#my pipe dream is God Emperor film adaptation of course
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I started my day crying as I washed my face and put moisturiser on because I was thinking about Paul Muad'Dib and I realised I am the very person you were warned about for feeling too much empathy for the bad guy.
No seriously, I think the idea that empathy is 'dangerous' is itself an incredibly dangerous idea, because with it follows implicit suppositions that, a) empathy misguides your analytical judgement, b) empathy is an inhibition which cannot be overcome, c) the very presence of empathy is damning (ergo, some emotions are just inherently bad), e) by virtue, the presence of lesser or no empathy makes a given judgement 'more logical', (this is damning for the following reason), f) the usual gender stereotype that women feel empathy too much and this broadly inhibits them as a class, and as such the usual audience brought into criticism on this topic - ceaselessly - is female readers/filmgoers, whereas when we are brought to draw on 'empathy' for the poor rapist whose life was ruined by one 'mistake' (e.g. B/rock Turner), empathy is eminently and urgently necessar (to consequently excuse the fact he is a rapist).
No empathy for the victim, of course; naturally this entire model has a vested interest in protecting the status quo, not ever truly challenging anything (empathy is not transformative in any way here) and to not feel empathy for such a criminal is a moral failing (as a consequence of gender: women need to feel bad for rapists). But irrespective of that, 'true' empathy is clearly useful and moving, but it is not the complete picture (nor really the solitary path to justice). From the perspective of narrative, it is actually a task you have to take up. It's still incomplete and not representative of your entire judgement, because it is not clouding, but it is supplementary or indeed even gives you the foundation (the starting point) for your opinion (and relatedly does give system to moral virtue, but that is neither here nor there).
Hard to lay out all of that when the catchy thought-terminating cliche, 'if you felt empathy for them, you missed the point' just makes it an easier time for everybody to make a list of bad guys you're not supposed to even feel a little bad for or understand the point of personality cult and where Paul chafes against that or actively cultivates it or anything. Of course, we know the Good Guys because when you feel bad for the Good Guys, they're instaforgiven and always good, and the Bad Guys are always the Bad Guys who turn to the camera and tell you not to feel bad for them. (To be fair, Paul comes close to this in Dune Messiah. I'm referring to the Genghis Khan line. Iykyk).
Really the ultimate takeaway is that empathy is not the endpoint. It doesn't decide ultimate moral judgement. It is not aberrant to 'logic' and the capacity to recognise another person's perspective and feel something for them and consider their motivations expands your judgement - and your sense of humanity. The folly, to me, is to think there are Good People and Bad People and only Bad People do Bad Things and ever think Bad Things. In this sense the Good People are 'pre-forgiven'; empathy for them is okay because they probably had a good reason to do it and if you already can feel bad for them, it's basically the same thing as it being okay. This weaker model of 'empathy' is fucking bizarre and a tool of tyranny, and in storytelling is the death of sensible analysis. (I also think this model of moral apology is actually why people are so fucking stupid about redemption arc discourse because they have no concept of apology and atonement).
The gender comment wasn't meant to be an aside, because it's not lost on me that this policing on whether it's okay to like a bad guy worms its way into major feminine audiences and when I see male fans casting judgement it's almost always on female fans. No one cares if you like Darth Vader but maybe you got made fun of for quoting the Joker too much. 'He's literally me' over Patrick Bateman (a textual serial killer) is just boys being boys (and missing Patrick's pathos for the sake of edgy self-insert). But does anybody give a fuck about that? Not really, no. I don't think it's sufficient to make a gender commentary and just stop there, and that's not really my preferred style. Because yes, whilst I think that is a motivation here, I do think there are some even deeper movements at play with social marking and delineation in online communities [which gender can service] (e.g. I like the bad edgy characters/you are a villain apologist who likes them the wrong way) which does express itself as harrassment and bullying (it's schoolyard shit, but you encounter this in many walks of life). Fans policing other fans, fans with the 'correct' interpretation above all others which gives you license to make it very clear You Are One of the Good Ones. It's the shibboleth of fandom now: whether you like villains the Good Way or the Bad Way.
The irony is not lost on me that this typology actually reflects the naïveté of the very narrative interpretation I'm describing, and relatedly I think this is why it is genuinely an ongoing and necessary point which needs challenging. There are not People With the Correct Beliefs and People With the Incorrect Beliefs (who only have them because they are bad and evil). Sometimes you might even have the wrong ones. The capacity to reflect on that is actually very necessary. It is seriously necessary.
But then once you get into it, does liking Paul Atreides necessarily reflect real-life apologia for real-life conquerors? Rather the question I ask is, does it open up conversation for that sort of apologia? Because I think that's the question Paul's character is more interested in than just asking you to recognise why he does bad things. There is something a little more complex which isn't putting a judgement on you for empathising: it's using that empathy as an exercise. It's narrative.
That conclusion doesn't substantially matter though because the fandom discourse is always going to be more rooted in bipartisan opinions and the easiest, laziest interpretation (Paul is a self-insert power fantasy/Paul is actually a conqueror you shouldn't like at all, just as an example - insert any other villain where needed) which makes you sound the smartest. Note how long this post is. I wanted to lay out my opinion on the matter with respect to empathy with an attempt to restrain it to the context of storytelling, and it's much too long. It's easier to digest neat little soundbytes and I'm pretentious or whatever.
Paul's a fucking great character, and I can understand why Villain Enjoyers default to this position instead of what I've laid out here. It's easier that way.
I'll end this post with: I hope they adapt Dune Messiah into a film. It's my favourite Dune book.
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