Grey and Gray Morality: Difference between revisions
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** ''Samoa'' is another more recent example of [[Grey and Gray Morality]]. Most of the jury was indeed angry at all three, who either rode coattails to the end without contributing much on their own and saying they deserved it in real life, (Mick), rode coattails and played dumb (Natalie), or wantonly bullied their way through the game and bragged about how awesome they were (Russell). Ultimately the vote was overwhelmingly towards Natalie - not for her strategic play or physical prowess, but because the jury thought she was a legitimately nice person. |
** ''Samoa'' is another more recent example of [[Grey and Gray Morality]]. Most of the jury was indeed angry at all three, who either rode coattails to the end without contributing much on their own and saying they deserved it in real life, (Mick), rode coattails and played dumb (Natalie), or wantonly bullied their way through the game and bragged about how awesome they were (Russell). Ultimately the vote was overwhelmingly towards Natalie - not for her strategic play or physical prowess, but because the jury thought she was a legitimately nice person. |
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** ''South Pacific'' - [[Number Two|Albert]] was seen as a sleaze and someone who nobody liked or respected, [[Ice Queen|Sophie]] was seen as a pretentious and condescending brat, and [[My Greatest Second Chance|Coach]] was accused of using religious hypocrisy and breaking his word several times over despite claiming to play with "honour" and "integrity". Ozzy laid it out in his opening jury speech - the jury did not want to vote for any of them. |
** ''South Pacific'' - [[Number Two|Albert]] was seen as a sleaze and someone who nobody liked or respected, [[Ice Queen|Sophie]] was seen as a pretentious and condescending brat, and [[My Greatest Second Chance|Coach]] was accused of using religious hypocrisy and breaking his word several times over despite claiming to play with "honour" and "integrity". Ozzy laid it out in his opening jury speech - the jury did not want to vote for any of them. |
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* In ''[[Lost]]'' the issues are so complex and the characters so murky that ''no one'' seems to be pure good or evil, although there are definite shades of gray ( |
* In ''[[Lost]]'', the issues are so complex and the characters so murky that ''no one'' seems to be pure good or evil, although there are definite shades of gray (Even Ben is getting into this point). In fact, the only people who are considered [[Complete Monster|pure evil]] are [[Con Man|Anthony Cooper]] and [[Psycho for Hire|Martin Keamy]]. |
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* ''[[Dollhouse]]''. While what the Dollhouse and the Rossum Corporation do is clearly nightmarish, and Paul Ballard (and earlier, Caroline) must be right to want to bring them down, Ballard is prepared to do very dubious things to do it, while Caroline is irresponsible and quixotic. Meanwhile, the people who work for the Dollhouse seem to really believe that they're doing good by "giving people what they need", and the dolls are all volunteers... |
* ''[[Dollhouse]]''. While what the Dollhouse and the Rossum Corporation do is clearly nightmarish, and Paul Ballard (and earlier, Caroline) must be right to want to bring them down, Ballard is prepared to do very dubious things to do it, while Caroline is irresponsible and quixotic. Meanwhile, the people who work for the Dollhouse seem to really believe that they're doing good by "giving people what they need", and the dolls are all volunteers... |
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** DeWitt's house, at least, seems to recruit people in desperate straits and helps them establish new lives after their term is finished. Whether this is rescuing them or preying on those with no options is an exercise for the viewer. |
** DeWitt's house, at least, seems to recruit people in desperate straits and helps them establish new lives after their term is finished. Whether this is rescuing them or preying on those with no options is an exercise for the viewer. |
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* ''[[Farscape]]'' will be like this when it's not in outright [[Black and Grey Morality]] mode. |
* ''[[Farscape]]'' will be like this when it's not in outright [[Black and Grey Morality]] mode. |
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* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', the boy wizard himself and Arthur are definitely good guys. But they support a [[Knight Templar]] king who would execute Merlin if he knew the truth, often against [[Designated Villain|designated villains]] with a legitimate grievance, and Merlin often makes some [[What the Hell, Hero?|questionable choices]] to balance his nature against his support of the king. Why? In Arthur's case, family loyalty; in Merlin's it's just [[Because Destiny Says So]] ("destiny" in this case being a dragon with a fairly major grudge against Uther himself). Hence, when {{spoiler|Morgana decides to side with Morguase}}, it's very hard to see it as a [[Face Heel Turn]], and the script doesn't really make much attempt to present it as such. |
* In ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', the boy wizard himself and Arthur are definitely good guys. But they support a [[Knight Templar]] king who would execute Merlin if he knew the truth, often against [[Designated Villain|designated villains]] with a legitimate grievance, and Merlin often makes some [[What the Hell, Hero?|questionable choices]] to balance his nature against his support of the king. Why? In Arthur's case, family loyalty; in Merlin's it's just [[Because Destiny Says So]] ("destiny" in this case being a dragon with a fairly major grudge against Uther himself). Hence, when {{spoiler|Morgana decides to side with Morguase}}, it's very hard to see it as a [[Face Heel Turn]], and the script doesn't really make much attempt to present it as such. |
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* ''[[The Wire]]'' is one of the finest examples of this trope in any medium. While you may arguably root for the cops to make their case, it's impossible to see even ''most'' of the cops as good guys. And the criminals get far too many humanising moments to possibly be considered bad guys. Creator David Simon said he wasn't interested in doing [[Black and White Morality|good vs. evil]] anymore; the results were as far in the opposite direction as can be done. |
