Megan recently watched a Netflix adaptation of a book called The School of Good and Evil, and in describing it to me, she mentioned that a key aspect of the school is that there is a balance between good and evil in the world.
This is a common trope in fiction: A balance between good and evil, light and dark, kindness and cruelty, love and hate.
But…why?
Why can’t there be more good than evil in the world (real or fiction)? Why can’t we strive to be good and kind more often than we cause hurt or harm?
This is mostly an issue with fiction; in the real world I can’t think of a time when someone claimed there needed to be one bad act for every good deed. But is this the case in fiction? My favorite books and movies are those in which everything is a different shade of gray, but most characters are at least trying to do good things for those they care about. Brandon Sanderson in particular excels at this in his books.
One of the most famous examples of this in recent fictional history is, of course, Star Wars. Gotta have a balance between light and dark, right? But why? It just seems like an excuse that the bad apples of the world would make for causing strife and chaos.
What do you think? What’s your favorite work of fiction that succeeds with an evil antagonist who claims “balance” as justification for their vile actions?
Balance in the Force doesn’t mean an equal part of light and dark, it means allowing the light and dark to live in harmony. Put another way, Lucas described it as never being able to rid ourselves of our Darkness, but being able to control it and letting the Light prevail puts the Force in Balance.
In terms of fiction where balance is a means as a justification, I would say Infinity War is a great example. Thanos is essentially the main character of that movie and there is an entire meme culture around “thanos did nothing wrong” that I find both amusing and a little vile haha. Great movie though!
I can see where you’re coming from there, Jason!