Jim Blue:
I believe we need to agree about what
we're voting for and what our
> choices are supposed to represent. Otherwise, after
we're finished voting,
we
> won't even know what we've done. If we all vote for
our favorite
hard-boiled
> characters, that takes the worry out of definitions,
since each person's
> favorites are what he or she says they
are.
> However, if we're trying to choose the best ones or
the most
influential
> ones then we ought to agree about what "best" or
"influential" means in
this
> case. I'm happy either way, but I'd like to
understand what we're doing
when
> we do it.
Jim, I have seen many top, best, favorite, what have you
movie lists chosen by critics. The voter will say he or she
is choosing those that have been the most influential, others
will say they are listing those that were important
historically, others will say they are choosing those that
are the best artistically, and others will say they are just
voting for their favorites. The definition of best or top
characters is always going to be subjective. How could the
NPR list include Leopold Bloom, Holly Golightly, Scarlett,
O'Hara, The Cat in the Hat, Dr Zhivago, Big Brother, Proust's
Marcel and Winnie the Pooh and Sam Spade on the same
list?
If you want to choose those characters that appear only in
what are considered the classics of the genre, vote for
those. If like Jim Doherty, you feel you should choose those
characters that are most important historically, vote for
those. If you feel that like Cassie you care most about
characters that are developed in depth, vote for those. If
like Mark Sullivan you want to come up with an ideosyncratic
list, do it. If you want to vote for your favorite
characters, do it. Remember that hard boiled has developed
from the pulps and popular fiction, not what is called great
literature. It's up to you to define best. Mark
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