Hee.:-D Well, of course in my own lj I always sound sane. It's those other people who have these problems, not me! Um, well, maybe it's sometimes me too. I've been known to go on a tear about characters too. It's just usually when some intelligent person argues with me they always make sense and then I have to see where they're coming from! It's easier to hold onto your own biases when you're arguing with somebody's who's just...wrong, you know?
Just barging in from another fandom. Sorry for vagueness.
I've had the opposite problem recently, where someone else declared her hatred of a certain character, and I was all bewildered and going, "He's a jerk, but not that bad!" She felt that, apparently, the character was a bad father for wanting his son (the hero of the series) to grow up to be a champion like him, and basically taunting said son daily about how he's not the best yet. Er, wow, now I've made him look bad after all.
I don't dispute the lousy parenting in that sense, but I really didn't think that this was good reason for wanting to hang the father upside down over a pit of crocodiles, or such like. My own interpretation was slightly different, and then (I may be damning myself) I mentioned that given the situation--snarky, talented, competitive son who seems used to the behaviour of his father--perhaps we shouldn't expect a nice, supportive parent. My point was that the father acted in the way he thought best, and it wasn't nice, but it wasn't damaging the son (much). Certainly no reason to crucify the father!
I was taken aback to be accused of being illogical. I still don't know if I am, I think I'm right, and she's wrong, but I can't give a good argument why. I guess it goes back to what you said about seeing fictional people as real people. The problem with that is seeing fictional people as real people, then comparing them with the real people you've encountered. I don't think that's the best way of understanding the characters, but okay, I'm not inclined to lose too much sleep over it, either.
Thought-provoking essay, by the way. I hope I haven't confused you, but it felt good to let that out.
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Date: 2004-09-02 02:43 am (UTC)Just barging in from another fandom. Sorry for vagueness.
I've had the opposite problem recently, where someone else declared her hatred of a certain character, and I was all bewildered and going, "He's a jerk, but not that bad!" She felt that, apparently, the character was a bad father for wanting his son (the hero of the series) to grow up to be a champion like him, and basically taunting said son daily about how he's not the best yet. Er, wow, now I've made him look bad after all.
I don't dispute the lousy parenting in that sense, but I really didn't think that this was good reason for wanting to hang the father upside down over a pit of crocodiles, or such like. My own interpretation was slightly different, and then (I may be damning myself) I mentioned that given the situation--snarky, talented, competitive son who seems used to the behaviour of his father--perhaps we shouldn't expect a nice, supportive parent. My point was that the father acted in the way he thought best, and it wasn't nice, but it wasn't damaging the son (much). Certainly no reason to crucify the father!
I was taken aback to be accused of being illogical. I still don't know if I am, I think I'm right, and she's wrong, but I can't give a good argument why. I guess it goes back to what you said about seeing fictional people as real people. The problem with that is seeing fictional people as real people, then comparing them with the real people you've encountered. I don't think that's the best way of understanding the characters, but okay, I'm not inclined to lose too much sleep over it, either.
Thought-provoking essay, by the way. I hope I haven't confused you, but it felt good to let that out.