/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2463388]

>Harry Potter
The chosen one
>LotR
The chosen one
>Matrix
The chosen one

What do you have to say about this?
We grew up with movies/books that gave so much importance to one person.

I think this is one of the main reasons why today's society is so hedonistic and narcissistic.

[Anonymous No.2463392]

Confusing cause and effect.

[Anonymous No.2463393]

The Matrix is some kind of Jesus allegory

LoTR's "Chosen One" is chosen in the sense that he's uniquely meek and un-evil enough to carry the ring. Everyone else is much more chosen-y than he is. Gandalf is personally resurrected by the creator of the universe when he gets into a fistfight with a demon and falls off a series of mountains.

Harry Potter is a Mary Sue adventure for kids.

[Anonymous No.2463394]

correlation does not equal causation

the movies are a symptom of the culture, not the other way around

[Anonymous No.2463399]

>>2463392
Not really.
We dont born with different personalities massively in each batch of births.

We're born pretty much with the same tools for the past thousand years.
Environment does the shaping of our personality.

And movies are one of the largest influence.

[Anonymous No.2463408]

have you ever heard of the monomyth? look it up. basically, all of these stories have been recycled over thousands of years and thus
have many of the same elements. doesn't mean they're bad or anything, and it certainly hasn't had a detrimental effect upon our society
(that's quite a ridiculous proposition.)

[Anonymous No.2463420]

I think it is also one of the main causes of depression.

Depressed narcissists, it might sound oxymoron but it has been shown that they are more depressed.

Thats why everyone is so hooked on video games and movies.
Its a vicious circle.

[Anonymous No.2463433]

Can anyone make sense of what's on her knuckles?

[Anonymous No.2463436]

>>2463399
Enviroment does the shaping of our personality? I disagree. If anything, there's a feedback between enviroment and "genetics". Genetics cause people to behave a certain way, which in turn shapes the enviroment, which in turn shapes people's behavior even more. It's cultural evolution.

When you're looking at things from an evolutionary psychology viewpoint, a lot of the stuff we see in the movies make sense. Narcissism is just a warped version of one's sense of self-worth, which is evolutionary useful. This in turn is reflected in books and movies dealing with characters considered "the chosen one". These books are fun to write and to read, since a writer/reader identifies with the main character and thus inflates his sense of self-worth even more. This type of book spreads like a virus, and with each generation, people become more and more accepting of their own narcissism.

[Anonymous No.2463437]

baby's first archetypes

[Anonymous No.2463443]

>>2463394
>correlation does not equal causation
A convenient way to dismiss inconvenient evidence.

[Anonymous No.2463462]

>>2463443
You can't into science.

[Anonymous No.2463485]

>>2463436
That wasn't my point about personality.

I said that we are born with pretty much the same stuff (meaning that next generation wont be born with 3 legs and 8 ears).

Personality is affected by different chemicals, each person is subtly predisposed to different types of personalities, e.g. extra testosterone of a person : more aggressive personality, which might lead to extra testosterone which in turn will...

And environment shapes us.
Let me rephrase it.
Sure personality is a percentage of genes and a percentage of environmental influenced.

But each person has his own set of genes, which has been pretty much the same (for human kind) the last thousands of years.
Environment thus is 100% responsible for personality after you account for genetics.
I meant it in that way.

I mean, when i hear people saying "this generation is shit" "todays kids are stupid" etc.
Am not sure if they know it but that is clearly environmental.

Now, the effects are debatable.
Things might react exactly opposite to what they are meant to do.
For example if you want to make your child "tough" and you yell at him he might become submissive and scared.

People are chaotic systems, cause and effect do mix up in this scene.
Do kids became really hedonistic or narcissistic or depressed?

Depression is easier to spot, the others are tricky, since culture changes constantly you can't have a clear comparison to make the right call about a difference in character in relation to the stimuli.

Sure, movies and the 'chosen one' themed films can somewhat influence but we can't be sure.

[Anonymous No.2463494]

>>2463485
>extra testosterone of a person : more aggressive personality
Yeah, you might want to google that. (PROTIP: Abnormally low testosterone = aggression)

[Anonymous No.2464210]

Harry Potter was not necessarily the chosen one. The prophecy in Harry Potter was self-fulfilling. Because Voldermort believed that a boy would be born at the time that Harry was he went and tried to kill all the boys that met the criteria. Harry's mother saved him so that Voldermort was unable to kill him. As he was the only person to survive an attack, Harry became connected to Voldermort. Voldermort also feared him because of the prophecy, making him the only one who could beat him.

Also, where is the OP picture from?

[Anonymous No.2464216]

>>2464210
Pretty much a shitty try-hard rip on Oedipus.

[Anonymous No.2464252]

Symptom, cause, or both (yup, it's both), OP has a point. But there's also all those cartoons where they do it through THE POWER OF TEAMWORK.

