Just this month we’ve seen three examples of a polarity shift. Up is down. Water is dry. And heroes are actually villains—while the villains get justified by tragic backstory. How does this happen? In reality and fiction, why do some modern storytellers keep reversing the polarity of heroes and villains?

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“You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.

—G. K. Chesterton

Great analysis! I agree with everything you’re saying. Also let’s remember that 80% of everything in past centuries was also in the lower end of the Pareto scale–we just aren’t aware of that stuff because it hasn’t passed the test of time.

Here’s an example of a Christian-written novel that did extremely well, but many fantasy fans may not have read it or realized the author is a Christian: “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson is literary fiction and won the Pulitzer. She is a wonderful writer. I also have a book of her essays, some of which explore Christian themes.

Count me among those who got behind on all that’s going on (Christian or otherwise) in the spec fic world because of real life. I just started listening to your podcast in the last few weeks, hoping to catch up a bit.

Christian parents used to ask whether stories for their kids had bad words and bad language. Today they’re also asking: “Does this story have Agenda?” Often they look for clean stories, that is, stories empty of objectionable elements. But is this really what readers of all ages need from our fiction? Instead of asking for minimalist stories that don’t contain obvious poisons, shouldn’t we also seek stories full of nutrients—stories that are wholesome?