I need an "L eating ice cream cone" icon
Mar. 28th, 2008 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficI know it's probably the point of Death Note, but it's really hard for me to have any empathy for Light. He's just such an asshole. The tipping point for me was probably him killing the FBI agents. It's like a lesson in how not to write anti-heroes. With Batman and the Punisher, they have lines they won't cross, which creates drama and shows how the other guy is worse. With Light, it's clear he would cut a little boy open if the kid had the name and face of a bad guy on his small intestine.
Also, good anti-heroes have motivation, a personal stake in their vendetta. As risible as it is to have a bad guy who's the way he is because of a bad childhood, a backstory does make them more... palatable. Light is like a utopian college student who got high and decided the world would be awesome if, like, America legalized hemp and had all its soldiers, like, pick up litter instead of killing for oil, whoooo! Only his plan is to kill a bunch of criminals who have already been arrested and are serving their sentence.
You know, when Nextwave debuted with the tagline "Healing America by beating people up," it was supposed to be funny. "Making a better world by committing genocide," by contrast... And it's pretty clear Light does see it as genocide, in that his victims are subhuman to him.
Confession time: I'm not one of those fen who go "ooh!" and "aww!" over "bad boys." I think Snape's a petty bitch who gets his jollies abusing children and Draco Malfoy is a racist asshole. I know, I know, he was raised in a prejudiced environment, but guess what? So are those cousin-fuckers you see on the news saying that God hates fags. What, you think they were raised in a bastion of multicultural harmony, but one day they decided "you know, I'm going to be a bigot, because there's just not enough hate in the world"? What, because they're not snarky and blond, they don't get a pass?
The thing is, I could be asking for consistent treatment across the board, but I'm well-aware that from Draco to Lucius to the Big V himself, fangirls are notoriously forgiving of genocidial maniacs so long as they look hawtsome while they plot the destruction of those who are different from them. It makes me worry about what would happen if Pete Wentz started talking about "inferior races". But that's enough of a digression and I'm probably going to get enough flames to last me into next year, so back to the show.
Perhaps it's because I expected Death Note to do a little more with "you can kill anyone in the world, what do you do?" then just leap into "going to become a god, brb!" and the L versus Light plot.
On the other hand, L is my new hero. Perhaps it's because he's the underdog in the match-up (Light has quite a few unfair advantages), perhaps because he's just that cool while still being endearingly self-aware ("I'm also childish and I hate to lose." I.e., he owns his weirdness), perhaps because it takes him about five minutes upon face-to-face meet to rip Light's shit up, or maybe it's just the barefoot thing. Either way, I kinda want to write fic in which River Tam keeps showing up in his apartmentand they have a hundred babies stop looking at me like that.
ETA: And it turns out I receive no flames. I guess that's what I get for not being too involved in Doctor Who fandom. SNAP!
Also, good anti-heroes have motivation, a personal stake in their vendetta. As risible as it is to have a bad guy who's the way he is because of a bad childhood, a backstory does make them more... palatable. Light is like a utopian college student who got high and decided the world would be awesome if, like, America legalized hemp and had all its soldiers, like, pick up litter instead of killing for oil, whoooo! Only his plan is to kill a bunch of criminals who have already been arrested and are serving their sentence.
You know, when Nextwave debuted with the tagline "Healing America by beating people up," it was supposed to be funny. "Making a better world by committing genocide," by contrast... And it's pretty clear Light does see it as genocide, in that his victims are subhuman to him.
Confession time: I'm not one of those fen who go "ooh!" and "aww!" over "bad boys." I think Snape's a petty bitch who gets his jollies abusing children and Draco Malfoy is a racist asshole. I know, I know, he was raised in a prejudiced environment, but guess what? So are those cousin-fuckers you see on the news saying that God hates fags. What, you think they were raised in a bastion of multicultural harmony, but one day they decided "you know, I'm going to be a bigot, because there's just not enough hate in the world"? What, because they're not snarky and blond, they don't get a pass?
The thing is, I could be asking for consistent treatment across the board, but I'm well-aware that from Draco to Lucius to the Big V himself, fangirls are notoriously forgiving of genocidial maniacs so long as they look hawtsome while they plot the destruction of those who are different from them. It makes me worry about what would happen if Pete Wentz started talking about "inferior races". But that's enough of a digression and I'm probably going to get enough flames to last me into next year, so back to the show.
Perhaps it's because I expected Death Note to do a little more with "you can kill anyone in the world, what do you do?" then just leap into "going to become a god, brb!" and the L versus Light plot.
On the other hand, L is my new hero. Perhaps it's because he's the underdog in the match-up (Light has quite a few unfair advantages), perhaps because he's just that cool while still being endearingly self-aware ("I'm also childish and I hate to lose." I.e., he owns his weirdness), perhaps because it takes him about five minutes upon face-to-face meet to rip Light's shit up, or maybe it's just the barefoot thing. Either way, I kinda want to write fic in which River Tam keeps showing up in his apartment
ETA: And it turns out I receive no flames. I guess that's what I get for not being too involved in Doctor Who fandom. SNAP!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-30 11:12 am (UTC)WORD!
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Date: 2008-03-31 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-31 03:31 pm (UTC)Either one's fine. Or both. I'm not picky.
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Date: 2008-04-01 12:39 am (UTC)Seriously, the similarities between River and Cass have struck me before.
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Date: 2008-04-01 12:46 am (UTC)AND THAT WOULD MAKE SIMON INTO TIM!
IS IT JUST ME OR IS THAT WORTH TURNING ON CAPS-LOCK!?
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Date: 2008-04-01 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-01 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-01 01:00 am (UTC)Huh. I got nothin'.
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Date: 2008-04-01 01:07 am (UTC)AND THE HANDS OF BLUE ARE THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS! THAT'S THE REAL REASON THEY WANTED RIVER, SO SHE COULD BE
AN OFFENSIVE DRAGON LADY STEREOTYPETHEIR NEW LEADER!no subject
Date: 2008-04-01 01:13 am (UTC)