| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16844522540.26643800&page=1 |
| 3 | %% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rvse.png]] |
| 6 | [[caption-width-right:300:Two portraits of Italian violinist Paganini, top by Delacroix (romanticism), bottom by Ingres (enlightenment).]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ->''"One impulse from a vernal wood\ |
| 9 | May teach you more of man,\ |
| 10 | Of moral evil and of good,\ |
| 11 | Than all the sages can."'' |
| 12 | -->-- '''Creator/WilliamWordsworth''', for team Romanticism |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ->''"People aren't going to change, for better or for worse. Technology's going to be so cool. All in all, the future will be okay!"'' |
| 15 | -->-- '''Creator/RandallMunroe''', for team Enlightenment, ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'' #603: [[https://xkcd.com/603/ Idiocracy]] (AltText) |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ->''"Let the truth of love be lighted; let the love of truth shine clear\ |
| 18 | Sensibility, armed with sense and liberty\ |
| 19 | With the heart and mind united in a single perfect sphere"'' |
| 20 | -->-- '''Music/{{Rush|Band}}''', arguing that the conflict is a FalseDichotomy and that ''[[TakeAThirdOption both]]'' are necessary, "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Music/{{Hemispheres}}" |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Some Eighteenth century people believed that reason and science are good and therefore things would just go on improving forever. This optimism characterized a period that came to be known as [[UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment the Age of Enlightenment]]. At the end of this period, mass movements in America and France, and the UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution in England, changed the world forever, making people realize that society in the 19th Century was the first that could conceive itself to be radically different from the past. This led to a sense of disillusionment and alienation began to spread, and the {{Romanticis|m}}t movement rose up as a backlash. Romanticists believed that the advances made by UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment were creating an [[{{Dystopia}} oppressive and conformist society]] -- and that science and rationality could never hope to truly understand the world and the human personality and that the modern world's progress came at the price of [[YeGoodeOldeDays cherished values from the distant past]] which was slowly dying out. A similar movement occurred later, in the wake of the World Wars, which left people strongly disillusioned with the promises of modern progress after seeing to what ends the fruits of human civilization had just been turned. Although the Enlightenment and Romanticist movements are long gone, the general ideas behind each -- the dialectic, if you will -- survives to this present day. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Romantic and Enlightened themes are very common in fiction. For example, Enlightenment-flavored science fiction might portray the future as a world of progress, [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship]], brotherhood and CrystalSpiresAndTogas, with [[ChaoticEvil barbaric forces]] threatening the new {{utopia}} (e.g. ''Franchise/StarTrek''). Romanticist-themed science fiction might portray the future as an unpleasant CrapsackWorld, with high technology but low social quality, full of depression, dehumanization and alienation (e.g. everything {{Cyberpunk}}) with the happy souls being those who escaped to [[{{Arcadia}} the countryside]], if possible (like in ''Literature/{{We}}'' and ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''). |
| 25 | |
| 26 | A similar dichotomy exists in how Romantic and Enlightened traditions view rural and urban life and environments. Romantic works tend to depict cities as crowded, oppressive, and soulless places, where spirituality, hope and joy are smothered under the constant rat race of progress, rampat corruption, and the soulless clinicality of science. By contrast, rural life is lovely, spiritual, and unburdened by artificial complications, and joy and understanding can best be found in the pastoral life or the glens of an ancient forest. In the age of exploration, tropical islands in particular became something of an emblem of this concept, with the idealized concept of an isolated, lush landscape of flowers and creatures found nowhere else becoming seen as something of a modern-day Eden. Enlightened media, by contrast, leans towards idealizing city life as a hub of convenience and progress, where easy access to hubs of information and study -- or, in modern works, the internet -- fosters learning and understanding. The rural landscape, by contrast, is seen as a land of unnecessary toil and unpleasant privations, and home mostly to backwards and supersitious hicks. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Real life, of course, is usually just a touch more complex than these dichotomies. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Note that 'enlightened', used in such context, is sometimes a loaded word, often used to indicate a higher or better state or level of understanding. In this context the 'enlightened' approach isn't intrinsically better, just as it isn't intrinsically worse -- it's a different way of approaching a concept that utilizes different methods and produces different results. Romanticism and Enlightenment are also tied to the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Dionysian (wild, visceral, ornate) and Apollonian (restrained, cerebral, classicist)]] ideals of aesthetics in the arts. Compare the Apollonian/Enlightenment style of Neo-Classicism with the Dionysian/Romantic neo-Gothic revival, or, say, the Apollonian/Enlightenment style of Creator/StanleyKubrick with the Dionysian/Romantic style of Creator/StevenSpielberg. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Bear in mind that contemporary invocations of the Enlightenment and Romanticist theme does not quite conform to the original Enlightenment and Romanticist movements. The works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Locke, Hume, Gibbon, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats and Shelley have greater instances of continuity, UnbuiltTrope and nuance than the modern perception of that era. The general perception is that writers and artists gravitate towards Romanticism, while scientists and businessmen favor the Enlightenment. Politicians (in most places) favor the Enlightenment while appealing to Romantic sentiments of nationalism, traditions (real and invented) and culture. Seeing as MostWritersAreWriters, Romanticism is generally overrepresented in media, with the exception of ScienceFiction writers (and even there most well-known classics usually have a Romanticist message). |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Compare to: BrainsVersusBrawn, CharacterAlignment, ClarkesLawForGirlsToys, MotherNatureFatherScience, ElvesVersusDwarves, EmotionsVsStoicism, HarmonyVersusDiscipline, MagicVersusScience, NatureVersusNurture, ScientistVsSoldier, SoldierVsWarrior, TechnicianVersusPerformer, CavemenVsAstronautsDebate. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | !!Teams: |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Team Enlightenment]] |
| 41 | !! Tropes usually associated with [[UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment Enlightenment]]: |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[index]] |
| 44 | * ALighterShadeOfBlack or the AntiVillain: Enlightenment villains will usually be misguided in their goals or have their ways be a product of society. Villains are not inherently evil in Enlightenment works. |
| 45 | * AncientGrome: Resulting in more sandpapering off of its traits than usual. It was during this period, however, that philosopher Giambattista Vico argued against glorifying UsefulNotes/AncientGreece and [[AncientRome Rome]], pointing out they were diverse and complex societies, whose values were totally alien to medieval man, let alone early modern man. |
| 46 | * AndroidsArePeopleToo: Based on the general idea that "The whole is the sum of its parts"; human intelligence, like all other aspects of existence, can (eventually) be artificially replicated. |
| 47 | * AppealToNovelty: The newness of an idea or belief adds to its currency, on the basis that knowledge accumulates progressively over time, and therefore current ideas are drawn from more accurate and detailed knowledge. Works claiming or implying this to be true are more common amongst the idealistic, Continental strains of the Enlightenment tradition. If the fallacy is exposed, it's more in line with Romaticism. |
| 48 | * ArtDeco: Mostly of its progressive, Euclidean and futuristic appearance. |
| 49 | %% * AsLongAsThereIsOneMan |
| 50 | * BeliefMakesYouStupid: Enlightenment supporters are more likely to view religious belief as being irrational and leading people to fanaticism or ignorance, though exceptions can exist. |
| 51 | * BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Enlightenment stories will almost never feature a clear battle of good and evil, viewing such a stance on conflict as childish. If RousseauWasRight, then [[WhiteAndGreyMorality the villain ought to have numerous redeemable traits.]] If HobbesWasRight, then [[BlackAndGrayMorality the heroes themselves will have some moral ambiguity as well to preserve order and progress.]] |
| 52 | * BeleagueredBureaucrat: Bureaucracy isn't actively corrupt or malicious, simply overworked. |
| 53 | * BenevolentAI: An AI who is friendly rather than [[AIIsACrapshoot hostile]] to organics, showing yet another way how science and technology can improve everyone's lives. |
| 54 | %% * ChummyCommies |
| 55 | * ClonesArePeopleToo: To avert CloneAngst, The Enlightenment believes that clones deserve the same respect as other sentient life forms. |
| 56 | * CreatingLifeIsAwesome: A good portion of the Enlightenment approves of creating artificial life for the benefit of currently existing life, as long as artificial life is treated well. [[note]] However, other Enlightenment-based individuals oppose creating sentient life out of negative utilitarian/anti-suffering logic. [[/note]] |
| 57 | * CrystalSpiresAndTogas: Societies with this aesthetic are usually high-tech utopias, with the togas alluding to the Classical society that the Enlightenment saw as its role model. |
| 58 | * DoingInTheWizard: Every event has a cause that can be explained by the interaction of fundamental laws of the universe, even if it seems "magical" because we don't know what all those laws or interactions are. |
| 59 | * TheDungAges: The belief that the MiddleAges is dysfunctional compared to modern day. |
| 60 | * EnlightenedAntagonist: Technology, scientific progress and {{transhuman}}ism are good, so someone who professes unity with God and the Universe and the abandonment of earthly desires would naturally be an antagonist (in this trope, "Enlightened" is actually understood in the Romantic and spiritual sense, and is the exact opposite of "Enlightenment" in the 17th-18th century sense). |
| 61 | * EnlightenedSelfInterest: Doing good things for others can be good for your own agenda. |
| 62 | * EvilLuddite: In Enlightenment works a technophobic character is more likely to be insane, a terrorist and [[{{Hypocrite}} using technology to further their cause]]. |
| 63 | * EvilReactionary: Reactionaries in enlightenment works tend to be trying to bring back a past {{Utopia}} that [[NostalgiaFilter never existed in the first place]] through [[TheUnfettered any means possible.]] |
| 64 | * TheFederation: The Enlightenment has been known to advocate democracy as a preferred form of government. |
