At 11:22 PM 10/29/98 -0700, David Johnston wrote:
<snip, hack, maim, destroy... er, snip>
<I wrote the >> stuff>
For instance, one has to define what is good and what is bad;
what if there are no good guys or bad guys? What if the characters
themselves are not sure who is good and who is bad? What if morality
does not enter into the equation at all?
<Scratches head...> I'm having trouble thinking of a story I've written
or started where morality (or at least superiority of morality) enters
into the equation in the first place. For example in "Never Too
Many...", Kochi is smarter than Ken. Ken is a better fighter than
Kochi. Neither are significantly morally superior to each other, or to
Ranma. Actually I suppose in in "Knowing You" there's clear moral
superiority. In "Knowing You", "might" has "right" strapped down to a
table, and "right" isn't going to beat "might" since the story isn't
about who wins and loses. The best "right" can hope for is escape.
Maybe that's why this doesn't strike me as much of a challenge.
But I (now) think it is implied in the challenge that morality in some
form or another should enter into the picture. I mean, there is a
certain morality being shown if the good guys kick some bad guy
buttock, yes?
We let the good guys win because it makes us feel good, and we
like to feel good. As you say, because we want to. To just make the
bad guys win isn't enough for this challenge, because they would be
the ones telling the story, and wouldn't they paint themselves in a
better light?
They would? You didn't mention that.
I believe I did, in a roundabout way. I mentioned history, which is
basically his story. The winners write what happened, so they're the
ones who are going to be portrayed as good. That's just the way the
world works, or so I've found.
The idea behind the challenge is to make us more aware of what
we put into our stories and how we put our stories together. A challenge
to do something a bit different, a little off the beaten path. My main
thrust was to make ourselves more aware of what we write.
The intent of the challenge was for a story which discusses in
some form or another the concept(s) of might-makes-right or right-makes-
might.
Now to be sure, nobody's wasting any time considering the connection
between might and right in these stories. Mason's prisoner just knows
But that's my point: it isn't a waste of time. I think it might make for
some interesting and perhaps slightly non-standard fare for the readers.
I think the best stories do more than merely entertain; they make
us think, they make us see things in a different light.
Speaking of thinking, I think that this will be my last post to the list
on this (unless I couple it with something else) before we lose all
relevancy. This is not to say that I will not continue to talk about it,
far from it. Any further messages from me about this will be private.
Should anyone else wish to respond publickly is not my business, I am
not my brother's keeper.
Also, I'll be gone for the weekend, so anything I get before I leave
Friday will have a couple of days wait.....
Matthew "Maybeso" Lewis is:
InDefinitelyso on IRC
See him on FFIRC [bachman.newberry.edu fanfic]
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
maybeso@ican.net
Different to be dare
Playing the fool in a foolish world
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There may be a time and a place for all things, but there's
always room for Jell-o!
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