Power fantasies and anti-heroes

Myrmidon

So I just got done looking at a weird debate on twitter between this guy https://twitter.com/#!/deontologistics, this guy https://twitter.com/#!/duncanhlaw, and with some input from this guy https://twitter.com/#!/Avanworden. One guy recommended the show Breaking Bad as "a morality play about Pride". The other guy then looked up some youtube clips of the series and said "lol no, this is a reactionary masculinist power fantasy" and then they got into a debate about whether it's appropriate to judge a show by a few youtube clips and how gratifying the source material really was. Interesting quotes include "When critics say something is "morally ambiguous" or "ethically complex" they mean "simple and abhorrent, but I won't own it." and "It doesn't matter if the creator enacts retribution on the character - it's about the imaginary it participates in." Shows like Dexter, Mad Men, Weeds, and The Wire got brought up.

This got me thinking about the subject. It sort of reminds me of how in 120 Days of Sodom the narrator would occasionally call the characters scoundrels or say they were deserving of execution, but he spent most of his time describing their exploits in voyeuristic detail. Or how adaptations The Count Of Monte Christo usually have the Count swear off revenge at the end but. to quote TvTropes "we just spent hours watching the Count's revenge, and it was awesome. Or, to quote a review of a film

"The strategy here is reminiscent of what used to be called, in old roadshow exploitation films of the forties and fifties, the “square-up” reel.  A salacious feature would display with as much explicitness as possible whatever sex, crime, drug abuse, and general depravity the producers could get away with, then end quickly with a finale showing the socially corrupt anti-heroes getting their just deserts (prison, addiction, or a social disease).  The punishment “squared-up” the degeneracy, in a moral sense, and the depravity could be excused as a cautionary tale."

But the question I want to express here is: Is it bad to identify with and live through morally questionable characters? What's wrong with a power fantasy per se? How much of this manifests in dangerous or immoral behavior in real life?

Eelektross

OK, where'd you get this one from?

Myrmidon

I seriously wrote this all out as a genuine question.

Eelektross

Oh.

Malkavian

The only thing wrong about a power fantasy is if you start blurring the line between fantasy and reality.

However, it really shouldn't be assumed that a person will do that unless there's evidence they do.

MadassAlex

I think it depends on how the power fantasy is experienced and perceived. If it becomes a cultural standard, that's a problem. I remember knowing guys in high school that would arrange group street fights because of the values passed down to them via urban media -- they were probably misinterpreting it horribly, but all the same, they got wrapped up in their fantasy of violence as a means of personal validation. 

In this respect, even an intelligent, self-aware power fantasy can become a negative influence or even a tool of propaganda with the wrong framework. The creative minds behind it can't be blamed for this, of course, but it often comes down to a matter of interpretation. 

Myrmidon

Did I do something wrong? Usually Malk, Juan, and Alex have gotten into a massive debate by now.

Maybe not over the thread's subject, but they've gotten into one. 

MillerCross

General lack of interest and depression would do that to you.