| 65 | * TheFutureWillBeBetter: A general faith in the idea of progress, specifically that the next generation will be better and wiser than the last often figures into or permeates many Enlightenment philosophies. Some even posit an [[{{Utopia}} end of history,]] where the ultimate social, political, scientific system, etc. will have been reached. |
| 66 | * ForHappiness: Jeremy Bentham, regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism, lived during the Age of Enlightenment. Even today, utilitarianism is often seen as one of the most "logical" ethical systems out there. |
| 67 | * ForScience: Greater knowledge of the universe and its workings allows us to better understand our place in it -- and to carve out a new place if our current spot isn't comfortable. |
| 68 | %% * TheFutureWillBeBetter: |
| 69 | * GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: The Enlightenment can be justly criticized for overly ''[[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis romanticizing]]'' this trope, in all opposition to actual history. |
| 70 | * GreatDetective: This archetype is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment by relying on logic, reason, and rationality to shine a light onto evil deeds and dark passions. A classical (Holmsean) detective is a ScienceHero who works tirelessly for the betterment of the society by bringing its stray elements to public justice. |
| 71 | * GreyAndGrayMorality: If the story is Enlightenment-themed and has a War at its center, expect horrible people and saintly ones on both sides. Bad things done in the name of good intentions, and good things achieved for mercenary motives. |
| 72 | * HardOnSoftScience: How it appears in science-fiction. Ironically, as Stephen Hawking pointed out in ''A Brief History of Time'', during the actual Enlightenment, philosophers and scientists exchanged notes all the time, and indeed it was during this period that "natural philosophy" was phased out in favor of Science with a Capital S, while parts of Philosophy evolved into social sciences like economics, sociology and psychology. |
| 73 | * HanlonsRazor: Among some strains of thought, most of the ills that plague humanity and cause conflicts come about through simple ignorance, not premeditated malice. Thus, promoting a breadth and depth of knowledge through a better education actually makes us better people. |
| 74 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: As important as TheHero is, if he has come far it is because he is merely standing "on the shoulders of giants". |
| 75 | * HeroicBystander: The difference between a "hero" and a "bystander" is more one of circumstance than ability. Anyone has the potential to become great, not just a privileged few. After all, it was a bunch of anonymous people who stormed the Bastille. |
| 76 | * HobbesWasRight: Predominantly among the British schools of Enlightenment thought, historically. |
| 77 | * IgnoredExpert: If CassandraTruth appears in an Enlightenment-leaning work, the character who speaks it will have plenty of knowledge and training to back it up. |
| 78 | * ImmigrantPatriotism: The period that birthed nationalism was also a golden period for cosmopolitanism with philosophers travelling across Europe and America and sharing ideas. |
| 79 | * LivingForeverIsAwesome: While this is not a universal belief among Enlightenment-leaning authors, they are likely to regard immortality as yet another achievement of science, and therefore welcome it. This branch is also vital for the {{Transhuman}}ist philosophy, desiring the right for all to live as long as they like without the burden of aging, and everyone is allowed the right of euthanasia. |
| 80 | * LovecraftLite: To counter the Romanticist CosmicHorrorStory, the Enlightnment proposes that such seemingly undefeatable [[EldritchAbomination horrors]] can truly be conquered through knowledge, science, and technology. |
| 81 | * MedievalMorons: Resulting from (or in) ignorance of the fact that the medieval period was actually a time of great social upheavals and mechanical innovation. |
| 82 | * MoralityKitchenSink: Not always, but a frequent feature of post-WWII-Enlightenment-styled works of sufficient scale is that the world is sufficiently complex, and people have sufficiently varied motivations, that any Black And White classification is going to be flawed--you either are going to have shades of grey, or areas where Black and White overlap. |
| 83 | * NatureIsNotNice: The Enlightenment idea that the outside world is indifferent, or even very dangerous to humans. |
| 84 | * TheNeedsOfTheMany: Utilitarian works may sometimes emphasize the majority needs outweigh the needs of the minority. Some may emphasize that if sacrifices need to be made, it will be on the minority. |
| 85 | * OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Since religion is commonly seen as an irrational system of beliefs, Enlightenment utopias often discard it as a relic of old pre-scientific societies. |
| 86 | * TheParagon: Protagonists in Enlightenment stories will usually be this. |
| 87 | * PatrickStewartSpeech |
| 88 | * PostCyberpunk: Enlightenment's answer to the Romanticist {{Cyberpunk}}. |
| 89 | %% * PrinceCharmless |
| 90 | * ProHumanTranshuman: Transhumans do not to have to be enemies of unmodified humans. |
| 91 | %% * RaygunGothic |
| 92 | %% * RealRobot |
| 93 | %% * RealRobotGenre |
| 94 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The legitimacy of an authority figure in an Enlightenment work depends on their competence and on how adequately they respond to their challenges. |
| 95 | * ReluctantMadScientist: The pursuit of knowledge is in itself morally neutral; what other people choose to do with that knowledge is their responsibility. |
| 96 | * RousseauWasRight: Predominantly among the Continental schools of Enlightenment thought, historically.[[note]] Though it's worth noting that Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau is also something of a Proto-{{Romanticis|m}}t, and thus this trope can show up in Romanticist leaning works (e.g. ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'')[[/note]] |
| 97 | * ScienceHero: Science is seen as a force of good by the Enlightenment, while ignorance was seen by many Enlightenment thinkers as the root of all evil. |
| 98 | * ScienceIsGood: Science as a whole is portrayed in a positive light. The only real bad from science is simply the abuse of it for selfish gain, but the good that science brings should never be overlooked, especially if responsible use of it benefits all of society. |
| 99 | * ScrewDestiny: The Enlightenment puts no stock in prophecies, preferring instead to let science and reason to guide them. |
| 100 | * ShiningCity: Civilization, science and technology are good --therefore, an ideal society would look like this. |
| 101 | %% * ShootTheDog |
| 102 | * SolarPunk: Science and technology can give people all the comforts of an advanced civilization and also save nature. |
| 103 | * TheSpock: A character who relies on logic in all decisions would be portrayed in Enlightenment-leaning works as an ideal to aspire to. |
| 104 | * StrawmanEmotional: The more {{anvilicious}} Enlightened works may feature such characters. |
| 105 | * {{Transhuman}}: Or more specifically, optimistic portrayals of it |
| 106 | * TheUnchosenOne: The power to change the reality lies not in the hands of a few chosen, but in the hands of every ordinary person. |
| 107 | %% * UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans |
| 108 | %% * VisionaryVillain |
| 109 | %% * WellIntentionedExtremist |
| 110 | * WhiteAndGreyMorality: Since RousseauWasRight, the enlightened heroes are motivated by a desire to [[ForHappiness bring as much good as possible]], and the villains that they encounter are humanized in some way, along with having logical reasons for their antagonistic upbringing. The heroes believe that the villains can be [[HeelFaceTurn redeemed]], especially if said villains are [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning but misguided]], and the heroes can teach the redeemed villains how to contribute to good without hurting others. |
| 111 | * AWorldHalfFull: No matter how bad the world gets in an Enlightenment story, there will always be hope for improvement. |
| 112 | [[/index]] |
| 113 | [[/folder]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:Team Romanticism]] |
| 116 | [[index]] |
| 117 | !! Tropes usually associated with {{Romanticism}}: |
| 118 | |
| 119 | * AgentScully: A [[TheWarOnStraw strawman]] portrayal of a skeptical and scientifically-minded character. |
| 120 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Creating an AI is on the ScaleOfScientificSins according to Romanticism, therefore, AIs in general are very likely to be evil. |
| 121 | %% * AloneInACrowd |
| 122 | * AntiIntellectualism: [[{{Hypocrite}} Even though romantics can be considered intellectual philosophers.]] |
| 123 | * {{Arcadia}}: In contrast with the Enlightenment ShiningCity utopias, a Romanticist utopia usually looks like a Garden of Eden untouched by civilization. |
| 124 | * AppealToNature: Works claiming or implying it to be true generally fall on the side of Romanticism. If the fallacy is exposed instead, it is more in line with Enlightenment. |
| 125 | * AppealToTradition: There is nothing new under the sun, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, etc. More common in the conservative strains of the Romantic tradition. |
| 126 | * ArtNouveau: Due to being flowy and nature-themed. |
| 127 | %% * AsLongAsThereIsEvil |
| 128 | * BarbarianHero: Such a hero is likely to be portrayed to possess some kind of "primeval wisdom" that the more civilized characters have lost. |
| 129 | * BlackAndWhiteMorality: Since a lot of adventure and fantasy literature tends toward romanticism, they will usually have a clear set of well-defined heroes and villains by default. This is especially true in books targeted towards children, which usually have a romanticist slant. |
| 130 | * BookDumb: A character relying on their intuition rather than formal training is very much in line with Romanticist thinking. |
| 131 | * ByronicHero: THE Romantic Trope. A strongly individualistic figure who is driven by passion, misunderstood by society, and rebellious against conventions. |
| 132 | * ChivalricRomance: Differs from actual medieval chivalry and romances, in that it's more idealistic and nostalgic than its inspirations. |
| 133 | * TheChosenOne: Truly heroic feats can only be accomplished by one who is "destined" to do so. |
| 134 | * CloneAngst: Cloning is on the ScaleOfScientificSins, so it is bound to have some bad consequences in a Romanticist work. |
| 135 | * CosmicHorrorStory: A grimdark backlash against humanity's trust in eternal improvement. |
| 136 | * CreatingLifeIsBad: One of the deeds on the ScaleOfScientificSins. ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', one of Romanticism's classic works, has this trope as its central premise. [[note]] However, other Romanticists feel that procreation is a virtue to be celebrated, because to them, life is a gift. [[/note]] |
| 137 | %% * CuriosityKilledTheCast |
| 138 | * CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Modifying oneself is on the ScaleOfScientificSins, as Romanticism sees any interference in one's biology as evil and dangerous. |
| 139 | * {{Cyberpunk}}: Another grimdark backlash, this time against the techno-utopianism of the 40's and 50's. |
| 140 | * DoingInTheScientist: Scientific explanations are undermined or found wanting, possibly to emphasise that there are ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, or that in fully comprehending reality, there are limits to what we can rationally explain. |
