Breaking the rules...

[fajrdrako]

You are remembered for the rules you break. - Douglas MacArthur, 1880 - 1964

Another quote that reminded me of Captain Jack Harkness, rule-breaker extraordinaire.

Funny how I think of 'breaking the rules' as essentially a good thing.

Comments

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

Funny how I think of 'breaking the rules' as essentially a good thing.

I think it is presented as such in a lot of our fiction. Especially the sci fi, maybe? Like in Star Trek, you've got Starfleet providing a framework and rules for conduct, but the tension comes when those rules don't provide a logistically or morally acceptable course of action in the real, complex situations the crews run into. The hero is the one who can make the tough decision of bucking the rules and doing the "right thing" or as near to it as he or she can come, based on beliefs like compassion or friendship or preserving the lives of crew or civilians or whatever, and possibly at risk to his or her career.

We must have that in our cultural mythology as well. Even cowboy/Western heroes seem to fit that, you know?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think it is presented as such in a lot of our fiction.

So it is, and so it should be. Fiction tends to be about morality and justice - it's satisfying to see the good triumph and the bad be foiled. When authority is in the right, it's the sheriffs and the Starfleet Captains and the detective inspectors who trap the villains. When authority is in the wrong, it's the mavericks and the outlaws and the nonconformists who triumph.

And looking around us, we often see authority in the wrong - corrupt people in places of power. Makes it a popular theme. And as you point out, sometimes the hero is up against a case where 'the rules' just don't apply and he has to create his own rules, or make up strategy as it goes. Becuase if it's all according to the book, there isn't much suspense or tension.

Writers tend to be, by temperament, non-conformists and independent thinkers. Fiction is written by writers, so it ends to go that way - chaos is creative, order is entropic.

Yes, the cowboy hero is pretty much the classic stereotype. So is the loner detective. Or the spy. It may look as if a superspy is working for 'the system', but notice how in the last James Bond movie, he was mistrusted by his own people and pretty much working on his own - or with allies who were as much loose cannons as he was.

And superheroes! The ultimate rule-breakers. They wear masks and lurk around at night. No wonder I love 'em. And no wonder Marvel was able to make a whole year's worth of complex stories on the Civil War theme, where the government-backed conformists fought the independent agents for control.

I think all my favourite heroes are rule-breakers. The Doctor is the ultimate anarchist loner. Captain Jack isn't far behind.