Comments by "Robert Morgan" (@RobertMorgan) on "The Critical Drinker"
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It seems like somewhere along the way, in the Star Trek example, that they lost the idea that The Enterprise is the Federation's Flagship, THE front-line vessel, the most prestigious posting in the entire galactic fleet. Only the best of the best of the best were selected for service on the Enterprise and the competition for positions was intense.
That would mean that when writing a part for a crew member of that vessel, however you portray them reflects on the rest of the entire world you're building. If they're useless and incompetent, you're telegraphing that in your canon this massive paramilitary apparatus of many worlds and countless people working together towards this overarching goal of space exploration can't find anyone better than the incompetent character to serve that role AND they're the best they have out of their giant talent pool.
In well-written Star Trek, they have flawed characters, BUT despite their flaws they're also there because for the most part they're exceedingly qualified for their job.
People can relate because we've all probably worked with someone like that. "That guy over in engineering, I don't really like him, he's kind of an asshole, when we clock out he can f-off away from me...BUT he IS the best, most qualified person I know to work on (noun). He's the only person I'd trust with that. Just because I might allegedly think he's a piece of shit as a person doesn't mean he's not great at this job."
But when you write a character with bad personal character AND incompetence in their specialty or role, you start asking "why are they here?".
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I'd argue that's backwards: JON SNOW is the Gary Stu here, the secret heir to the throne that just happens to be the best fighter we know from the start of the show, who never loses, even when he DIES.
By contrast, Arya has zero skills starting out, loses everything, starts over deciding to get revenge, and gains the skills she has over years of work and even torment, such as being blinded and abandoned, stabbed near to death, and having to kill countless people on her path to getting back anything she's lost.
I hate the SJW/Metoo/identity politics bullshit as well, but I think too much of that is being read into this episode.
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