| 141 | * DownerEnding and SuddenDownerEnding: A story has a very cynical ending, a common trait for the romanticist storyline. |
| 142 | * FounderOfTheKingdom: Looking over the founder of a country as a larger than life figure. |
| 143 | * GaiasLament: The Enlightenment belief that NatureIsNotNice may tempt the villains to destroy the environment, and the Earth suffers the consequences. |
| 144 | * GaiasVengeance: Earth (and its biosphere) is often a sentient entity in Romanticist works, and any attempt to interfere in it will hurt it. Therefore, as soon as Earth is hurt badly enough, [[TheDogBitesBack it will fight back]], with disastrous consequences for civilization. |
| 145 | * GhibliHills: Beautiful, peaceful scenery features heavily in Romanticist works. |
| 146 | * GoodOldWays: Romanticism has been known to idealize the past, especially pre-industrial societies. |
| 147 | * GothicHorror: The Gothic genre as a whole belongs here even though the genre's heyday actually coincided with the tail end of the Enlightenment. This is because, much like the Romantic movement itself, Gothic literature--with its themes of irrationality, supernaturalism, fear of the unknown, and a fascination with the feudal past--was in many ways a backlash ''against'' the prevailing Enlightenment values of the day. [[note]]Though some Gothic writers also incorporated a fair amount of Enlightenment rationality into their books as well; Creator/AnnRadcliffe's supernatural phenomena always turn out to have grounded explanations, and Creator/EdgarAllanPoe is credited with creating the ultra-rational genre of DetectiveLiterature alongside his more fantastical writings.[[/note]] The Gothic and the Romantic movements often overlapped, with writers likes Creator/MaryShelley and Creator/LordByron happpily dabbling in both, and overall the Gothic genre has always been firmly on the Romantic side of the scale. |
| 148 | * HistoryRepeats: Far from universal, but a general rejection of the Enlightenment idea of progress made some Counter-Enlightenment philosophers adopt a cyclical theory of history, positing that each generation thinks itself smarter than the one came before them, and wiser than those that come after, but are in fact not that different from one another except perhaps in appearance and living quality. |
| 149 | * HollywoodAtheist: Some flavors of this trope appear in Romantic works, with atheists portrayed as having lost something essential, being nihilists, arrogant and even villainous if they embrace supposedly more "rational" ideologies that cause great harm. |
| 150 | %% * HonorBeforeReason |
| 151 | * HumanityIsInsane: And they are proud of it. |
| 152 | %% * HumansAreFlawed |
| 153 | * HumansNeedAliens: Similar to CosmicHorrorStory (as noted above), it is a Romanticist backlash against the Enlightenment's belief in HumanityIsSuperior, where humanity is instead powerless and insignificant and has to rely on out-of-planet beings to get by, ones that are fundamentally above mere humans. |
| 154 | * ImmortalityImmorality: Achieving immortality is on the ScaleOfScientificSins. |
| 155 | * IndustrializedEvil: It is common of Romanticist works to portray machines as cold, callous, and creepy, so using them as a tool for evil is fitting. |
| 156 | * InHarmonyWithNature: Romanticism is known to idealize nature, and it is a common sentiment in Romanticist works that the best path is through, well, living in harmony with nature, rather than trying to expand and develop civilization. |
| 157 | * IntellectuallySupportedTyranny: Intellectuals are not inherently good, and can sometimes back oppressive regimes. |
| 158 | * KnightInShiningArmor: The ideal hero in Romantic works, especially those set in the Middle Ages. |
| 159 | * LuddWasRight: Romanticism is distrustful of the social changes that come with technological progress, which is exactly what the Luddite movement was about. |
| 160 | %% * MadDreamer |
| 161 | * MadOracle: in Romanticist works CassandraTruth is more likely to come through supernatural means and be voiced by a nameless {{Cloudcuckoolander}} rather than an IgnoredExpert. |
| 162 | * MadScientist: A direct consequence of TheSparkOfGenius (often mixed with ScienceIsBad), scientists are very commonly portrayed as not entirely sane (if not outright evil) in Romanticist works. |
| 163 | * TheMcCoy: The most ethical decisions are based on emotion rather than logic. |
| 164 | * MeasuringTheMarigolds: Stereotyping scientists' insistence on order and rationality as inhibiting creativity and destroying our appreciation of the world around us for what it is. |
| 165 | * TheMiddleAges: Resulting in more sandpapering off of its traits than usual. |
| 166 | * MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: As mentioned in MadScientist, an evil maverick scientist is a common Romantic archetype. |
| 167 | * NatureHero: If wild nature untouched by civilization represents the ideal state of life, it makes sense that the best heroes would champion this ideal. |
| 168 | * NatureLover: See NatureHero. |
| 169 | * NatureSpirit: Romantic works tend to glorify Paganism. |
| 170 | * NobleSavage: See BarbarianHero. |
| 171 | * OlderIsBetter: Romanticism was known to idealize the past, and treats the very possibility of progress with skepticism. |
| 172 | %% * OnlySaneMan |
| 173 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Bureaucracy is usually portrayed as inherently bad, stifling and even oppressing people. |
| 174 | * ThePowerOfLove: If one's love is strong enough, it can drive one to accomplish feats that are literally impossible otherwise. |
| 175 | * PoweredByAForsakenChild: Romantic works will often portray things like this as a criticism of Enlightenment utilitarianism. |
| 176 | %% * PrinceCharming |
| 177 | * RobotWar: Since AIIsACrapshoot, creating an AI is asking for war. |
