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Originally Posted by hildea
fabricalado: I'm pretty sure you're misunderstanding DiapDealer. They aren't saying that all actions are motivated by love, but that all types of actions can be motivated by love. In other words, if we make a list of all possible actions -- committing murder, creating art, getting house insurance, making a cup of tea, and so on -- DiapDealer's claim is that each of those actions has been performed for love at least once.
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I get it now. And yeah, apparently I misundertood what they were saying and took it for a reductionist instance, and had issues with that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hildea
In American Gods the love between Shadow and Laura is a powerful thread in the story, and a strong driver of the plot at least in the first part of the book.
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Agreed. My pet peeve is when love as a drive seems to trump every other motivation in the plot and it becomes overwhelming.
In
American Gods, love probably is what made Shadow endure his time in prison and maybe it is what resurrected Laura (though likely it was the magic in that golden coin). However, it could be argued that there are several other reasons why Shadow decides to work for Wednesday and, ultimately, chooses a side in the fight between old and new gods: for instance, loyalty to his blood/family, his belief that modern day America is not fit for the gods of old and, finally, being faithful to who he thinks he is.
Additionally (SPOILER ALERT),
it could be said that love wasn't involved in Shadow's decision to let Laura die?
Mercy, maybe. Or maybe he got over her after her affair with Robbie, too.
So: there is love, but Gaiman seems to be aiming at other things, in AG and with
Norse Mythology, like tradition and spirituality x materialism (the new deities), for instance. And those make for a more interesting read than, say, if AG was mostly about Shadow's love for Laura, the ups and downs of their relationship, and how Shadow ultimately decides to sacrifice himself out of love for Laura or to let her out of harm's way. (Again, IMHO; I'm not trying to change anyone's minds and hearts here).
Anyway, I don't know if I'm contradicting myself by writing this, but: I'm ok with love being there, I just don't buy it when love is
everywhere and seems to be covering up 'motivational holes' in the plot.
But you phrased that better than me, no doubt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hildea
I haven't seen those shows you mention, though, and if they use love as the only significant motivation and theme, that seems likely to get boring.
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That's what I was aiming at! For me, the "love makes you crazy/murderous/courageous/oblivious" routine makes for uninteresting, or unconvincing, stories (is why I don't like, for instance, romantic comedies).