Over the weekend, I read the illustrated version of Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's nice to be reminded that great stories don't have to be anything like the movies. In books, the action can be much more muted. In the book version of Stardust, par exemple, the protagonists and the villains never confront one another. No fight scenes. Nothing. The happy protagonists are unaware of those who would harm them during the whole story; their main troubles consist of their relationship as captor and captive. The would-be bad guys are destroyed entirely by their own greed, a clever if anticlimactic twist. If only the real world were so neat; that evil-doers would be prevented from harming the innocent by their own foolishness. I must admit that a part of me felt guilty for devouring the book in 1.5 hours, time which could have been spent reading up on coursework. But fantasy stories make morality lessons fun, no?
For example, why do we punish attempted crimes (like attempted murder) when those attempts are thwarted? A more glib person would say that such punishment runs close to persecuting mere thought crimes when no actual harm results. Today, my crim law professor, when reviewing the affirmative defense of impossibility, showed my class a clip of Return of the King. In the clip, the Nazgul, believing Frodo and his hobbit friends to be sleeping in a room at the Inn of the Prancing Pony, slither into said room. In unison, the Nazgul stab what turn out to be empty featherbeds, and voice their displeasure. My professor helpfully noted that the Nazgul demonstrated the requisite mens rea (intent to kill) and actus reus (stabbing the area where the hobbits would be sleeping) of murder, but might claim the defense of factual impossibility - it is impossible to plant a sword in someone who is not there. Should the Nazgul go unpunished if no harm resulted? I love that class.
Spring break begins in a few days... it is not so much a break as a period at the end of which a lot more work is due. :P At least I'll be testing/competing in the sunshine.
