Sympathy for the Devil, Part 1

"We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents."
- Mark Twain

"Devil or angel, I can't make up my mind
Which one you are I'd like to wake up and find"
- "Devil or Angel", words and music by Blanche Carter

A recent sermon given at the First Parish in Waltham was based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. This alternative narrative of the familiar Wizard of Oz storyline presents the story from the point of view of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. In Maguire's retelling, Elphaba and her sister Nessarose really are not nearly as wicked as we were led to believe from the original story. Sure, the witches of the East and the West do have their moral lapses, but in this version of the story, so do the Wizard of Oz and Glinda. Moreover, as we learn more about Elphaba and Nessa, we find that even their worst behavior resulted from understandable motives. Elphaba had fought many injustices and suffered many heartaches before, in sheer desperation, she resorted to the wicked acts that she is now known primarily for.

"Wicked" is part of a growing genre: stories that center around a common popular culture villain, and present him or her in a more sympathetic light.

• The musical "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" deals with a super hero (Captain Hammer) battling an evil mad scientist (Dr. Horrible), but this time we see the battle through the mad scientist's eyes. We see Captain Hammer as a conceited jerk who motivation is not really justice; it is his insatiable need for fame and adulation. Dr. Horrible (he really is a doctor, he has a PhD in Horribleness) is much easier to empathize with.
• In recent decades, fictional works depict vampires as more than just blood-crazed killers; they are shown to more complex and nuanced characters whose misdeeds are driven more by need than by malice. The sympathetic vampire first appeared in the 1960's day time drama "Dark Shadows", and continues to the day in the "Twilight" series of romantic novels and movies.
• It seems that western bad men appear as heroes almost as frequently as they do a villains: Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, and Belle Starr have all gotten favorable treatments in books, movies, and TV series.

A lot of popular culture utilizes irredeemably evil villains. So why is there so much desire to see the more lovable side of characters originally created to be objects of our hate? In some cases, the "villain-as-hero" story variant is an elegant way of satirizing the original story. This form of role reversal also provides a novel twist to an otherwise familiar story. But most of all, I think these revisionist looks at our fictional antiheroes are motivated by a certain sense of realism: nobody is either purely evil or purely virtuous, hence any tale with such black and white characterizations is not telling you the whole story.

In fact, the need to look beyond black and white characterizations of people was actually the point of the sermon on "Wicked". All too often we base our moral decision making on a highly simplistic stereotypes. Conservative commentators often dismiss their opponents as "unpatriotic Birkenstock-wearing socialistic weasels". Some liberal media figures are no better, characterizing those who disagree with them as "puritanical gap-toothed cave-dwelling rednecks". Far too many religious leaders say that all non-believers are amoral. New atheist writers such as Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens have responded to this outrage with equally broad (and unfair) portraits of religious communities. Not even religious liberals are immune from this problem: how often do we fall back on a comforting but inaccurate vision of the fundamentalists?

Let us end the agony causes by an exaggerated perception of the evil of others. If we can get past clear cut heroes and villains in our fiction, why can't we do it in real life? Gregory Maguire provides us with a valuable lession: if you want to be good, you have to understand "Wicked".