It preserves his reputation, but at the cost of sympathy.
** Lampshaded in an episode where they go to the beach and the local [[TheSlacker slacker]] townies make fun of his iconic skateboard and sling shot, outright comparing him to [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]. Also lampshaded when he met Jay North, who played Dennis in the [[Series/DennisTheMenace 1959 TV series]]. Bart wasn't impressed by "bad boy" antics such as hiding his dad's hat and trampling Mr. Wilson's flowerbed (that was a two-part episode).
** Interestingly, in one interview, Creator/MattGroening claims that his characterization of Bart as a genuine hell-raiser was a direct response to Groening's disappointment with watching ''[[Series/DennisTheMenace Dennis the Menace]]'' as a kid because, by Groening's standards, Dennis ''wasn't'' menacing - merely slightly annoying. In other words, Bart was written as a reaction to Menace Decay and later became subject to it himself.
** In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Eric Cartman meets a Bart Simpson [[CaptainErsatz stand-in]], and they compare their evil deeds. Bart brags that he once sawed the head off a statue (but felt bad about it afterward.) Cartman, on the other hand, [[spoiler:[[RefugeInAudacity killed Scott Tenorman's parents, ground them into chili, and fed them to him]]]]. This is likely a response to a bit on ''The Simpsons'' where Bart compares his deeds to Dennis the Menace with similar results. In one episode, Bart called himself "this century's Dennis the Menace." [[RuleOfFunny And the episode aired in the 20th century.]]
** The crossover episode with ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also heavily lampshades this trope, although it's not entirely devoid of affection for Bart at the same time. Stewie finds Bart's idea of mischief and pranking to be whimsical, charming and endearing, but his own efforts at being a hellion scare and appall the older Simpsons boy. When Stewie takes his turn at prank-phonecalling Moe, his idea of a "joke" -- telling Moe that his sister is being raped and then hanging up on him -- leaves Bart staring open-mouthed in shocked horror at him. Likewise, at the episode's end, when Stewie shows off how he captured, caged and tortured all of Bart's enemies to try and make Bart like him, Bart immediately sets them all free and declares he never wants to be Stewie's friend again, because [[EveryoneHasStandards Stewie is far too crazy and evil for him]]. Amazingly, this actually deeply hurts Stewie, who is shown in the episode's final shot emulating Bart's blackboard punishment gag whilst crying over being rejected by him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAlvinShow'', Alvin was the single biggest {{Troll}} Dave had ever fell victim to, with Simon and Theodore as either accomplices or neutral parties. In ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'', Alvin largely turned to {{Zany Scheme}}s behind Dave's back and rarely intentionally gave Dave a hard time. By the time of [[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks the movie]], Alvin's mischief comes more out of naïvete than malevolence.

* ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'': Jimmy Five used to be an absolutely terrible kid during the 60's to the 80's, making sexist remarks towards Monica, playing with firecrackers, consant drawing crude charicatures on neighborhood walls, chasing people ([[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals and dogs]]) with two-by-fours, pulling pranks that could be considered assault and even ''[[BigBrotherBully walking his baby sister with a dog leash]]''. Even his motives for constant "foolproof" plans against Monica was to prove the "[[HeManWomanHater superiority of men over women]]". Nowadays, the worst he has ever done is being snarky, and his motives against Monica are a bit more justififable: he doesn't want someone who constantly uses aggression to get their way.
** Monica herself could also qualify. She was characterized as a quarrelsome child that was [[PerpetualFrowner always angry]] and would beat up ''anyone'' (except her own parents, presumably) for very petty reasons, including her [[WithFriendsLikeThese best friend]] Maggy. After there was a petition so she wouldn't be so aggressive all the time, she was eventually retooled from TomboyWithAGirlyStreak to a GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak, and while she kept her petty reasoning for using violence remained, she was also given a [[DesignatedHero slighty]] more heroic side by also using it on actual villains such as robbers. That being said, she was [[BrattyHalfPint infamously]] very bossy during that time period and would often drag people (mostly Jimmy Five and Smudge) who were just minding their own businesses into her games and threaten them with a beating if they didn't comply, and [[KarmaHoudini never be punished by it]]. But even these traits were phased out by the 2010's, mostly because MoralGuardians were complaining that children would imitate her behavior (and even the child fans were starting to get sick of how she treated her friends).

