Heroes and Villains
If you expected me to blog about Wonder Woman today, I apologize. I won’t see it until it arrives in my mailbox from Netflix.
Today’s post is about an older movie: Unbreakable.
Samuel L. Jackson plays Elijah Prince, a man with a genetic disorder that makes his bones like glass. He finds David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis, the sole survivor of a train crash, and he reaches out, searching to confirm what comic books have taught him: his opposite is out there.
“Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they’re friends, like you and me! I should’ve known way back when… You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr. Glass.”
“He’s the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they’re friends.”
One of our best friends has become my exact opposite. He loves Trump and guns, and he’s prepared for the zombie apocalypse. I mean, really prepared. I know that’s just a joke: he’s really ready for war on U.S. soil. He’s ready for the complete breakdown of our society into anarchy.
He thinks we should arm ourselves. He wants us to be as ready to defend ourselves as he is. He thinks horror movies are real, and every scenario could happen to him.
I know there are bad people out there. Our society molds them. I don’t think people are inherently evil, or that they’re coming after me. I will avoid a few sick fucks I’ve met for the rest of my life, but I don’t yet believe our world has deteriorated to the need to fear every person on the street.
I don’t want to live in that world. I’m ready to go, if that’s what the world will be.
I’m not giving up. I will fight for freedom and for justice. My only fear is that our friend and I will be on opposite sides. The freedom I believe in, that everyone should be free to be, do, and express who they really are, is not what he calls freedom. He wants freedom FROM people like me.
A world where I don’t belong, where I’m the villain.
In what world is that free?