86
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I have a few:

  • Chosen ones, fate, destiny, &c. When you get down to it, a story with these themes is one where a single person or handful of people is ontologically, cosmically better and more important than everyone else. It's eerily similar to that right-wing meme about how "most people are just NPCs" (though I disliked the trope before that meme ever took off).
  • Way too much importance being given to bloodlines by the narrative (note, this is different from them being given importance by characters or societies in the story).
  • All of the good characters are handsome and beautiful, while all of the evil characters are ugly and disfigured (with the possible exception of a femme fatale or two).
  • Races that are inherently, unchangeably evil down to the last individual regardless of upbringing, society, or material circumstances.
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago

A lot of YA fiction seems to take that route. Then the kids who read it grow up and turn into adults who cry about the unfairness of Marie Antoinette getting owned.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago

One of the reasons i liked Enders Game as a weird outsider kid was that Ender, the weird outsider kid, just straight up killed his bullies and then they never bullied him again and I thought that was a very sensible way to handle matters compared to the saccharine bullshit in the other kids books i was reading.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

One of the things i like about wuxia is that they seldom bother with that nonsense. Wuxia morality is more of an eye for an eye.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

I think one of the common sayings from that genre is "pay those who do right by you back tenfold, pay those who wrong you back a thousandfold"

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Man that almost sounds like philosophy from the trenches; break bread with the real ones, get it back in blood from the opps

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago

There's literally people who interpreted the "shower scene" as him just beating the kid up and them being kicked out of battle school.

I think the most recent movie adaptation takes this route (though it might still be vague enough to be interpreted as the adult trying to keep Ender from knowing he murdered a kid.)

this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
86 points (98.9% liked)

askchapo

22608 readers
280 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS