Dark Fables for Modernity: The Bear and the Beavers

It came to pass that one day the Bear spotted a group of Beavers making a dam at the base of the stream from which all life in the forest draws its nourishment. Seeing that his hunting grounds would be diminished if the stream were clogged, he confronted the Beavers, and tore down their wooded dam. Enraged, the Beavers cried, “Why, Bear, do you constantly obstruct the natural progress of the helpless forest animals?” The Bear replied, “Show me a time prior to this instance that I have obstructed nature, as you say!” Now the Beaver, being cunning in their wit, said, “do you not obstruct the Salmon on their route to their birthing place?” Seeing an opportunity, the Salmon chimed in “He does do that! He does do that!” Soon the whole forest was in an uproar against the Bear, each animal with their own gripe against the oaf. Unable to see the fallacy in the Beaver’s accusations, the Bear was left speechless with no one to defend him. He lumbered away in his muddle-headedness, leaving the Beavers to their work.

            Not long after the bear returned to find a great lake where once the stream had been. The salmon looked to the bear, and said, “Our habitat is ruined, our children are forsaken, and you did nothing to stop this! Leave for now and forever!” Once again the rest of the forest chimed in, who had since been uprooted by the lake, and drove the Bear from the forest once and for all.

            The bear responded as he lumbered away, “The role of the righteous is not to be envied.”

Dark Fables for Modernity: The Spider and the Arrogant Fly

 There once was a Spider, young and wise. He spun his web in the open where the foolish Flies buzzed, but not a single one flew into his web. Seeing the Spider’s struggle, the arrogant Fly landed below his web, and called the other animals to his side. “Cast your eyes upon this fool, who spins webs were his prey might easily spot him. Laugh at him, and his folly.” And the animals did laugh; all but the Spider who, to the surprise of all, thanked the Fly. “A fool indeed,” said the Fly, “this spider does not even know when he is being mocked!” With that, the Fly took off into the air, and was gone.

            A curious Squirrel climbed up to the Spider, and inquired, “Why have you thanked he who has made you out to be a dullard?” At this, the Spider smiled and said “I love my boastful enemy, for he shows me my weakness, as well as his own.” With that, the spider crept into a hollow log, where he spun a new web. There, hidden from sight, he caught many insects who passed through unsuspectingly. Among the Spider’s victims was the arrogant Fly, who he promptly had for supper.

Dark Fables for Modernity: The Bear and the Grasshopper

 A bear was trouncing through the woods one day, and stomping upon all the grass, ruining the food for Grasshoppers. Enraged, the Grasshopper confronted the Bear. “You fool,” he said “what an oaf you are, stepping upon my lunch!” The Bear responded in kind, “Aye, but what a fool you are for not eating it before I got here!” And so they went, arguing and debating, while the hyenas surrounded them, and laughed.

            After much heat and frustration, the Bear, sick of the Grasshopper, stepped upon him, and went beck to trouncing the grass. Having witnessed the gruesome sight, one Hyena looked to another and said in a grim tone “Antagonism is the death of persuasion.”

How to Write a Cinematic Fugue

It was at one time the highest test of the composer to construct a fugue. J.S. Bach, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, these were the likes of men who mastered this revered art. Since they have passed, fugue has been all but lost to popular artists, and the word itself has been out of the practical public lexicon for some time. Yet the word does get used occasionally, albeit in the completely wrong sense. The true meaning of the word has been utterly lost to the public. Here is a commonly used definition for the word, which would be regarded as legitimate by most modern music professors. “A fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition.” That definition is from the wikipedia article detailing fugue, and is hardly practical. If you are not a music person you probably have no idea what it means. In this treatise, we will rediscover the fugue in its original intention as it relates to storytelling.
            “To fugue” means to chase. That is how Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Handel would have used the word. Here is an excerpt from Johann Josef Fux’s Gradus Ad Parnassum on counterpoint where he addresses the definition.

“Fugue takes its name from the [German] words fugere and fugare - to flee and to pursue - a derivation confirmed by a number of eminent authors.” - J.J. Fux, 1725

Thus, the combination of fugere and fugare led to the term fugue. It is a bit hard to imagine how a chase would be worked into a piece of classical music, however, upon gazing at a score of one of Bach’s fugues, the chase becomes clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL81D26D4A47388279&feature=player_detailpage&v=ipzR9bhei_o#t=170

(Please skip to 2:50 in the video for the beginning of this fugue.)

