10/17/2022
Good Morning everyone,
It seems like almost every week there is something that happens and you are just left questioning and trying to make sense of it. Trying to make sense of the situation, and coming up empty. I definitely don’t have answers, but between the recent events and bingeing the most recent season of Stranger Things this weekend, the theme that comes up is good versus evil/bad. (I know I am late to watching it, but yet that could just be another seeming coincidence of how things work.)
The theme of good versus evil seems to be just about everywhere in entertainment, movies, books, even overlaid on history. And of course, if the theme is good versus evil, good has to win, right? Very often that seems the case, but of course the storyline may have some scares and losses, but good usually triumphs. Why? Because most people would likely align themselves with “good” rather than “evil” so of course the audience wants good to win so they feel like they succeeded and can connect with the characters, and feel like they have similar attributes to the winning side of good. Also worth mentioning, how is good and evil stereotypically portrayed? The evil witch dressed in black and the beautiful young princess ending up in white. I can’t say everyone, but most people watch the story, is seeing the story from the perspective of the “good,” ends up routing for the “good” side to win, and is then invested in the story. Rarely are there stories with the theme of good versus evil where the goal is to have the evil side win. There may be some times where more of the backstory is shared for those on the evil side, and there may be some effort to develop empathy for them, but ultimately the audience is still expecting them to lose because they are on the wrong side. Even just hearing good and bad, people tend to be drawn to the “good” side just because of the connotations of the words.
In entertainment, it is relatively easy to know which side the audience is meant to cheer for and connect with before their eventual, likely victory. In real life, it is not always so cut and dry. When people hear about a tragic event, most often people feel sadness and loss for those hurt or killed because they were innocent, and “bad” people acted upon them. Media is also quick to pick up the story and use strategic phrasing to let the audience know which “side” is the good and which side is the bad. Having good and bad overlaid on these events, someone needs to make the judgment about which side is which. Which side deserves the praise and sympathy, which side should be demonized and vilified. As soon as the judgment is made, there will likely be some who question, or disagree. Good and bad/evil are not necessarily inherent qualities that one person lives by and is then made known to the world as to the category they fit into by open declaration or wearing a sign. Good and bad are judgments that are ascribed to the people, decisions, actions, and situations. They are a catch all label, that then defines the entirety of life, based on one moment.
Not quite where I thought I was going, but still fitting I think. The key is that ultimately someone makes the judgment about good and bad. In some cases, it is fairly clear about the good and bad like senseless acts of violence. In far too many others, it is murky, yet the labels of good and bad are still applied. And I always go back to politics because it is so polarized that it is easy to use as the ever-present example. Ask members of both parties about “good” and “bad”-ness of presidents, and they will give you their opinions and judgments, but far from definitive, and likely won’t have a consensus, but will likely respond according to party lines. They may even be able to back up their opinions with actions done that they agree with, and hence were “good” decisions, and vice versa. But again, that is the judgement of good and bad being applied so that they are in agreement with their beliefs and values, so as to be on the “good” side.
I think that is the challenge about writing about good and evil/bad. Ultimately it is a judgment. Sometimes there is widespread agreement about the label used and it can be unifying. Far too often, the labels are used just in conjunction with one’s own values which then leaves others on the “bad” side even though they would argue the opposite. It is not my intention to detract from the tragedy in Bristol, or to call into question which side was good or bad, far from it. Just hearing the phrasing, hearing of the act of violence, and again in conjunction with the theme of good and bad from entertainment, led me to think about good versus evil. What is truly/universally/unequivocally good and bad? How are we to truly know as we are the ones making the judgments with our own biases, beliefs, values, and history? I was very close to scraping this as I am questioning if I was clear or did the topic justice. But maybe it all condenses to this. There will always be judgments about good and bad, and you may eventually be in the position to have the decision made against you. If everyone always made their decisions for “good,” just think what the world could look like.