Authors: “I have taken all of the worst personality traits and put them into the most egotistical and narcissistic sociopath villain ever! Readers will surely hate their guts!”
Heinlein in 1959: writes extremely militaristic and some would say fascistic book with tons of xenophobia and racism projected onto an alien race
Paul Verhoeven in 1997: “Jesus fuck! That’s a BIT much for today’s audience!” directs over the top parody of fascism and militarism, including deliberately annoying and explicitly jingoistic infomercials
Most people’s reaction in 1997: “Huh! I never knew Paul Verhoeven was a literal nazi!”
Conversely though there’s a very strong argument to make that media creators are not the end-all-be-all on how their content should be interpreted. Not saying that any of the characters in the above comment should be idolized, but “this character is the bad/good guy because the author says so!” isn’t a great way to analyze media, either.
Yeah, there’s manyfaceted characters open to interpretation and then there’s characters written explicitly to scare people by being fundamentally against the norms and principles of humanity.
Then again, being unironically fascist is back in style just as the last people old enough to remember WW2 first hand are dying, so clearly all bets are off as far as norms and principles of humanity goes 🤷
These characters represent the repressed feelings of many who feel under pressure by authority so they are exalted in the eyes of particular people, such as teenagers and young adults. Bateman, Joker and Tyler Durden have the common denominator of going against the norms so many feel related and entranced.
Authors: “I have taken all of the worst personality traits and put them into the most egotistical and narcissistic sociopath villain ever! Readers will surely hate their guts!”
Teenage boys: “Damn, this guy is so cool!”
Somewhat similar:
Heinlein in 1959: writes extremely militaristic and some would say fascistic book with tons of xenophobia and racism projected onto an alien race
Paul Verhoeven in 1997: “Jesus fuck! That’s a BIT much for today’s audience!” directs over the top parody of fascism and militarism, including deliberately annoying and explicitly jingoistic infomercials
Most people’s reaction in 1997: “Huh! I never knew Paul Verhoeven was a literal nazi!”
HP Lovecraft: I will ensure no white women marry black or Italian men by writing the Cthulu mythos as a warning against interracial marriage
2020s: Cthuwu lmao put it in another video game
Conversely though there’s a very strong argument to make that media creators are not the end-all-be-all on how their content should be interpreted. Not saying that any of the characters in the above comment should be idolized, but “this character is the bad/good guy because the author says so!” isn’t a great way to analyze media, either.
I get you point in a broader context, but this is just terrible both siding when we’re talking abot Tyler Durden and Patrick Bateman
Yeah, there’s manyfaceted characters open to interpretation and then there’s characters written explicitly to scare people by being fundamentally against the norms and principles of humanity.
Then again, being unironically fascist is back in style just as the last people old enough to remember WW2 first hand are dying, so clearly all bets are off as far as norms and principles of humanity goes 🤷
Bro the guy is the main character, he has to be cool yo
It’s called the Death if the Author of anyone wants to read a bit into it.
These characters represent the repressed feelings of many who feel under pressure by authority so they are exalted in the eyes of particular people, such as teenagers and young adults. Bateman, Joker and Tyler Durden have the common denominator of going against the norms so many feel related and entranced.
broke: idolize people whose bad experiences drive them to hurt innocents
woke: idolize union workers who have shootouts with exploitative mining companies
The Joker: “Hey guys look at me I’m anarchy! Anarchy is chaos! The villain! And the good guy is a billionaire.”