From 233cec73d05b71b1d8ace0c4c40dab54f10af056 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kaiden Fey Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2020 13:39:06 +0200 Subject: Adding partial draft of "the good place" post --- content/blog/xxx_the_good_place.md | 99 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 99 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/xxx_the_good_place.md diff --git a/content/blog/xxx_the_good_place.md b/content/blog/xxx_the_good_place.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf72582 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/xxx_the_good_place.md @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +Title: "The good place" vs. the ethics of society +Category: Blog +Date: 2020-09-20 +Tags: culture, politics, philosophy +Status: Draft + +A few months ago I was bored and I decided to watch "The good place". +It's a show that had been introduced to me before, and I even watched +about half of the first season, before I stopped. It had left me kind +of cold, and uninterested, and I mostly forget about it's existence. +But now I was sufficiently bored and so, I watched it again. + +I don't really wanna talk about the show from the perspective of art +critism. It's quite fun to watch at times, the premise is quirky and +all the characters have something to set them apart that makes them +recognisable for someone who's bad at people. But it's a comedy at +it's core, and most of the "humour" left me feeling kinda cold. It +didn't so much have jokes as much as just vague references at jokes, +at least for me. + +Really, the show wasn't special, funny, or even bad enough for me to +really care about it too much. There was however something in the +text, and subtext of the show that bothered me, that I've kept +thinking about. And that's what this post is going to be about. + + +## Good vs Evil + +The main premise of the show is centred around the idea of "good +people" vs "bad people" (the good place vs the bad place). It mirrors +heaven and hell, without putting a precise theological term on it, +because this concept has existed in various faiths throughout the +ages. + +The story follows a woman who gets sent to the good place even though +she's a horrible person. Most of the first season is dedicated to +this mystery. At first she thinks this is a mistake, until it becomes +apparent that actually bad people being put into a fake "good place" +is part of a weird psychological punishment. When they find out about +this, their memories get wiped, and it starts over. This happens over +and over again. + +The show wants to demonstrate that people can get better, seeing as a +group of "bad people" were sent to a fake "good place", and improved +as people. The permanence of "good people" and "bad people" is called +into question. Some stuff happens, and the group of four people, and +one daemon who started taking a liking to them end up on the run +against the system. + +Throughout the plot it becomes apparent that the system is broken in +less obvious ways too: nobody gets to go to the good place anymore. +Nobody is good enough. Too high are the standards of what counts as a +"good person". Furthermore, when they manage to get into the good +place, it becomes clear that eternal bliss with no ups and downs, and +no end in sight is a just different type of hell. + +The show concludes by restructuring the system, making the "bad place" +not into a torterous nightmare, but a place where your actions and +emotions are being tested, and questioned. The idea being that there +is no such thing as a "bad person", and that everybody could go to the +"good place", if they accepted that they have flaws, and worked on +them. + +They also mildly restructure the "good place" to have "an end" +which...is death. Isn't that nice, everybody gets to live their +perfect life in heaven, then they die. + + +## Good people, bad people + +So that was the plot. As I said, I'm not gonna criticise the show for +it's scene-to-scene writing, or even the overarching plot. It mostly +tries (and manages) to be wholesome. Although it has issues +throughout, that are rooted in a very flawed understanding of +philosophy and morality. + +The moral compass of the show is a character called Chidi, a professor +of moral philosophy who died and was sent to the "bad place". + +Throughout the show he quotes Kant a lot, with some other racist white +men from history sprinkled in there. His understanding of philosophy +isn't very deep, or nuanced. Either he was supposed to be bad at his +job, at which point the show didn't really take time to develop this +point enough to be poignant, or it just demonstrates that the show was +written by someone with basically no knowledge in this field. + +I argue that the way that "the good place" portraits philosophy and +moral choices in philosophical frameworks is very representative of +how our society works, and how people think about "good vs bad". + +But let's back up a bit. For most of watching the show (if you did/ +will) the thought it is trying the hardest to communicate is "there's +no bad people", "hell is a bad concept", etc. This becomes pretty +obvious. However, the larger system of afterlife remains pretty much +entirely un-examined. Why is there an afterlife, and why do we need +one, these are questions the show never asks, or attepmts to answer. + +Any critism against the system is phrased in a coy way, that will lead +to reform of it, not abolishment. -- cgit v1.2.3