"Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of angels and God, and at liberty when of devils and hell... he was a true poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it."
The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.
— Cicero
Wheel Of Morality Turn, Turn, Turn; tell us the lesson that we should learn.
— Yakko Warner
What is morality? Morality is the system of good and evil and all the shades of gray that come in between.
Good always triumphs in the end, right?
Well, not always. The
Balance Between Good And Evil gives many villains loopholes to slip through and make their grand return. Furthermore, the presence of the
Anti Hero or
Worthy Opponent blurs the distinction between good and evil, and in well-done cases, forces us to reexamine our preconceptions of right and wrong.
But what is especially interesting about the media is how it appears to
favor evil in its works. Squeaky-clean heroes are either prone to stretches of unendearing,
Knight Templar-style ruthlessness or
hopelessly boring, while the villains inevitably have
cooler costumes and powers. If they do a
Heel Face Turn, that coolness factor often goes bye-bye thanks to
Good Is Dumb — not to mention that once they turn good, they usually
don't get to live very long. No wonder why, for many
good-turned-evil characters,
Evil Feels Good.
Some authors, it seems, can't stand any more of that preachy
Anviliciousness and turn the tables on the end-all symbol of goodness, writing
Rage Against The Heavens plots in which
God Is Evil. Fans aren't immune to the siren song of evil, either; an alarming number of them insist on putting
Draco In Leather Pants.
But it must be remembered that this entry refers to only good and evil in the media. In
Real Life, good and bad choices are
Serious Business.
Unforunately, all
Morality Tropes are grafted onto the
Hive Mind we call this site. Remove the ball containing them, and
the AI in your computer will flood your home with a deadly neurotoxin.
Tropes:
