"Moral center" - this is something I've heard in passing but never paid attention to in order to analyze or judge. I state that outright because I want to make clear that I can't give any examples; it's a phrase I've only let into my head as a label for a philosophical bent, but not as a meaningful descriptor with an exact definition.
Sooooo my point. Based on past encounters with the phrase "moral center" I've gathered that it is most frequently applied to women, and is not expressive of the woman's morality or actions, but of the morality and actions of those around her as inspired by her.
I'll try to use one of your examples to illustrate, because like I said, I haven't captured in my memory the actual examples I ran across before. Scully may not be more moral than others, but Mulder at some point got to where he allowed her to check and balance him, to sway his actions and opinions. Not because of her intelligence or morality, but because of her skepticsm (naivete to him) and her eventual victimhood. She became, in effect, his Madonna, someone he had to protect and sacrifice himself for, the only person whose welfare he would take into account when taking action or dealing with the conspiracy (i.e. he'd have been more reckless et al without her around). She is the moral center not because of who or what she is, but because of how Mulder acts because of her/focuses on her when arranging his own morality.
The fact that it has nothing to do with the kind of person Scully is would stem from the fact that she is a woman, and women are historically held to be somehow more pure - or, at least, are expected to be, or, more to the point, are put on that pedestal through idealization. It doesn't have to be a woman; if there are no women around, or no women who are not obscenely amoral, a man will do, so long as he is a victim, or oppressed in some way. To be a moral center, the character has to inspire heroism.
I can see also how Hermione would fit that. Of Harry's closest friends, Hermione is 1) Muggle-born, therefore a Mudblood, therefore of the particular group targeted by Voldemort and other racist wizards; 2) a victim, in Chamber of Secrets, and the attack on her affects Harry more strongly than the others; 3) the one of Harry's friends who, in context of his youth and unsettled morality, *seems* most moral, what with her focus on rules and her *seeming* iron grip on Right and Wrong (whatever it looks like to us, to Harry it looks like she has a better understanding of good and right than he does). So she could be Harry's moral center, the person (female, natch) in his life against whom he judges his own morality and the morality of his actions. Could be. Theoretically. But only, imho, because she fits the superficial bill; I can't recall anything particularly standing out to me that would make me think Harry reacts as if Hermione is the moral center.
At any rate, I dislike that term, because I dislike the context in which I've encountered it. I'm offended by the thought that women can be turned into idealizations, can be plugged into a false role as examples of Good and Right regardless of who and what they are, their worth thereby determined not by their own merits but by the men they inspire. Pfui. ;P
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Date: 2004-04-29 11:26 am (UTC)Sooooo my point. Based on past encounters with the phrase "moral center" I've gathered that it is most frequently applied to women, and is not expressive of the woman's morality or actions, but of the morality and actions of those around her as inspired by her.
I'll try to use one of your examples to illustrate, because like I said, I haven't captured in my memory the actual examples I ran across before. Scully may not be more moral than others, but Mulder at some point got to where he allowed her to check and balance him, to sway his actions and opinions. Not because of her intelligence or morality, but because of her skepticsm (naivete to him) and her eventual victimhood. She became, in effect, his Madonna, someone he had to protect and sacrifice himself for, the only person whose welfare he would take into account when taking action or dealing with the conspiracy (i.e. he'd have been more reckless et al without her around). She is the moral center not because of who or what she is, but because of how Mulder acts because of her/focuses on her when arranging his own morality.
The fact that it has nothing to do with the kind of person Scully is would stem from the fact that she is a woman, and women are historically held to be somehow more pure - or, at least, are expected to be, or, more to the point, are put on that pedestal through idealization. It doesn't have to be a woman; if there are no women around, or no women who are not obscenely amoral, a man will do, so long as he is a victim, or oppressed in some way. To be a moral center, the character has to inspire heroism.
I can see also how Hermione would fit that. Of Harry's closest friends, Hermione is 1) Muggle-born, therefore a Mudblood, therefore of the particular group targeted by Voldemort and other racist wizards; 2) a victim, in Chamber of Secrets, and the attack on her affects Harry more strongly than the others; 3) the one of Harry's friends who, in context of his youth and unsettled morality, *seems* most moral, what with her focus on rules and her *seeming* iron grip on Right and Wrong (whatever it looks like to us, to Harry it looks like she has a better understanding of good and right than he does). So she could be Harry's moral center, the person (female, natch) in his life against whom he judges his own morality and the morality of his actions. Could be. Theoretically. But only, imho, because she fits the superficial bill; I can't recall anything particularly standing out to me that would make me think Harry reacts as if Hermione is the moral center.
At any rate, I dislike that term, because I dislike the context in which I've encountered it. I'm offended by the thought that women can be turned into idealizations, can be plugged into a false role as examples of Good and Right regardless of who and what they are, their worth thereby determined not by their own merits but by the men they inspire. Pfui. ;P