Nice sporking! ^_^ A few months late to the party, but I wanted to share my thoughts on this:
Y'see, when reading the entire "Team Rocket did something good, so we should forgive all their crimes" situation, I was reminded of a German radio drama series I like, called "Dickie Dick Dickens," which is a parody of gangster movies and the "heroic criminal" type of story. It takes place in Chicago in the 1920s and tells the story of the "heroic" gangster Dickie Dick Dickens -- a sort of likable rogue of the Arsene Lupin type, whom the two narrators of the series utterly worship -- not unlike how the people of Cori Falls's stories worship Team Rocket, but in this case it's a satire and supposed to be absurd; a sort of commentary on how people romanticize the "daring criminal." (Besides, in the case of Dickens, it's not so much "his life has been so terrible and everyone else is to blame," but more "he's so brave and clever and daring, swoooon!")
Now, what I was reminded of here was one of the episodes, where Dickens saves the life of one of his antagonists, Inspector Mackenzie of the Chicago Police. Mackenzie is very grateful to the man -- but he still arranges for his arrest, because one noble deed doesn't cancel out previous crimes, and Dickens is still wanted for numerous accounts of theft, assault and fraud, he's implicitly involved in at least one murder case, and has escaped from police custody twice. Now, the Inspector isn't proud of himself here; he admits that arresting the man who just saved his life makes him feel like a total louse -- but Dickens is a known and notorious criminal and Mackenzie has to do his duty. Besides, he is planning on testifying on Dickens's behalf, and plead for a reduced sentence.
Of course, it never comes to that, because Dickens escapes in a clever way, but I couldn't help but think of that story in contrast to this. That story is an admitted parody, and it still gives its characters a lot more nuance and more believable motivations than this story, which we're supposed to take seriously.
If "Dickie Dick Dickens" had been written by Cori Falls, Mackenzie would probably either have made some passionate speech/rant on how Dickens was a good person and didn't deserve prison because all his crimes were understandable -- or he would have refused to acknowledge that Dickens saved his life, arrested him, and then gotten chewed out by his subordinates for arresting this upstanding hero, and then fired, while everyone ranted about how stupid and worthless he was, and how he was less than human because he was fat.
Y'see, when reading the entire "Team Rocket did something good, so we should forgive all their crimes" situation, I was reminded of a German radio drama series I like, called "Dickie Dick Dickens," which is a parody of gangster movies and the "heroic criminal" type of story. It takes place in Chicago in the 1920s and tells the story of the "heroic" gangster Dickie Dick Dickens -- a sort of likable rogue of the Arsene Lupin type, whom the two narrators of the series utterly worship -- not unlike how the people of Cori Falls's stories worship Team Rocket, but in this case it's a satire and supposed to be absurd; a sort of commentary on how people romanticize the "daring criminal." (Besides, in the case of Dickens, it's not so much "his life has been so terrible and everyone else is to blame," but more "he's so brave and clever and daring, swoooon!")
Now, what I was reminded of here was one of the episodes, where Dickens saves the life of one of his antagonists, Inspector Mackenzie of the Chicago Police. Mackenzie is very grateful to the man -- but he still arranges for his arrest, because one noble deed doesn't cancel out previous crimes, and Dickens is still wanted for numerous accounts of theft, assault and fraud, he's implicitly involved in at least one murder case, and has escaped from police custody twice. Now, the Inspector isn't proud of himself here; he admits that arresting the man who just saved his life makes him feel like a total louse -- but Dickens is a known and notorious criminal and Mackenzie has to do his duty. Besides, he is planning on testifying on Dickens's behalf, and plead for a reduced sentence.
Of course, it never comes to that, because Dickens escapes in a clever way, but I couldn't help but think of that story in contrast to this. That story is an admitted parody, and it still gives its characters a lot more nuance and more believable motivations than this story, which we're supposed to take seriously.
If "Dickie Dick Dickens" had been written by Cori Falls, Mackenzie would probably either have made some passionate speech/rant on how Dickens was a good person and didn't deserve prison because all his crimes were understandable -- or he would have refused to acknowledge that Dickens saved his life, arrested him, and then gotten chewed out by his subordinates for arresting this upstanding hero, and then fired, while everyone ranted about how stupid and worthless he was, and how he was less than human because he was fat.
Reply
Leave a comment