Funny thing about stories with morals is that we typically grew up with them. Then, we get upset when entertainment has messages. Sure, there’s a trend of the message overshadowing the fun, but I’ve seen people get upset at the slightest twinkle of a moral. Why is that?
Well, I’ve thought about this long and hard. Not really. It just popped in my head and made my own theory. When we are younger, the morals we are taught tend to be fairly universal. We are also too young to critical think our way into diving into an Internet flame war over things. As adults, we have a ‘stable’ moral code, which we hold onto with no real attempt to change it. Right is right, left is left, wrong is wrong, and nobody can change our minds. This might happen subconsciously, especially if we run into something that may force us to introspect. One thing I’ve learned in my 43 years is that humans hate gazing into their own psyche and admitting their own flaws. It’s painful and brings past actions into question.
The funny thing is that every story has some kind of moral or message. Characters need a moral code in order to be seen as more than 2-D. The more nuanced they are, the more interesting they can be. People who are very ‘black and white’ in their mindset have trouble with nuance, so they can take things the wrong way. Still, authors really need to consider a character’s moral code in order to give them more meat. Feels like you can’t win in that situation since you’ll inevitably have a character who acts in a way that readers don’t agree with. If it isn’t a villain, you’re in trouble. After all, authors are judged by the morality of their least noble non-villain.
An interesting aspect of fiction is that there really is a moral somewhere in them. Fairy tales are blatant since they are for children, but those for adults use these as themes. It is either the full plot or for an individual character. These morality struggles are designed to get audience’s thinking and talking, which can lead to revisiting the story for more information. At least, this is how it used to be, but there has become an issue of messages being so blunt that there is no real discussion. It makes people declare that they hate messages in their entertainment even though you find it everywhere. For example:
I played a simple game called ‘Kirby 64: The Crystals Shards’. You play as Kirby who is a pink puffball that eats everything and can steal abilities. The story is that he has to help a fairy girl find pieces of a broken crystal to fix the galaxy. I think because there isn’t any dialog. Anyway, it’s a game where you can only go forward and back as well as eat or use abilities to defeat enemies. Is there a message? Yes, you can see one in the small parts where Kirby needs help from one of his three allies. It’s small and innocuous, but it does show how one can’t save the galaxy without a little help.
Did that sound ridiculous? Maybe, but that’s how morals in fiction tend to work once you get older. Authors expect their readers to be thoughtful enough to figure things out and develop their own answers. If they miss it, the story could still be entertaining, but there might something missing to bring people back. This is difficult to pull off these days since many people find their echo chamber and stay in there. More often, adults feel like they’ve matured enough in their morality and don’t have to consider any other possibilities are nuances. The parade of bludgeoning messages doesn’t help since it makes people dig deeper into their dens. So, I think this makes the addition of morals nearly impossible in some genres. At least, nothing that could be taken in a variety of ways and isn’t ‘good is good and evil is evil’.
Anyway, what do you think about morals in fiction? Are they even possible in a world where everyone is out to be offended?
Legends of Windemere 
When I read this, I thought of some of the classic Miyazaki films. Many have an antiwar message. Yet there is such a sense of whimsy and delight to many of them. Sure some are very sad. But the ones that are my favorites have such a strong sense of wonder. Story comes first above anything else. His films are known for their artistry. A good story/movie makes me put down my sword and embrace the moment.
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Miyazaki does great messaging. Deep stuff about identity too. He does it in a way that it doesn’t overshadow the story itself.
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Yes! I can watch them over and over and get caught up in the story every time. They show the consequences of a path without telling anyone, “This is what you need to do.”
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If we don’t keep writing with morals, we likely will lose them!
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Depends on how they’re presented. Morals differ from culture to culture and person to person. So, forcing a moral that isn’t widespread becomes an issue.
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True but a writer would know which weren’t generally acceptable to his or her culture.
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You’d be surprised how many authors assume their moral code is universal. It’s rather disheartening.
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That Beauty and the Beast meme is hilarious. I could name multiple Disney movies with deconstructed morals in this comment, but I’ll save that for another day including something involving a few essays I read somewhat recently that talked about similar things that I’ve mentioned but in more detail.
Every story has a moral whether sound or totally broken regardless of the story’s demographic. I’m not a fan of pushing morals in stories and prefer to see the implications shown as good or bad. Protagonist centered morality can certainly be a disturbing aspect that can affect the morals like “it’s okay to do horrible things or be a hypocrite if you’re the good guys.” That’s more in general and not about any one specific story. I’m not a fan of stories preaching to me even if I agree with the message either.
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I’m sure any movie that attempts to show morality can be deconstructed and ruined. Such things always come from a place where the morals are rigid and have no gray areas. That’s not how morality works in reality.
Protagonist-centered morality can work if done correctly. I think this is what happens in first person POV stories since that’s who you’re hearing from. Most stories will have it too, but to various degrees. The issue really comes from how readers decipher to morality. For example, Punisher is an anti-hero and his tactics are supposed to be both extreme and cruel. Yet, people see him as a true hero even though it’s stated that his existence is a sign that there is something wrong with that society.
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That’s a fair assumption. It becomes more obvious with blatant rigid morals. I’ve noticed it more in hindsight with movies and shows aimed at children with little nuance or gray areas. I agree that’s not how morality works in real life, and it gets frustrating seeing good guys doing the same things or in some cases worse. That or there’s a broken message or subtext.
