Journal #11
May 1, 2012
I
love the work of a writer named, Joss Whedon. He produces television shows, is
directing the new Avengers film, and writes the scripts of comic books. If I
were to be asked who I would have dinner with dead or alive, a common college
application essay question, I would definitely say him. He has a way of making
the reader or viewer feel for a character that is terrible or stereotypically
awful in a way that makes them not the antagonist but a victim of our
prejudices. He takes the villain and makes him human. I feel like Lewis does
this with each of his characters in small ways; but most especially with Edmund
in Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Eustace in Prince Caspian. The audience
finds these characters bratty and surreally awful that makes their mistakes and
rudeness almost intolerable, but in the end their transformation is what
touches you the most. Somehow, because these characters are different you like
them more than those characters who began the story as saints, like Lucy. I
think it’s because we see ourselves in these characters. Human beings are so
flawed and knowing that they can be redeemed draws us to the works of Lewis and
Whedon because we want to know that we can change for the better and that
people can see in us the greatness that is possible in the world.
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