Sudden Principled Stand: Difference between revisions
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Things are not going well. Everyone around you gets more cynical and less caring for each day: [[It Gets Easier]]. What started out with good, or at least neutral, intentions, ends up more self-serving or antagonistic. The descent has been so slow and so drawn out in time that is has just crept up on everyone. |
Things are not going well. Everyone around you gets more cynical and less caring for each day: [[It Gets Easier]]. What started out with good, or at least neutral, intentions, ends up more self-serving or antagonistic. The descent has been so slow and so drawn out in time that is has just crept up on everyone. |
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Then! Someone says "Enough!", usually surprising everyone around them, and makes them remember why they are really there, or what they used to be. This can be in a confrontation with someone in a position of authority, who finally is coming too close to dragging themselves and everyone else over the [[Moral Event Horizon]], but it can be triggered by other factors as well. The |
Then! Someone says "Enough!", usually surprising everyone around them, and makes them remember why they are really there, or what they used to be. This can be in a confrontation with someone in a position of authority, who finally is coming too close to dragging themselves and everyone else over the [[Moral Event Horizon]], but it can be triggered by other factors as well. The '''Sudden Principled Stand''' can of course also be done with only two people present, the one giving the order and the one refusing. |
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The '''Sudden Principled Stand''' takes parts of its drama from its suddenness—it might very well be planned, but its execution comes as a surprise for the people around it, who earlier had been given no hint about it. |
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One common variation is that the principled stand hinges on a very minor technicality, in which case it is a [[Reconstruction]] of a one-off [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]. Can also be combined with a [[Heel Face Turn]], especially if late in the story. Earlier in a story, it can be used as an [[Establishing Character Moment]], to establish a moral center, or establish a later conflict. The variant where the principles invoked are ''evil'' is of course possible, but likely uncommon. |
One common variation is that the principled stand hinges on a very minor technicality, in which case it is a [[Reconstruction]] of a one-off [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]. Can also be combined with a [[Heel Face Turn]], especially if late in the story. Earlier in a story, it can be used as an [[Establishing Character Moment]], to establish a moral center, or establish a later conflict. The variant where the principles invoked are ''evil'' is of course possible, but likely uncommon. |
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== Comic Books == |
== Comic Books == |
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* In the ''[[Black Orchid]]'' miniseries, the second Black Orchid, after one of Lex Luthor's operatives, Sterling, tracks her down to the Brazilian rainforest, refuses his ultimatum to accompany him peacefully to Lexcorp for anatomical study. Sterling orders his two [[Mook |
* In the ''[[Black Orchid]]'' miniseries, the second Black Orchid, after one of Lex Luthor's operatives, Sterling, tracks her down to the Brazilian rainforest, refuses his ultimatum to accompany him peacefully to Lexcorp for anatomical study. Sterling orders his two [[Mook]]s to kill her with herbicide. However, awed by her beauty and that of the surrounding ecosystem, they refuse ("I--we've killed for you before. It's what we do. But not her. Not here."), and he returns to Metropolis empty-handed. [[Foreshadowing|Foreshadowed]] in that one of the mooks, en route, discusses what he's read about the endangered Amazon rainforests. |
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== Film == |
== Film == |
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