11 Comments
User's avatar
Demian Elainé Yumei's avatar

I *really* like the 7 or 8 year old you were! We would have been friends 😊 I've never seen "Legend", but I absolutely loved "Willow", Val Kilmer with his hair down to his butt, omg. Definitely sexy. I'm going to have to look "Legend" up and watch it sometime.

This is such a wonderful essay on nuance, one I see we're both looking at and sitting with. Can't say I'm surprised by this interweaving of our paths ❤️❤️

Expand full comment
Sarah Wettberg's avatar

Hehehe! I appreciate that A LOT and I absolutely feel the same— that we would have been great friends as kiddos. (Adults too, damn this distance!)

Val Kilmer 🤤 YES! He was great as Madmartigan! It’s the morally grey man… why are they so damn hot?! 😂

Thank you so much! I had been working on it and saw your beautiful piece and had a moment of “holy, on the same wavelength, Batman!” (😉) 😄 ❤️

I definitely needed a reminder that things aren’t this or that. They’re any number of things. I rewatched Legend a couple of times in the process. Haha

Expand full comment
Rick Barooah's avatar

"I began to realize things weren’t that cut-and-dried: villains weren’t all bad, and heroes weren’t all good."

That's true, nothing is truly good, and even more profoundly, nothing is truly bad.

I don't know if have read it, but Crime and Punishment does a great job of demonstrating the 'nothing is truly bad' part.

Great post, btw.

Expand full comment
Sarah Wettberg's avatar

Thank you so much! I haven’t read that, but I shall add it to my list. Nuance is a beautiful thing, eh?

Expand full comment
Rick Barooah's avatar

Indeed, it is.

Expand full comment
Anthony  Piemonte's avatar

What is “darkness”? When I think to what I was always told was bad, was things that the church just thought was wrong. I think to myself that following the paranormal doesn’t make me evil, just puts into question everything the Catholic Church holds near and dear. They label as darkness when it just isn’t !

Expand full comment
Sarah Wettberg's avatar

That’s just it, the darkness (or shadows as Carl Jung referred to it) is the “bad” or unsavoury parts of ourselves. And it’s so subjective— like your example of the Catholic Church and the paranormal. What’s evil to them is enlightenment and connectedness to someone else. Someone whom they would likely see as good until information about their beliefs and practises become known, then suddenly they’d be seen as evil.

It’s fascinating. All the black-and-white thinking when there are so many shades of grey.

Expand full comment
Anthony  Piemonte's avatar

There is so much black and white, when there is so much out there to learn and explore! I think for some it’s impossible to break free from that especially when eternal punishment is attached to it!

Expand full comment
Sarah Wettberg's avatar

Which is understandable. That is a terrifying picture that gets painted! Every institution relies on compliance in order to operate. It’s why they get so wound up about freethinking and disobedience.

Without nuance, people are afraid to break the rules.

Expand full comment
Caroline's avatar

“They shouldn’t have made Darkness so sexy.” I laughed out loud!! Amazing 🤩

Expand full comment
Sarah Wettberg's avatar

Hahahaha!! Excellent! 😄

Expand full comment