r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Morr4Seiya • 11d ago

Hated Tropes An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

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Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

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u/metal_gearmen 11d ago

Betty from Rugrats.

In the more recent series, they turned her into a lesbian simply because she is big and masculine, thereby discarding the show's original message: she was married to Howard (a smaller, more nervous man), and while they had reversed gender roles, it didn't matter—they were a happy family.

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u/RabbitStewAndStout 11d ago

Ugh that's lame. She was always about empowerment and strength and independence, and making her a lesbian sorta feels like female empowerment is a "gay" thing, rather than "any woman can be strong" thing.

Did she get divorced in this series, or are Phil and Lil adopted/surrogate babies?

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u/metal_gearmen 11d ago

As far as I know, Howard is the sperm donor Betty used to conceive the twins.

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u/jediprime 11d ago

They should be a polycule, the cowards.

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u/Front-Post-357 10d ago

Let this man cook

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u/aoike_ 10d ago

Now thats the kind of Betty I want to see!!

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u/Cageweek 10d ago

Jesus fucking christ lol

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u/Artistic-Victory1245 11d ago

Betty is a rare case of someone who became less progressive when they tried to make her progressive.

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u/censuur12 10d ago

Unfortunately that's not actually all that rare.

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u/Special_Cicada6968 11d ago

Yeah, this one is weird. Like, it was already a nonstandard relationship.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ChristianLW3 11d ago

Too many self-described progressives are mentally hindered by heteronormative mentality

Warning: trying to explain this to them on this website as an easy way to get denounced & banned

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u/InformationNo2161 11d ago

I mean strong womand and small man isn't the most original stereotype

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u/Lego-105 11d ago

I would agree if it were just this, except I literally know of at least one other children's media that did this in the powerpuff girls reboot, and if I remember right they made She-Ra basically a twink.

Like I'm not saying it's a groundbreaking idea, but when you had like Xena and a lot of prevalent strong and domineering women in children's shows a couple decades ago, that is something that doesn't really appear to be present in at least as much any more.

And I do question why that is, that even when you already have a strong woman served on a plate, studios/writers decide that isn't something they want to display.

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u/blondetiger 11d ago

They made Xena a "lesbian" though (even though she and Gabrielle were clearly bi).

And what do you mean She-ra became a twink?

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u/niceguy191 10d ago

Ironically, by making it a gay relationship, it's even more if a standard relationship with stereotypical roles. What a step down

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u/Coral2Reef 11d ago

There was also a funny bit of dichotomy between Betty and Charlotte (Angelica's mother).

Betty is a classic power feminist. She takes charge in her house, she's big and loud and athletic, she marches for the cause, and she...doesn't do a whole lot. She works at a coffee shop. Her parenting is...questionable at the best of times, though she does love the twins more than anything, she fawns over them and excuses concerning behavior (granted, they ARE babies).

Charlotte, by comparison, is a businesswoman. She's strong-willed, career-driven, and happens to be the CEO of Mega Corp. She's also a total badass. Of course, you'd imagine a woman in her position would struggle to make time for her family, and you wouldn't be totally wrong. She's got a lot of responsibility to juggle. However, compared to Betty and even her own husband, Charlotte is an incredible parent when Angelica has her attention. In fact, she may be the only adult in the show who consistently corrects Angelica's behavior, and in a very nurturing way at that.

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u/hygsi 11d ago

Huh, it's been years since I watched but I could swear angelica's mom being too busy happens often throughout the show since she's always talking on the phone and dropping her off elsewhere. Don't remember much about betty lmao

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u/ArcadianBlueRogue 11d ago

Yeah but she is at every neighborhood and family event in person. She may be on call for work but she is there and doesn't push her daughter away for it. There's even times like in the first movie where she is hanging at the cookout and trying to be friends with the other adults.

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u/Anita_Hero838 11d ago

She does spend most of her time doing business on the phone, but when she does parent its top notch

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u/AznOmega 11d ago

Mhmm. In the movie, when Charlotte was reunited with Angelica, her phone was ringing before she threw it away.

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u/EnthusiasmOdd814 11d ago

So, it's safe to say that while she is often tied to the business, she's quick to discard it when Angelica's wellbeing is at risk.

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u/tarekd19 11d ago

When Angelica has her attention is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Granted the bar is in hell as far as attentive parenting goes in that show.

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u/tylerjehenna 11d ago

This is how I find out they remade rugrats

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u/kisamasochist 11d ago edited 11d ago

It also just kinda pushes stereotypes; Oh the loud deep voicied woman with short hair and broad shoulders, let's make her specifically a lesbian.

It's like the Velma series where they made the smart and unattractive (in that version) character indian, made the exotic and beautiful character east asian, and kept the leader white. They tried to be inclusive but just conformed to stereotypes

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u/-Release-The-Bats- 11d ago

Or when they released the first look at the cast for the new Harry Potter series: the only black person (hell, the only dark-skinned black person) in the new cast announcement was Snape, the child-abusing wizard nazi.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

It's gonna be so awful cause Harry gonna be suspicious of Snape in first season cause in the books he found Snape creepy. In the TV show its gonna come off hella racist. "ITS SNAPE TRYING TO KILL ME! HES WORKING FOR VOLDEMORT!" bro gonna accused the sole black teacher as being an agent for wizard world's HITLER.

