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So yesterday I watched both Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Dark Knight in quick succession; Mirabel had lent me HBP, and I had bought The Dark Knight, and am glad I did.
Note, in case I haven't made that clear: one of my first experiences with English-language media was Batman: The Animated Series, on a black-and-white TV in the early 1990s, before I knew much English. And it made a deep impression on me. I suppose that if I had been exposed at that tender and sensitive age to Superman or Spider-Man or Harry Potter, I would be as deeply fond of them --- but there are reasons beyond that they are very good movies why my tiny DVD collection now features both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight without hesitation.
The latter is a very good movie I will re-watch and enjoy, although I was getting fridge logic moments. ROT13 for spoilers: Gur Wbxre frjvat hc rkcybfvirf naq n pryycubar va gur oryyl bs n qrgnvarq pevzvany, ranoyvat gur 'whfg bar cubar pnyy' fprar, whfg qvqa'g evat gehr. Jura qvq ur unir gvzr gb qb gung? Jbhyqa'g gur qrgnvarr unir orra frnepurq naq fpnaarq ol n zrgny qrgrpgbe (crbcyr jvgu senpgherf jverq gbtrgure be zrgny uvc ercynprzragf bsgra unir gebhoyr jvgu nvecbeg zrgny qrgrpgbef)? Tvira gung gur fhetrel jnf cebonoyl qbar jvgubhg nanrfgurgvp be fgrevyvmngvba, ubj pbhyq gur thl rira jnyx? Naq - V arrq zber rkcregf guna V nz ba obgu obzof naq uhzna culfvbybtl - jbhyqa'g gur uhzna obql fgneg ernpgvat gb n sbervta bowrpg va vg dhvgr dhvpxyl, rira sbe n fhophgnarbhf vzcynag, naq nssrpg gur qryvpngr purzvpny onynapr gung vf na harkcybqrq obzo? Abg gb zragvba gung n pryycubar, va zl rkcrevrapr, trarenyyl arrqf zhpu yrff rkphfr gb fgbc jbexvat guna orvat vzzrefrq va oybbq naq ylzcu. Gurl znxr qnza tbbq pryy cubarf va Tbgunz Pvgl. Gurl arire qebc pnyyf, gurl jvyy nyy npprcg n fbsgjner qbjaybnq (npebff gur argjbex) gung znxrf gurz fpnaavat qrivprf...
As for HBP - it is a good movie, and I am being a heretic here, but I am finding the Chosen One tropes to irk me more and more as I grow older. I know that they appeal to every kid's and teenager's dream that no, I am not supposed to live this boring life (mine wasn't boring), I'm supposed to be special. But once you grow up a little, and stop thinking just of yourself, they smack too much of "If you're not born this way, tough luck." As I tried to get to sleep or wake up, besides pondering the above fridge logic moment, I also thought of various ways to subvert the Chosen One concept to make it more appealing to me particularly:
- You become the Chosen One by completely random lottery: "Hi, a computer picked your passport number out using a RAND generator / you passed this busy intersection at 9:42 AM, so we're very sorry, you're fighting the vampires, and thank god it wasn't me. Come on, get to training, spit-spot." And then watch how a completely randomly chosen person jumps to the bar set for her, and finds in herself the power to become a hero.
- You become the Chosen One by scoring highly on an achievement test (which you may have studied for, for something else entirely (used sometimes in fiction, I believe): "Hi, as a result of your high score on the Mooney Face Test / the SAT, you're fighting evil. We believe that having good pattern-recognition / a large vocabulary will be an asset. At least it wasn't us. Get to training, spit-spot." It still sorts by inborn talent, and in the case of scholastic tests is subject to the usual privilege problems, but at least anyone could have tried for it, and your achievement on it is somewhat within your power.
- You become the Chosen One because of something that has happened to you. That is how Harry Potter starts off - he is the Boy Who Lived, the only known survivor of Avada Kedavra, and the reasons for this run throughout the series. If J.K.Rowling had left it there, I would have been satisfied with it; however, the trait of Chosen One, as opposed to Boy Who Lived, is emphasized more and more throughout the series, and what irks me is that it isn't clear for what he was Chosen, what qualities made him so. Harry certainly had leadership qualities, and is a reasonably good wizard --- but first of all, becoming the Chosen One sounds like a very subjective judgement, and secondly, who did the choosing? A prophecy, yes, but if one does not assume gods, and the Potterverse does not, then the agency implied in the word Chosen seems to have a null antecedent, and that bothers me. I'd rather have a computer pick Harry's SIN, or have him be Chosen because of his top marks in Defense Against Dark Arts, and be very clear that this is so.
What irks me, now that I think of it, is particularly the Choosing agent part --- it allows you to reassign your destiny to a higher power, rather than making it yourself. And it just sounds like "The gods/headmasters/author like you, so you're good, and if they don't, no way to change that."
- You go out there and make yourself good enough and Choose yourself, because that's the only person whose destiny you have power over --- and that is what appeals for me about Batman. Certainly, Bruce Wayne was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he made the choice to become Batman, rather than coddling up to politicians and enjoying his billionaire privileges. Being a billionaire made executing his powers a heck of a lot easier, but they're still his self-gained powers and he did struggle and suffer to gain them. Superman, on the other hand, gets everything by virtue of being born an alien species, and surviving the destruction of Krypton. If you are unlucky enough not to be born an alien species, you cannot be Superman. I cannot, therefore, empathize with Superman.
I should get back to writing my own stuff, which tries to subvert the Chosen Ones trope thoroughly.