| 178 | * ScaleOfScientificSins: Portraying some branches of science and technology as inherently evil. This runs counter to the Enlightenment's idea of knowledge being inherently good. |
| 179 | * ScienceIsBad: While individual Romanticists' attitudes towards science may vary from simple caution to outright rejection, Romanticism in general is characterized by a very skeptical attitude towards scientific progress and the change it brings, or rather the utopian idea of science the Enlightenment possessed. |
| 180 | * ScienceIsWrong: Romanticism saw science and logic as inferior to emotion, and therefore science alone would come to wrong conclusions. |
| 181 | * SkepticNoLonger: An Enlightened scientific skeptic is often shown as being in the wrong and admitting the error of their ways (e.g. regarding ghosts, God etc.) in Romanticist works. |
| 182 | * TheSparkOfGenius: Romanticism often portrays all creative activity as something defying all rational explanation - and science is no exception (when scientists are not portrayed as {{Straw Vulcan}}s). |
| 183 | * StrawVulcan: The more {{anvilicious}} Romanticist works may feature such characters, portraying characters that are supposed to be epitomes of logic as shallow caricatures, who ironically are not very logical. |
| 184 | %% * SuperRobot |
| 185 | * SupernaturalElite: Romanticist utopias are often led by supernatural characters, ones that are fundamentally above mere mortals. |
| 186 | * TechnoDystopia: A {{dystopia}} ''caused'' by the introduction of new technology is fundamentally contrary to the Enlightenment's idea of technology in and of itself being a force of good. |
| 187 | * {{Technophobia}}: In a world where technology cannot be fully trusted, it's better to stay with the GoodOldWays. A milder version of LuddWasRight. |
| 188 | * TheoryTunnelvision: A character adheres to their theories, rejecting conflicting facts that are even truthful. That character is expected [[HeroicBSOD to be emotionally broken]], [[DespairEventHorizon or worse]], if they are in a situation where maintaining their filter is impossible. |
| 189 | * TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Again, stating that it is best to stay away from some knowledge runs counter to the Enlightenment's ideals. |
| 190 | * ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: That one does not need a thorough formal education to produce good music - or that "good" equals "raw" and "unpolished" - is a very Romanticist argument. |
| 191 | * TotalitarianUtilitarian: Romanticists are usually Naturalists who portray Enlightened Utilitarians as willing to go to extremes for the sake of Utopia. |
| 192 | * TranshumanTreachery: Transhumanism is on the ScaleOfScientificSins, and creating a transhuman (much like creating an AI or any other form of artificial life) is likely to result in them being evil. |
| 193 | * TrueArtIsIncomprehensible (and how science destroys our interest in it) |
| 194 | %% * TurnedAgainstTheirMasters |
| 195 | * WhoWantsToLiveForever: As noted in ImmortalityImmorality, achieving immortality (just like {{transhumanism}} as a whole) is on the ScaleOfScientificSins, so immortality in Romanticist works, if achievable, will carry a number of unpleasant consequences. |
| 196 | * TheWorldIsNotReady: Science must not progress too quickly, otherwise disaster will follow. |
| 197 | * WorldOfHam: A setting in which ''everyone'' is highly emotional. |
| 198 | * YeGoodeOldeDays: A past era is often lionized and portrayed as better by Romanticists (if not ideal in comparison to modern society). |
| 199 | * YouCantFightFate: Romantics believe heavily in prophecies, saying that they will occur no matter what. |
| 200 | [[/index]] |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:Common Tropes]] |
| 204 | !! Tropes shared between them, but handled in different ways: |
| 205 | |
| 206 | * AllLovingHero: Both Romantic and Enlightened works on the idealistic end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism have heroes with this belief. The difference is in how their beliefs are handled. The Romantic may assert that human nature of love must triumph over "{{totalitarian|Utilitarian}}" rationality of utilitarianism, while the Enlightened hero ''embraces'' rationalism and utilitarianism and proves his or her love and compassion for other beings through them. |
| 207 | * TheAntiNihilist: These are found on both sides. Enlightenment existentialists like [[Webcomic/{{Xkcd}} Randall Munroe]] tend to take a ForHappiness approach, focusing on the needs and wants of humanity in the absence of a higher morality. Romantic existentialists (most famously Creator/FriedrichNietzsche and Soren Keirkegaard) reject rationalism as just as meaningless as anything else, and tend to suggest embracing a personal BlueAndOrangeMorality. |
| 208 | * BlackAndGrayMorality: Cynical Romantic works against the foundations of society will usually portray this set of morality, showing that HumansAreFlawed or HumansAreTheRealMonsters. Expect any form of remote goodness to come from a decidedly heroic and above-society entity. In more cynical Enlightenment works, heroes will be shown as [[HumansAreFlawed flawed]] beings who are ''not'' above the laws of their society (or if they are, it's not a good thing). |
| 209 | * BloodKnight: Generally approved of by Romantics, due to their associations with bravery, honourable combat, glory, individual prowess and a DyingMomentOfAwesome. By contrast, the BloodKnight is generally rejected by the Enlightenment due to a lack of discipline and respect for law and order, and encouraging a WarIsGlorious attitude they view dangerous. |
| 210 | * CaptainPatriotic: |
| 211 | ** The Enlightenment invented nationalism, because the nation, ''in theory'', was opposed to the kingdom and TheChurch, and it was a consensual secular identity around which one can build TheRepublic, which until this period was contained only in city-states but now governed over areas bigger than Kingdoms and with more central authority than any King before. This led to the idea of creating national institutions and cultural centers (museums, science institutions, art galleries, monuments) built to celebrate the nation, but it must be emphasized that the nation as defined by the early Enlightenment thinkers was about involvement in the community--meaning that outsiders could join the nation if they pitched in and got involved. Team Enlightenment blames romantic sentimentality towards folklore and RoseTintedNarrative for having corrupted nationalism from its radical origins. |
| 212 | ** The Romantics who later came around to nationalism, were obsessed with folklore emphasized ''cultural heritage'' as the definition of national identity, and essentially invented the culture wars about which values and which individuals are the true representatives of the nation. |
| 213 | * CreatingLifeIsAwesome: Enlightenment works are theoretically okay with this, skeptical in practise, whereas Romantics argue against playing God. The very first science-fiction, ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' tackled this very concept, and it was a romantic work. It must be noted that Enlightenment-inspired revolutions, especially the French and the Russian one, had the idea of creating "a new man" which they meant to be a citizen with values and references entirely different from the past, but which in the eyes of critics amounted to be similar to treating man as tabula rasa with new values inserted like a program given to a robot. Mary Shelley's book argued that in taking the role of God, man is likely to repeat the same mistakes to his creations and the consequences it creates. |
| 214 | * CuriosityIsACrapshoot: Romanticists believe that CuriosityKilledTheCast, or at least make us GoMadFromTheRevelation and turn us into nihilists. The Enlightened do [[{{Reconstruction}} recognize that curiosity does have its flaws, but overall it can be used for further learning and self-improvement]]. |
| 215 | * DemocracyIsBad: You can find arguments for this among both Enlightenment and Romantic schools, though more in the case of the latter. Although democracy tends to be an Enlightened philosophy, many early Enlightened works and philosophers pondered a [[EmperorScientist technocracy]] (e.g., Creator/{{Plato}}'s ''Literature/TheRepublic'') or a plutocracy. Romanticists are more varied in their positions; some want to return to [[YeGoodeOldeDays old-fashioned feudalism]], others advocate for a democratic system, and often their chosen form of government is whichever form is ''not'' in place in their society. |
| 216 | ** Basically, Enlightenment hates democracy because it puts truth to a popular vote rather than using reason, while Romanticism hates democracy because it becomes a bureaucratic mess where leaders care more about winning elections than ruling. |
| 217 | ** It should be noted that what is considered Democracy as we live it today (where everyone can vote, no discrimination to minorities, no slavery and exploitation of other people) is quite different from what many Enlightened and Romantic writers thought vis-a-vis democracy (Enlightenment thinkers were content with limited suffrage, while Voltaire would probably insist that a secular France remain anti-semitic) with the exception of Rousseau, Diderot, Condorcet and a few others. |
| 218 | * CrapsackWorld[=/=]{{Dystopia}}: |
| 219 | ** Romanticists love deconstructing Enlightenment dreams into Dystopias themselves. In Romanticist dystopian fiction (cf, Creator/AynRand) a Dystopia will usually be portrayed as an Enlightenment society that runs on IntellectuallySupportedTyranny where HeWhoFightsMonsters becomes the same dystopia that it was trying to solve (see also: ReignOfTerror, BigBrotherIsWatching, CrapsaccharineWorld, FullCircleRevolution, and so on). Romanticists are also more likely to point out that "it is not too much ignorance, but too much ''conformity'', that causes Dystopia". |
| 220 | ** Enlightenment advocates will usually believe that "widespread ignorance causes Dystopia" (sometimes bringing up the era that they called the "[[TheDungAges Dark Ages]]") and [[AWorldHalfFull squabble about how education will save us all from it]]. They also point out that for all that romanticists trump up non-conformity, their glorification of "a lost [[YeGoodeOldeDays Golden Age]]" rather than building something new, is conforming to the past, which was in most cases a {{Dystopia}} for a greater portion of the population who were kept ignorant, oppressed and stiffled. While Enlightenment will confess to a FullCircleRevolution and other failures, they will also try and invoke WhatTheRomansHaveDoneForUs. |
| 221 | ** The solutions to dealing with such scenarios differ. Enlightenment advocates believe that [[AWorldHalfFull such times can be overcome and ultimately improve for the better]]. Romantics, on other other hand, believe that they're [[YouCantFightFate immutable]] and [[FromBadToWorse will only worsen]], or at best ones that have to be burned to the ground before they can regrow. |
| 222 | * EmotionsVsStoicism: The Enlightenement saw themselves continuing the Greek, specifically the Socratic tradition of using logic and critical thinking to discover truth and question the foundations of the society they were in, rejecting emotion as an impediment to seeking truth. The Romanticists saw themselves either questioning the value of the truth found by Enlightenment, or looking for alternative sources in emotion or intuition. Schopenhauer, despite following on from the very Enlightenment Kant, argued how humans were motivated by a desire to live and procreate, rejecting the Enlightenment notion that humans actually desired the truth, while Nietzsche, despite criticizing Romanticism, noted how many seemingly rational philosophers like Plato, Socrates and Spinoza were influenced by their own psychology in determining what they considered to be "true", and emphasised that human beings were really constituted by many motives that are rarely interested in what is objectively true, arguing that what we considered reason was ultimately illusory. |
