I was listening to a podcast, and the guy was talking about how he is tired of this trend of deconstruction or subverting tropes/expectations. He said they are tropes for a reason and at some point people will get tired of everything having to be deconstructed. He then had me laughing because he said at this point I just want to see a movie where a brave knight saves the princess from the dragon (although such a plot today would cause the screeching from the usual twitter brigade).

When was the first time you noticed the obsession with subversion of expectations? I first noticed it after The Last Jedi when the "critics" couldn't stop gushing about how bold it was and how he subverted expectations because people wanted to see a more heroic Luke Skywalker. That was one of the things that really opened my eyes about critics and I remember after the last season of Stranger Things I saw some critics praising that one girl being a lesbian and how she "subverted expectations" and was the best character. I mean a show that pays homage to the 80s of course should dumb the reformed jock/nerdy girl love story so you can have lgbt representation that makes zero sense in the plot.

Those are the top two examples that come to mind and of course now, we have movies and tv shows that are made so the critics can enjoy it. I would say one of the best examples of subversion of expectation done right is the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire which Game of Thrones season one adapted perfectly. Having the main character die was brilliant with the way it was set up. Contrast that with the whole Night King debacle (I still feel like if this was a few years ago, Jon Snow would've at least had a fight with the night king but there seems to be an obsession with not showing heroic white males). Also in comic books I think the Watchmen that came out in the 80s was great, but unfortunately it has turned to the point where everyone wants to deconstruct super heroes. I wish that Brightburn is the last movie to do so, but I'm sure it won't be.

When did you guys start noticing this obsession with subverting expectations?