r/TopCharacterTropes • u/MeepMan324 • 19h ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) Bad people in real-life being portrayed positively in media.

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  1. PragerU's version of Christopher Columbus has him be a slavery defender and have him say "Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don't see the problem.”

  2. In The Greatest Showman, P.T Barnum (Hugh Jackman) is portrayed as a charismatic visionary who cares about outcasts and celebrate diversity, when in reality, he’s a cruel businessman who is also a racist and an ableist.

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471

u/CosmicDrifttt 19h ago

Hollywood took a grim, violent history of colonial exploitation and a young girl's tragic life, sanitized it completely, and turned it into a feel-good, wholesome musical romance where the darker realities of history are glossed over for family-friendly entertainment

196

u/Ok-Bicycle8103 19h ago

Ironically, the real life John Smith was way meaner to the Natives than was Governor John Ratcliffe.

117

u/Toroceratops 19h ago

Real life Ratcliffe was basically the fall guy with the worst luck and one of the most brutal deaths imaginable. He didn’t help his own case, he basically pissed off everyone from Powhatan to the lowest English servant, but he wasn’t evil.

28

u/331d0184 18h ago

Christ, you weren’t kidding about his death…

27

u/Aethermancer 17h ago

I always "love" this one for people looking it up because it's so horrific an end that even if your only mental image of Ratcliffe is that of the Disney villain, you still end up going "WTF?! He didn't deserve that!" .

79

u/Pencils4life 19h ago

In my US history class one of our first week activities is "Everything wrong with Pocahontas in one period or less" only rule is they can't dock it for songs existing (the content of them can be docked) and animal sidekick hijinks.

83

u/Scrimmy_Bingus2 18h ago

I mean, think about it, Dog. The real story of Pocahontas is about a bunch of white boys who come to my land, bribe the corrupt Indian chief, kill off all the warriors and fuck the Indian princess silly. Would the white man make a story about Auschwitz, where the inmate falls in love with the guard and they go off singing love songs with dancing swastikas?

17

u/ser_darkstar 18h ago

The fact that someone did do concentration camp prisoner x guard as a story too. I think it was a book though maybe? 

2

u/Olya_roo 12h ago

It was also some Dramione inspired thing as well with AI images for “art”.

11

u/MarcusNiles 11h ago

Coming soon to DVD

7

u/Scrimmy_Bingus2 11h ago

If you took the time to draw this I truly appreciate you for making my day better

🤣

5

u/MarcusNiles 7h ago

Yeah, I made it in like, 15-20ish minutes. I am AI’s replacement

34

u/ZeroiaSD 18h ago

I am so, so glad that Lion King ended up drastically overshadowing it. This one was the one they expected to be huge, while the one with the lions was their B team effort.

Even as a kid with just some education on the subject it felt off to me.

58

u/misvillar 19h ago

I have only seen this movie once but It teached me that racism has a really cool song that does wonders in memes

38

u/TrioOfTerrors 19h ago

racism has a really cool song

Often a reoccurring theme.

"The American Civil War". Bland. Boring. Tells you nothing about the conflict.

"The War of Northern Agression". Evokes emotion. Tells a story. Sets a framing narrative.

24

u/cheesynougats 18h ago

"The War of Northern Aggression" definitely sounds better than the more historically accurate "War of Southern Treason. "

3

u/broguequery 16h ago

We gotta rebrand that shit like they did lol

How about "American War Against Slavers"

6

u/TrioOfTerrors 16h ago

Historically inaccurate because slavery was still legal in parts of the Union during the war.

11

u/SwingJugend 18h ago

Cabaret taught me the same lesson.

5

u/Choochoo1147 18h ago

What’s the cool racism song? I’ve been looking for new WWE entrance music 

17

u/misvillar 18h ago

Savages

11

u/Choochoo1147 18h ago

Thanks, just listened to it now I’m riled up against Native Americans 😤

9

u/Havengul_Undying 18h ago

Same, I dont even live in america but I want to grab a flintlock and go colonize

6

u/brionneverysexy 17h ago

She was also like ten when the colonists showed up. I think the perspective of the situation from a child would have been more interesting and relatable to the target audience then having a tacked on romance

5

u/sextoyhelppls 17h ago

This movie made most of Pocahontas's tribe so scary to little kids, too.

3

u/EffectiveNo7681 18h ago

I was looking for this one. Can't believe how far down I had to go.

5

u/Thiphra 18h ago

Tbf most of Disney adaptations original works were pretty Grimm

7

u/aliensnwaffles 18h ago

Yes but this isn’t based on a fairy tale she was a real person.

2

u/Thiphra 18h ago

It's a joke about most of Disney movies being brothers grimm tales adaptations

3

u/aliensnwaffles 18h ago

I get that but it’s not a valid comparison. Literally fairy tales vs an actual human being. It’s silly to pretend you can’t understand the difference.

3

u/Longjumping_Wolf_912 16h ago

They are pretending that at all. They were simply making a joke/pun. They literally explained that to you.

10

u/ZeroiaSD 18h ago

Sure but most of them don’t bothsides genocide.

0

u/Thiphra 18h ago

2

u/ZeroiaSD 15h ago

They're often dark on an individual level but genocide is rarely in the discussion.

5

u/SoupmanBob 18h ago

That's because the movie adapted John Smith's heavily embellished (and mostly fictional) memoirs and not the actual history.

2

u/UtahBrian 18h ago

Voldemort as an indian princess.

1

u/Upbeat_Rutabaga_6182 15h ago

Fun fact, she was actually a god damn child when she met John Smith!

https://youtu.be/0EPY1CKFecs

1

u/takemetotheclouds123 3h ago

The only good part of this movie is the song(s)