THE FALLACY OF THE GOOD GUY

When movies are made they often come with a “tag-line.” A line that, in essence, sells the film with a quote or statement.  It piques one’s interest in seeing the movie.  It is on the poster, used in advertising; it’s just another way of selling the movie product.  “In space no one can hear you scream...” is the tagline from the movie “Alien.”  

 "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream"

(technically I don't know if this is true - there's a lot

 of screaming in this film)

A few more:  For “40 Year Old Virgin” – “Better late than never.”  For the film “Oblivion” – “Earth is a memory worth fighting for.”  For the film “Inception” – “Your mind is the scene of the crime.”  Most films have them.  Marketing departments are created to come up with them.  And they’re in other forms of advertising, as well.  “7-UP” the “Uncola” – “Snickers Really Satisfies” –  “Meow Mix – Cats ask for it by name.”  Remember, this is all about selling a product.

 See - tag line.

Recently, at the Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC) a number of GOP and Conservative speakers were brought forth to talk.  Mitch McConnell carrying a rifle.  Paul Ryan.  Rand Paul.  Sarah Palin and many others.  Brought to create a groundswell of support and rally their base.  Good for them.

 Mitch and weapon.

One of the speakers was Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA who came out to speak to the assembled gun loving masses and he used the NRA tagline that has been used quite frequently to justify gun ownership:  “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.”  And, like any tag line, it’s created to sell a product.  This tagline, though, also reinforces something that the NRA and gun supporters want to honestly believe:  That they’re the “good guy.”  That by owning a gun, they can stop the “bad guy” with a gun.  Not only does it sell more guns, but it feels GOOD to the gun owner.  Like, “F*ck yeah, I’m a GOOD guy.  I own a gun.  I can stop a BAD guy.  HA!”  As taglines go – it’s very effective.  I mean, I don’t own a gun so, I guess, I’m not a good guy...right?

From Wayne LaPierre’s 2014 CPAC speech:  “History has proven again the truth that President Obama and anti-freedom activists everywhere deny and try to suppress — the truth that firearms in the hands of good people save lives.”  And later:  “The political elites can’t escape and the darlings of the liberal media can’t change the God-given right of good people to protect themselves.”  Lastly:  “We know, in the world that surrounds us, there are terrorists and home invaders and drug cartels and car-jackers and knock-out gamers and rapers, haters, campus killers, airport killers, shopping mall killers, road-rage killers, and killers who scheme to destroy our country with massive storms of violence against our power grids, or vicious waves of chemicals or disease that could collapse the society that sustains us all.”

  Wayne

But there’s something wrong with this tagline that is not evidently apparent in its simplicity.

As a screenwriter, my task is to create heroes.  (i.e.:  The Good Guy, The Protagonist, The One Everyone Roots For)  My task, if it is to create a hero, it is also, depending on the script, my task to create a villain.  (i.e.:  The Bad Guy, The Antagonist, The One Everyone Hates).  Where does the conflict come from if Luke Skywalker doesn’t fight Darth Vader?  Dorothy v. Wicked Witch of the West?  Harry Potter and Voldemort?

Look!  It's a hero!

But, as a writer, it’s not just easy to create heroes and villains.  It’s not as simple as silver stars v. black hats.  If you make your hero too heroic he’ll come off as bland and boring and the audience will be unable to relate to him.  I mean, I love Superman but he’s kinda boring.  But in the film “Superman 2” when Christopher Reeve’s Superman becomes human – it’s a kick ass story because he’s REAL.  But Superman as a hero with only Kryptonite to kill him?  He is a hero that is, ultimately, boring.

 Superman?  Super boring?

It’s also not easy to create villains.  You don’t necessarily want your villain to be a mustache twirling douche bag that you just can’t wait to see die.  In some ways you need to have the audience UNDERSTAND their villain.  Not root for them, per se, but to understand what motivates them.  What pushes them to do what they do, as heinous as it may be?  As someone so rightly put it:  “The villain is the hero in his own story.”  Or, to put it another way:  “To the Bad Guy, he’s the Good Guy in his own story.”

 Typical villain. 

One of the greatest most recent villains was the villain in the most recent James Bond film “Skyfall.”  Javier Bardem plays Silva that is described as such:  “Raoul Silva is a former MI6 agent who worked for M in Singapore. Silva is a cyberterrorist who is releasing the identities of field agents to seek revenge against MI6. Real name Tiago Rodriguez as disclosed by M.”

 Javier Bardem - Villain?

