I will use this as an excuse to post one of my favourite sig quotes, apparently from Ken Arromdee:
"In a superhero story, Superman jumps off buildings and flies. In a realistic
story, Superman doesn't jump off buildings and can't fly. Deconstruction is
writing a story where Superman can't fly but he still jumps off of buildings."
Incidentally, I agree that you can't deconstruct something really well unless you actually like the source material; this is (part of) why I think Alan
Moore did a very good job with Watchmen, but am far less enamoured of the works of Frank Miller (especially the more recent ones) in the superhero genre. I
would also say the same of parodies.
However, there is nothing wrong with saying your work is intended to be a deconstruction. Saying otherwise is tantamount to arguing that all deconstructions
have to be unintentional, and I would very much disagree with that. Nor do I think it is intrinsically pretentious to tell people what the intent of your story
is. There is nothing about a deconstruction that requires angst, incidentally. While many deconstructions are "dark and gritty", it is most certainly
not a universal requirement, as you yourself said in your first paragraph.
"In a superhero story, Superman jumps off buildings and flies. In a realistic
story, Superman doesn't jump off buildings and can't fly. Deconstruction is
writing a story where Superman can't fly but he still jumps off of buildings."
Incidentally, I agree that you can't deconstruct something really well unless you actually like the source material; this is (part of) why I think Alan
Moore did a very good job with Watchmen, but am far less enamoured of the works of Frank Miller (especially the more recent ones) in the superhero genre. I
would also say the same of parodies.
However, there is nothing wrong with saying your work is intended to be a deconstruction. Saying otherwise is tantamount to arguing that all deconstructions
have to be unintentional, and I would very much disagree with that. Nor do I think it is intrinsically pretentious to tell people what the intent of your story
is. There is nothing about a deconstruction that requires angst, incidentally. While many deconstructions are "dark and gritty", it is most certainly
not a universal requirement, as you yourself said in your first paragraph.