donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2018-10-20 08:33 am
donutsweeper) wrote2018-10-20 08:33 am
Entry tags:
Blatherings, Bad Guys and More
So, I watched s3 of Daredevil. My nonspoilery reaction was just to realize how tired I am of the way Bad Guys are written these days and what is considered "winning" against them (written in more depth, but still without any spoilers, under the cut).
I'm tired of the Evil All Knowing Bad Guy who has this intricate plan with 90 parts that all flow and work perfectly and exactly how they predicted it would. The good-at-heart-but-in-a-bad-place pawn moves exactly how Bad Guy knew they would, the dumb person bought the story in the exact way needed, the "random" event hit its mark perfectly, instead of going to Good Guy for help their friend gets sucked into the mess in the specific way the Bad Guy needed him to, etc etc etc.
Bad Guys are being written like they are these amazing directors, managing the world like its a stage and all the people around them like actors. But, in a play things work the way they do because there's a script and everyone knows their lines and hits the marks that are taped on the floor. But we're suppose to believe it can all happen like then when there is no script and people haven't been made aware of their lines at the start?
There's no way Bad Guy could have seen that A&B&C&D&E&F ad infinitum all would have happened at very specific times in the very specific ways that led to certain very, very specific outcomes. Two or three things they could absolutely manage, maybe even a dozen if there were a few they expected to fall through, but all of them? Random shit happens and people don't always react the way they are expected to. Sometimes even for dumb, no way to plan for, reasons (uncharged phone doesn't get a call, a cold prevents someone from overhearing the thing they were supposed to, a coat is forgotten so someone returns home to get it and won't be at a specific place at a certain time, there's an ice storm, a completely unrelated car accident snarls traffic, someone doesn't take a hint/suggestion/bribe/gift/whatever for a million different reasons, etc). Yet despite all that the plan works (only finally falling apart when Good Guy defeats Bad Guy in the final act).
I just can't buy it anymore.
I'm also tired of the idea that as long as Good Guy + friends make it through to the end it's a win no matter the devastation left in their wake. Avengers (2012) did a good job at not doing this - they were shown trying to contain the aliens into the few block radius under the opening they were coming through and effort was made to get people off the streets and to safety. But too often the big battles take place in busy places when it could easily be taken elsewhere. Whole blocks and buildings are leveled, people's homes blown up, tons of innocent bystanders murdered and the hero(es) may feel bad about it but they Got The Bad Guy In The End and that's What Matters.
Anyway. 17ish hours remain for Yuletide signups (it'll be 12 hours at 4pm cdt today) and there's currently 1237 people signed up. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a huge rush of signups in the last hours and I suspect the final numbers will be somewhere between 1500-1600. There's numerous offers and requests for 'To Whatever' and 'The Thing in the Walls Wants Your Small Change' which makes me super happy. Anytime I nominate/promote a fandom and it gets any traction it makes me smile. Hopefully there'll be some great fics as a result, but even if it doesn't, it means people read and loved those short stories. :)
I'm having my annual doubts/flail over YT and worry if I'll meet my (personal) goal but that's pretty typical and I'm doing my best to ignore the brainweasles.
Anyway, if you're in need of getting into the Halloween spirit, go listen to Vincent Price reading The Raven.
I'm tired of the Evil All Knowing Bad Guy who has this intricate plan with 90 parts that all flow and work perfectly and exactly how they predicted it would. The good-at-heart-but-in-a-bad-place pawn moves exactly how Bad Guy knew they would, the dumb person bought the story in the exact way needed, the "random" event hit its mark perfectly, instead of going to Good Guy for help their friend gets sucked into the mess in the specific way the Bad Guy needed him to, etc etc etc.
Bad Guys are being written like they are these amazing directors, managing the world like its a stage and all the people around them like actors. But, in a play things work the way they do because there's a script and everyone knows their lines and hits the marks that are taped on the floor. But we're suppose to believe it can all happen like then when there is no script and people haven't been made aware of their lines at the start?
There's no way Bad Guy could have seen that A&B&C&D&E&F ad infinitum all would have happened at very specific times in the very specific ways that led to certain very, very specific outcomes. Two or three things they could absolutely manage, maybe even a dozen if there were a few they expected to fall through, but all of them? Random shit happens and people don't always react the way they are expected to. Sometimes even for dumb, no way to plan for, reasons (uncharged phone doesn't get a call, a cold prevents someone from overhearing the thing they were supposed to, a coat is forgotten so someone returns home to get it and won't be at a specific place at a certain time, there's an ice storm, a completely unrelated car accident snarls traffic, someone doesn't take a hint/suggestion/bribe/gift/whatever for a million different reasons, etc). Yet despite all that the plan works (only finally falling apart when Good Guy defeats Bad Guy in the final act).
I just can't buy it anymore.
I'm also tired of the idea that as long as Good Guy + friends make it through to the end it's a win no matter the devastation left in their wake. Avengers (2012) did a good job at not doing this - they were shown trying to contain the aliens into the few block radius under the opening they were coming through and effort was made to get people off the streets and to safety. But too often the big battles take place in busy places when it could easily be taken elsewhere. Whole blocks and buildings are leveled, people's homes blown up, tons of innocent bystanders murdered and the hero(es) may feel bad about it but they Got The Bad Guy In The End and that's What Matters.
Anyway. 17ish hours remain for Yuletide signups (it'll be 12 hours at 4pm cdt today) and there's currently 1237 people signed up. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a huge rush of signups in the last hours and I suspect the final numbers will be somewhere between 1500-1600. There's numerous offers and requests for 'To Whatever' and 'The Thing in the Walls Wants Your Small Change' which makes me super happy. Anytime I nominate/promote a fandom and it gets any traction it makes me smile. Hopefully there'll be some great fics as a result, but even if it doesn't, it means people read and loved those short stories. :)
I'm having my annual doubts/flail over YT and worry if I'll meet my (personal) goal but that's pretty typical and I'm doing my best to ignore the brainweasles.
Anyway, if you're in need of getting into the Halloween spirit, go listen to Vincent Price reading The Raven.
no subject
+1. Did you see Kingsman? I don't watch many movies, but, holy shit, that was not A Win For The Good Guys and if that's the trend, I'm so glad I haven't seen them.
no subject
no subject
Also very much with you on the scale of destruction. When Jack and I sit watching something that involves destroying a large amount of an urban area (yeah, like Avengers) we both sit there going on about the poor innocent people losing their homes etc. I guess the writers assume it's going to make it all more dramatic, but we find it distracting, worrying about all the collateral!
no subject
I think you're onto something there. TPTB seem to think the bigger the explosion the better the story, which is very much not the case.