At university I read an interview with a writer who had worked on Ultra Violet, a vampire series set in the UK. In this interview he scoffed at the idea of the ‘good vampire’ and this got me thinking about the role of the bad and good characters in fiction. In real life nobody is good and nobody is bad we all fall somewhere in the middle or at least have redeeming qualities such as being kind to our dogs, writing delicate poetry about snowdrops or playing Go. In fiction the world is different and the grey character is confusing and difficult to have the right reaction too. Who can truly enjoy the dismemberment of Gredal if you feel sorry for him? Do not get me wrong there are times and places where greyness and the confusion associated with it are important tools for the narrative. Greyness works well in Battlestar Galactica or The Walking Dead where the focus is thinking about remaining human in the face of overwhelming odds.
In other cases a more mythological approach is better and an example is Starwars. It was conceived of and produced in the 1960s and 70s when the narrative was about plucky resistance movements fighting for freedom against European empires. It was created against the backdrop of the Second World War where people did not look too carefully at the Allies and Axis only the big picture of ours verses theres. Now this is not a healthy way to look at the real world but it is essential for looking at a mythological war. In real life both sides are hideous and have to engage in disreputable acts. In mythology the hero is good and the baddy is bad. One of the most offensive things about the recent Beowulf movie was Grendels mother making an equivalence between the violence of Grendel and Beowulf, to maintain the myth this can’t exist.
Orcs can’t have families, Cylons don’t have morality chips and the Bugs don’t make a distinction between soldiers and civilians making them enemies to be feared, honourable to fight. When Theodred, full of despair, says “What can men do against such reckless hate” and Aragorn replies “Ride out with me!” The atmosphere is charged. It would have deflated if Theodred had asked what he could do against reasoned dislike. To be effective drama has to be a choice between good and evil and to maintain their quality the good characters must make the right choice. To make the right choice there must be truely and unredeemable evil. Reckless evil.
When real life questions such as “what about the other side?” come into play the conflict is robbed of its quality. Sympathy for the devil, the good vampire, the sad zombie or feeling sorry for Grendel even the Balrog are at worst breakers of myth and best subject of satire as in Austin Powers and the henchmen.