I have to say, that's not an argument that works for me. If you start saying 'this only happens because the author wanted it, therefore the character's motivations don't count' then sooner or later you arrive at a point where you may as not read fiction at all. To me, if you don't put yourself 'inside' the story, what's the point?
To put it another way - if all the characters are just the writer/creator's puppets, why should I give a damn about them? And if I don't give a damn about the characters why am I reading the book/the comic/watching the TV show/the movie in the first place?
Also, the thing about redeemed villians cuts both ways. If we're gonna give them credit for what they turn away from don't the good guys deserve the same for dealing with them and never thinking 'it would be so much easier if I just . . .' ? I can't really conceive of what form an evil Captain America would take, but a Peter Burke who's a bad guy is honestly terrifying.
There's a great scene on this subject in a Star Wars book called 'I Jedi' where Luke chastises a jedi candidate for dismissing the dark side and the character (who used to work a cop) tears a strip off him, listing all the times in his career that he was tempted to cross one moral line or another and didn't. It's an awesome scene for a lot of reasons, but particularly because it points out that being one of the good guys isn't a choice you make once, early on, and never deviate from. It's a choice a person has to keep making every single day of their lives, over and over again.
Generally, when someone makes something look easy it's because they've been working hard at it for a long time.
>(Hmmm, thinking about it more, I wonder if the fundamental difference is that liking heroes puts you more in the free will camp - enjoying stories about people making decisions that lead to right or wrong; while as if you like stories where the characters are driven by circumstances or fate, you are more inclined to be sympathetic to the villains?)
This I agree with. I generally come at these questions from free will perspective. To paraphrase a great quote I can't remember properly: We can't control what life throws at us, but what we do with it is always our choice.
no subject
To put it another way - if all the characters are just the writer/creator's puppets, why should I give a damn about them? And if I don't give a damn about the characters why am I reading the book/the comic/watching the TV show/the movie in the first place?
Also, the thing about redeemed villians cuts both ways. If we're gonna give them credit for what they turn away from don't the good guys deserve the same for dealing with them and never thinking 'it would be so much easier if I just . . .' ? I can't really conceive of what form an evil Captain America would take, but a Peter Burke who's a bad guy is honestly terrifying.
There's a great scene on this subject in a Star Wars book called 'I Jedi' where Luke chastises a jedi candidate for dismissing the dark side and the character (who used to work a cop) tears a strip off him, listing all the times in his career that he was tempted to cross one moral line or another and didn't. It's an awesome scene for a lot of reasons, but particularly because it points out that being one of the good guys isn't a choice you make once, early on, and never deviate from. It's a choice a person has to keep making every single day of their lives, over and over again.
Generally, when someone makes something look easy it's because they've been working hard at it for a long time.
>(Hmmm, thinking about it more, I wonder if the fundamental difference is that liking heroes puts you more in the free will camp - enjoying stories about people making decisions that lead to right or wrong; while as if you like stories where the characters are driven by circumstances or fate, you are more inclined to be sympathetic to the villains?)
This I agree with. I generally come at these questions from free will perspective. To paraphrase a great quote I can't remember properly: We can't control what life throws at us, but what we do with it is always our choice.