[Anonymous No.2464261]

>>2464210
The prophecy was a lie, because there's no such a thing as fate, even Dumbledore mention that

[Anonymous No.2464262]

>>2464216
when i noticed in the last movie how identical his mom looked to that girl he weds during that last scene where they send their kids off to hogwarts it totally just clicked with me.

[Anonymous No.2464358]

>>2464261
So Harry's parents were killed for nothing? Ha!

[Anonymous No.2464436]

I'll leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB_Q1gFsvIw&feature=related

I partly agree, but it's a complex calculae to determine the borders of cause and effect. Modern cinema is a powerful wheel in the machinery of modern social psychology and identity, but I think it is reasonable to see it as a symptom of the general mind and ruling system that would have been replaced by other kinds of wheels if it didn't exist. Of course it has been used as mind control tool and propaganda (i.e. American military movies), but that is also a symptom of the general human condition. We participate and allow ourselves to be influenced.

[Anonymous No.2464468]

>>2464261
Well you're right in a sense, its just that chosen one takes on a double meaning, not as in chosen by fate, as most of the world saw it, but in reality chosen by Voldemort. Whether there's a force beyond that at work doesn't really matter, all that matters is from the point Voldemort chose to kill Harry at all costs, the prophecy had been fulfilled. Harry rightly doesn't have a say in it, so to him its roughly the same as if fate ordained it, but there's never an appeal to such thing.

[Anonymous No.2464471]

>>2464468
Sounds like bs backtracking to sell responsibility for one's actions to kids.

[Anonymous110 No.2464473]

[Anonymous No.2464476]

>>2464471
How so?

[Anonymous No.2464522]

>>2464476
It's all prophecy and fate...er.. except Voldemort CHOOSES to do it! Yeah, and, er it was going to happen anyway, but not if Voldemort acted, except it would happen anyway, er, well...

Basically it's dumb.

[Anonymous No.2464530]

>>2464522
I don't really see your point.

[Anonymous110 No.2464557]

So many chosen ones. Kung Fu Panda, David Bowman. Who else?

[Anonymous No.2464570]

The Golden Child.

It's the whole hogwash "hero myth" that narrative wankers use as a handy compositional formula rather than create new stories.

[Anonymous No.2464581]

lotr didn't have a "chosen one." frodo volunteers to take the ring when the races at the meeting in rivendell (sp?) argue over the fate of the ring.

don't lump lotr with harry potter and the matrix, fool. xD

yes yes people are told how important they are and love to identify with a hero role. we're ego driven maniacs so what's new?

[Anonymous No.2464682]

I mind less if someone is the "chosen one" and more if they get whatever skills that enables them to be the protagonist without working for them. We are all the center of our own universes, so it's natural for authors and readers alike to see themselves that way, and in some ways that's a very positive thing. If I am the chosen one and that gives me the confidence to act to shape my destiny, then good. When the protagonist picks up a sword for the first time and defeats a skilled veteran because he's the chosen one, that's when my jimmies get rustled.

[Anonymous No.2464686]

>I think this is one of the main reasons why today's society is so hedonistic and narcissistic.

then you're an idiot

[Anonymous No.2464744]

The chosen one is clearly a bourgeois construction.

[Anonymous No.2466911]

they are metaphors for achieving totality

read some Campbell and jung

[Anonymous No.2466914]

LOTR's been around for a bit. Blame your parents. Blame commercialism. Blame a harder world and the devaluation of morals. Is there a safe place to take personal responsibility? Or will you get cut down for your stand?

[Anonymous No.2466918]

>I think this is one of the main reasons why today's society is so hedonistic and narcissistic.

It's not.

[Anonymous No.2466920]

>>2463388
>I think this is one of the main reasons why today's society is so hedonistic and narcissistic.

>Implying that's a bad thing.

[Anonymous No.2468348]

>>2463393
>>The Matrix is some kind of Jesus allegory

Roughly yeah. Otherwise it's pretty gnostic.

[Anonymous No.2468367]

>LotR
The chosen one

Uh, didn't Frodo volunteer? It's not like there was a prophecy or anything.

[Anonymous No.2468371]

>>2466918
I think is more a symptom than the actual cause
>>2466920
Implying It wont lead us to self destruction

[Anonymous No.2468400]

Wow, it's really like no one's read Joseph Campbell ITT!

[Anonymous No.2468402]

narcissism is highly relateable

[Anonymous No.2468430]

> Perseus
The chosen one

> Theseus
The chosen one

> Hercules
The chosen one

"I think this is one of the main reasons why today's society is so hedonistic and narcissistic."
Some dumb Greek guy.

[Anonymous No.2468461]

>Bible
The chosen one
>Koran
The chosen one

The books you listed are pop culture trash. These are the original Messiah texts.

[Anonymous No.2468519]

>>2468430
Thank you.

[Anonymous No.2468655]

>>2468400
I went to the library like a week ago and found The Hero with a Thousand Faces, but it was really long and I have like 30+ books checked out I want to read too. :(