Developed from the musical round, fugue involves one musical line chasing another. Notice that the blue musical line in Bach's fugue enters first, then the orange line enters with the same gesture afterwards, and off they go! As it relates to storytelling, the equivalent of a musical line is a character, or a group of characters.
            There are seven story elements that comprise a fugue that I have observed; environment, character, condition, devices, goals,  dominance, and complexity. It should be noted that the order of presentation here says nothing of the hierarchical order of elements within a given fugal sequence. Each element may be just as important as the others, depending on the demands of the fugue itself.

Environment – The setting and forces relating to that setting in which the fugue takes place.

A character may go through many settings in the course of a chase. Each environment has its own unique obstacles and dangers. For this reason we break environment into two parts. The first part is that of things which both the character chasing and the character being chased must overcome, circumvent, or use to their advantage. Examples of these elements include stairs, crowds, corn fields, mud, etc. A character is presented with an obstacle that slows them down, thus putting them at risk of capture. The second part of environment is those elements of environment that threaten the very life of both parties. Examples of this type include mine fields, narrow bridges, falling trees, raging fires, collapsing buildings, traffic, quicksand etc. Adding this element to a scene adds a dimension of man vs nature, in addition to the already prevalent element of man vs man, man vs animal, or man vs machine, as is the case in James Cameron’s The Terminator. In both cases, lethal and non-lethal, gravity is added to the scene through a heightening of stakes, thus drawing in and holding the audience’s attention. One can easily see why considering environment would be a handy tool to any writer when planning out a fugal sequence. The more interesting the environment, the more interesting the action will be.

Character – the attitudes or nature of a character.
This is pre-established prior to the onset of a fugal sequence, and it may also develop during the sequence itself as we discover parts of a character that are only present in life-threatening situations. The nature of a character determines the structure that the fugue takes. If the character being chased is smart, he will take his pursuer through densely populated areas in the hopes of eluding him. If the character doing the chasing is fearless, then he will chase his prey to the ends of earth, no matter what conditions may be thrown at him. If the character being chased feels the heat on his heels, then he will throw things in the path of his pursuer in an attempt to trip him. If the character doing the chasing is unstoppable, then these things with be thrown to the side effortlessly. And so on and so forth.
Han Solo is perhaps one of the greatest fugal characters of all time. Take a look at what he does when being chased by star destroyers. His attitude and character is displayed perfectly with his iconic line, "Never tell me the odds."
The Empire Strikes Back - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTp8mKFxmbg

Devices – The toys which the players use against each other.
This entails anything that the characters use to their advantage, be it a gun, a trashcan that they tip over to obstruct the other character’s path, or even their fists. Not only may a character use things that hurt their opponent, but they may also use things to aid themselves. A character with a broken leg would do well to grab a crutch when being chased by a healthy pursuer, just as a hunter would be wise to use his night vision goggles while searching for his prey.

Goals - What the players must do to survive.
In order to extend the scene to its full and complete form, characters can be given goals within the scene that they must achieve in order to get out of their circumstance. This is often determined by either the over-arching plot or one of the other elements of fugue. A character who is wounded in the leg must find a crutch; if a wall presents itself for the character, he must climb over it; if the damsel in distress is dangling from a speeding train, he must save or catch her while being chased, etc.
Notice in this scene how Malcolm must get his buttocks off of the gear shift in order for their vehicle to move fast enough to escape. In order for him to do so, he must first overcome his fear of the giant T-Rex.
Jurassic Park - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1G6MhFi0cM

Condition – The physical state of the players.
This is both pre-determined before the onset of the fugal sequence, and determined during its development. The progress of condition is conveyed visually through the cues that the storyteller gives to the audience regarding the state of the character’s appearance, as well as vocally by the characters. If the character is bloody, then he’s probably not doing very well and the stakes are heightened. If a character is overweight, then the fugue will be short lived lest other elements come into play. He will have trouble jumping across rooftops, and he will roll down hills rather than run.
Take a look at Cameron’s The Terminator. In the final climactic battle, the two protagonists are badly injured from their struggles.  This hinders their flight. The terminator itself is also injured in the scene, hindering its persuit, but also making it that much more terrifying.
The Terminator (my apologies for the poor quality) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KeniFoiT-0

