I actually usually sit out these debates on the story (since they come up
every time I release a chapter, and since I think that both sides are
welcome to their views), but...
At 05:32 13/04/99, "Ranma Al'Thor" <ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu> wrote:
On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, The Apprentice wrote:
Actually I like him, more than just about any other character
in this story. I'm reading the story to see more of Emerald, and
I despise him for thinking he knows what's best for humanity better than
the rest of humanity does. Perhaps the man ought to ask himself why only
a bunch of people HE thinks of as lunatics and criminal scum want to
overthrow Crystal Tokyo.
You're arguing a present-day psychological point against an extreme future
situation: Emerald may be ten planks short of a bunch of firewood, or he
may be Mr Sanity reborn, but his total lack of mention of any Good aliens
may(or may not) be why he doesn't wonder why good aliens don't attack
Crystal Tokyo - maybe he hasn't met any.
And if, as an extreme example, you were struggling under the oppressive
taxs of a corrupt Roman government, and found that they had just been cut
off as a power by quite literal Vandals, would you care that the people
removing the oppression were no better than the ones causing it? Humanity
often cares less for the how than the why.
The problem with Serenity, and to a certain extent
Emerald as well, is that they aren't balancing things.
Her Majesty has decided that Safety (AKA Freedom
From) is far more important than Choice (AKA Freedom
To). Emerald, on the other hand tends to have a bias
Has she? We haven't actually seen anything from her viewpoint, just
Emerald's viewpoint. Given the man is a lunatic, I'm not inclined to
trust his view of things.
Maybe I'll get round to writing the next two parts sooner rather than
never. The second part is almost completely from the Senshi viewpoint, the
third is balanced between the two sides - the senshi journals in I'm Here
to Help are just there to try and offer a counterpoint, not a balanced view.
towards Choice over Safety. Still, Emerald seems to
at least be able to recognize, from time to time at
the least, that Safety has it's place too. Serenity, at
least what we've been shown of her so far, doesn't
seem to share that trait in regards to her view of
Choice.
I find it rather implausible that Usagi could ever become a soul
destroying, freedom crushing monster.
It's quite possible that she's not. To be honest, that's never been my
point in writing the story, and so therefore I do not write to exclusively
support or rebuff that point. My point was that not all villains would
oppose her because they think she's good and they're evil.
But, on the other hand, I drew the story more from the manga than the anime
- I'd read far more of the manga when I plotted this than I'd seen anime,
and in it the various Senshi(except Moon, of course) got turned evil a time
or two. It may be the point that Usagi was too pure for that, it may be the
point that merely every soul, from the greatest good to the vilest evil,
has its breaking point. There may have been no point at all except to sell
a few tankoban.
Now remember, I'm not here to lay down definitive answers for this story.
Emerald may be a tarnished hero, he may be self-deluded scum. I know(or, I
suppose, I have my own opinion) which he is, but it's up to the reader to
make their own conclusions, which is why I'm never going to straight out
set one side as being 'obviously' right.
Of course, some of this gets into
the question of whether or not the freedom to do evil is true freedom or
just another form of slavery.
I don't see how freedom to do good is any less of a chain, but this is not
a discussion for this list.
And given that everything we've seen of
Serenity is from Emerald's viewpoint, I doubt he's correct as to what she
wants.
Quite possibly he is; to an extent, no-one, not even Pluto, can determine a
person's private motivations except that person themself. All I have shown
is one person's interpretations.
to have it foiled - mostly by Mars - time and again, time and
again, Time And Again, TIME AND AGAIN, and TIME AND
AGAIN!!! Seeing the majority of the gelded sheep that
humanity has become sit snug and happy in the gilded cage
that is Crystal Tokyo, smug about the jeweled collars around
their necks and the leashes leading back to Serenity's hands.
Assuming Serenity is actually leading humanity around by the nose. Which
we have no actual proof of except the ravings of a man who wants to
destroy peace for humanity's own good. Supposedly. I wouldn't trust
Emerald to tell me what color the sky was.
Emerald: It's green, of course. Through my eyes, anyway.
The man is a lunatic.
Ultimately, he'll sacrifice all of humanity's happiness to satisfy his own
personal vision of how the universe should be, even when no one else wants
it.
You're welcome to your view, of course, but I don't see how an apparent
Oligarchy/Monarchy, albeit a charismatic one, would be what everyone wants.
Maybe it was, but personally I can't see it.
Oh, he'd assert that they just don't know what is good for them, that
Serenity has turned them into sheep. But what he wants to do is
ultimately no different from what he accuses Serenity of doing: molding
humanity to his vision. If he thinks she is evil for what she's done,
then he's just as bad.
Yesssss... up to a point. The difference is that he has expressed no desire
to set up something new, but to remove something there. A return to the
bad-old days, so to speak. He's not trying to set up a specific vision,
he's trying to get rid of someone elses.
Now then, any more replies along this vein I'll respond to in private.
------
Mark Doherty - mdoherty@uq.net.au
http://www.tass.org/~mdoherty/index.html
Irony is Nature's way of telling us not to take life too seriously.
...No wonder they call her a Mother.