But these people aren’t exactly what I want now!
A lot of media coverage over the ages has been dedicated to the idea that entertainment is becoming a haven for lunatics and monsters of every stripe. Everywhere that you might look, you can see people who think that they know better than everyone else trying to force their opinions down the throats of people who just want to play a game, see a movie, or watch a good television show. As someone who really likes to tell stories, I take issue with the outlandish claims that are being made by many groups on the left and the right, especially since everyone from SJWs to right-wingers appear to be looking for offense and an excuse to control other people instead of sharing an experience.
Hopefully, this will convince some people, but it will more likely provoke massive controversy. Either way, strap yourselves in.
1. Sexualizing A Character
Nice.
I can’t believe that I am having to come on here and explain that humans are sexual creatures. For narrative purposes, this facet of our lives can be used for anything that content creators might want, whether it is fitting into the silly atmosphere of fighting games or advancing the plot by using it as a weapon… or anything in between. In our personal lives, these characteristics are very often used in a similar way, which helps an audience to draw a connection between the two worlds and suspend their disbelief just a little bit more.
In fact, one could argue that entertainers are merely holding up a mirror to the wider culture because people like to put themselves on display under the right circumstances. One such parallel is how people (you know who you are) like to shame models or actors for doing something rational and easy with their good looks. Whether male or female, they are getting thousands of dollars (or more) and positive press coverage in exchange for the timeless fact that many red-blooded men and women are going to like what they put out for, you know, reasons.
If you think that these two pictures are different in any way, you’re not using your brain.
If you are an entertainer and you want to put a hunk of a man or a woman with obnoxiously good looks in your story, more power to you as long as the rest of it is great, too.
2. Not Adhering To A Diversity Quota
Only Commander Shepard has that privilege on his spaceship.
I don’t share the belief that the entertainment industry is keeping people down by deliberately refusing to represent them in entertainment. Once again, this issue goes back to a reflection of the ethnic makeup of the country that is producing the material and the fact that people tend to write what they know. For instance, the dominant demographic in the United States is Caucasian, whereas the dominant demographic in India is Indian. From that front, no one should really hold grudges over how the majority of the entertainment in these respective nations are going to consist of characters from the aforementioned groups. As long as everyone else has a fair shot at telling their own stories, then I don’t care and neither should you.
On top of that, the idea of asking for a diversity quota in stories can often be a recipe for disaster in a politically correct world. As an example, I don’t really know how to write Chinese characters very well, mostly because I’ve never spent any extended amount of time in a culture like that and research can only get you so far. Therefore, any future pressure to write one is liable to annoy one crowd, the other, or both. It is best to ignore those few that are looking for trouble and focus on writing characters that anyone can empathize with.
3. Morally Gray Stories And Characters
He has to kill Guillermo first.
This one is more reflective of those on the right that get annoyed when movies don’t have a “Rah-rah America!” vibe and feature an uncertainty about who to root for in the story. Keeping in mind the fact that I abhor preachy attitudes in stories as much as the next guy, a great theme that can be used for a plot is how people can do bad things for good reasons and vice versa. It is part of the reason why Jason Bourne is an interesting character, especially when he has to deal with the suffering that comes with following orders without question.
However, the fact that the Bourne films has an out-of-control assassination program does not automatically mean that the U.S. government is evil. In much the same way, the thought that an “evil corporation” can paint every for-profit enterprise as evil in the real world is absurd. Instead, I like to think of it as a reminder that regardless of your politics, we should all be vigilant against corruption in any area of public life.
Unless, of course, you are someone from Avatar. In that case, you might just be a mouthpiece for James Cameron.
4. Putting Violence In A Story
TAKE COVER!
Back in the 1990s, people on the right often blamed video games for harming their kids with illustrations of violence, especially with the release of Doom. In the modern age, that same buffoonery has passed to the SJWs because of misogyny or racism or whatever other pet cause is being parroted without nuance or thought these days. When in doubt, it is important to repeat after me:
99.9% of people can tell the difference between reality and fiction.
Now, I am of the opinion that creating a violent game just for the hell of it is bad writing, but it is important to remember that conflict is often driven forward by one of two things.
- Relationship Drama
- Physical or Mental Duress
These two points are the driver behind almost everything you see in our popular culture. In essence, the characters must suffer in some way to have something that is watchable, such as if a wife or a girlfriend was taken from one of our many heroes in recent years. He cared about her. Therefore, we care about him AND her because, among many other things, he is seeking to right a tragic wrong out of love.
…and beat up the bad guys in the process.
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