Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Filling his belly with the sweet flesh of the innocent


It's amazing what we forgive in a person as long as the script labels them as the hero. We just got done watching a fairly well-known movie in which the hero is a remorseless mass-murderer. He is responsible for robbing and killing thousands of innocent people, a fact he talks about in the same way people talk about mowing their lawn. He gains control of a gang of criminals after killing their leader and uses them to kidnap his ex-girlfriend on the night of her wedding. At the end of the movie he finds a kindred spirit just as blood-thirsty and amoral as him and offers to teach him the trade.

I am, of course, referring to The Princess Bride.

It follows for other well loved fictional heroes as well.

  • Grandiose sense of self-worth
  • Superficial charm
  • Criminal versatility
  • Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others
  • Inability to tolerate boredom
  • Pathological narcissism
  • Shallow affect
  • Deceitfulness/manipulativeness
  • Aggressive or violent tendencies, repeated physical fights or assaults on others
  • Lack of empathy
  • Lack of remorse, indifferent to or rationalizes having hurt or mistreated others
  • A sense of extreme entitlement
  • Lack of or diminished levels of anxiety/nervousness and other emotions
  • Promiscuous sexual behavior, sexually deviant lifestyle
The above is a list of the characteristics of a psychopath. They also describe James Bond and every character that was poured into the same mold. I think I could safely define a modern Hollywood hero as: A person who most people would like to be, but would not like to sit next to on a bus.

7 comments:

ROU IT (PC) said...

What you have noted about the psychopath is also the very reasons that biologists/sociologists cite as to why these traits persist from an evolutionary perspective. Everyone has met a someone with psychopathic tendencies, whether it is a boss or just the jerk who's risking everyone's life by the way they drive. And we hate them. And it seems like the habits of the psychopath would put them outside of society, and hence, less likely to succeed and reproduce. Since we are so evolved to be social creatures, this is a bad situation.

But these people win. They succeed. Because they break those "rules" and "morals" that we define as normal. And we love winners. And generally, the higher rate of failure of folks like this is offset by the higher rate of success greater than the average.

There is some speculation that the psychopathic tendencies (it is defiantly a "spectrum" style disorder) may include 1-5% of the general population, and as much as 10-20% of the upper level successful, even higher for the extremely successful.

But most psychopaths do not break the rules in a such a way as to bring heavy reprisal from society. That would risk themselves. They are too narcissistic for that. they weight the damage vs good to self to well.

Zach said...

Would you describe yourself as a winner?

ROU IT (PC) said...

You must define the game more explicitly.

Are implying that I am a psychopath?

Remember. I know where you live.

muuhahahahah!

Nathan said...

I don't remember Wesley killing the Dread Pirate Roberts. Roberts retired and handed the mantle to Wesley.

Brandon and Jenny said...

Just so you know, my son keeps wanting to see the "picture of the blood licking guy".

Ian said...

Damn - I just read this.

Am I hero or a bad guy?

verification word: OMIZERS

Zach said...

He kills Vizzini.