Protagonist-Centered Morality: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Least I Could Do]]'', protagonist Rayne gets away with being insanely rude, selfish, insulting, etc. because, well, it's him. In earlier strips his friends would give back about as good as they got, but in more recent years Rayne is the only one allowed to look good in the end. The ''modus operandi'' of late involves Rayne doing something mean or selfish to his friends for 90% of the storyline, then taking the last 10% to do something that magically makes everyone forgive him, whether it's honestly nice or just him cleaning up the mess he got them into in the first place. Not helping matters at all is the fact that Rayne is pretty well an [[Author Avatar]] for Ryan Sohmer.

** The (rare) occasions when Rayne is actually called on his behaviour, and still the story goes out of its way to portray him as a good character, are particularly blatant. Usually, it's just a girl that complains about his jerk behaviour, but we never get to see anyone being genuinely upset at him. This usually goes as follows: Rayne says or does something insensitive, often when he is in a position of power (e.g. he's the boss), the person (usually attractive woman) complains about that, Rayne says something funny, the person is obviously more amused than angry now (judging by the wry smile - it's pretty much always a wry smile). One of the more extreme examples is this, however: at one point in the comic, Rayne finds a homeless orphan and starts using him as an ill-defined personal assistant/slave/plaything, often verging on abuse at the very least. At one point, he gets called out on it. His reaction is one of indignation, and he points out how he is saving the kid from a life on the street, and how he is actually the child's legal guardian. The accuser (an attractive woman, of course) backs down, saying something to the effect "I'm sorry for assuming the worst". The comic (and the accuser) completely ignores/forgets that such behaviour towards someone entirely dependent on you is still very much abusive, and the fact that you're paying money for someone's living doesn't render their basic dignity moot. If anything, the boy is in no position to protest for fear that he might actually have nothing to eat if he gets kicked out. Arguably, switching from the usual [[Comedic Sociopathy]] to a weak attempt at treating the situation realistic and justifying Rayne's behaviour makes it worse, by claiming the situation is a-OK rather than dismissing it as a comedic, unrealistic situation.

 

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