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Jun. 27th, 2008 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
home_and_away"Why do there have to be badguys?" Dae asked one morning on our way to school.
It trips me up and trips me out to hear the timeless lucidity that comes out of his mouth sometimes. Times like that feel like we've stepped offstage into the dusty dimness of the wings, and are standing there together with our thumbs in our suspenders, admiring the propmakers' skill. Two old souls taking a smoke break before we're due to get back out there and deliver our next lines.
"What do you mean, boo?" I ask, mostly to see what he'll say.
"In movies. Why's there always a badguy?"
"To move the story along, lovey. To make the goodguys be good instead of just guys. To make the characters grow."
"To make the story move?"
"Yep. No badguy, or no conflict, no change. No story."
"Hm."
A few days later we were watching another movie, and as the story unfolded to show what the main problem was going to be, I heard him murmur, "There have to be badguys to make the story move."
I'm curious what plant will grow from that seed. Will he hear religious myths with an ear out for how the bad guy gives the good guy purpose? Have I just laid the groundwork for my son to become a mass murdurer? Or will it turn into compassion? Into a keen eye for the way people deal with one another?
I don't know. I have hopes, but I don't know.
It trips me up and trips me out to hear the timeless lucidity that comes out of his mouth sometimes. Times like that feel like we've stepped offstage into the dusty dimness of the wings, and are standing there together with our thumbs in our suspenders, admiring the propmakers' skill. Two old souls taking a smoke break before we're due to get back out there and deliver our next lines.
"What do you mean, boo?" I ask, mostly to see what he'll say.
"In movies. Why's there always a badguy?"
"To move the story along, lovey. To make the goodguys be good instead of just guys. To make the characters grow."
"To make the story move?"
"Yep. No badguy, or no conflict, no change. No story."
"Hm."
A few days later we were watching another movie, and as the story unfolded to show what the main problem was going to be, I heard him murmur, "There have to be badguys to make the story move."
I'm curious what plant will grow from that seed. Will he hear religious myths with an ear out for how the bad guy gives the good guy purpose? Have I just laid the groundwork for my son to become a mass murdurer? Or will it turn into compassion? Into a keen eye for the way people deal with one another?
I don't know. I have hopes, but I don't know.