Dominance – who is chasing who, and the shifts of that paradigm.
 Often times in chases, the chaser becomes the one being chased. When this occurs, a shift results in the minds of the audience as to who is dominant in the scene. This element is a vital tool for the writer who wishes to develop a sequence while holding the audience’s attention. This shift may occur as a result of any of the previous elements listed. If the attitude of a character being chased becomes one of renewed vigor, then he may turn upon his pursuer, and either engage him or overwhelm him, in which case the direction of the chase would be reversed. This reversal, when coupled with catharsis and the already high stakes of the scene, can have a hugely intense effect on the audience. A famous example of this element used in a highly successful movie is in Bonnie and Clyde, when the gang of robbers led by Warren Beatty, having stolen Gene Wilder’s car, are being chased by Wilder through the country. Wilder has a change of attitude based on the notion that the people who stole his car may have guns. He turns his car around, and so do the gang. Thus, the chaser becomes the chased.

Complexity – How many players or teams of players there are.
            In music, there are two, three, and four part fugues. This means that in a four part fugue, there are four separate lines chasing one another. There are also double fugues, where two themes are fugued at once. A truly skilled writer will be able to craft a fugue where many characters are chasing many others, and multiple chases are going on at the same time.

Conclusion – The Integration of Elements
Each of the seven elements, when added to a scene and developed properly, results in a tug of war. If the character being chased has a strong attitude despite being shot in the leg while fighting their way through a crowd and being shot at, it will still appear as though the character is going to win. Conversely, if a character has a poor attitude but has every advantage, the audience will still feel an inevitable collapse in the character’s fortune sometime in the near future. The condition of a character will have a bearing on the audience’s impression of a character’s attitude, regardless of any corresponding change. When a character is shot in the leg but doesn’t miss a beat, the communicated message to the audience is that the injured character is invincible. Each of the four elements, when added individually, will resonate in the audience, and result in a shift of the other three elements. The tug of war between the elements of the fugal sequence that takes place during a fugue is what communicates who is winning in the sequence.
Stakes obviously play an enormous role in the development of fugue. Each of the elements is used to increase tension and stakes, thus making the audience member gravitate toward the sequence, and even come back for multiple viewings. The most intense form of chase is one where the sympathetic character is weak, bogged down, and being chased, while the antagonist is invincibly strong and chasing him with the intent of murder. This is because such a situation adds gravity to the sequence through heightened tension; the possibility for victory of our hero is low, and the possible outcome is of the highest intensity. 

I theorize that the appeal of fugue has its roots in our evolutionary makeup. Our Paleolithic ancestors participated in chases on a semi-regular basis, where they would be forced to flee from predators suddenly, and often through dense forest. One would think that such a thing would not be entirely pleasant, but mother nature is paradoxical. When we look at long distance runners crossing the finish line, or marathoners coming to a halt after so many miles, the look on their face is that of anguish and exhaustion. This is not so with sprinters. The look on a sprinters face, win or lose, is almost always one of joy. That is because our body reacts to the completion of short bursts of speed with pure happiness; the happiness of being alive after escaping a predator. It is possible that fugue has additional advantages as well. We know from recent studies that heavy exertions of energy such as sprinting and short bursts of intense weight training increases learning ability through the release of brain derived neurotrophic factor to the brain. [1][2] Think about it: you’re in the woods being chased by a cougar. It is completely necessary that you are able to process the world around you at a faster speed so as to escape, and those humans which evolved to do this would be those that survived to procreate. It is my theory that aesthetic fugues have the same effect; by imitating the experience of being chased, they release BDNF into the brain, connecting neurons and allowing you to process larger amounts of information. In other words, chase scenes make you smarter! Can it be that fugue is objectively both pleasurable and valuable to humans, and that Bach understood this fact intuitively? I most certainly think it is!

The following is a list of fugues which employ some or all of the elements which I have described. Be sure to pay attention to what is going on inside you as the scenes play out. I’m certain you’ll find that what was thought to be mindless action is in fact causing a very interesting effect inside your mind.

