Juho Pohjalainen's Blog: Pankarp - Posts Tagged "charles-atlas"

A lot of people - and authors - like to wield great power and change the world and be really badass, and consequently you've got main characters who are practically perfect right from out of the gate, able to outfight and out-argue and out-fuck everybody else. These characters everyone can relate to, project to even. And it's rare that they have to work for that power: they just get it, or at least get it easier than most, talent being such a natural thing.

That was always the sticking point to me. Where it all comes from - or rather, the nowhere it comes from. Why do so many of us only want to have power, and not get it?



When it's just given to you right away, without a fuss, it's basically like just given new toys to a kid. Like going straight to the dessert without the yucky vegetable-heavy main course. Like using cheat codes in a video game. You get the reward without the struggle - and without the growth. And, consequently, this power never truly becomes a part of you: it's just a layer on top of you, a suit, never reaching into your depths, your heart and your soul.

And now that you've already been given the reward and can use it to blow stuff up and whatever, it's all the less likely you ever will grow to have earned it.



Look at this guy. Even if you haven't seen the movie, the above image should tell you all there is to know: some self-absorbed, insecure, all in all inadequate idiot just got a whole lot of power dropped on top of him, and of course he goes to run wild with it. Others beg and plead their vampire friend to turn them as well, so that they can run around in the night and be all badass - but on the inside they're still losers. A few do put their powers to a good use and become genuine heroes, but even in their cases it felt hollow to me. It was rare for the guy and the sudden power to be properly realized as the same thing, not separate.

But if a character just works out, naturally grows his body, learns some martial arts maybe, and spends half the story being kicked around by his enemies before he finally stands up - that's a lot better. You can bet whatever he gets will be a part of him from the get-go. It's the kind of stories I nearly always write myself. And, you know, it makes me feel like I too could do the same if I applied myself - a more realistic power fantasy, as well as a harsh lesson to why most of us always remain the way we are, and a reason to commend those that rise beyond anyway.