There is a dangerous aspect of viewing Evil as an Archetypal entity that occurs in real life. The view of enemy countries (or perceived enemies) being identified with a Leader rather than a government and popular support of some kind is widespread in media reporting, and seemingly in some government policy too. The assumption is: remove Hitler (Quaddafi, Khomeini, Hussein, bin Laden, insert next bogeyman here) and all is well. It neglects the allies Hitler had, The Goebbels, Goering, Himmler etc. obviously, it then neglects the structures set in place by the Evil Leader, and finally and as we have seen in Iraq, most significantly, it neglects the fact that whilst those under such a Leader may see faults in him, they may also see benefits, or simply object to an outsider interfering.
So, does fiction therefore have an obligation to portray such evil as a wider malaise rather than an archetypal single entity?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-07-11 02:29 am (UTC)The assumption is: remove Hitler (Quaddafi, Khomeini, Hussein, bin Laden, insert next bogeyman here) and all is well. It neglects the allies Hitler had, The Goebbels, Goering, Himmler etc. obviously, it then neglects the structures set in place by the Evil Leader, and finally and as we have seen in Iraq, most significantly, it neglects the fact that whilst those under such a Leader may see faults in him, they may also see benefits, or simply object to an outsider interfering.
So, does fiction therefore have an obligation to portray such evil as a wider malaise rather than an archetypal single entity?