[Ansteorra] Wanting Awards & Persona

[Robert Fitzmorgan]

On 9/27/06, Marc Carlson <marccarlson20 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> One thing I have noticed in the Society (and in fairness, other places as
> well)  is a general difficulty actually *believing* that someone who says
> that they don't want awards really means it.  Often I have been told that
> this person or that is just playing hard to get, that they really want the
> awards, but are exhibiting false modesty, oh, and my personal favorite --
> they need it and will grow into it.  And you know what?  Most of these
> people saying these things were otherwise very courteous - it just doesn't
> sink in that "no" means "no."
>
> Marc/Diarmaid
>
>      I think that this is largely due to the fact that while we are
playing at being people from the middle ages, for most of us our outlook on
life is firmly rooted in 21st century American culture.  If someone offers
us a reward for doing something, we are expected to refuse it and then
reluctantly allow ourselves to be talked into accepting it.  When someone
says they don't want an award, our culture has trained us to interpret that
as meaning that they in fact do want it but are refusing it because they
don't want to appear greedy, proud or whatever.
    Our culture views it as somehow disreputable to openly seek awards,
recognition and praise, but at the same time we find it difficult to believe
that someone really isn't interested in those things.
    In fiction one of the surest ways to make your character unsympathetic
to the reader is to have him actively seek a position that offers great
rewards or fame.  If you want to put your character in such a position while
keeping him sympathetic to the reader he must have the position thrust upon
him through no action of his own.  If he tries to refuse the honour he will
actually gain sympathy with the reader.  This is one of the most common
tools of the storyteller, so much so that we hardly even notice it anymore.
So when someone says that they don't want an award we are conditioned to
regard it as so much polite but essentially meaningless noise.
     The issue of wanting a peerage is related.  The bar for a peerage has
been set fairly high.  There are a few people who just trip over it without
really trying but most have to make a real effort to jump it.  But if you
say that you want to be a peer, there are some who will take that as
evidence that you shouldn't be one.  And you definitely better not say you
think you should be a peer.  So you have this silly little game of striving
for a peerage while trying not to look like you are striving for a peerage.

    In many cultures of our period boasting and trumpeting your abilities
and achievements was not only acceptable but expected.  In 21st century
America it is considered unseemly.  As Ansteorrans we we admire big, bold,
larger than life characters, striving to cover themselves with honour and
glory.  If they do it really, really well they might be made a Lion.  As
21st century Americans we are a little uncomfortable with this kind of
display.  If someone strives for this larger than life persona and doesn't
quite hit the right note they might be regarded as an arrogant blowhard.


Robert



-- 
"If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much
of a day."     John A. Wheeler

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Yahoo IM: robert_fitzmorgan