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u/First_Foundationeer 10d ago

You've made the show so much funnier for me that I want to watch it now.

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

well, he's a known consort. also, they hang him from a tree

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

YEAH its questionable at best, cause this is gonna be the first time watching Harry Potter for some people, and Harry is gonna be suspicious of the ONLY BLACK TEACHER, claiming he's a Wizarding World equal to a Nazi. AND then if we finally get to Snape flashback, suddenly James is as bad for bullying a black student and HANGING HIM.

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

of course, this makes no sense as a trope, because it's british and they didn't go around lynching black people.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

Still gonna look horrible, I mean, that's always what the bullying was meant to be awful, BUT bullying the sole black kid, OOF! even british people didn't lynch black people, seeing a black person get hanged no matter what ethnicity they are, is still bad.

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

so we're back to questioning this absolutely baffling casting choice.

imagine casting dumbledore as a black guy (since we are apparently obligated). works fine, he's an authority figure and well respected. get avery brooks - done.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

simple answer is brownie points. They made Snape and Hermione black cause. "IT'S REPRESENTATION!" don't get me wrong, representation is good; give minorities a character who's their race to look up to, BUT my entire problem with this is these characters existed before and weren't that race; changing their race has 0 narrative reason and is basically hand-me-downs.

"Oh, you want an original character who is your race to look up to? All we can afford is a pre-existing character who was originally white, but we made the same race as you, just for you!" The only time I swear this worked was Miles Morales. 1 success vs. 1,000 failures isn't a good track record.

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u/HonestAbe1809 10d ago

Your point is undermined a bit by the fact that said teacher has an irrational grudge against Harry based solely on who his dad was.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

TO BE FAIR, we don't find that out till later. Like Book 3, I believe? Like, Harry doesn't realize Snape hates him for a reason until later books; he originally thinks Snape hates him because he works for Voldemort.

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u/HonestAbe1809 10d ago

Then it’s even more reasonable for Harry to be suspicious. Snape just absolutely despises Harry from the moment he lays his eyes on him. It doesn’t help that the real agent for Voldemort, Quirrell, acts like he’d profusely apologize to a fly for swatting it.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

Honestly, I get it, the suspicious BUT let's look at this from a new-to-the-series person, Harry, who thinks Snape is evil cause it rubbed him the wrong way, BASICALLY went all of season 1 assuming Snape is evil, only to be proven wrong.

We also see Snape not like Neville, so it could realistically be assumed Snape is just the teacher who is a dick. To a first-time viewer, they can assume. "Oh, Harry hates Snape cause Snape is a bit harsh, and assumes the man is evil cause of it."

In the first season, first impressions are key, and Harry assuming the only black teacher is EVIL is gonna make an awful impression on newcomers. CAUSE we gotta look at it through a first-time viewer's eyes, cause thats what this series is aiming for.

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u/HonestAbe1809 10d ago

It might be a transparently obvious red herring in hindsight but Harry wouldn’t know it. All he sees is a man who loathes a kid who hasn’t done anything to him for seemingly no reason.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

Fair, I think we gotta look at the series from 2 angles: newcomers and old fans. The entire point of the TV show is to bring new fans to the IP who aren't influenced by the old fans. As older fans, they know what's gonna happen, BUT to new fans who never watched the movies or read the books, they won't know what's coming.

I'm looking forward to this series, cause the movies had to cut alot of shit from them to fit the runtime. I HOPE the TV show actually shows that cut stuff. I will say I'm iffy about the race change; I think it's important to see the stuff before you make a judgment call. ONLY idiots judge a series off a trailer alone, cause saying you hate a TV series after 1 minute of footage is judging the book off the cover.

You follow my thinking? I will say I'm iffy about Snape being black cause the whole issue it brings, BUT if Harry can explain well, then I won't be too judgemental.

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u/UncommittedBow 11d ago

And also the one who EXPLICITLY gets lynched in the books by his childhood bully.

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u/1_Am_Andrew_Ryan 10d ago

Your father was a Great Wizard, Harry!

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u/Royal_Bitch_Pudding 10d ago

Given that they're English I would have expected him to be Irish instead

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u/crimson_713 11d ago

I honestly am baffled that Velma got made at all. It feels like they specifically crafted it to be rage bait but when you hear Mindy Kaling talk about the show she's so eager and enthusiastic about it in a way that comes off as out of touch and tone deaf.

It's rare that something is so genuinely terrible it pisses everyone off.

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 10d ago

The worst part was the Velma show insisting on being a Scooby Doo property instead of just being its own thing. People probably would’ve been way more receptive to the show if it didn’t fully butcher everything that made Scooby Doo great

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u/Stunning-Disaster-21 10d ago

It's cause Mindy has a huge blind spot for her white man worship, it shows up in all her writing. The Indian girl always goes for a white man (and a particular type of white man too).

