Over Thanksgiving my family and I watched Justice League - and although we did enjoy it, I think the critics were right about how one-dimensional the villain was. He was just sort of...there. Big, bad villain out to destroy everything. Because that's just what he does.
I brought that up because the Justice League's Steppenwolf is a great counterpoint to the villainous parental units in Hulu's show Runaways.
I find myself wondering what led these guys to do what they do. Where did they cross the line? They raised some apparently great kids, after all. Kids who know right from wrong. The parents have the typical annoyances of any social group (like hating on one parent's homemade brie). They question what they're doing. They're sometimes very nerdy, or comforting, or parental...they are sometimes so very ordinary.
And yet they unequivocally are doing wrong. I'm sure we'll get more of the backstory as the series unfolds. See what the parents are trying to do, why they think it's acceptable. We've already heard some of the self-justification (i.e. one mother mentioned that she takes in runaways and helps them live well for about six months, six months she feels they wouldn't have had otherwise...as she apparently assumes they'd have died living out on the streets. And so she justifies killing them. Which is wrong in and of itself, of course. Yet on top of that, she's telling herself that she's making some sort of deal by giving them a good life - for a time - and it's a deal she's making without the knowledge or consent of the other party.)
I'm also kind of fascinated by how the group affects each other. There have been moments where one or another has expressed...concerns. Misgivings. Doubts. As one parent noted, the runaway they sacrificed was almost the same age as their own children. So it's interesting how they reinforce each other, keep everyone on track (for their villainous goals...)
Which ones are driving the group? Which ones might break away as the story gets told? How far will the parents go? Especially when they realize their kids oppose them?
This kind of ties in with some of my previous topics regarding how we confuse self-interest with the public good, and the ways that power corrupts. In cartoons and TV, we often show the angel and demon sitting on someone's shoulder, trying to persuade them to act one way or another.
Yet what happens when they look alike? When you can't tell the angel apart from the demon?
How can you tell when you've crossed the line then?
I brought that up because the Justice League's Steppenwolf is a great counterpoint to the villainous parental units in Hulu's show Runaways.
I find myself wondering what led these guys to do what they do. Where did they cross the line? They raised some apparently great kids, after all. Kids who know right from wrong. The parents have the typical annoyances of any social group (like hating on one parent's homemade brie). They question what they're doing. They're sometimes very nerdy, or comforting, or parental...they are sometimes so very ordinary.
And yet they unequivocally are doing wrong. I'm sure we'll get more of the backstory as the series unfolds. See what the parents are trying to do, why they think it's acceptable. We've already heard some of the self-justification (i.e. one mother mentioned that she takes in runaways and helps them live well for about six months, six months she feels they wouldn't have had otherwise...as she apparently assumes they'd have died living out on the streets. And so she justifies killing them. Which is wrong in and of itself, of course. Yet on top of that, she's telling herself that she's making some sort of deal by giving them a good life - for a time - and it's a deal she's making without the knowledge or consent of the other party.)
I'm also kind of fascinated by how the group affects each other. There have been moments where one or another has expressed...concerns. Misgivings. Doubts. As one parent noted, the runaway they sacrificed was almost the same age as their own children. So it's interesting how they reinforce each other, keep everyone on track (for their villainous goals...)
Which ones are driving the group? Which ones might break away as the story gets told? How far will the parents go? Especially when they realize their kids oppose them?
This kind of ties in with some of my previous topics regarding how we confuse self-interest with the public good, and the ways that power corrupts. In cartoons and TV, we often show the angel and demon sitting on someone's shoulder, trying to persuade them to act one way or another.
Yet what happens when they look alike? When you can't tell the angel apart from the demon?
How can you tell when you've crossed the line then?
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