This guy is, without a doubt, a BAD GUY of the highest order.  And, of course, James Bond is the GOOD GUY.  But as the film unspools (do films even unspool anymore?) we learn that Raoul Silva was left for dead by MI6, that he was poisoned, that he lost his jaw and most of his teeth (in a very heart-wrenching scene).  In other words – he explained very clearly why he was doing what he was doing and, in a lot of ways – it made sense!  As illogical and heinous as his crimes were I could understand where he was coming from.  This villain was, truly, a hero in his mind.  He was the protagonist to James Bond’s antagonist.  In HIS mind Bond is the villain who needs to die a horrible painful death.

 That's gotta hurt.

Back to Wayne LaPierre and the NRA tag line.  “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun – is a good guy with a gun.”  But then I have to ask:  “WHO is the good guy?”  Who wears the tin star?  Who wears the black hat?  And I’ll posit this theory:  I’ll bet you that for every heinous act of gun violence (or many acts of violence for that matter) that 90% of the people who perform those acts do so out of a sense of their own “good.”  In other words – as much as the crime fits the actions of an insane person – they see themselves as good.

When Sarah Palin puts gun targets over politicians that need to be “targeted” and someone shoots that politician (and many others in the process) isn’t he believing that he is doing some “good?”  Think about the thought process here:  1.  I agree with her.  2.  She puts targets on these people.  3.  I want to do some good.  4.  I’ll shoot this person and anyone who gets in my way.  5.  I’m the good guy.

After Gabby Giffords was shot and many killed

there were people that said that these were not 
"gun sight" targets...sure....

Now all of us with thought, reason and rationale can discern that maybe the person who shot up a theatre in Colorado is crazy.  Or gunned down students on a campus is a nutjob.  But the irrational mind is just that:  irrational.  When I talked to Michelle about people who want to kill themselves even though they truly have a wonderful life (George Bailey!) she says it’s because they’re in such a dark place that they can’t see beyond the darkness.  Just watch any show about hoarding.  To a person the hoarder KNOWS they have a problem, will admit they have a problem and know that they have to do something about the problem but...logic dictates they need to throw out the rat infested moldy breadbox but their illogic dictates that it’s “just fine and needs to be cleaned up a bit.”  And for us who aren’t in their situation it’s maddening – we can so clearly see the mental disorder – why can’t they?

Welcome to "crazy town."

And this isn’t even scratching the surface of religious “good” where if you kill the infidels you go to heaven and get to sleep with virgins.  Those 9/11 attackers?  They believed they were the “good guys.”  That Shoe Bomber?  The guys who bombed the Boston Marathon?  Again – my belief is that, somewhere in these peoples’ heads they were doing some good.  Exacting revenge on a society that beat them down (Columbine).  Standing on principle for a greater good.  Stepping up against “the man.”  Whether its voices in their heads, their religion, their own psychosis, whatever – for some reason they’ve justified their actions in a way that, I believe, makes them think they’re good.  When we all know that they’re not.

Some more recent gun activities:  Soldier shoots up Fort Hood (again).  Man kills some Jews at a Jewish Center in Kansas.  Armed militia has a stand-off with authorities over a man’s persistence on letting his cattle roam and eat on government land.  This last is a perfect example:  “Who are the Good Guys in this situation?  The police and government officials carrying out the orders of the court or the militia who are convinced that the government is lying, working for military contractors, pushing out the “little guy?”  Not so black-and-white, now, is it?

Who's the good guy again?

And that’s why I hate the NRA tagline.  Because underneath the simplicity, what it’s telling people – many of whom shouldn’t own guns in the first place – is that they’re the GOOD GUY and the GOOD GUY stops the BAD GUY.  The line between their protagonist/antagonist mind- set is a thin blurry one.   So who stops the bad guy who truly believes he’s the good guy who’s fighting against the bad guy who is really the good guy?

Let’s take this a step further, shall we?  I challenge that the NRA tagline is actually rationalizing violence.  Isn’t it clear to everyone who just breezes past an NRA website or listen to NRA idols like Ted Nugent who the “bad guys” are?  The NRA actually publishes a “negative” rating for politicians they don’t like.  Well, aren’t those bad guys, too?  Isn’t anyone who dares say anything against the NRA a bad guy?  Now, granted, those bad guys (politicians, reporters, bloggers, etc.) may not be a “bad guy with a gun” – but how has that ever stopped someone bent on doing “good.”  George Zimmerman is a perfect example of this NRA reality.  Here is a supposed good guy going up against a supposed bad guy – a 17 year old kid with Skittles in his pocket who hadn’t done anything wrong but wear a hoodie at night and be black.  In my world view the wannabe cop was the bad guy and the honor student dead kid was the good guy...

Trayvon Martin is dead.  George Zimmerman goes to trade shows and signs autographs to all the other good guys who pack weaponry and wait for the bad guys...or the guys they’re darn certain are bad.

 Good guy?  Bad guy?