* ''[[The Wire]]'' is one of the finest examples of this trope in any medium. While you may arguably root for the cops to make their case, it's impossible to see even ''most'' of the cops as good guys. And the criminals get far too many [[Pet the Dog|humanising moments]] to possibly be considered bad guys. Creator David Simon said he wasn't interested in doing [[Black and White Morality|good vs. evil]] anymore; the results were as far in the opposite direction as can be done. However, if [[Complete Monster|Marlo Stanfield]] and his crew are involved, the show arguably crosses over into [[Black and Gray Morality]]. |
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* ''[[Dexter]]'', especially when it comes down to Dexter vs. Doakes in season 2. In the words of the man himself: |
* ''[[Dexter]]'', especially when it comes down to Dexter vs. Doakes in season 2. In the words of the man himself: |
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{{quote|"Am I evil? Am I good? I'm done asking those questions, I don't have the answers. Does anyone?"}} |
{{quote|"Am I evil? Am I good? I'm done asking those questions, I don't have the answers. Does anyone?"}} |
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* While ''[[Fringe]]'' often presents wholly evil villains of the week, [[Myth Arc|the war between parallel universes]] has oodles of this trope. The person most directly responsible for starting the conflict is Walter, our loveable [[Mad Scientist]] good guy, who ''kidnapped his [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart's child'': the subsequent actions of Walter, William Bell, Walternate and both Fringe Divisions are attempts to defend their home universes from the other side's "attacks". Neither universe is depicted as "evil" or malicious. Walternate's ruthless, but he's faced with a world that's collapsing due to Walter's actions and believes it's the result of a deliberate attack by "our" universe. Also, Walter conducted experiments on children, a line Walternate was unwilling to cross. |
* While ''[[Fringe]]'' often presents wholly evil villains of the week, [[Myth Arc|the war between parallel universes]] has oodles of this trope. The person most directly responsible for starting the conflict is Walter, our loveable [[Mad Scientist]] good guy, who ''kidnapped his [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart's child'': the subsequent actions of Walter, William Bell, Walternate and both Fringe Divisions are attempts to defend their home universes from the other side's "attacks". Neither universe is depicted as "evil" or malicious. Walternate's ruthless, but he's faced with a world that's collapsing due to Walter's actions and believes it's the result of a deliberate attack by "our" universe. Also, Walter conducted experiments on children, a line Walternate was unwilling to cross. |
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* ''[[La Femme Nikita]]'' -- the 1997 Canadian series, not the reboot -- may not be a great show, but it did a superb job of gray vs. grey, so good that it's worth watching just for this. Everyone is compromised, no one has clean hands, the intertwined layers of greater and lesser evil get extraordinarily complex, and the hero (or anti-hero) manages to embody the trope to near perfection--despite some truly cringworthy writing and character assassination. Even {{spoiler|the luminous, golden-haired heroine}} fits the trope by the middle of the first season. Signaled conveniently by the all-black dress code for most characters. |
* ''[[La Femme Nikita]]'' -- the 1997 Canadian series, not the reboot -- may not be a great show, but it did a superb job of gray vs. grey, so good that it's worth watching just for this. Everyone is compromised, no one has clean hands, the intertwined layers of greater and lesser evil get extraordinarily complex, and the hero (or anti-hero) manages to embody the trope to near perfection--despite some truly cringworthy writing and character assassination. Even {{spoiler|the luminous, golden-haired heroine}} fits the trope by the middle of the first season. Signaled conveniently by the all-black dress code for most characters. |
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* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' flirts with this at some points. In a fifth-season episode, ''The Darkness and the Light,'' someone is targeting members of Kira's [[La Résistance|former resistance cell]]. She finally identifies the killer {{spoiler|a Cardassian servant disfigured in one of their bombings}}. He claims, persuasively, that she killed innocent people whereas he never did, such as a bomb she set taking out not only a brutal Cardassian war criminal, but ''his entire family'' too, along with anyone in the immediate vicinity, whereas he goes out of his way only to target them, and even spare the life of the unborn child she's carrying. Kira retorts that ''every'' Cardassian on Bajor, even if they just ''folded shirts'' as a servant shouldn't have been there and were guilty legitimate targets. True, she's talking with a calculating, cold-blooded killer, but it drives home that, yes, Kira ''was'' a terrorist, and from his point of view he is the [[Title Drop|"light" to her "darkness"]]. Kira's only real reply is the old idea that the one cannot exist without the other, or as she says "the light is brightest in the dark." |
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' flirts with this at some points. In a fifth-season episode, ''The Darkness and the Light,'' someone is targeting members of Kira's [[La Résistance|former resistance cell]]. She finally identifies the killer {{spoiler|a Cardassian servant disfigured in one of their bombings}}. He claims, persuasively, that she killed innocent people whereas he never did, such as a bomb she set taking out not only a brutal Cardassian war criminal, but ''his entire family'' too, along with anyone in the immediate vicinity, whereas he goes out of his way only to target them, and even spare the life of the unborn child she's carrying. Kira retorts that ''every'' Cardassian on Bajor, even if they just ''folded shirts'' as a servant shouldn't have been there and were guilty legitimate targets. True, she's talking with a calculating, cold-blooded killer, but it drives home that, yes, Kira ''was'' a terrorist, and from his point of view he is the [[Title Drop|"light" to her "darkness"]]. Kira's only real reply is the old idea that the one cannot exist without the other, or as she says "the light is brightest in the dark." |
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== Music == |
== Music == |
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