OT: watchmen on trial

maru · 22 Mar 2005, 15:57 · from 2005-March.txt.gz

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From: marudubshinki at gmail.com (maru)
Date: Tue Mar 22 15:57:14 2005
Subject: (urth) OT: watchmen on trial
In-Reply-To: <24.6d41ec8c.2f71ca0d at aol.com>
References: <24.6d41ec8c.2f71ca0d at aol.com>
Message-ID: <4240B0D5.3010106 at gmail.com>

Gryphoncrossing at aol.com wrote:

> >>My first post.
>  
> Herbert's initial impulse in writing Dune was to write a criticism of 
> Messiah figures, from Jesus to JFK, showing that one SHOULDN'T follow 
> them.  Illustrating their actions, in the case of Dune, isn't the same 
> as condoning those actions.
>  
> I feel the same way about Watchmen; I found it an illustration of the 
> fascist underpinnings of the ubermensch supposedly serving the masses 
> while in fact being above them (sort of like in a socialist country). 
>  
> The only fascistic works I've seen in fantasy/sf, short of The Turner 
> Diaries, have been unconscious ones, or at least unacknowledged ones.  
> There are many of these in post-Tolkien fantasy fiction.  The tendency 
> of these power fantasies to be so popular with supposedly 
> liberal-minded fantasy fans is something I've always found curious.
>  
> I do think Wolfe's books have a touch of this but I think Wolfe is 
> more interested in exploring a tradition that stretches back so far 
> that one can't do so without including much of this material.  I've 
> never found the impulse toward glorifying "superior people" that I've 
> seen in much fantasy fiction.
>  
> John

Welcome.

But you are in good company when you talk about power fantasies; David 
Brin has expounded at length on just that
thesis.  My personal take is that we always uncounsciously think of 
things 'different' and 'exotic' from our ordinary lives
when we write or desire fantasy, and since it's been a long time since 
most of us were under the yoke of aristocracy
we tend to romanticize it, quite aside
from the archetypal appeal of it.

~Maru
http://www.davidbrin.com/tolkienarticle1.html
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/1999/06/15/brin_main/index.html

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