The Road Warrior - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmf-HCCZYOg

Fast and Furious 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZKEN_vpzY

The Terminator & Terminator 2 (Both films are essentially giant fugues) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I0EbZL8J5c

The Blues Brothers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMagP52BWG8

The Great Train Robbery (that’s right, what is popularily known as the first film was indeed a fugue) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7wWOmEGGY

The Dark Knight - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCQxhof9RlI

Raiders of the Lost Ark - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-8AP0To4k

Under Seige 2

Beethoven's "Great Fugue" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjUh11EPGcM

Sources
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12086747
[2] http://jp.physoc.org/content/587/13/3221.abstract

Dark Fables for Modernity: The Spider and the Fawn

There once was a mother who left her fawn’s upbringing to the care of the animals of the woods. “An open mind will bring diverse knowledge to my child,” she said, and she sent the Fawn on her merry way.

            Seeing the Fawn in need of direction, a small black Spider approached. He whispered in the Fawn’s ear “perhaps you are a beaver. Go help them with their dam.” The Fawn, being open minded, sprang into the water, gathering wood and bringing it to the Beavers. But the Fawn was clumsy, and could not swim well. She broke the dam, and the Beavers yelled her away.

            Again the Spider whispered in the Fawn’s ear “if not that, then perhaps you are a crow. Go fly with them.” So the Fawn spread her legs, and attempted to fly. “No, no” said the Spider, “you must be a baby crow. Go up to the nest with your brothers.” The Fawn promptly climbed a tree, and sat in the nest. For a moment all was well, until the tree branch began to bend and break under the weight of the Fawn. The nest came tumbling down, and the mother Crow squawked and squawked and made the little Fawn run away.

            Having brought disruption to the forest, the animals grouped together, and berated the black Spider. “That is quite enough of that, Mr. Spider. I think you have done enough whispering for one day.” Then they turned to the Fawn, and said “it’s time to go home to your mother. She will tell you what to do from now on. Your mind is too open for this forest.” Terrified, the Spider turned to the Fawn. “Hide me from these beasts, lest they squash me for helping you!” But the Fawn, having closed her mind, refused him. “So your mind is now toned with logic,” said the Spider, “fine, but hear this logic; I have helped you in honesty, now please reciprocate the gesture.” The Fawn agreed to this reasonable request, and the Spider climbed into her ear, and up into her head.

            At once the Spider began spinning her web in the caverns of the Fawn’s skull. With its many legs he took up fiddling with the gears and buttons that controlled the Fawn.

The Fawn was not seen for many days, and a search party was sent out. When the animals found the Fawn, she was high up in a nook, hidden deep in a damp cave on the edge of the forest. A web was all around her, and she was chewing on the grubs of the cave. Her mother was called, and she tried to reason with the Fawn. “Please, dear, come down from that nook and graze on this fine grass out here in the sunshine.” But the Fawn’s mind was closed now, and she only looked around for more grubs.” The Mother, beside herself, raged at the Spider. “How dare you, foulest of animals in the wood. You are a manipulator of youth, and an evil creature at that. You are a fool that knows nothing of how to raise children.” Hearing these words, the Spider leaned out of the Fawn’s ear.

“It is you who is the fool. You should have known that Spiders spin cob-webs in open minds.”

How To Make Your Character Sympathetic

If the aesthetician  wishes for his audience to care for a character, the tool in which they must employ is that of sympathy. It is for this reason that I say sympathy is the single most important element that the storyteller may utilize, and the one that must be established fully and effectively in order for the work to be successful in holding the attention of an audience. Failure to establish a character as sympathetic will inevitably result in a diluting of the gravity of any given work. This is true because the audience must empathize with the character in order for them to care whether they live or die, succeed or fail. Therefore, in order to have stakes in a film, sympathy must be displayed by the protagonist.

