Deconstructing and Subverting Humans are bastards.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin

Humans Are Bastards... er Humans Are the Real Monsters(what was wrong with the old name?) is a common trope born out of a truth...but sometimes I think it gets overplayed.

I recall one guy on the writers block thread talking about going the inevitable Humans Are Bastards route. As though there was no other possible scenario.

X Men comics have had this as a fundamental aspect of their history(perhaps too fundamental), and it can find it's way into a lot of stories. Like I said, it's an important part of Real Life(it's true we can be pretty awful to each other, and maybe that's why Human Evil Is The Worst Evil. Stuff like aliens and demons can only be imagined, but the things ordinary humans due to each other is something everyone can relate to).

That being said, I was wondering if there were ways to sort of pull the rug out from under people on this one. Such as maybe Aliens are invading, and it looks like they are doing it due to some crime Humanity committed against them, but while the crime is genuine, it turns out it's merely an excuse( a damn good one) and they were already planning to invade Earth for resources.

Or maybe when some otherworldly creature is surprised that a human would hate his own race so much, and point out that the things humans have done were no better or worse than what any race has done, also subverting Humans Are Special at the same time.

What do you guys think?

DISCUSS

I like to think that we're not particularly better or worse than any other race out there, because really, why would we be? Even if it's a much older, more advanced race we're being compared to, they must've had some rough patches in their history on their way to becoming so advanced, so even then we wouldn't be so different.

edited 16th Sep '12 7:07:19 PM by YamiiDenryuu

Humans are flawed. They can be angels, devils, and everything in between.

They have potential to be anything.

edited 16th Sep '12 7:13:17 PM by dRoy

Here's an easy way to deconstruct the Humans Are Bastards trope. Here goes:

You have a regular Joe Schmoe from a random country steal an atomic bomb and launch it at another random country, where it explodes. Why? Because s/he feels that s/he is just a Jerkass among every Jerkass human in the world, and doing this would make hir a Complete Bastard, and therefore stand out from the crowd. Then you have a nuclear war start, and it leads to the destruction of the entire human race.

Let's think about it this way: the trope implies that every single human is a bastard. If that truly was the case, then realistically, we would have all killed each other long ago!

Most people just don't have access to bombs!

Nope, but some people definitely DO have access to them.

The point would still be valid, I guess.

They surely do.

Use 'em, too.

Bastards.

edited 18th Sep '12 1:42:08 PM by InverurieJones

Watch out for the bump.

Oh, that? Usually, I try to avoid bumping a topic, and if I did, I would put in something that would hopefully add to the discussion!

For example, Marvel Comics has a habit of using Humans Are Bastards to a preposterous degree. It does this because it's supposedly more realistic, but I don't think it's that realistic. Consider...the average American citizen in MC is portrayed as that white Southern slaver bigot (which did exist...a long time ago), or as that Nazi who hunts down Jews obsessively. I'd like to point out that the USA is supposed to be a democracy or republic, and that it actually makes no sense to equate it with fascism or Nazism!

I agree that there are Jerkasses in Real Life, and fiction does come off as more realistic when it has such characters in there. But when fiction portrays everyone as a Jerkass and then tries to act like it's more realistic? That just makes me roll my eyes and say, "Oh, come on! You actually think I'm buying this?"

Exactly. That's my #1 most disliked trope that I know. It just screams pure misanthropic nihilism that tries to pass it off as realism, as if things like love, kindness and hope are all lies and facades that applies to all of us.

I love this thread already.

There are some straight-up evil humans out there. However, most of us abhor evil. Whenever there's a mass shooting (and I cannot believe I had to use that phrase), there are millions of us who recognize what an awful thing just happened and express our sadness and outrage.

We have different ideas as to how to stop these events, but that's a discussion for another thread.

I would love to see a sci-fi show where most of the population of an alien species believe that Humans Are Bastards, and give plenty of advice. And then, the few with hope for the human race come back with evidence that we're not. They talk about armies of volunteers looking for crashed planes, hours-long lines at blood donation centers, police and fire and EMS workers running toward the danger while others run away, and Britain playing the Star Spangled Banner on September 12, 2001 at the changing of the guard.

So, then the aliens decide that there must be a Hate Plague going around and try to heal us. Hilarity Ensues.

You necroed a 5 year old thread for this?