Note, in case I haven't made that clear: one of my first experiences with English-language media was Batman: The Animated Series, on a black-and-white TV in the early 1990s, before I knew much English. And it made a deep impression on me. I suppose that if I had been exposed at that tender and sensitive age to Superman or Spider-Man or Harry Potter, I would be as deeply fond of them --- but there are reasons beyond that they are very good movies why my tiny DVD collection now features both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight without hesitation.
The latter is a very good movie I will re-watch and enjoy, although I was getting fridge logic moments. ROT13 for spoilers: Gur Wbxre frjvat hc rkcybfvirf naq n pryycubar va gur oryyl bs n qrgnvarq pevzvany, ranoyvat gur 'whfg bar cubar pnyy' fprar, whfg qvqa'g evat gehr. Jura qvq ur unir gvzr gb qb gung? Jbhyqa'g gur qrgnvarr unir orra frnepurq naq fpnaarq ol n zrgny qrgrpgbe (crbcyr jvgu senpgherf jverq gbtrgure be zrgny uvc ercynprzragf bsgra unir gebhoyr jvgu nvecbeg zrgny qrgrpgbef)? Tvira gung gur fhetrel jnf cebonoyl qbar jvgubhg nanrfgurgvp be fgrevyvmngvba, ubj pbhyq gur thl rira jnyx? Naq - V arrq zber rkcregf guna V nz ba obgu obzof naq uhzna culfvbybtl - jbhyqa'g gur uhzna obql fgneg ernpgvat gb n sbervta bowrpg va vg dhvgr dhvpxyl, rira sbe n fhophgnarbhf vzcynag, naq nssrpg gur qryvpngr purzvpny onynapr gung vf na harkcybqrq obzo? Abg gb zragvba gung n pryycubar, va zl rkcrevrapr, trarenyyl arrqf zhpu yrff rkphfr gb fgbc jbexvat guna orvat vzzrefrq va oybbq naq ylzcu. Gurl znxr qnza tbbq pryy cubarf va Tbgunz Pvgl. Gurl arire qebc pnyyf, gurl jvyy nyy npprcg n fbsgjner qbjaybnq (npebff gur argjbex) gung znxrf gurz fpnaavat qrivprf...
As for HBP - it is a good movie, and I am being a heretic here, but I am finding the Chosen One tropes to irk me more and more as I grow older. I know that they appeal to every kid's and teenager's dream that no, I am not supposed to live this boring life (mine wasn't boring), I'm supposed to be special. But once you grow up a little, and stop thinking just of yourself, they smack too much of "If you're not born this way, tough luck." As I tried to get to sleep or wake up, besides pondering the above fridge logic moment, I also thought of various ways to subvert the Chosen One concept to make it more appealing to me particularly:
- You become the Chosen One by completely random lottery: "Hi, a computer picked your passport number out using a RAND generator / you passed this busy intersection at 9:42 AM, so we're very sorry, you're fighting the vampires, and thank god it wasn't me. Come on, get to training, spit-spot." And then watch how a completely randomly chosen person jumps to the bar set for her, and finds in herself the power to become a hero.
- You become the Chosen One by scoring highly on an achievement test (which you may have studied for, for something else entirely (used sometimes in fiction, I believe): "Hi, as a result of your high score on the Mooney Face Test / the SAT, you're fighting evil. We believe that having good pattern-recognition / a large vocabulary will be an asset. At least it wasn't us. Get to training, spit-spot." It still sorts by inborn talent, and in the case of scholastic tests is subject to the usual privilege problems, but at least anyone could have tried for it, and your achievement on it is somewhat within your power.
- You become the Chosen One because of something that has happened to you. That is how Harry Potter starts off - he is the Boy Who Lived, the only known survivor of Avada Kedavra, and the reasons for this run throughout the series. If J.K.Rowling had left it there, I would have been satisfied with it; however, the trait of Chosen One, as opposed to Boy Who Lived, is emphasized more and more throughout the series, and what irks me is that it isn't clear for what he was Chosen, what qualities made him so. Harry certainly had leadership qualities, and is a reasonably good wizard --- but first of all, becoming the Chosen One sounds like a very subjective judgement, and secondly, who did the choosing? A prophecy, yes, but if one does not assume gods, and the Potterverse does not, then the agency implied in the word Chosen seems to have a null antecedent, and that bothers me. I'd rather have a computer pick Harry's SIN, or have him be Chosen because of his top marks in Defense Against Dark Arts, and be very clear that this is so.
What irks me, now that I think of it, is particularly the Choosing agent part --- it allows you to reassign your destiny to a higher power, rather than making it yourself. And it just sounds like "The gods/headmasters/author like you, so you're good, and if they don't, no way to change that."
- You go out there and make yourself good enough and Choose yourself, because that's the only person whose destiny you have power over --- and that is what appeals for me about Batman. Certainly, Bruce Wayne was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he made the choice to become Batman, rather than coddling up to politicians and enjoying his billionaire privileges. Being a billionaire made executing his powers a heck of a lot easier, but they're still his self-gained powers and he did struggle and suffer to gain them. Superman, on the other hand, gets everything by virtue of being born an alien species, and surviving the destruction of Krypton. If you are unlucky enough not to be born an alien species, you cannot be Superman. I cannot, therefore, empathize with Superman.
I should get back to writing my own stuff, which tries to subvert the Chosen Ones trope thoroughly.
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Were you the one who told me about Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality?
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Apparently, I never was notified of this comment by email.