Courtesy: Twentieth Century-Fox
If you do evil things, are you evil? Is Darth Vader evil? What about Draco Malfoy? Jaime Lannister? Gru? How about shoot-first Han Solo?
All of these characters make bad decisions that hurt other people. But they’re not evil. Why? Because they change. Evil isn’t determined by what’s committed in the past. Evil is determined by the inability to correct course. If you make a bad decision, you’re not evil. You’re evil if you make bad decisions and then keep making the same decisions without changing.
It’s something to talk about with the kiddos. When they find out who Luke’s father is or discover middle-aged Draco is friends with Harry, you can tell them that evil is the collective body of work, not one wand battle or room full of light saber-halved children. Okay, Darth Vader is pretty evil – but we celebrate him because he chooses love over power in the end. Redemption is a powerful course correction.
Talk to your kids about a character’s bad decisions and how they changed or didn’t change. Then, ask about bad decisions they’ve made. Ask them how they changed or plan to change.
Our children think they’ve lived epic lives. Every small step seems enormous. That means every small mistake is enormous. Movies bring down their guards, making them feel things they haven’t felt before: Fear, betrayal, heartbreak. It’s a good time to sneak in some character-building.
When discussing evil, we can show them how our mistakes don’t define us. But they do force us to make decisions about who we are. Your child doesn’t want to make bad decisions. They aren’t evil. They’re good. Once you more clearly define evil for them, they can more clearly see the changes they need to make.
And if your kid refuses to change, sorry, your kid is Dexter. I’m calling the cops.
Brendan
