STEAL THIS IDEA, part VII

     A curious thing I have tended to wonder about is the way good and evil are depicted in literature and film. Why is good almost without exception depicted as beautiful, colorful, bright, warm, etc. and evil is dark, cold, ugly, and terrifying? Yes, I know sometimes they are depicted as otherwise, but their final form conforms to this kind of type-casting and I've wondered why this is so.

     The thing about being good is that it is hard and that it is a constant struggle. While a reward is sometimes promised as in religious afterlives, really being good is an endless battle. Being bad is what is easy. Sometimes simply doing nothing is enough, but the idea behind such sinfulness and its temptation...what makes it tempting in fact is the ease with which such sins can be carried out. It's easier to be furious than it is to be patient. It's easier to be invidious than it is to be kind. It's easier to be arrogant than it is to be humble. Etc. and so on and so forth.

     Which brings me back to the physical depictions of goodness...

     I'll keep with Judeo-Christian symbols mainly because that's how I was raised... I don't understand why heavenly beings look the way they do. Why should they look so inviting? I would think a more appropriate angel would look in such a way as to create doubt and unease to the observer. If being good is difficult, or at least the more difficult choice, then following a creature of goodness should parallel that doubt. Something about them should give you the creeps. Something about them should make you wonder why your friends are so willing or even able, to follow them...like it's a trick or something. I'm not saying they should have glowing red eyes and sharp claws. What I'm saying is they should never be giving you this feeling that what you're doing is the right thing and also, even when "you've seen the light" so to speak, they don't suddenly become beautiful as a reward. No, they stay that way forever and there is no goal because being good is an endless struggle.
     Wherever these creatures would lead you should be uncomfortable as well. I picture it being too cold or too hot and too dim or too bright as though the idea were to cause you to give up; to turn around and go back. It's always a struggle...


     I would think at least part of the reason they should appear this way would be to avoid being used. You don't need to be faithful to feel like you could trust a being cloaked in life-giving light with a fair face talking in reassuring tones but you might think twice about approaching a creature that speaks in hoarse, disconcerting whispers bathed in shadow. To merely approach such a creature would be an act of faith that it was not luring you into a trap but perhaps it gives off subtle, ever so subtle, clues that it means you no harm; that all this shadowy nonsense is a bluff to keep those who would use it away.
     But just because you trust it, doesn't mean that it will reveal its "true angelic form" to you. The shadowy creature would be its true form already. If it made such a transformation, then it would actually be a demon trying to lure you into a(n after)life of complacency and leisure instead of good deeds which benefit the system as a whole rather than just you.

     Selfishness is Hell because it is easy to care only about your wants and desires and difficult to care for others over yourself. And for that reason, demons and Hell itself should look like a kind of paradise. It should be full of things to do which make you happy and full of things which would bring about personal fulfillment. And it should feel good to be there because why would you want to leave such a place?
      Even if you've figured it out that good is hard and that this version of Heaven I'm conjuring is hardly a pretty place, remember it's endless so you would be bombarded with the temptation that you've done enough; that it's okay to stop and take your reward because you have earned it. Taking the reward is the wrong step because it is not a reward. There is no reward for goodness. The reward is yet another temptation to be resisted.

      I think I'm painting a picture of Heaven and Hell which roughly parallels the idea of entropy and when discussing entropy, it is important to know that in the end, entropy always wins. Perhaps it kind of works. If only God can be perfect, then no human soul could ever survive the Heaven I've described...not forever anyway. I guess that's where forgiveness comes in, but this was supposed to be about visual depictions, so I'll leave it at that.

DISCLAIMER: To anyone reading this, you are welcome to not only use, but claim this idea as your own without giving credit to me. I sometimes have ideas, but I do not have the skills needed to express them. It is more important to me to see these ideas done than to receive recognition for them. That being said, giving me a mention anyway would make me giddy. If this idea has in fact already been done, then I strongly suggest you not actually steal it (at least not without major revisions) :-)