* Played with to some degree in the ''Film/TheLittleRascals'' movie, in which the kids are the same even though the setting is about 70 years later.
* In ''Film/MaryPoppins,'' the children are shown to be horribly out of control because they ran away from their nanny in the park. Then, they proceed to be perfect little angels with the sole exception of Michael losing his temper when a greedy banker snatches his money out of his hand. Compared to its SpiritualSuccessor ''Film/NannyMcPhee'', where the children tricked the nanny into believing that they had ''eaten the baby'', the original kids practically had halos. The stage musical makes them [[AdaptationalPersonalityChange more genuinely bratty]], though they get better by the end.
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', for the same reasons as the original story (mentioned below in Literature). The kids are still annoying, some of them even more than in the original book, but none of them really do anything to deserve getting stuck in a tube, or turning into a blueberry, or being sent down the garbage chute as a "bad egg." Unless you count "doing the thing that directly caused their fate despite having been warned not to", of course.

* Some fans consider the British ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'''s reboot in 2009 when the Creator/{{CBBC}} TV series turned the character from a genuine menace into just an ordinary kid. Inversely, Dennis's rival Walter the Softy became more of a {{Jerkass}} over the years, making him less sympathetic and more somebody you ''want'' to see Dennis humiliate. This change was implemented to avoid accusations that the comic was endorsing homophobic bullying by making Walter more cunning and less of an effeminate "softy" who likes ballet and playing with teddy bears, thus making him more of a match for Dennis.
* The TropeNamer is the American ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis The Menace]]'', who has gone from being a genuine terror to being a perpetrator of minor, almost exclusively-[[OffscreenVillainy unseen]] mischief. Consequently, Mr. Wilson's grudge against him has gone from sympathetic to downright petty, as the only thing Dennis ever does to him anymore is barge into the Wilsons' house from time to time and ask Mrs. Wilson for cookies.

** Observation of this phenomenon is also a running gag in the comic-commentary blog ''Blog/TheComicsCurmudgeon''. But even then, Josh, the creator of the blog, realizing that Dennis is no longer menacing, he looks outside of the box, and discovers ways that Dennis is passively-aggressively menacing through psychological means.
** Ironically, this is both a case of times changing and the writing changing. Early Dennis might still be considered a menace by today's standards. One strip from TheFifties had Dennis' dad mad at him for cutting a length of hose. Dennis said that he was playing Cops and Robbers and needed [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique something for the interrogation]].

* Calvin from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' is lazy, selfish, impulsive and belligerent to the end, but by the time of the last strips (the ones published in "There's Treasure Everywhere" and "It's a Magical World"), he's significantly less likely to intentionally cause wanton property destruction or push his parents' buttons than he was at the beginning. He's so dialed down at this point that the last story with his babysitter Rosalyn actually ends happily for him.

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' suffers for this now. The kids are bratty, certainly, but by today's standards don't really deserve all the perils they're put in. This especially applies to Augustus, whose vice of overeating is unhealthy but doesn't harm anyone but himself, and Violet, whose "vice" of gum chewing is considered much less vulgar in modern culture than it was in Creator/RoaldDahl's generation. This trope is also probably why in more recent adaptations the kids are made much, much more intolerable. One can argue that they never really ''deserve'' [[DisproportionateRetribution what they get]], but it's a classic Creator/RoaldDahl over-the-top parody of morality tales -- and it all comes from cause and effect, in the same way jumping into a lion's cage will get you mauled!

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' suffers for this now. The kids are bratty, certainly, but by today's standards don't really deserve all the perils they're put in. This trope is also probably why in more recent adaptations the kids are made much, much more intolerable. One can argue that they never really ''deserve'' [[DisproportionateRetribution what they get]], but it's a classic Creator/RoaldDahl over-the-top parody of morality tales -- and it all comes from cause and effect, in the same way jumping into a lion's cage will get you mauled!

* ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'': Jimmy Five used to be an absolutely terrible kid during the 60's to the 80's, making sexist remarks towards Monica, playing with firecrackers, consant drawing crude charicatures on neighborhood walls, chasing people ([[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals and dogs]]) with two-by-fours, pulling pranks that could be considered assault and even [[BigBrotherBully ''walking his baby sister with a dog leash'']]. Even his motives for constant "foolproof" plans against Monica was to prove the "[[HeManWomanHater superiority of men over women]]". Nowadays, the worst he has ever done is being snarky, and his motives against Monica are a bit more justififable: he doesn't want someone who constantly uses aggression to get their way.

* ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'': Jimmy Five used to be an absolutely terrible kid during the 60's to the 80's, making sexist remarks towards Monica, playing with firecrackers, consant drawing crude charicatures on neighborhood walls, chasing people ([[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals and dogs]]) with two-by-fours, pulling pranks that could be considered assault and even [[BigBrotherBully ''walking his baby sister with a dog leash]]''. Even his motives for constant "foolproof" plans against Monica was to prove the "[[HeManWomanHater superiority of men over women]]". Nowadays, the worst he has ever done is being snarky, and his motives against Monica are a bit more justififable: he doesn't want someone who constantly uses aggression to get their way.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson was a genuine target of [[MediaScaremongering moral panic]] in the early '90s over his bad attitude, his big mouth, and his lack of concern for school, with many parents and MoralGuardians fearing that he was a bad role model for children. His portrayal in those early episodes can make him seem like a RuleAbidingRebel even by the standards of ten years later, never mind today, especially with many of his {{catch phrase}}s from that time having [[MemeticMutation entered the broader '90s lexicon]]. Of course, once "Bartmania" kicked in and he became a pop culture sensation, the writers proceeded to make him a perfect example of the flip side of this trope, making his KickTheDog moments more frequent in order to keep his reputation as a hellraiser. He's not at Eric Cartman levels yet, but he's definitely pushing the envelope on the 'comedic' part of ComedicSociopathy, whether he's [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty burning down a summer camp]] or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E16BartVsAustralia almost starting a war with Australia]]. It preserves his reputation, but at the cost of sympathy.

* Some fans consider the British ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'''s reboot in 2009 when the new TV series began to air on Creator/{{CBBC}} turned the character from a menace into just a generic kid. Inversely, Dennis's rival Walter the Softie has changed into more of a {{Jerkass}} over the years, making him less sympathetic and more of a deserving victim. This change was implemented to avoid accusations that the comic was endorsing homophobic bullying by making Walter much more of a match for Dennis due to his sneakiness and intelligence and less of an effeminate softie who likes ballet and playing with teddy bears.

* In the 1990's, the live-action FMV game ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' was actually debated in the U.S. Congress, most infamously by Senator Joseph Lieberman, for its "shameful", "sick", and "disgusting" depictions of "extreme sexual violence" against women (translation: teenagers in pajamas giving campy B-movie performances as they're chased around a house by vacuum-cleaner-wielding vampires wearing pantyhose on their heads). The level of "mature" "violence" in a game "for children" shocked the nation and the controversy around the game was directly responsible for the creation of the ESRB rating standards; Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America's then-president Howard Phillips went as far as to affirm that the game would never appear on their hardware. Almost 30 years later, in 2017, ''Night Trap'' was ported to the [=PS4=], Xbox One, and ''[[HilariousInHindsight Nintendo Switch]]''... and rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB.
* When ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' was introduced, he was intended to be a cool 1990s-era character with an attitude. Though not as TotallyRadical as his western portrayals, his original Japanese image was also that of a sassy and {{badbutt}} character that was meant to contrast with his rival mascot Mario. Over the 1990s, the emphasis on Sonic being a MascotWithAttitude decreased, which is why he was given a "cool" new redesign for ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. Looking at Sonic's Classic design, many fans don't even think of him as cool. He's soft and cute like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, with his Modern design being seen as the "cool" one. It doesn't help that most of his 2010s portrayals depict Classic Sonic as Sonic's youthful younger portrayal (despite the fact Classic Sonic was a [[VagueAge 15-18 year old]] in his heyday). Even the more modern Sonic design tends to be seen as relatively straight-edge, with his only real sign of "attitude" being that he sometimes heckles Eggman; the mere fact that he ''himself'' gained a darker, edgier counterpart meant to appeal to teenagers in Shadow shows just how much Sonic's edge had vanished over the years.

* In ''Film/MaryPoppins,'' the children are shown to be horribly out of control because they ran away from their nanny in the park. Then, they proceed to be perfect little angels with the sole exception of Michael losing his temper when a greedy banker snatches his money out of his hand. Compare to its SpiritualSuccessor ''Film/NannyMcPhee'', the original kids practically had halos. The stage musical makes them [[AdaptationalPersonalityChange more genuinely bratty]], though they get better by the end.

