Man of La Mancha
Last Friday I finally saw a live production of "The Man of La Mancha", whose soundtrack is one of my favorites.
I really believe that
...the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star.
A lot of people, not without justification, lambast Hollywood's romanticizing mental illness, giving us countless examples of good craziness contrasted with sane evil. "The Ruling Class," "The Fisher King," "Don Juan DeMarco." And these are all cut from the same cloth as the story of Don Quixote.
Despite the objections, I'm still a sucker for these stories.
And I know
If I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart
Will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
Tilt at a windmill today.
As Zed accurately noted, the archetype of the fighter for the morally Right being "insane" goes back a lot farther than Hollywood's existence. Madmen have been depicted as truth-tellers for the same reason that children, and the very old, have been cast in that role. All of these groups are free from the artificial constructs of society that blind us to what is right in the name of "practicality" or "realism". Children are too young to have learned these conventions, the old have gained the wisdom to see through them (and either the respect or the disregard to be able to express their views with impunity), and the mad simply live outside them.
The lesson here is that, in the name of societal norms, we are sometimes taught to behave contrary to the way that would be dictated by our innate sense of right and wrong. It's not that the good are insane, or that the insane are good. It's that only the insane (and the young and old) are allowed to freely express and believe in what is good.
So if you are a mainstream member of society who stands up for what is right, is it any wonder that most people will look at you and say "You must be crazy"?
Posted by Jimcat on May 6 2003 14:17