Complex Numbers

Jaded

Final entry for June's "Journalistic Intentions"  [18+]...

Jade Colored Glasses  

This is where a Wide-Eyed Idealist is psychologically beaten and broken down until they become more cynical in their views.

This is better known as "growing up."

Starting out idealistic and ending up cynical and jaded is, in my view, the natural order of things. The other way around, well, it just doesn't work. Too unbelievable. If you have, say, a fantasy story with unicorns shitting rainbow-colored ice cream, frogs singing harmony, butterflies carrying an elephant off into a glorious sunset, and a character who becomes more idealistic over time, the most unbelievable thing about the story would be the last bit.

Now, it's perfectly okay to stay idealistic over the course of a story. That's basically the whole point of Superman, Star Trek and Doctor Who. And back in the old days, before seasons-long story arcs, a character's basic personality hardly ever changed over time, because you had to make self-contained episodes. Even I can appreciate that.

It's also fine to have a character that starts out cynical and stays that way. They can still fight on the side of the good guys; it's a matter of managing expectations.

Best, though, in my opinion, is when you can still see glimmers of hope in the eyes of a character wearing jade-colored glasses. A throwback to what they used to be, as it were. You need a little bit of that in there if the audience is going to believe they actually want to save the day.

So I don't actually accept jade-colored glasses as a trope. No, the character doesn't suddenly start seeing the world through lenses of cynicism and betrayal; they have simply taken off their blinders and can finally see reality.