2020-05-27

Context, context, context…

When discussing a few shows and movies I realized how important it is to consider everything in context. Without context, anything can be misconstrued, if not outright misunderstood or even misused (take for instance how the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche were misused during the Third Reich by the National Socialist regime).

If you can maintain context, then it can help you enjoy a film, play novel etc. even more. Take the (supremely epic) film Black Panther, for instance. I was talking about it to someone who said they didn’t like it because “he never smiled!”. I then quickly put Prince / King T’Challa’s sombre mood into context. T’Challa was the brand new King of Wakanda, his father had just been assassinated and he just went through Captain America: Civil War. Then he got home, had to fight for his throne a bunch of times and chase bad guys across the globe – that is going to put a damper on anyone’s days.

The dark comedy Netflix series Dead to Me is another one that I discussed with a similar outcome. SPOILER ALERT! Early in season 1 we see what Judy did and realize she is not quite “all there”; a state that applies to many of the characters. As I kept watching, I got to know them, putting their actions into context.  Though I definitely was not identifying with what they were doing, I could empathize; asking myself “what would I do in that situation?”. Put into that context, I even got some friends to give the show another shot and they ended up liking it.

Fact is stranger than fiction

Knowledge truly is power and if you have it, you can appreciate a lot of life far more than any ignorant person could. Another great show I recently binged, The Witcher, had a scene showing Queen Calanthe, the Lionness of Cintra, swaggering about, wielding a sword while wearing bloodied armour during a banquet just after a battle. This led to some right-wingers calling out the show, saying it is unrealistic; that women could never fight among men with swords.

This is of course, completely wrong. I will be honest, the actress was not great in those scenes (she was better at playing the queen, not Xena), but women did, could and do, fight with swords. There are a host of historical examples, as well as Olympic-level fencers, the slew of women who also do kendo who have bested me in single combat several, several times.

Some of my favorite historical powerhouses include Julie d’Aubigny, Grace O’Malley, Lakshmi Bai, Empress consort Jingu… I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

With that knowledge, I was able to appreciate that aspect of the stories as actually being based in fact and knew that those detractors were, in fact, wrong. Knowledge trumps ignorance.

Create your own context (MORE SPOILERS!)

One cartoon I absolutely love and have watched twice now with my son is the reboot of Voltron. There was major controversy, though, about how they dealt with one of the main characters’ (admittedly surprising) homosexuality. In the final seasons, you see in flashbacks that Shiro (aka #SpaceDad) is homosexual and the controversy came from activist groups that said his fairy tale epilogue of marrying a random crew member of the battleship he was captain of was just tacked on at the end. Some also heavily criticized his retiring at the end of the huge war and getting married while the other Paladins of Voltron continue fighting until the universe is safe again.

Later, even the creator of the show, Joaquim Dos Santos said the wedding epilogue for Shiro was “hella clunky” and admitted that they did it in a day before wrapping on the final season.

This is where I decided to create my own context. Over the course of the series, Shiro was: kidnapped by aliens, forced into and excelled at gladiatorial combat with a host of various aliens, had his arm replaced with a robotic one, escaped, died, got cloned, came back, his clone turned out to be evil so he died, only to have his real soul transferred from the Black Lion back into his clone’s body… So, yeah, he deserved a nice, quiet life after all that.

I would even thank the creators for giving him the happiness he was desperately seeking.