Excellent piece! I remember a line one of my very competent friends in college used: The line between arrogance and confidence is "accuracy". I've always loved that bit of insight.
It's funny you bring up Captain Marvel, as I hadn't really been able to put my finger on it, but reading your thoughts I realize that she should have been written like Dr Manhattan from Watchmen: So powerful and beyond humanity that she has trouble even remembering what it was like. That would have been an interesting arc for her at least, instead of the nonsense we got.
Finally, I think you would like Smith's points on how we make moral decisions. Essentially his whole conception of how we form moral sentiments is that we run simulations of layer upon layer of moral judgements by others and ourselves. He doesn't specifically mention the value of reading stories to aid that (at least that I can recall) but it fits in perfectly with the notion of imagining what better, more admirable impartial spectators would think of a situation.
Excellent! Regarding positive disintegration, reading "Upside: The New Science of Post-Traumatic Growth" really stuck with me and this phenomenon completely confirms Dabrowski's theory. Basically, after traumatic events of various kinds many people change completely for the better and become a new person. There others though who become bitter or self-destructive or worse. This means that it's a choice at some level. Something to learn. Fiction used to be a big part of that since the dawn of time, but alas...
The moment of personality disintegration is one of absolute vulnerability. Reintegration is always adaptive, and the difficulty lies in avoiding adaptation to circumstances imposed by the manipulations of others.
There is a reason why predators invoke chaos; it imposes disintegration.
Palacio is great. I picked up his first sword and sorcery novel recently; very much looking forward to reading it, the reviews are great.
I think the reason the current generation of Hollywood writers have no ability to write heroic characters is at least partly because they have no actual experience of heroism in their own lives. To them, being good merely comes down to having the correct opinions. Which has nothing to do with it of course. Then they see the way heroic characters are portrayed in older works, and utterly misunderstand the confident self-assurance, confusing it with arrogance and pushiness. They see only the exterior, utterly failing to penetrate to the interior, and this lack of insight results in unintentional parody and pastiche.
If we wait for every mortal to benefit from "positive integration" by exposure to perfect dramatic literature, it could take millions of years! My teacher prefers a slightly more proactive approach, though it could still take centuries. But those considerations are not the focus of my involvement on sites like this,
My training distinguishes these two "heroes" by Tone Level. Robin Hood, at his best, operates at the level of Action or Games. These levels are almost impossible for a human to sustain, and thus Robin is a hero among men, though in other contexts he might only be one of thousands of accomplished warriors.
The modern hero (heroine?) exhibits extraordinary power and fighting skill. Like Robin, she can originate somewhat witty remarks in the midst of a violent struggle. Yet she seems, at best, only bored. Not really involved in the ideals behind her work and thus possibly not that in agreement with those ideals. At worse (or is this normal for her?) she seems to exhibit a lack of sympathy for others, which is a bit psychopathic and destructive of good social relationships. Thus we get the impression of a girl immersed in a video game where she is compelled to fight and kill to proceed to the "next level" yet is not so much involved with the game as she is trapped in it. One should always be able to rise above the games one has chosen, should it seem appropriate. If one cannot, one is trapped and little more than a slave. Only the psychopath wishes to be surrounded by slaves rather than by free men and women.
A wonderful compare and contrast. In a multitude of ways you have demonstrated an objective case for the classical Aristotelian mimesis... that Art does indeed imitate life.
This is great! I was just ranting about this today, in fact lol. The drag queen story hour people are attacking the faith based patriotic story time people on and on infinitum. Fiction and stories and myths and legends and tales have many salutory effects, but I would argue that the most ancient and most vital one isn't moral at all: it is a pattern for surviving, and it is fascinating and pleasurable, as pretend and rough and tumble play are fascinating and pleasurable, because it is so deeply tied to survival. Walter Burkert, the historian of Greek religions mapped the episodes of the Propp Sequence, essentially the hero's journey. over the stages of food getting behavior in mammals. So I argue forget the morality, the edification, and plunge into the mind simulation of adventure for adventure's sake. Prior to film, we were all making images in our brains when we were immersed in hearing or reading stories, and our right hemispheres are creating worlds. I am right now both myself and an elderly poet in Lithuania (The Last Girl, Stephan Collishaw)in his world, in his story, which has a phenomenological reality that is wispy to myself in this room, but waiting there when I return, palpable and real. What is vital, I hypothesize, is to get everyone, but especially kids, back to co-creating worlds with authors or storytellers and off the screens (not that I"m against illustrated books or tv or films in some portion) and back to creating imagined worlds in our heads. We've been making these images since the Upper Paleolithic, at least, and we have stopped, and this may be one filament of what is driving us mad. Thanks for this great article. I sometimes think an algorithm is writing books and making film plots these days. Sorry to leap in and rant lol.
If that Robin Hood from the movie is for real, then yes, I agree - we could use more Robin Hood type theatre. Now, I know the Robin Hood from the movie is not "real" (it was a show about a story), but at least the show had redeeming value about the "human experience".
Excellent piece! I remember a line one of my very competent friends in college used: The line between arrogance and confidence is "accuracy". I've always loved that bit of insight.
