--- Michael Robison <
miker_zspider@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Kevin Burton Smith wrote:
>
> Whereas Spillane's kill-'em-all mindset
probably
> finds
> more of a home with those who favor physical
force
> as
> a solution to almost any problem. Daddy knows
best.
>
> ****************
> Associating the morals of a protagonist with
those
> of
> appreciative readers sounds like a solid theory
to
> me.
> I went back in the archives and made a list
of
> those
> who liked Lolita and sent it to the
authorities.
>
> miker
**************************************** But seriously,
Spillane is escapist literature. Mike Hammer does the things
we can't do and we live for a couple of hours vicariously in
a world where we do what we want and can't lose. I think the
modern
"hard-boiled" genre suffers because most modern writers lose
sight of this. Robert B. Parker's detectives are all in AA.
Who wants a hero who's trying to work through his problems?
That's not what this type of story is about. Mike Hammer can
shoot better when he's drunk. Alcohol doesn't phase James
Bond. Phillip Marlow can be beaten to a pulp and still bring
the killer in.
I heard a news program last night stirring up fear and
loathing as they proclaim, "the most violent video game
ever!" A violent video game is like military intelligence or
postal service, an oxymoron. No violence was ever committed
playing a video game. Skateboarding is violent, not video
games. Anyone is much safer reading or gaming about violent
subjects than they are actually doing them. I think this is
the real difference between hard-boiled and noir. Noir is
cautionary and realistic. Hard-boiled throws caution to the
wind. In a hard-boiled story, the hero can do anything and
always succeeds in the end. It seems to me, people NEED this
type of entertainment as a release for their normal impulses.
If you throttle your boss everytime s/he criticizes you,
you'll be out of work and in court. So it helps a little to
read how Mike Hammer shoots some cop in the butt and walks
away grinning. I know I can't get away with it, but I'm glad
Mike does.
Patrick King
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