Nadia at Sarcastic Lutheran has posted a great analysis of how we approach the world and how this approach affects how we see the world.
It reminded me of a comment a director made to me once, he said, "Ben, the character does not think of himself as evil. You think the character is evil and it shows. The motivation of the character is that he thinks he is doing what is right and good."
Unfortunately, we do not give our "enemies" the courtesy of attributing their actions to the best possible explanation. We assume they are doing things because they are bad and evil. We, of course, do things because we are good and committed. When they do something "stupid" it is because they are, indeed, stupid. When we do something "stupid" we are either under pressure, or overwhelmed, or (insert situation here). If we could all learn to be as gracious to others as we want them to be to us, maybe life would just be a little smoother.
2 comments:
I recall having a conversation with a friend who was just starting to write that was similar to the conversation your director had with you. Her villains came across as completely unbelievable because she could not get past her own perceptions of their villainy to really explore what motivated them or otherwise how they thought.
I have to admit, though, that I'm not entirely comfortable with Nadia's conclusion that people believe what they want. It leaves open the question of why people would want to believe certain things. Particularly, I shudder at the thought of someone believing ill things of their fellow man just because they want to. I'd hope there's more to it than that.
no no no
the others are evil bastards and up to no good that's for certain.
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