Random Question

[herewiss13]

Anyone who's seen both "Serenity" and "Lord of the Rings" will recognize why the former occasionally brought to mind the phrase "Orcs In Space".

...but where does that phrase come from? I know _I_ didn't make it up. It just floated into my brain from somewhere else. I'm not even sure what it initially referred to.

And on that note: why _does_ evil have to be so into self-disfigurement? You can't be immoral and symmetrical at the same time? What does that say about Picasso?

Comments

[turnez.livejournal.com]

I think you're making a distinction based on societal values. We value that which is symmetrical and orderly, beauty makes sense. That which is off-kilter is threatening to our basic value system because it introduces the idea of different, unknown. Picasso wasn't successful till after he died and someone saw the tragic value (cuz everyone slows down for a car wreck). It's depressing, but evil has to have some disfigurement. That's why the beautiful bad guys are still attractive, you still fantasize about sleeping with them. After all, if they're beautiful, they must have some redeeming quality, right?

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

It's more of a literary distinction, though that certainly ties into societal values. There _are_ some beautiful-but-evil tropes, ala Femme Fatale, and the first evil himself "fair Lucifer, the morning star." But generic evil that's pretty (as opposed to a charismatic villian) is extremely rare on the ground. You never see attractive henchmen.

_And_ you never see "good guys" with a tenth the amount of self-mutilation you see in the orcs of Peter Jackson's film and the Reavers of Joss Whedon's, which (one assumes) are two totally unrelated groups.