* Literature/TomSawyer and Literature/HuckleberryFinn were controversial heroes in their day, probably because [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Mark Twain wrote the former book with an adult audience in mind, only marketing it as a children's book at the advice of his publisher]], and the book is thus realistic about kid behavior with no attempt made to set good examples for a young reader. By modern standards Tom comes off as a wholesomely rugged AllAmericanBoy (how many parents would love to have their kids cut class to go ''fishing?)'', while Huck Finn is downright heroic in the way he learns to challenge the racism he's been indoctrinated into by society and see the humanity of his friend Jim.

** Interestingly, in one interview, Creator/MattGroening claims that his characterization of Bart as a genuine hell-raiser was a direct response to Groening's disappointment with watching ''[[Series/DennisTheMenace Dennis the Menace]]'' as a kid because, by Groening's standards, Dennis ''wasn't'' menacing - merely slightly annoying.

** The crossover episode with ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also heavily lampshades this trope, although it's not entirely devoid of affection for Bart at the same time. Stewie finds Bart's idea of mischief and pranking to be whimsical, charming and endearing, but his own efforts at being a hellion scare and appall the older Simpsons boy. When Stewie takes his turn at prank-phonecalling Moe, his idea of a "joke" -- telling Moe that his sister is being raped and then hanging up on him -- leaves Bart staring open-mouthed in shocked horror at him. Likewise, at the episode's end, when Stewie shows off how he captured, caged and tortured all of Bart's enemies to try and make Bart like him, Bart immediately sets them all free and declares he never wants to be Stewie's friend again, because Stewie is far too crazy and evil for him. Amazingly, this actually deeply hurts Stewie, who is shown in the episode's final shot emulating Bart's blackboard punishment gag whilst crying over being rejected by him.

Times change, and the standard for what constitutes a [[YouMeddlingKids troublesome kid]] changes with them. A child character who was once considered to be quite the hell raiser can appear completely tame after a few years. Ironically, the longer the menacing kid is NotAllowedToGrowUp, the more likely he is to become his exact opposite, an impossibly idealized version of what the author thinks a child is ''supposed'' to be, due in part to authors' habit of modeling such characters after their own real-life children. The alternative is trying to preserve the character's reputation as a hellraiser through ever-escalating {{Flanderization}}. In either case, it's not going to resemble the behavior of an actual child, because, [[OmnipresentTropes of course]], MostWritersAreAdults.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson was a genuine target of [[YouCanPanicNow moral panic]] in the early '90s over his bad attitude, his big mouth, and his lack of concern for school, with many parents and MoralGuardians fearing that he was a bad role model for children. His portrayal in those early episodes can make him seem like a RuleAbidingRebel even by the standards of ten years later, never mind today, especially with many of his {{catch phrase}}s from that time having [[MemeticMutation entered the broader '90s lexicon]]. Of course, once "Bartmania" kicked in and he became a pop culture sensation, the writers proceeded to make him a perfect example of the flip side of this trope, making his KickTheDog moments more frequent in order to keep his reputation as a hellraiser. He's not at Eric Cartman levels yet, but he's definitely pushing the envelope on the 'comedic' part of ComedicSociopathy, whether he's [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty burning down a summer camp]] or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E16BartVsAustralia almost starting a war with Australia]]. It preserves his reputation, but at the cost of sympathy.
** Lampshaded in an episode where they go to the beach and the local [[TheSlacker slacker]] townies make fun of his iconic skateboard and sling shot, outright comparing him to [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis the Menace]]. Also lampshaded when he met Jay North, who played Dennis in the [[Series/DennisTheMenace 1959 TV series]]. Bart wasn't impressed by "bad boy" antics such as hiding his dad's hat and trampling Mr. Wilson's flowerbed (that was a two-part episode.)

* This occurred with Bil Keane's ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus''. As the title suggests, the kids (who were based on his own) were originally written as wild and hard to control, but it has long since fallen into the realm of TastesLikeDiabetes.
* Calvin from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' is a slight example. While he was lazy, selfish, impulsive and belligerent to the end, by the time of the last strips (the ones published in "There's Treasure Everywhere" and "It's a Magical World"), he's significantly less likely to intentionally cause wanton property destruction or push his parents' buttons than he was at the beginning. He's so dialed down at this point that the last story with his babysitter Rosalyn actually ends happily for him.