So Beloved Boyfriend and I are looking through the old EFM folder a lady from our church gave me when she was downsizing. One of the things that struck me was that you can tell a lot about a culture by the stories it tells. If a hero is kind and honest that culture probably values those traits. If he is cunning and clever they probably valued those traits. After all, why would you root for a hero you didn't identify with (or at least want to identify with even if you didn't measure up).
So what do our modern stories say about us? What do we, as a culture, value?
Well I tend to like a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, and it seems to me that in our more recent films and series (specifically fantasy ones) you could make a case for saying that we want our monsters to be human. And that can go both ways. That we like our villains to be people that we may well encounter rather than them being hideous beasts, and also that we like our "monsters" to have redeeming features. The examples that leaped out at me were Spike and Angel as hero-monsters, Parker and the Trio as human-villain, Dexter as a .... well ..... he's a tricky one ..... I think anti-hero might be the right term - we root for him (or at least are encouraged to) despite his own crimes.
What else? I came across an article recently pointing out just how much damage The Avengers cause during their films. All the Marvel "heroes" are flawed.
And perhaps that's what it comes down to . Perhaps the simple answer is that at present we don't want simple answers. We like our heroes and villains to be complicated.
My personal favourite example would be Supernatural. You don't manage to go very many episodes without getting into some seriously complicated relationships and motivations; I mean, one of the "good guys" (SPOILER ALERT) spends time as hell's torturer!
And what about Firefly? We spend all our time rooting for these guys, but they are outlaws. On the run. They steal. Start fights. Harbour dangerous fugitives. And because Joss Whedon (much respect) is such a twisty turny writer (I wonder if he knows Jim Butcher) their enemies aren't even simple good guys - they are the scary authoritarian governmental types that pursue you and want to do experiments on you and turned a whole planet (SPOILERS) into either corpses or psychotic sub-human murder machines.
So why don't we like our stories simple? Actually ..... did we EVER like our stories simple? Let's think about some older stories ......
The King Arthur stories - not simple. In no way simple :-)
Robin Hood - a collection of stories over many decades - "the people" vs the rulers (but only the bad rulers).
Grimm and Anderson - NOT the Disney versions (mutters and grumbles about fairydust-itis). People think they're lovely stories fit for kiddie winks. Have you READ them lately????? Those stories are gruesome (I love them).
Do you know ...... I think that stories have never been simple. Never been straight forward. I'd love to look into this further. To find stories from different time periods - the ancient stories from different cultures, the Arthurian stuff (and look at the different versions), stories from the Middle Ages, the Tudor period, each period, coming up to modern day. And then looking personally at the stories from my childhood, my teen years, and my adult years.
So what do stories say about us? Probably that we are complicated. Probably that there is always more than meets the eye. Probably that some adults try to alter stories for children to be more "suitable". Anyone want to tell their Disney Princess daughter the origin of the Sleeping Beauty story?
Perhaps part of it is that we are capable of great self-delusion. But perhaps by looking beyond the surface we can find some interesting deeper truths about ourselves ........
And perhaps we should approach our own life stories that way. By looking beyond what we remember to have happened, by looking at things as widely as possible and examining motives and being open to the complexities in every story. There is always more to know in a story. A story is only a snapshot in the wider tale.
I was born at Nottingham City Hospital on 18th December 1982. Who were the staff present at my birth? What had brought them to that point? Who was in the next bed? Was it their first time or did they already have children? All our stories start with ourselves as the leading lady (or leading man). What if we re-told them from a minor character's point of view?
I wonder what the Director thinks of our performances. I wonder what he thinks of our reviews, our re-writes, our interviews and autobiographies. I guess we'll each find out one day.
