this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 198 points 10 months ago (24 children)

I'm just tired of the trope of the person looking for vengeance getting right up to the point of killing the object of their revenge and then stopping because "it will make me just as bad as you." No it won't! The movie has made it very clear that he's an evil son of a bitch! Kill the fucker!

[–] [email protected] 122 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Plus the hero killed like thirty goddamn people along the way to the big bad guy. Some of those guys had families too, asshole! You're already a monster!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

And if you let him live, he's just going to keep killing other people eventually. All you win is a moral high ground for barely 5 minutes after the credits roll. Monsters are really good at convincing themselves that they're not monsters!

[–] [email protected] 85 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Especially when they've slaughtered so many underlings to get there. Like I have no issue with people killing other people. Finn gets clowned on because people shriek "HE WAS A STORMTROOPER AND GOT UNPLUGGED AND NOW HES JUST KILLING THEM WHAT THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE". I mean... they're shooting at him. Literally kill or be killed. That's war and that's what happens when you're fighting for EVERYONE. Unfortunately people will die.

But that shit?! Fuck off. You don't get to spend however long wading through a river of blood only to suddenly stop because you have no issue with your pants being soaked but your shirt being stained is too much. Fuck all the way off.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mean usually these stories are pretty contrived. They're set up in a way where anyone who dies along the way is kill or be killed, but the final villain conveniently gets a chance to cry for mercy.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think that's mainly done to show the bad guy is actually a coward.

Something something too pathetic to kill blah blah

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Does this mean that Inigo is a better person that Westley is?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Westley's a good guy, but Inigo is a good guy and the ultimate wingman. Bonus points.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Depends on your view on revenge in general

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago

Or you have Booker Dewitt who's like "oh I was a Pinkerton and I killed natives I hate myself" while killing everyone on the screen in increasingly comical ways and drowning himself before drowning himself.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I think it was well done in The Last of Us 2

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Warning: massive spoilers below

I loved the last episode of The Last of Us. I loved that he wasn't about to make that sacrifice, even if it was for the fate of humanity. I loved that he was willing to kill everyone in the building to save his daughter, or whatever you'd call her. It was such an amazing direction to take, because nobody ever takes that direction.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Well the game did but yeah

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm not a gamer, but I'll take your word for it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Well others have called it shit, pointless and stupid. So let's not be too hasty, I might just have a dumb take on it. But I really felt like they did it well and told a good story.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

The point of TLOU2 was showing that vengeance only creates an endless cycle of vengeance (in my interpretation of it, it's been a few years since I played so my memory is a bit rusty).

Massive spoilers ahead (TLOU2 is getting an HBO show, so even if you don't play the games you might not want to spoil it if you like the show).


Edit: I tried to mark this as a spoiler with markdown, but it's not working on Boost. Unsure if it's working within Lemmy site or if it's just a Boost issue.

spoilerJoel kills Abby's dad to save Ellie (whether he actually needed to kill the doctor is up for debate). Abby finally catches up to Joel and kills him for payback, Ellie goes to hunt down Abby but discovers along the way that Joel had lied to her and the reason why Abby killed him.

Anyway, it's at this point where Ellie realizes that a) she's fucking tired, b) all of this pain could've been avoided had no one killed anyone, c) Joel wouldn't have wanted Ellie to throw her happiness away in order to avenge him, and c) she just wants to go live a peaceful life with Dina. So she decides to break out of the cycle and go chill on her farm with Dina.

There are a lot more nuances, but that's the general gist. What saves TLOU2 from being just another trope that's discussed in this thread, is how it forces the player to experience both characters' POV. I absolutely hated Abby when the game switches you over to her playthrough, especially since you start over pretty much (in terms of gear, abilities, etc). But by the end, I really empathized with her struggle and agreed that she was justified in killing Joel. It sucks, I loved Joel, but he fucked up pretty badly and paid the price for his actions.

Sometimes the "good guys" don't have a happy ending--even when Ellie returns to Dina, she massively suffers from PTSD and won't ever be the same--and that's okay in some stories. So I get why that game angered so many fans, but in my opinion it told a more realistic story and is better for it. :::

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Break out of the cycle after unnecessarily severely beating down someone who was literally just being brutally tortured moments ago. I feel the realization would have had more impact pre-beating, that part was just unnecessary and I hate being forced into actions like that in a way that makes it feel like you have a choice but you don’t, just give me a cut scene if I don’t.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You know...thank you for spoiling that. Because knowing just the first shocker of TLOU2 made me think "This is pretty nonsense." And I didn't bother with it after learning that.