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u/Hi_Zev 10d ago

A show that aimed to be inclusive ended up making all its jokes revolve around body shaming men born with smaller-sized penises.

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u/Scared-Jacket-6965 10d ago

Not just that they made Fred the leader and brains of the gang, the rich white boy moron trope. Hating on white people cause our ancestors did the awful shit is dumb at best and harmful at worst. Everyone ancestors did awful shit, that's human history.

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u/fresh-dork 10d ago

no they didn't. they made velma look like mindy so she could creep on teenagers in her 30s, made fred literally retarded, and spent half her dialog making mean spirited jokes about his dick.

this isn't inclusion, it's mindy's self insert fantasy

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u/CodeZeta 11d ago

There's a RECENT SERIES??

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u/Time_Neat_4732 11d ago

And it’s 3D!? This is so unsettling to look at augh

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u/Hazzamo 10d ago

Yes, Some updates to the characters make sense, though due to it being set on modern day, instead of the 90s

Like Grandpa Stu is a Vietnam vet, not a WW2 vet.

Stuart pickles is a videogame designer, not a toy maker.

And Chuck and Kira are married from the start

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u/NY-Black-Dragon 11d ago

I STILL haven't forgiven them for what they did to Grandpa Lou.

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u/kupozu 11d ago

What did they do?

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u/NY-Black-Dragon 11d ago

Made him a stereotypical Hippie instead of the crotchety smart-ass war veteran. Essentially changing everything that made him so fun to watch. I don't even know if he does his iconic FIFTEEN MILES shtick anymore.

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u/Neurotic_Marauder 10d ago

It's what happens when you refuse to age up characters, or keep the show tethered to a specific time period.

Just look at The Simpsons: Homer and Marge are millenials now, and Grampa was apparently a young private detective in the 80s instead of being a WW2 vet

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u/hollowcharlotte 10d ago

I HATE the movement that all burly or strong or tomboy women are immediately lesbian. Lesbians can, in fact, be feminine. Straight women are not all 100% girly and feminine. Good lord

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u/Cyberbug7 11d ago

That’s so dumb

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u/not4eating 11d ago

I wonder what happened to Howard.

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u/metal_gearmen 11d ago

He was a friend of Betty's from college and the one who donated the sperm for Betty to conceive the twins.

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u/DuelaDent52 11d ago

Different continuities, I don’t think he exists in the CGIverse.

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u/TheManWithTheFlan 11d ago

She always reminded me of my Aunt...who ended up coming out as a lesbian 😂.

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u/SuaveGorilla 11d ago

They were reversed gender roles? I always took them to be a household with two working parents and her just having a bigger personality.

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u/dragonwithin15 10d ago

WTF DID THEY DO TO MY RUGRATS?!

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u/AggravatingYak6557 11d ago

Which showrunner’s life is this based on? /s

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u/TeflonDonAlpha 10d ago

They made a movie????

I know about the first 90’s and 2000’s ones

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u/-boneboi- 10d ago

wait, what happened to Howard? I didn't watch past the original Nickelodeon cartoons.

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u/rathemighty 10d ago

No, see, they were each other’s beards, but that’s not needed in the modern day /s

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u/Gravelord_C 10d ago

I think they're kinda cute

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u/Johnny_Banana18 11d ago

Wasn’t she always intended to be a lesbian but it would’ve been off limits in the early 90s for children’s tv

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u/UnNumbFool 11d ago

I believes that's a theory but one that was never proven to be true, and I don't think it was Klaskys original intention(which was more likely to be just a very feminist/progressive woman for the 90s)

Although I'm pretty sure people since the 90s got lesbian vibes from her

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u/IllustriousInitial52 11d ago

I don't love Subversion Olympics but I think a butch lesbian is still more subversive to depict in children's media than a straight woman who is masculine. At the end of the day, both "takes" on the character are healthy depictions of what a woman and a mother can be, so I don't see the harm.

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u/Ektar91 11d ago

I think you gotta compare butch lesbian now and masc woman in the esrly 90s

And is it different enough it's worth changing the char

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u/IllustriousInitial52 11d ago

I think a masculine lesbian has always been more subversive than a masculine straight woman.

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u/flyingcircusdog 11d ago edited 11d ago

She was also a strong feminist and probably LGBT ally while being a mom in a straight relationship. A better move honestly would've been making Chuckie's dad gay.

Edit: Nevermind, I just remembered he gets married again.

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u/EndlessDreaming_Mp3 11d ago edited 11d ago

Chukie's dad had a good plot in the movies about losing his wife tho. And a cute plot about moving on and finding a new family with Kimmy's mom. Not that they couldn't recreate that with two men, but I'm unsure if they'd do it any justice

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u/flyingcircusdog 11d ago

I completely forgot about Kimmy's mom, nevermind.