what is the good and the beautiful?

[mimesere]

I had this whole post I wanted to make about politics and superheroes and comics and my character kinks and "heroic without being tragic" and how "we get the heroes we need rather than the heroes we want" and how they intersect and how the cover of the CCI program made me cranky because it struck me as wrong, but I am tired and I am fairly certain people are tired of hearing me natter on about honor and duty and law and suchlike, so I'm gonna go play Warcraft III instead. But it could happen one day, maybe.

There's a reason Superman is my guy. There's a reason Gunn is my guy and Scully and Norrington and John Stewart GL and Roy and Mia and Wondy and Gert and Victor and the Middle Man and Wendy Watson and Hiro and Fraser and Ray (x2) and Jubilee and Leia and Teyla and Ronon are all my guys.

Lawful good does not mean lawful nice. "No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such." "You took the good things for granted. Now you must earn them again. For every right that you cherish, you have a duty you must fulfill. For every good which you wish to preserve, you will have to sacrifice your comfort and your ease. There is nothing for nothing any longer."

also possibly I'm just still really irritated at the douchebag who said I didn't get Superman because girls don't get comics. Yes. *I* miss the point of Superman. Boyscoutiness aside (which, honestly, if that is all Superman is to you, then it is DEFINITELY not me that is missing the point), he's a guy who does good because he can and because it's important to him and because he likes and believes in people and *their* ability to do good.

heroic without being tragic. it's interesting the things that stick with you.

anyway. off to warcraft III.

Comments

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

Someone seriously said that? Oh dear.

And re: Superman, yes, yes, and YES.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It was pretty spectacularly WTF-inducing.

But oh, Superman. I heart you so. There is something beautiful about the idea that he does good things because he likes people and thinks they're generally pretty awesome. Like, I understand heroism arising out of tragedy and how that is a compelling and awesome story and I even agree...but there really is something that makes me really happy about heroism for no other reason than that you think it is the right thing to do.

(this is all coming out of reading Watchmen and struggling with why on earth any one of those people does what they do. Except Nite Owl mark 2. I get him. But mostly it's the difference between heroism for the sake of doing good and heroism because people are shitty and should be punched in the face.)

I dunno. It's...something that's in my head.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

But... but you're a GIRL. Don't you understand that the Clark of Smallville is better than the one from the movies?

GOD, Sheila.

[crowie.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy getting insight into how other people's character kinks work. Also so much love for people who know their character kinks. It's it can be bad especially a writer has clearly a very strong kink for a certain type of character but is seemingly mostly unaware of it *I'm looking at you Joss Whedon*

Aaanyway. My personal character kinks can pretty much be summed up by the fact that my very very (VERY) favouritest comic book character is John Constantine. I love tricksters who have to think on their feet, and aren't really the strongest or the best but are instead very clever at working with what they have and can use information like a weapon.

Methos on Highlander hits a similar spot. So do some versions of Scruffy!Norrington and Scruffy!Wesley.

One of the neatest fencing styles I know, is a version of Spanish Rapier, where instead of doing flashy lunges and Italian style flourishes and impressive fencing in an extrovert sort of way, you instead stand up, pretty straight, don't move around very much, very understated and basically get your opponent to walk or lunge right into your blade and impale themselves.

I don't really know what that sais about me, but yeah underhanded manipulators of a certain flavour I like very much.

Heh..

Having said that, I have a much clearer understanding of some of the appeal in the, like you put it, heroic without being tragic, lawful good (but not lawful nice) characters, I think I even friended you originally because of meta about this sort of stuff.

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Lawful good does not mean lawful nice

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I'm a failure, Amy.

*weeps*

[grlufear.livejournal.com]

I like your posts about Superman. I'm not a huge fan and they make me think about him/his motivations in a different way (like one that is actually informed by any of his story-lines).

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

I think Superman is interesting for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that he *is* heroic without being tragic. His women don't (generally) get put in refrigerators. Like Barry Allen, he fights crime injustice in his day job. He cares for no other reason than because that's what you do if you're a hero or a good person. He's got a temper and he's idealistic to the point of sometime naivety and his approach to crime fighting is to essentially punch it in the face, but...I dunno. He tried to end world hunger by taking food to impoverished countries. I can't *not* like that guy, you know?

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. I love John Constantine kind of a lot. He's underhanded and sneaky and he gets the job done. I totally respect that.

Comic Con was really interesting for sparking these kinds of thoughts because of the Watchmen panel and hearing David Goyer (the writer on Batman Begins) and Javi (the creator of The Middle Man) speak and having seen Dark Knight. Really interesting stuff. I'll probably have a lot more to say when I'm done reading Watchmen.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Someone said that at work and it stuck with me. Then someone (Javi) was talking about being heroic without being tragic at Comic Con and David Goyer talked about getting the hero you need and it all kind of blends in my head.

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

I was discussing this point with a couple of guys at work and one of them said that they didn't like Superman because he didn't have *enough* vulnerabilities, and that being an alien from another planet didn't qualify someone as being a good superhero.

I, personally, think the fact that Superman is not a native makes it interesting in several ways: Superman is not from Earth. He embraces it, and its people, and yes, he could have chosen to do nothing and let the world and humans hurt one another, but he has abilities, he knows he can do good, and he chooses to. If he'd been any less of a good person or his parents hadn't raised him the way they had, things could have been much different.

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

Lawful good does not mean lawful nice.

God, I am so in love with that line.

I've only been able to see one episode of The Middleman so far, but Dub-Dub is my girl so hard. Mildly snarky brunettes who do the right things for the right reasons and also save the world a lot are one of my long-standing kinks. And The Middleman just charms the shit out of me. I can't look at him without giving out a delighted little, "Hee, dorkpants."

Boyscoutiness aside (which, honestly, if that is all Superman is to you, then it is DEFINITELY not me that is missing the point), he's a guy who does good because he can and because it's important to him and because he likes and believes in people and *their* ability to do good.

Absolutely. And I understand why heroism-through-personal-trauma is an endearing trope, and it doesn't take away from the rightness of the act itself if that's why a person turns towards doing Good from merely doing Decent, but there's something much more interesting about someone who steps up and does the right thing solely because it's the right thing and someone needed to step up.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

I love Dub Dub. She's capable and snarky and she cares despite her jadedly cynical exterior and she's *interested* and so is MM. Like, this is part of what draws me to them -- for all the wackiness and shenanigans and the hentai tentacle monster and the "Guns of the Navarrone!" and whatnot, they're people who...fight evil and make the world a better place and who are bright and interested in the people around them and who are tied to the world and that's just really really awesome to me.

And this goes into the Superman thing and into my...character kinks? I guess. I love Superman because he loves people and is invested in the world and is a *part* of it. He has a job (fighting injustice by bringing out the truth), he has a kickass beautiful strong woman who FIGHTS INJUSTICE and who stands up for people and who is driven and ambitious and AWESOME LOIS LANE ILU who is his wife and partner, his best friend is sunny and curious and friendly and it's just...these are the people Superman chooses to surround himself with. He surrounds himself with people who are out to *make the world a better place* and who look at the world and don't necessarily see something to be fixed but something that can be awesome and shining and wonderful if you give it the chance. Um. Wow, I totally got a bit nuts there, but like, seriously, if I'm thinking about my comic book characters that I love, they're all the bright ones (Jubilee, the Flash, the Arrow family, Blue Beetle, Captain America, etc). Bright colors and loudness and smiles and whimsy and hope that things aren't always bleak.

But you say it here, with there's something much more interesting about someone who steps up and does the right thing solely because it's the right thing and someone needed to step up. That's it, right there. I understand the drama of heroism through tragedy, I find it compelling when it's done right, but there is a part of me that thrills to see people doing the right thing because *that's what you do.* Like, it's not enough to hold back the monsters in the dark; sometimes you have to light a candle so everyone can see what they're fighting. Except less cheesy.

Anyway! That was my long, incoherent, sometimes cheesy ramble.