But knowing about the theme of recurring violence and how it was directly in response to previous events makes a lot more sense, and I don't feel as harshly about it!

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[–] SuperSaiyanSwag 4 points 10 months ago

There are legitimate criticisms for that game, but whenever anyone brings up “ReVENge baD” as the criticism it just makes me angry. It’s like they already made up their minds about all of the characters and were just too stubborn to change their minds during the story.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

travel for two weeks

lose 3 party members

finally arrive and defeat the villain

"Nah, I don't really feel like it"

[–] [email protected] 46 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I think you have to find the line where revenge can do more harm than good, and where revenge is just going to end the arc (so to speak)

In Montoya's case it brings the killing to an end, because The Count (as far as we know) has no one to miss him, no one to seek vengeance for him and no one to get pissed that he is dead. So when Montoya stabs him that's it -- The Count is dead, Montoya's need for vengeance is satisfied and the story is done.

But if you go to something like Romeo and Juliet (or West Side Story because I can remember the character names), then getting revenge there just causes the cycle of violence to continue.

Bernardo stabs Riff. Tony stabs Bernardo. Chico goes looking for Tony, and eventually shoots him. And then -- at the end, the two gangs want revenge.

Now clearly if Maria kills Chico for him shooting Tony, it won't bring Tony back, but it will cause more anger in The Sharks.

And if The Jets kill Chico for shooting Tony, then it won't bring Tony back, but it will cause more anger in The Sharks.

And if The Sharks get revenge for Bernardo's death by taking out Ice, then it won't bring back Bernardo, but...... you get the idea.

Which is why Maria says "no", and tells them to let it go. She might loathe Chico and want him to pay for Tony's death, but killing him won't help.

I grew up with West Side Story and Xena, so I am more on the "don't kill people for revenge" side of things.

Not that I am saying Montoya was in the wrong, of course :)

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It was such a powerful scene for Montoya as well and the post by OP is missing the context.

Count offers him money and power at the request of him cementing that both of those mean nothing to him. It stresses how much he wants his father back.

Then you have the real world where Mandy pulled the emotion from his own father being taken from him (by cancer?)

Finally. This was a kids movie. You go through the whole movie with PG dialogue to be dropped that bomb. Less is more when it comes to swears.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

"Son of a bitch" is pretty tame as swears go, particularly in the 80s where even G kids' movies would probably be pushing PG-13 these days. I do agree having otherwise clean dialogue does increase the impact when it's used, but I'd argue that it's Mandy that really sells it. There's a lot of real pain, loss, and anger behind that line when Mandy speaks it, and that gives it some serious weight.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think a key point of that, though, is don't start killing for revenge. Like comments above, if you kill 30 underlings to get to the boss you are seeking revenge against, and then stop that revenge right before killing them, you aren't exactly taking a moral high ground.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

The saying is "Before setting out on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." Maybe we should pump up that number a bit.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Revenge is an imperfect mechanism to accomplish the real good of stopping those that harm people.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"To The Pain" is a much better solution as it leaves a lasting example and warming to others.

"'To the pain' means that the first thing you lose will be your feet below the ankles. Then your hands at the wrists, next your nose... The next thing you lose will be your left eye, followed by your right. [...] Your ears you keep, and I'll tell you why: so that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish; every babe that weeps at your approach; every woman who cries out, 'Dear God! What is that thing?' will echo in your perfect ears. That is what 'to the pain' means; it means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery, forever."

— Westley, The Princess Bride

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

While I tend to agree from an emotional and comeuppance perspective, stuff like zero tolerance laws a d "law and order" policies tend to show tackling the source and causes of crime for most to be more effective than a harsh punishment, with similar things with rehabilitation. That said, some people just gotta die. For everyone else's sake, or they just keep repeating their actions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

You're absolutely right, we should rehabilitate most people as best we can but also just straight up murder sonsabtiches of a certain caliber.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

I feel like this is where The Northman shines.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Certainly not moral, belivieng that pain should be avoided or respect for life itself.

I prefer the old logic.

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