I was more talking about protagonist-centered morality involving characters outside of villain protagonists and some sections of anti-heroes. I’m aware of that with Punisher and he started out as a Spider-Man villain in his debut oddly enough. I’ll ignore the low-hanging fruit involving a certain section of people that like Punisher for the wrong reasons.
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With children, people try to be more blunt because kids haven’t developed their critical thinking skills yet. So, they’ll easily miss moral lessons, which is why I think it makes sense for that demographic. At least, when you’re going for stuff like ‘do not steal’, ‘do not lie’, etc. The ones that you won’t get much push back on.
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Fair enough. I get the more obvious ones like don’t steal or don’t lie (Pinocchio’s nose being on obvious one of the latter). Sometimes I still see that simplistic sentiment in works for older audiences.
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I have not thought about morals but certainly do write them but not as a blatent plot line. I wouldn’t touch writing an incest story or one that blasphemes other’s beliefs. I did write of the horrors of Auschwitz which might be the most blatent violation of human morals. I guess I would say morals are in every story if only by dent of not being violated.
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True. Characters need morality to be more than two-dimensional, so morals are there in some form.
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I agree.
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I think morality is essential to storytelling, but maybe not in the way you’d think.
First, because the characters’ morality often influences their actions. Especially supporting characters, who may not be directly involved at the outset. Why are they helping the main character? Some injustice that they can’t let stand, or even if they are ordered to help out. Same is true of an antagonist, who could be ordered to stop the main character. Following orders is still a morality. Not giving up on the cause is a moral choice.
Secondly, writers should definitely consider the underlying messages (or moral) in our work. I personally choose plot turns and aspects of world building that may bring my readers to question their own assumptions. I go after patriarchy, capitalism, and more. Another writer might call out overt bigotry or hidden bias.
It isn’t that The Moral should be a blunt instrument, or stated in a purposely offensive way. A great message, woven together with characters and plot, is what makes readers tell their friends about your story.
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I think one modern issue is that many writers are considering the message more than the story. It’s shoehorned to the point where it feels like a restrictive force to the characters.
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I absolutely agree with you on this, Charles. I’m frequently reading posts that harp on about mortality, usually referred to as ‘theme’. This indicates to me, that the moral of the story is what is important, rather than the story itself.
It’s inevitable that there is some moral in a story. After all, the protagonist has to overcome something, but it shouldn’t be overt.
The moral aspect is especially true in children’s books. Every single one seems to be out to teach the child something, either about themselves or how to treat others. What’s wrong with a good story? I loved reading when I was growing up, but many of the books didn’t have a moral.
When I wrote my two historical novels, I didn’t have a theme in mind. Yes, one appeared, but I hope the story comes first.
And I can’t think of a moral in my fantasy books.
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Children stories being more overt makes sense to make sure they get it. Yet, it’s definitely turning more into moral over story. Kids are already turning off to reading once they get tech, so not making it fun at a younger age makes things worse. Why bother reading when all you get is preached to?
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Is it, though? Or are they just raising questions you don’t want to deal with?
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Raising questions would allow people to discuss and demonstrate a variety of thoughts. The current trend seems to be ‘this is what is right and there is no flexibility’. Morality evolves and changes through discussion and debate. Preventing that is basically gatekeeping and meaning anyone who thinks even slightly otherwise is wrong.
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For sure! I see “Moms 4 Liberty” all over telling people that isn’t moral to think about and it just makes me wary. But, I remember the so-called “Moral Majority” even in the ’80s doing much the same and attacking D&D as satanic, so the self-appointed “moms” are just that with lipstick.
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I’ve seen various groups from all sides do it. Seems to be a big thing with declaring yourself as the highest moral authority. Even asking questions has resulted in me getting pounced on as if I’m evil. It’s why I get twitchy when discussing morality in general.
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This is a great post, and you’ve gotten some good discussion. Morals of some kind have to drive characters. Even characters we aren’t supposed to like have things they hold to be true. I was pre-writing something for Story Empire this afternoon that’s fairly close to this. I’ve gotten a little moralistic in some of my tales, but it has to feel right to the story. (Sometimes they aren’t even things I agree with, but are true to my character.)
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True. We tend to think morals are always the same and right. Villains can have an evil moral code. We see it in reality too.
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Morals, beliefs, values and as our asian friends call it the bottom line in our hearts(deal breakers). Is a code of conduct that applies to us all, at the same time i feel that the current governments around the world have lots this code and are trying to undermine the countries and destabilise the world.
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Hard for me to say. I think while moral codes are important, they do vary between people and cultures. There are general standards, but I’ve met people who are willing to bend some of those depending on the situation. Justification in breaking their code seems to be a big thing with humans.
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Very true, and it because we have such a variety of interpretations that make people unique.
At the same time, i think that when we as writers blend or blur the line between what is right or wrong (depending on which culture you are writing for) we are masters in creating a narrative that people will say i like this or i don’t like that.
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True. Blurring the line gets people to think. A major goal of writing.
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This post can have a massive discussion about the morals of fiction stories, it’s quite interesting the way you put everything.
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Thanks. I’m sure it could be a discussion spanning weeks.
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