It's funny you bring up Captain Marvel, as I hadn't really been able to put my finger on it, but reading your thoughts I realize that she should have been written like Dr Manhattan from Watchmen: So powerful and beyond humanity that she has trouble even remembering what it was like. That would have been an interesting arc for her at least, instead of the nonsense we got.
Finally, I think you would like Smith's points on how we make moral decisions. Essentially his whole conception of how we form moral sentiments is that we run simulations of layer upon layer of moral judgements by others and ourselves. He doesn't specifically mention the value of reading stories to aid that (at least that I can recall) but it fits in perfectly with the notion of imagining what better, more admirable impartial spectators would think of a situation.
Excellent! Regarding positive disintegration, reading "Upside: The New Science of Post-Traumatic Growth" really stuck with me and this phenomenon completely confirms Dabrowski's theory. Basically, after traumatic events of various kinds many people change completely for the better and become a new person. There others though who become bitter or self-destructive or worse. This means that it's a choice at some level. Something to learn. Fiction used to be a big part of that since the dawn of time, but alas...
The moment of personality disintegration is one of absolute vulnerability. Reintegration is always adaptive, and the difficulty lies in avoiding adaptation to circumstances imposed by the manipulations of others.
There is a reason why predators invoke chaos; it imposes disintegration.
Koehli, one of your best. I’m 76 yo, son of a real man of the Greatest Generation. Where are the real men of today’s generation?
Palacio is great. I picked up his first sword and sorcery novel recently; very much looking forward to reading it, the reviews are great.
I think the reason the current generation of Hollywood writers have no ability to write heroic characters is at least partly because they have no actual experience of heroism in their own lives. To them, being good merely comes down to having the correct opinions. Which has nothing to do with it of course. Then they see the way heroic characters are portrayed in older works, and utterly misunderstand the confident self-assurance, confusing it with arrogance and pushiness. They see only the exterior, utterly failing to penetrate to the interior, and this lack of insight results in unintentional parody and pastiche.
If we wait for every mortal to benefit from "positive integration" by exposure to perfect dramatic literature, it could take millions of years! My teacher prefers a slightly more proactive approach, though it could still take centuries. But those considerations are not the focus of my involvement on sites like this,
My training distinguishes these two "heroes" by Tone Level. Robin Hood, at his best, operates at the level of Action or Games. These levels are almost impossible for a human to sustain, and thus Robin is a hero among men, though in other contexts he might only be one of thousands of accomplished warriors.
The modern hero (heroine?) exhibits extraordinary power and fighting skill. Like Robin, she can originate somewhat witty remarks in the midst of a violent struggle. Yet she seems, at best, only bored. Not really involved in the ideals behind her work and thus possibly not that in agreement with those ideals. At worse (or is this normal for her?) she seems to exhibit a lack of sympathy for others, which is a bit psychopathic and destructive of good social relationships. Thus we get the impression of a girl immersed in a video game where she is compelled to fight and kill to proceed to the "next level" yet is not so much involved with the game as she is trapped in it. One should always be able to rise above the games one has chosen, should it seem appropriate. If one cannot, one is trapped and little more than a slave. Only the psychopath wishes to be surrounded by slaves rather than by free men and women.
A wonderful compare and contrast. In a multitude of ways you have demonstrated an objective case for the classical Aristotelian mimesis... that Art does indeed imitate life.
Thanks. Great post.
This is what is meant when magic is called the art of changing consciousness at will.
This is great! I was just ranting about this today, in fact lol. The drag queen story hour people are attacking the faith based patriotic story time people on and on infinitum. Fiction and stories and myths and legends and tales have many salutory effects, but I would argue that the most ancient and most vital one isn't moral at all: it is a pattern for surviving, and it is fascinating and pleasurable, as pretend and rough and tumble play are fascinating and pleasurable, because it is so deeply tied to survival. Walter Burkert, the historian of Greek religions mapped the episodes of the Propp Sequence, essentially the hero's journey. over the stages of food getting behavior in mammals. So I argue forget the morality, the edification, and plunge into the mind simulation of adventure for adventure's sake. Prior to film, we were all making images in our brains when we were immersed in hearing or reading stories, and our right hemispheres are creating worlds. I am right now both myself and an elderly poet in Lithuania (The Last Girl, Stephan Collishaw)in his world, in his story, which has a phenomenological reality that is wispy to myself in this room, but waiting there when I return, palpable and real. What is vital, I hypothesize, is to get everyone, but especially kids, back to co-creating worlds with authors or storytellers and off the screens (not that I"m against illustrated books or tv or films in some portion) and back to creating imagined worlds in our heads. We've been making these images since the Upper Paleolithic, at least, and we have stopped, and this may be one filament of what is driving us mad. Thanks for this great article. I sometimes think an algorithm is writing books and making film plots these days. Sorry to leap in and rant lol.
If that Robin Hood from the movie is for real, then yes, I agree - we could use more Robin Hood type theatre. Now, I know the Robin Hood from the movie is not "real" (it was a show about a story), but at least the show had redeeming value about the "human experience".
Thanks for this article,
BK