Historical Hero Upgrade/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A not-so-great person is, through the lens of history, remembered as a hero.

  • Straight: Bob Editor was the charlatan and womanizer who was politically opposed to the views of Alice Troper. When Alice and Bob: The Motion Picture" comes out, he's painted as a valiant, heroic figure who can do no wrong.
  • Exaggerated: Bob was a terrible, terrible person and regularly kicked puppies for amusement. However, the movie still paints him as a saintly figure.
  • Downplayed: The remake of the movie shows some of Bob's less moral actions for historical accuracy's sake, but leaves out his worst actions so that he remains sympathetic.
  • Justified: A major plot point in the movie was that history as we know it today is inaccurate, and Bob Editor, someone who we know today as a villain, was actually a hero that got defamed by his enemies after his death.
  • Inverted: Historical Villain Upgrade
  • Subverted: The movie appears to paint Bob in a positive light, until it reveals that Bob is telling the story, in a vain attempt to garner sympathy.
  • Double Subverted: ...except the movie really is asserting that Bob is a good person, and that his take on events are totally accurate.
  • Parodied: Two townsfolk in the movie are talking about Bob. One of them rattles of a list of real-life atrocities that Bob committed.

"Okay, but aside from the puppy-kicking, the misogyny, and the mass murder, you have to admit he's a pretty swell guy."

  • Deconstructed: The film was written, directed and acted by a team consisting entirely of Bob Editor sympathizers, who want to clear his name of whatever atrocities he was accused of. As a result, the opening title cards claim that it is all based on real life events and given due research (when in fact the opposite is true).
  • Reconstructed: The filmmakers may not care about historical accuracy, but they are concerned that Bob Editor comes off as a total Marty Stu that audiences can't possibly relate to. They decide to portray Bob as a somewhat flawed individual, if only to make him seem more human. (Said flaws may or may not be true to life.)
  • Zig Zagged: Bob starts out doing his best to bring justice to the land. But there's a conspiracy of nobles attempting to remove him from the throne, and he has to...take certain measures. Later he feels really bad about it and tries to make amends.
  • Averted: Bob is portrayed as he actually was.
  • Enforced: "I like the script, boys, but those moronic viewers can't handle subtle, nuanced characters. Just have Bob pet a few puppies and give him a handsome actor and that'll take care of things."
    • The writers of Alice and Bob: The Motion Picture agreed with Bob's political views, so they'd naturally make him look good - and her look bad.
  • Lampshaded: "Didn't he really commit the great Puppy-Kicking atrocity of 1863?" "Oh, that's just crazy talk."
  • Invoked: See "Enforced".
  • Defied: The writers decide to realistically research the characters and portray him accurately.
  • Discussed: "For someone who coined the term 'Maximum Leader', Bob was a pretty progressive guy. Or at least this new biography says so."
  • Conversed: "This movie is bull! Bob didn't like mustelids! My grandmother told me stories about how Bob's armies destroyed her uncle's weasel farm! Stupid Paraversal Pictures!"

George Armstrong Custer is leading the charge baack to the Historical Hero Upgrade page.

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