{"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/180704942298/", "html": "

alexanderrm:

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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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Interestingly this is the reverse of what my first thought for \u201chow would you make institutions the good guys\u201d was- in real life the reason institutions are sometimes better than not is that they have formalized rules that protect the weak from the strong and protect people from arbitrary choices by the leaders. In loose-cannon cop stories and some superhero stories, the heroes are breaking the formal rules in order to beat up people who are threatening the people in charge of the institutions.

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Here reference my post on jury nullification

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