Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers" - io9 Comments

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Insomnia Bob — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:14:06 PDT

Sounds like an even more insane version of Takeshi Kovacs, from the Richard K. Morgan books. And I'm okay with that.

Insomnia Bob

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

jchasse — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:05:17 PDT

@hageesheart: I also agree enolraics reasoning.

One reason why anti-social hereos are becomming so poplular now is actually quite simple.

The information age.

People are bombarded 24 hours a day with
"A little girl was abducted today"
"Call waiting"
"We are collecting donations for the fraternial order of police"
"A crash on I-95 killed a mother and her three children"
"Tonight...Why your elected official is a crook."
"And in other news,Britney Spears......"

Whenever we "tune in", there are a million people pulling at our minds and hearts to get us to part with something precious. A little bit of our emotional self, our time, our sweat, or our money.

And then you come home and your child spills her milk, or your mother calls.

Can make an everyday Joe want to pick up a baseball bat and well....watch "Falling Down".

And in the world of fantasy the anti-heo protagonist gets to act out against all this and be the hero, have excellerated reflexs, the superior mind, get rich, save everbody, get laid by the hot chick, flye the sleek warp fighter...and then reflect back on it all with some snarky one liner that sums up the fact that he doesn't really give a rat's ass about any of it.

Yhea that pretty much sums up my day.

Cheers =)

jchasse

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

screaminscott — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:05:33 PDT

This made me think of the book "The Stainless Steel Rat" by Harry Harrison. In the book , the hero of the story is hunting a sociopath criminal, Angelina. In order to find her, he takes a drug that turns him into a sociopath for a limited period of time, so he can figure out what she would do next.

After the drug wears off, he feels remorse at his actions while under the influence (he broke a bartender's arm). But he retains a strange feeling of attraction for the freedom he felt. He says there was a certain sense of exhilaration in not being constrained by a conscience; of being able to do anything and not feel guilty.

I think we all wish we were like that sometimes, and that's why the villains are many times more interesting than the heroes.

screaminscott

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Chiper — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:08:05 PDT

First impressions:
I look at the picture and thought "Chronicles of Riddik"
Then i read the description and still thought of Riddik.

Not dismissing it or anything, I'm just saying...

Chiper

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Jeff-Minor — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:02:51 PDT

Hageesheart, I agree with what you said about underdogs. I was pretty much thinking about the antihero personality that feels like he's been shunned by others and then gets back at the world through creative/destructive means. That said, I'm very aware that antisocial personality disorder is on the rise. I guess that means we better figure out how to reprogram boken human minds.

Jeff-Minor

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Balius — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:11:05 PDT

Honestly, sociopaths can just get more done than people who care about others, especially in a position of power. A hero tries to solve disputes through mediation and as bloodlessly as possible. A sociopath might well cut that baby in half.

Balius

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

hageesheart — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:56:14 PDT

@enolraic: Yes! But why now is that such a popular impulse? (By popular, I mean: it's always there, f'r sure, human nature, like you say, but now it's ... reasonable. Or, at least, socially acceptable.)

(This is not meant as an argument! It's a genuine question. Something I'm puzzling over lately.)

hageesheart

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

enolraic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:13:29 PDT

You are all wrong about the antisocial hero's in our culture it is not about the underdog or a reemergence of Noir. Both of those in fact are related to the real reason we love the antisocial heroes everybody at one point in there lives wants NOT to care for all we talk about love, beauty, and social justice, we envy those people. We all, at one point, have wanted to say "fuck it all I don't give a shit"(don't confuse this with EMO brats)That is what House and dexter have in common (not so much house)they don't feel and they don't care about your problems. We secretly don't want to care about our fellow man, that is why antiheroes are popular!

enolraic

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

hageesheart — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:03:35 PDT

@Jeff-Minor: Yeah, we've always had antiheroes. I guess I meant, more, their relative prevalence in recent pop culture. (Sopranos as a big obvious example, but the first "new" Dr. Who, even, was a pretty dark figure.) I know it's not the end of society. But it's interesting. To me, anyway.

I think you're right about the underdog element, certainly. But not all the sociopaths are underdogs at all, lately. House is a genius; the character in this story apparently is, too, so I'm not sure that explains it entirely. Like... maybe the fictional sociopaths are popular because so much of nonfiction entertainment TV rests on the audience's impulses towards cruelty and judgment? Or... lotsa folks say noir as a film cycle grew more or less directly out of WWII, and then the beginning of the Cold War. And while most of us aren't in Iraq, it's a giant hovering presence. It'll take time before we know how it affects the collective psyche, but TV's probably a good early indicator.

I dunno. Overthinking is fun. It's why I was an art major for awhile.

hageesheart

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

codydog — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:32:04 PDT

@ratlas: yes, i did.. Sometimes Smith exceeded himself. Great mind, decent writer.

codydog

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Jeff-Minor — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:48:19 PDT

@hageesheart: I'm not sure the trend is any more indicative of social pathology than say, Shakespear. If you are wondering about why we like anti-heroes, it probably has somthing to do with how the average person feels like an underdog. We can relate to that much more easily than to a hero.

Jeff-Minor

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Counterglow — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:46:15 PDT

Like there's not already enough little shits wandering around with access to weapons and an exaggerated sense of their own self-importance.

Counterglow

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

CaptRavis — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:15:26 PDT

This issue is currently above the throne in the reading room. Maybe I'll move it to the top of the stack. Reed is almost always a good read.

CaptRavis

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

hageesheart — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:03:41 PDT

oh dammit! that first one didn't go through, I swear. I reloaded several times to check. Apologies.

hageesheart

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

hageesheart — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:03:05 PDT

I find the upswing in the appearance & popularity of sociopathic antiheroes kinda fascinating, but maybe a little worrisome, too.

Mind, I'm not immune--two of my favorite on-air (non-cable) shows right now are House and Dexter. (Dexter being maybe the only drama I go out of my way to watch right now.) But I wonder why. Is it sorta like the post-war film noir cycle? Or is it expressing something new?

hageesheart

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

hageesheart — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:57:19 PDT

I find the recent upswing of sociopath antiheroes, and their popularity, kinda fascinating, and maybe a little worrisome too.

I'm not saying I'm outside of this zeitgeist--two of my favorite shows that're on the air right now (that I can watch--no cable/satellite) are House and, recently, Dexter.

But I wonder where it's coming from. Is it because we are seeing ourselves that way, kinda like a contemporary version of the post-war, film-noir thing? (Cynicism and some fascination with/desire to redeem evil?) Or is it because we're seeing everybody else that way?

hageesheart

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Jeff-Minor — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:53:12 PDT

Nice review. Have you read Marrow? I think there may even be a sequel by now. I'd like to read your short review of the book, or what others think of it.

Jeff-Minor

Sociopath Saves Humanity In "Five Thrillers"

Mathmos — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:49:01 PDT

anyone read Skylark Duquesne?

Mathmos