Subject: Re: [FFML][Fanfic][SM]Last Tour Before the Last Battle
From: Matthew Lewis
Date: 5/3/1999, 6:29 PM
To: "Ranma Al'Thor" <ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>
CC: FFML <ffml@fanfic.com>


	You know, it's responses like the one I'm responding to 
that make the FFML a better place, if you ask me (and though
you didn't, in fact ask me I'll tell you anyway ^_^ ). Good 
structure, not quoting the whole message and then making a 
one or two sentence reply to it at the end, but instead quoting 
only relevant passages and replying to the points raised. The 
language? Nice and polite-- no personal attacks, no swearing 
or cursing or anything like that. A reasoned debate. It's what
I aspire to, though I do have that tendency towards rambling
and injecting a bit of levity at probably inappropriate moments.
...I think I'm in love with it. ^_^


At 01:10 PM 5/3/99 -0500, Ranma Al'Thor wrote:

I'd say myself that we cannot eradicate evil completely, but we have to
TRY.  One of the paradoxes of life.  New solutions simply open up new
problems.  If we don't strive, we won't accomplish anything, but if we do
strive, we simply find new problems to solve.  If we can accept that,
we'll do well.  What breaks many reformers in their old age is inability
to accept that they can't fix everything in their lifetime or a refusal to
recognize that by solving one problem, they may have created another.

I find myself agreeing with this statement, it jibes with my personal views.
I could see Dumond, potentially at least, thinking the same thing. 

He is fighting for the
right, or the ability, to _choose_ to be/do good, to decide for
one's self whether or not to do good or evil. He is not so much fighting
for the existence of evil as he is for the ability to make a very
basic choice. This Purification then, is the negation of this choice,
at least that is how it would seem to me.

Except that by examining how purification actually works in the manga,
it's not shown to be a negation of the ability to make moral choices,
assuming its a global version of what Sailor Moon does all the time to
people corrupted by dark spiritual energies.  

Something that is frequently and conveniently forgotten in many fics,
if I recall correctly. Actually, what might be interesting would be
to see a story where someone undergoes the purification, but still
finds him or herself opposing Sailor Moon on philosophical grounds....
That would still entail a changing of what the purification really
is, but perhap a lesser one than portrayed in some stories of which I
have read.


The choice to avoid purification  is closer to being infected with the
bubonic plague and being contagious, but refusing to accept treatment or
quarantine.  The dark spiritual energies are infectious and slowly devour
you over time; look at what happened to Beryl, the Black Moon Family,
Wiseman, Galaxia, etc.

Except in the story it isn't quite portrayed that way, is it? A failing,
a common fanfic cliche, or something else? I can't argue against this
with regards to the manga, only with respect to the story, in which it
seems to not necessarily be the case (the opinions of some of the
characters, at least, make such a supposition plausible-- and if were
not true and it was being portrayed exactly as in the manga, then why
would Serenity not explain it to Dumond-- even if he did not believe
it, she would still try to persuade him, yes?).


I'd also argue from a Christian perspective that the ability to do evil is
not the definition of Freedom.  But that's another kettle of fish :)

That would be closer to the ability to do good-- or the ability to _choose_
to do good, yes? :)


	The Inquisition was an attempt to root out heresy in the Church. They
thought they were doing good, purging the Church and the world of evil
and heretics. The Holocaust? again, it was thought to be a good thing by
those who planned it. Funny, the things people will do in the name of
good and in the name of purity (I have argued before that purity is not
necessarily a good thing, nor always desirable).
	Do you see any similarities then between those two acts and the
alleged Purification? There are differences, though-- physical laws

Yes, in the Sailor Moon Universe, people can really be contaminated with
dark spiritual energy capable of destroying their free will, and turning
them into monsters who go on destructive rampages.  

Also importantly, the victims of the Holocaust and Inquisition and the
like didn't consent to be killed.  As shown in the anime, Serenity can't
purify you if you invited in the dark energies yourself unless you WANT to
be purified.  I find herding Jews at gunpoint into ovens to be quite
different from spiritual inoculation in motive and method.

And yet I cannot help but find, in this story, at least, something similar.
Submit or exile is fairly drastic, and there are those who would rather die
than be forced into exile, yes? Socrates (oh please God let me be
referencing the correct ancient Greek philosopher) thought that. Just noting
the absolutism portrayed by Serenity's side in the story. Where were the
explanations, the pleas, the debate or the attempts of persuasion? Brute
force and the penalty of exile was all I saw. Power deciding what is right--
which however much we would like to disbelieve, seems to me to be a very
prevalent theme in much fantasy and fan fiction. The winners must be right
because they won-- and they get to write history anyway, so they can just
alter facts to future generations so that they become right. History-->
his story, and not 'what-really-happened-in-the-past,' right? As to motive,
well, it was being done in the name of good and rightness, yes? Why is it
that a lot of the worst atrocities committed seem to be done in the name
of good and righteousness. 



and such which delineate how evil operates in Sailor Moon, mainly. But
do you see how this Purification, especially if reinterpretted into our
universe with its laws, could be considered an evil act? Yes, there

But we're not DEALING with our Universe.  The laws of nature are
different, and the way evil exists is different.  

And it is because of this, because we are trying to apply our laws on
something where they do not apply, where we get the problem. Suspension
of disbelief becomes harder, especially for those who are very familiar
with the normal set of laws. Yet I do not think that this application
of reality into the unreality of an anime or manga series, is necessarily
a bad thing on the part of the author. For one, it allows us to explore
certain things which might otherwise be extremely hard to do. Certain
ideas can only be properly explored  by bending or altering the rules.
Doing so for no particular reason-- well, that I disagree with, but
for a purpose? as a conscious decision? I can understand that. The thing
of it is that you have to make the change a) internally consistent, and
b) try to fit it in as seemlessly as possible with the source material.
	Ranma going out one day, somehow acquiring a gun and mowing down
the citizens of Nerima, for instance, would not be believable-- but if
you should how he was under an ever escalating amount of pressure, and
began to see getting rid of everyone else as the only way to alleviate
said pressure-- and then involve some incident (probably organised crime)
which would make him want to use a gun and give him the opportunity to
acquire one, well, that would be slightly more believable, yes?
	So, in cases where the laws the story operates under differ from
those of the source, I note it, debate whether or not it is necessary
to the story, debate whether it is basically the same story/change the
author has done again and again (is there anything fresh or interesting
about it, a new take or twist, perhaps that is made (more) effective or
possible because of the change? Is it done on purpose or out of
ignorance?

	I really can't stick to one subject, can I? Just too
scatterbrained, I guess. :)

Matthew Lewis is:
	Matt on IRC
	Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net
	a casualty of causality
	experimenting with a webpage at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/9345/index.html
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Reality and I have this arrangement, see?
I ignore it, and it ignores me. we're quite happy
with the way it works, really.
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