So then what is sympathy? A look at its etymology reveals that it is derived from the Greek words sum and pathos meaning "with feeling." Too often I hear the words sympathy and empathy mistaken for one another, so let us also define empathy so to put that mistake to rest. Empathy comes from the Greek em and pathos, meaning "in feeling." Therefore, the difference between the two original meanings is that sympathy is that feeling which the actor or character radiates, as in "the musician played that melody with such intense feeling," whereas empathy is that feeling which occurs within the audience as a reflection of a character's expression of feeling. Here we see clearly the reciprocal relationship between audience and character as it relates to sympathy. There are two parts then to applying sympathetic resonance; the situation, and the expression. Since sympathy is radiated from a character he must both voice his state which has resulted from the situation in a convincing fashion, and he must react to that situation admirably. This comprises the unifying action of the hero.

Now to the question posed originally; how do I make my characters sympathetic. The nature of sympathy is radiant, thereby expressed by the character as the result of an external situation. These situations must be sought out by the aesthetician; a life long study which holds no promise for completion in its entire. You will never know every situation which is sympathetic, as they are no doubt infinite in number. However, you may observe by looking within yourself those situations which give rise to empathy in an audience. When you empathize with someone in your every day life, use your senses to analyze the dilemma at play. You will slowly begin to understand the logic behind what you are experiencing, and will be able to reproduce it for your own purposes. It is a worthwhile task, if the aesthetician wishes to master the establishment of sympathy, to write a story from the antagonist's perspective. This will give you an idea of the subjective quality of this principle.

 It is the mistake of many modern independent filmmakers to devise characters who are quirky, so as to rouse empathy in the audience through those means. We are all quirky, we are all weird. We would be in a constant state of debilitating empathy if making a character quirky were an effective method of making them sympathetic. There are those who do exist in a hopeless state of debilitating empathy. They are hyper emotional, and we avoid their constant advances to involve us in their latest quest to solve some abstract world problem. They are constantly at work raising "awareness" for this cause or that, which is itself harmless. However, these are the dupes for every predator and con man on the face of the earth. The truth here is that sympathy can be used just as readily for malicious purposes as it can for good. Over indulgence in sympathy makes the perceiver skeptical, and thus makes it more difficult to convince them of a truly sympathetic cause when the time arises.

I have observed many sympathetic situations and reactions since I became aware of this important element of aesthetics. The basis of the element entire is a character who is subject to a verdict which he does not deserve. A child being sexually abused by his father, a wrongly convicted prisoner on death row, the leper who is cast from society through no fault of his own, the homosexual who is forced to live in secret by the bigotry of society, a father searching for his daughter who has been kidnapped. These are characters and circumstances which have characters who radiate sympathy. They are victims being brought to justice for crimes they did not commit, or are not crimes at all.

Though the nature of the aesthetic element is external, this does not mean the protagonist need be passive. For example, the very easiest and most effective way to establish empathy in an audience is to have a character be the victim of his own words. That is, he says something and is thereafter misunderstood, those words leading to a series of events where he must fight to survive. How sympathetic is such a predicament? Have we all not been just such a victim? Words are forever flawed by their dual interpretation, some having definitions which are in direct opposition! These words are ripe for use by the writer, as they provide an opportunity for misunderstanding, and the establishment of sympathy. Examples of such words may be found here. http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_words.html

Hollywood would not be in the financial trouble that it is in, that being a steady downfall, if it were more aware of this important aesthetic element. There are some, however, that do employ sympathy, and these are the very best of films for that reason. The first aesthetic work that comes to mind which uses sympathy to its advantage is the recently finished television show Breaking Bad. Upon rewatching the first episode, I began to realize what a sympathetic character Walter White was. Here are some of the things the writers did to make the audience empathize with the character.

1. Gave the main character cancer. No human deserves the type of cancer which Walter White is diagnosed with. It is a fear of all humans to hear the words Walter heard in his doctor's office. In this way the writers have made his predicament universal, as well as external (even though the cancer is literally internal). 

2. Gave the main character financial trouble as a teacher. This is, of course, the entire basis of the story, as it pushes Walter to do the heinous acts which he commits in the episodes to follow. Walter wishes to leave his family with some means of living. That is admirable. We can all relate to that. What Walter does to ensure this goal is not admirable, and thus the premise of the series was born. Walter reacts to his situation in an unadmirable fashion, which is why his character goes from sympathetic to unsympathetic over the course of the series. 

