Oh, man, I can just imagine. I'm sure they get up on their self-righteous moral high horses and call us "baby killer lovers" or whatever. That's kind of what I'm thinking of writing an essay about ... In a women's studies class last year, we discussed this study that some sexist guy had done that "proved" that woman have lesser morals than men. But if you looked at his study, what it actually showed is that men were more likely to follow rigid ethical standards, regardless of circumstance, while women were more likely to consider circumstances, personalities, motivations, etc. The guy doing the study obviously thought the rigid, unwavering ethical standards, regardless of circumstance, was Right, and that women were "weak" for caring about circumstances and reasons.
It seems like the struggle between these two ethical views is central to the Ice and Fire series; almost all of them are struggling between love/family and duty (Jon choosing between helping his family or staying on the Night Watch, Catelyn letting Jaime go to get her daughters back, etc). As far as characters, Ned Stark believes in rigid ethical standards no matter what (though in his final confession, he betrays this to try to save his daughter). Jaime Lannister is the opposite; he couldn't care less about honor and duty, but he'll do just about anything for love. Spike's like Jaime, and Buffy's like Ned Stark. And I think that the Spike and Jaime type is more likely to appeal to those who value love more than duty, while the Buffy or Ned type appeals to those who believe in duty no matter what. For all our squabbling about meaning and motivation, it seems to me that these disagreements ("serial killer lovers!" and all that) come from a fundamentally different way of viewing morality itself (although I doubt most of us fall fully into one side or the other). And it also seems (because of the way our culture is constructed, NOT because of anything inherent) that women are more likely to value the love side, while men are more likely to value the rigid ethics and honor side.
Well, that was long. Sorry for babbling so much. I'm still in the middle of the book ... bear-pit means nothing to me yet. If only I could quit working and not need to sleep, then I could just sit down and finish it! (I keep wanting to skip ahead to the Jaime parts ... I don't care about boring Bran or whiny Sansa!)
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Date: 2003-07-08 08:32 am (UTC)It seems like the struggle between these two ethical views is central to the Ice and Fire series; almost all of them are struggling between love/family and duty (Jon choosing between helping his family or staying on the Night Watch, Catelyn letting Jaime go to get her daughters back, etc). As far as characters, Ned Stark believes in rigid ethical standards no matter what (though in his final confession, he betrays this to try to save his daughter). Jaime Lannister is the opposite; he couldn't care less about honor and duty, but he'll do just about anything for love. Spike's like Jaime, and Buffy's like Ned Stark. And I think that the Spike and Jaime type is more likely to appeal to those who value love more than duty, while the Buffy or Ned type appeals to those who believe in duty no matter what. For all our squabbling about meaning and motivation, it seems to me that these disagreements ("serial killer lovers!" and all that) come from a fundamentally different way of viewing morality itself (although I doubt most of us fall fully into one side or the other). And it also seems (because of the way our culture is constructed, NOT because of anything inherent) that women are more likely to value the love side, while men are more likely to value the rigid ethics and honor side.
Well, that was long. Sorry for babbling so much. I'm still in the middle of the book ... bear-pit means nothing to me yet. If only I could quit working and not need to sleep, then I could just sit down and finish it! (I keep wanting to skip ahead to the Jaime parts ... I don't care about boring Bran or whiny Sansa!)