The Flaws of Appreciating a Flawed Character

  Presently, most of what I read is non-fiction. But in my early youth; and when I get a chance now, science fiction has been my genre of choice. Because of this, I am in a constant argument with my best friend about the value of a science fiction character, as opposed to the value of a serious, realistic character. (Think Star Trek vs. No country for Old Men. This argument applies to all types of storytelling.)

 

    Great works of literature always boast "complex" characters. Macbeth; Heathcliff; Dorian Gray. These characters are multidimensional, because they are not just paragons of justice and morality. These characters reflect real people's weaknesses, where "heroes" like superman or Indiana Jones do not. Superman and Indiana jones are perfect, they will never let you down, they will never lose. We know this from the very beginning of the story. They are always likable, and they can always outwit the competition. They are unrealistic because, supposedly, everything under our sun (contrary to the son of Krypton) will let you down. And stories with "realistic" characters are here to caution us against trust, against idolatry, and against hope. Because those are the realm of fairy tales.

 

    May I be the first to say fuck that. America used to be a country of heroes. We had Babe Ruth and Neil Armstrong. Our president may or may not have slept with Marilyn Monroe. We were the military demigods of the world. "The Americans are coming" meant an unstoppable force. We had nobel laureates and we had Olympians. We had heroes. Elvis. The Beatles. These were more than people--they were a personification of hope. These did not let you down. ( I don't mean to make this centered on America, and before a war starts, yes I know The Beatles were British, but they were heroes to American youth as well.)
    Now we break down our celebrities. Television Shows constantly cover rehabs and moral failings and drug addled deaths. I'm not naive enough to think heroes of the past century didn't have dark secrets--they most certainly did--but our culture didn't drag their successes over the coals of their failures. When Jimi Hendrix died, nobody laughed. Nobody made entire bodies of online comedy devoted to his "predictable descent." 

 

    Here’s my problem in a nutshell: having the flaws of our stars and “heroes” being exposed and examined has stopped being a matter of disgust and started to be a matter of acceptance. We expect every new, wonderful, person to have some fatal vice, so when it comes out that they killed their mother/molested the neighbor’s child/stolen millions of dollars from taxpayers/have done more cocaine than can be reasonable concealed on an aircraft carrier, it's not a “scandal” anymore. It is as if these things are okay because we do not expect a perfect being anymore. These things are not ok. I don’t want my heroes to be jackasses in real life. I don’t want to find out that Clark Kent beat Lois Lane. Celebrities, like it or not, are the de facto social leaders of our culture and when they are allowed to be torn down, our culture goes with it. 

 

Here’s the hard part: people are not going to stop doing horrible things in real life, and we can’t really let someone off the hook just because they are a good role model, because if they have committed an atrocity, they have kind of forfeit their legitimacy in sculpting our culture. This is not a problem in fiction however. This is why super heroes had such a powerful ethos during their prime. This is why the same tropes are still appealing to my generation today (The Marvel Motion Picture Universe). 
There is great value in knowing the weakness that mankind has within them. East of Eden, Of Mice And Men, Heart of Darkness are all extremely important books in the body of human thought because they show us the potentials for evil within ourselves. (Yes, two of those were by Steinbeck. He is my favorite author. If you haven’t read Cannery Row, it will fix all the problems in your life. Seriously.) But I do not want to live in a world where thousands of innocents are wrongfully incarcerated every year. I want to live in a world where someone like Michael Westen will help you solve the problems that are tearing you down. I want to live in a world where everyone is beautiful and witty and the biggest problems in your life can be solved by the end of a fifty minute spot, or at least by the end of the season. I want to live in a world where people always make the right moral choice. 

Yes, sometimes that’s a grey area, but nine times out of ten it’s extremely clear cut and most “grey areas” are results of the wrong moral choice some time ago. If we start living our lives more like The Avengers and less like Game of Thrones, we’ll end up living in a more healthy, more friendly society. We crave stories that are “dark” and “gritty” and “real” because those are more consistent with our expectations of the real “cold, harsh, unforgiving world.” This is all true. The world for the vast majority of people is cold, harsh and unforgiving, but has it occurred to us that such circumstances are at least subjectively horrible and that instead of seeking out a reflection of the injustice that does exist in real life, we should seek to alter our reality to instead reflect the golden age as materialized by our fantasy?

    Tell me how I am a shallow book-burner in the comments below!