3. He's the runt of the family. Even at his own birthday, it is Hank who is the center of attention. Again, this is both universal and external, although it is derivative of the character's, well, character. Every one of us has been the victim of an attention hog. We've all longed for another persons affection and attention, and have been denied it. Thank you to Ram Getz for point this out.

The show uses many more over the course of its seasons, and I encourage you to observe those techniques for yourself. 

The film Braveheart is a prime example of sympathy used to an intense degree. In that story, William's clan is being victimized by the English lords, who take away their wives on the night of their wedding so as to impregnate them. The scene where the wife of William's friend is taken away to be raped is so intense that I refuse to rewatch it. That situation, to me, is so profoundly sympathetic that the brutal murder of Englishmen in the following scenes seems perfectly vindicated. That is a scary thought. I am a strictly non-violent person, and yet I could not help but cheer William on as he sliced the throat of the English lord. What an effect sympathy can have on an audience!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2bk_9T482g

Above is a link to the opening scene of Pixar's Up, famous for it's profoundly heartbreaking effect (notice the title states "sad scene"). The writers use a number of techniques to endure the audience to their characters. First, there is a bubbly effortlessness to their demeanor, giving the affect of joviality. Next, they choose a very interesting profession for their protagonist; he sells balloons to children. Children are a very interesting study when it comes to sympathy. They are inherently sympathetic to us -- probably a result of our evolution -- in that they are so terribly vulnerable. We evolved as social creatures who assist each other in the raising of our children. A child itself appears cute to us because this endures them to us, making it more likely for us to offer it protection. They are loveable even despite their often selfish behavior, which we overlook based on the seemingly fallacious notion that "they are children." Think about that for a moment. Those who help them are admirable to the extreme to anyone but a sociopath. Another film that use protagonists coming to the aid of a child in order to establish sympathy is The Sixth Sense, the main character being a child psychiatrist.  The main characters of Up, though adults, are somewhat childish themselves in both their behavior and their looks (something the Pixar artists probably did intuitively) which makes them also sympathetic to us. Perhaps the most powerful way to establish sympathetic resonance in a character is to have him be picked on by someone who is more powerful than they are. Think back to your childhood bully. Someone, perhaps, who is in a position of authority and abusing it. This is the situation in Braveheart, and many other great films. We absolutely hate when people pick on us, and the aesthetician can use this.

Without a doubt the most heart wrenching aspect of the opening of Up is the very adult plot development that Ellie is barren. She cannot conceive children. This is, again, a great example of where an external hardship can be internal. The hardship does not derive from her character, but from circumstances beyond her control, and yet it is literally internal. Notice also how, despite there being no dialogue, the storytellers choose to include a scene where both characters express their reaction to the hardship. It is here that the sympathy is really driven home.

The final knife that Pixar drives in to your heart is Ellie's death just before the characters have a chance to achieve their goal. What tragedy! It was one of the very few moments where I wept openly in a theater, and I was not alone. It is not so much the death itself, but the consistent childish love the characters share even at the end of their long lives, and the devastation that Carl expresses while sitting alone in the funeral home, still holding his single balloon.

That is how Pixar was able to get away with killing off a pivotal character of a film made for children 15 minutes into the story. Pixar has proven that when you understand story tools like sympathy, your stories become universal to children and adults, boys and girls.

Here are other works which use sympathy effectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYl4Xb4cDQ8 (Dvorak)

The King's Speech

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (A great example of characters who are victims of misunderstandings). 

A Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N17KILNSS0 (Bob Dylan)

Sympathy is not just at play in aesthetics. It is being used every day in each of our lives. Currently, there is a battle raging in the heart and minds of the people of the world, as the Israelis and Palestinians fight to be seen as sympathetic. The same situation occurs when any two people or groups of people engage in combat. It is usually the case that tribal mentality prevails, and we side with whoever we are closest to. Think back to that fight your friend had in school with another school mate. Did you take his side, or that of the school mate? Which one was truly justified in his actions? As aestheticians, it is our job to use sympathy to keep the audience's attention. As humans, it is our job to seek out the truth behind the sympathy we feel, so as not to harm someone who is innocent. The truth, I have found, is that all men are sympathetic. Some choose to make their case effectively, others do not. What man acts in pure malevolence? Only the insane one, and in his insanity, he too is sympathetic.