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Stephen Diamond's avatar

Added 8Sept: There is some tension between this post and my older post on The Felt & The Unfelt.

There is! And which one is more right is closely related to the question of whether signaling is conscious (and accomplished in near mode, as the earlier article entails) or subconscious (and accomplished in far mode, as follows from the present posting).

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Good point, Evan!

I think there is a trend towards more nuanced characters in that way - the tragedy of moral ambiguity. Also, it's more terrifying because more realistic to have a villain who is nice to children and helps old ladies across the road but just happens to be building an anti-asian army.

The boorish villain particularly of victorian earlier works didn't even need to be attributed far-mode thinking, he was repulsive enough in his proximity that it was rarely necessary to paint in the distance.

I'd say the corollary of your villain-who-likes-flower-arranging is the hero with the drinking problem and the estranged wife who can't help fighting for justice.

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