Types Tuesday

Both Oskar Schindler and Spiderman are Power of Conscience characters.

These characters actually believe they are their brother’s keeper. They feel responsible for the greater good and for doing good. They wrestle with how far they should go in seeking justice and fairness for others, in exposing corruption and injustice, or in standing up against evil or wrong-doing. They worry about with what is the higher duty and what exactly is required of them in response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGqwUWjsdrM

Peter Parker loves Mary Jane but he must summon up the courage to let her go.  He does so in the funeral scene when he rejects Mher profession of love and says he can only be her friend.

The answer, in a drama, is the Power of Conscience character must sacrifice everything he or she holds dear to be the hero he was meant to be. Over the course of a drama, these characters are drawn further and further down the path of righteousness. They are compelled to do one small thing, then another and another until, in the end, they have sacrificed their personal concerns, their safety, their security, their family, their fortunes, and often their lives.

Oskar Schindler gives his ring, his watch, his cigarette case– one trunk of money and then all his trunks of money– but it doesn’t feel enough when weighed in the value of a life. At end of the film, he wishes he could have done more.

Power of Conscience characters are asked the existential question:  “If I am my brother’s keeper, how far must I go on his behalf”.  The answer is all the way.  These dramas are about sacrifice.

Sacrifice is a word that has very much fallen out of favor in our current cultural and political climate. Protect yourself.  Protect your party. Don’t sacrifice anything for the good of the country or anyone else.