{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "it is possible that I\u2019m an asshole, but it is 2 0 1 7 and we\u2019re still doing books where the main conflict is...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/165490745438/", "html": "

oligopsoneia:

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collapsedsquid:

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oligopsoneia:

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anosognosic:

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bambamramfan:

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kontextmaschine:

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thathopeyetlives:

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earlgraytay:

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elucubrare:

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it is possible that I\u2019m an asshole, but it is 2 0 1 7 and we\u2019re still doing books where the main conflict is \u201cmages/wizards/magic users are banned by an Oppressive Catholic Church analogue\u201d and i am tired of it\u00a0

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A) That\u2019s Dragon Age\u2019s schtick at this point, y\u2019all should stop copying them.

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B) this is making me want to do a\u00a0\u2018evil mages vs. Christian martyrs\u2019 thing just out of spite.

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[Catholic dives into conversation like a wounded osprey]

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A thing that I found even more irritating was Dishonored\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThere are horrible evil human-sacrificing magic users and an Oppressive Catholic Church Analogue that doesn\u2019t even, like, pray, or believe in God, or do anything other than oppress the evil human-sacrificing magic users with excessive violence and everything is horrible and there is no hope\u201d.\u00a0

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Missing link is JRPGs and the fact that Prussia/Germany used to be to Japan what America became

(\u201cSempai, help me understand the world! Also, I might seize your Pacific island holdings.\u201d)

So the whole one-city kingdom/Chancellor edging in/Emperor taking over/corrupt demonic Church thing

GERMAN (PROT) AS HELL

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You\u2019re not gonna have a franchise where the good guys are an institutional church, because duh, institutions are the way you portray villains.

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But the good guys as underground spirituality who obey a higher moral power vs powerful warlords who use the religion as just a tool to increase their own supernatural power, with no care for the spiritual mandates of that power?

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That\u2019s just Star Wars.

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(Also, the Starship Troopers sequel Marauder is a fantastic depiction of the church under fascism.)

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\n\ninstitutions are the way you portray villains\n\n

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Western individualism runs deep.

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It\u2019s kind of interesting to think up examples where institutions are the heroes. So far I can come up with:

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  • the odd Catholic (or Catholic-friendly) story (e.g. Father Brown, Pillars of the Earth)
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  • police procedurals
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  • spy stories (particularly where the villains are terrorists)
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Got any more?

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I feel like the standard western violent melodrama (westerns, cop stories, superheroes obviously) formula is of the protagonist breaking out of institutional constraints to shore up the status quo - methodological radicalism + substantive conservatism

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(crude formulation: anything with a male protagonist that isn\u2019t the proverbial horny english professor is narratologically fascist)

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Isn\u2019t the horny professor breaking out the institutional constraints \nof monogamy and employment to shore up the status quo of \nheterosexual patriarchy?

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that\u2019s obviously correct and i feel stupid now

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