Entry tags:
Random Thoughts and a Meme
This thought occurred to me after watching Hero, but it didn't entirely gel until I was reading Brandon Sanderson's (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mistborn) recent entry on Fearless (which I have yet to see). He mentions that the movie, like many movies out of China, features the theme of acting for the good of the state. For Westerners, Americans particularly from what I understand, placing the community before the individual seems counter-intuitive. At the same time, in the fantasy and (to a lesser extent) science-fiction genres, the hero of an epic-style story tends to be the one who is sacrificing all their desires in order to save the world/galaxy/universe.
A friend of mine called Hero blatant propaganda, which I thought was a shame. It certainly does depict the good of the state as the highest ideal. On the other hand, it's an incredibly compelling story very much in the tradition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, praising individuals of great skill while sacrificing all for the love of the Empire (though who to rightfully support as representative of the Empire and the will of Heaven is debatable in both tales).
So here's my basic question: why is it a different thing when, say, Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrifices himself so that Luke and company can get away, or when Buffy kills Angel to save the world despite the fact that he has his soul back? At what point does sacrifice for the good of the many (instead of the good of the few) seem scary to an American audience, and why?
Just a few random thoughts I've been pondering, due to my love of Wuxia fiction. :)
*
flamesrising just put up this meme, and I particularly liked it, so I thought I would pass it along to show how well read (or not) I am.
Copy and paste.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Add four recent reads to the end.
( Read more... )
Thought though--isn't the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, while Robert Jordan is the author of the Wheel of Time series? (I've read the latter but not the former, so I didn't mark it above.)
Also, I couldn't help myself and added five titles to the end instead of four. I hope this isn't breaking the rules too entirely. What have you read?
mistborn) recent entry on Fearless (which I have yet to see). He mentions that the movie, like many movies out of China, features the theme of acting for the good of the state. For Westerners, Americans particularly from what I understand, placing the community before the individual seems counter-intuitive. At the same time, in the fantasy and (to a lesser extent) science-fiction genres, the hero of an epic-style story tends to be the one who is sacrificing all their desires in order to save the world/galaxy/universe.A friend of mine called Hero blatant propaganda, which I thought was a shame. It certainly does depict the good of the state as the highest ideal. On the other hand, it's an incredibly compelling story very much in the tradition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, praising individuals of great skill while sacrificing all for the love of the Empire (though who to rightfully support as representative of the Empire and the will of Heaven is debatable in both tales).
So here's my basic question: why is it a different thing when, say, Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrifices himself so that Luke and company can get away, or when Buffy kills Angel to save the world despite the fact that he has his soul back? At what point does sacrifice for the good of the many (instead of the good of the few) seem scary to an American audience, and why?
Just a few random thoughts I've been pondering, due to my love of Wuxia fiction. :)
*
flamesrising just put up this meme, and I particularly liked it, so I thought I would pass it along to show how well read (or not) I am. Copy and paste.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Add four recent reads to the end.
( Read more... )
Thought though--isn't the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, while Robert Jordan is the author of the Wheel of Time series? (I've read the latter but not the former, so I didn't mark it above.)
Also, I couldn't help myself and added five titles to the end instead of four. I hope this isn't breaking the rules too entirely. What have you read?