Yet, intuitively, we view Batman as virtuous for not killing him.
I don’t.
I’m frequently annoyed with supposed “good guys” letting the psychopathic super baddy live, taking their neck off their throats, only to lose many more lives and have to stop the bad guy again and again. I don’t view them as virtuous, I view them as holding the idiot ball to keep the narrative going. It’s like a bad guy stroking a white cat who sends James Bond off to die some elaborate ceremonial death, instead of clubbing him unconscious, putting a few rounds in his head, and having him rolled up in the carpet and thrown out.
Note that the storyline often allows the hero to have his “virtue” and execution too, as the bad guy will often overpower the idiot security forces holding him to pull a gun and shoot at the hero, allowing the hero to return fire in self defense. How transparent and tiresome. Generally “moral dilemmas” in movies are just this kind of dishonest exercise in having your cake and eating it too. How I long for a starship to explode when the Captain ignores the engineer and says “crank it to 11”, or see some bozo snuffed out the moment he says “never tell me the odds”.
Bond actually refused to play that game in Goldeneye.
[Bond is holding Trevelyan by his foot on top of the satellite antenna.] Trevelyan: For England, James? Bond: No. For me. [lets Trevelyan fall to his death]
Boy, are you ever on the right website. As far as I can tell, this place is basically a conspiracy full of Dangerously Genre Savvy people trying to get good things done in real life through the use of our Dangerous Genre Savvy.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find a white dog to pet. I’m allergic to cats.
Pretty much, yes. The whole difference between Genre and Genre Savvy is that a Genre Savvy viewer recognizes what would actually happen in real life, whereas fictional characters not only don’t recognize that, their whole universe functions in a different, less logical way.
In fiction, refusing to shoot Osama bin Laden means he ends up serving time in jail, and justice is served.
In real life, refusing to shoot Osama bin Laden means he tells his followers he has enjoyed a Glorious Victory Against the Western Kuffar Cowards (don’t laugh: this is what fascist movements actually believe), which spurs them to a new wave of violence.
In fiction, refusing to shoot Osama bin Laden means he ends up serving time in jail, and justice is served.
Depends on the genre. Sometimes it means he waits until your back is turned and tries to kill you, thereby allowing you to kill him to defend yourself. Sometimes it means he goes free and mocks you and then dies of a heart attack. Sometimes it means he goes free and his mocking laughter is heard over the credits.
I think the genre I’m railing against is Dishonest Moral Propaganda. That’s what irks—they’re using lies to make a case for some nitwit ideology or behavior.
I don’t.
I’m frequently annoyed with supposed “good guys” letting the psychopathic super baddy live, taking their neck off their throats, only to lose many more lives and have to stop the bad guy again and again. I don’t view them as virtuous, I view them as holding the idiot ball to keep the narrative going. It’s like a bad guy stroking a white cat who sends James Bond off to die some elaborate ceremonial death, instead of clubbing him unconscious, putting a few rounds in his head, and having him rolled up in the carpet and thrown out.
Note that the storyline often allows the hero to have his “virtue” and execution too, as the bad guy will often overpower the idiot security forces holding him to pull a gun and shoot at the hero, allowing the hero to return fire in self defense. How transparent and tiresome. Generally “moral dilemmas” in movies are just this kind of dishonest exercise in having your cake and eating it too. How I long for a starship to explode when the Captain ignores the engineer and says “crank it to 11”, or see some bozo snuffed out the moment he says “never tell me the odds”.
Bond actually refused to play that game in Goldeneye.
Boy, are you ever on the right website. As far as I can tell, this place is basically a conspiracy full of Dangerously Genre Savvy people trying to get good things done in real life through the use of our Dangerous Genre Savvy.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find a white dog to pet. I’m allergic to cats.
That Genre being ‘things that actually happen’, which would be a very niche genre in fiction?
Pretty much, yes. The whole difference between Genre and Genre Savvy is that a Genre Savvy viewer recognizes what would actually happen in real life, whereas fictional characters not only don’t recognize that, their whole universe functions in a different, less logical way.
In fiction, refusing to shoot Osama bin Laden means he ends up serving time in jail, and justice is served.
In real life, refusing to shoot Osama bin Laden means he tells his followers he has enjoyed a Glorious Victory Against the Western Kuffar Cowards (don’t laugh: this is what fascist movements actually believe), which spurs them to a new wave of violence.
Depends on the genre. Sometimes it means he waits until your back is turned and tries to kill you, thereby allowing you to kill him to defend yourself. Sometimes it means he goes free and mocks you and then dies of a heart attack. Sometimes it means he goes free and his mocking laughter is heard over the credits.
More importantly, he gets to return for the sequel.
I think the genre I’m railing against is Dishonest Moral Propaganda. That’s what irks—they’re using lies to make a case for some nitwit ideology or behavior.
You didn’t even mention ‘genre’. I was just trying to figure out how eli was characterizing us here.