| 223 | * TheExtremistWasRight: Both Enlightenment and Romantics feature this in their works. |
| 224 | ** [[invoked]] The smartest person in the room would not face opposition in any story if authority or the people saw their ideas as reasonable. An Enlightened figure, either a critic of government, a scientist, a reformer, will be seen as an extremist until VindicatedByHistory. Creator/HenrikIbsen's ''Theatre/AnEnemyOfThePeople'' plays it straight, Creator/BertoltBrecht's ''Galileo'' is a parody. |
| 225 | ** Extreme solutions are more glamorous than mundane solutions and Romantic works often favor situations and settings where characters believably move into extreme phases of behavior, act disproportionately but in the end are praised by everyone as visionaries who were bold, decisive and had the gut instinct. And of course, because the person can only act in an extreme measure, there is NoPlaceForMeThere after the world is saved. |
| 226 | * FantasticRacism: Even though enlightenment works address the issue of racism a lot more than romantic ones, there have been some romantic works that address this as well. Enlightenment works would often argue that maintaining the societal status quo is the cause of racism, as maintaining society's traditional values leads to a society that will not accept races or cultures of different kinds. Enlightenment works often argue that it is necessary for society to change for a greater good in order to maintain a racially diverse and tolerant society. Romantic works will argue that racism is caused by the enlightenment's side need of [[TheNeedsOfTheMany sacrificing the few for the sake of majority]] and argue that races considered as "inferior" are often sacrificed. Romantic works argue that man's natural ability to love will always triumph over man's tendency for hatred and prejudice. |
| 227 | * FictionalUnitedNations: It can be portrayed as either useful or useless in much the same way as DemocracyIsBad. The Romanticist sees the FictionalUnitedNations as hamstrung by [[{{Realpolitik}} the realities of international politics]] where powerful nations will still run riot over weak ones (see the UsefulNotes/LeagueOfNations). The Enlightened depict the job as tricky but not impossible, with the participants more inclined towards EnlightenedSelfInterest and willing to work together for the greater good. |
| 228 | * GenreBusting: The idea of a writer as a creator of original stories and new characters comes from this era and both the Enlightenment and the Romantic eras contributed to contemporary literature: |
| 229 | ** The Enlightenment invented realism; works by Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding and Jane Austen created an appetite in the public for the novel of contemporary life. There were also genres such as the philosophical parable and satire (Creator/JonathanSwift, Creator/{{Voltaire}}) and the Gothic horror and romance by Walpole and Ann Radcliffe. Before Romanticism, the idea was to use classical and Biblical myth (''Literature/ParadiseLost'' and most of Shakespeare's plays) as source material for plots, characters and themes. Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe's ''Werther'' and ''Wilhelm Meister'' became bestsellers of its day and put across the idea of youth as protagonists, TragicHero and the bildungsroman as genres. |
| 230 | ** The Romantics like William Wordsworth tackled everyday life and nature as themes and subjects for poetry. Coleridge used poetry to represent fevered stages of psychological stress: guilt/despair/lust and romance. Lord Byron's poetry created the new character archetype of the ByronicHero which inspired Creator/{{Stendhal}} and Creator/AlexanderPushkin. Mary Shelley wrote ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' (subtitled ''the modern Prometheus'') to show that it was entirely different from the older myths. Creator/WalterScott and Creator/AlexandreDumas created the new genre of HistoricalFiction, while the Gothic Romance genre, already parodied by Jane Austen, got revived towards the horror genre and even infused in realistic stories like ''Literature/JaneEyre'' and ''Literature/WutheringHeights''. |
| 231 | * GodwinsLaw: Both sides have arguments that the Nazis belonged to the opposing side. Romanticists point to their racial pseudoscience and use of modern industry to organize mass killings, the Enlightened point to their reactionary blood and soil ideology and mythology of race. Social Darwinism is mentioned below. |
| 232 | * TheGovernment: The Enlightenment values states and nations as ways of ordering society and curbing our more dangerous natural instincts; Romantics skeptically argue that nations and states are inevitably self-serving and corrupt at the expense of the people they claim to serve, and unnecessarily coddle and leash humans to a degrading degree. |
| 233 | * GreenAesop: Both sides are fond of these, though the Romantic version gets a lot more play in media. The Romantic GreenAesop is that humanity must [[AppealToNature live in peace and harmony with the natural world]], often adding "[[GaiasVengeance or she'll kill us all]]." The Enlightenment version agrees that humanity must help the environment, but argues for [[ScienceHero scientific and technological solutions]] to environmental issues, often amounting to deliberate re-engineering of the global ecosystem. In other words, they believe that humanity can ''win'' against GaiasVengeance while averting GaiasLament through science. |
| 234 | * HumansAreTheRealMonsters: With the decline of religion in the philosophical mainstream, such ideas as Good and Evil gradually shifted to a non-religious conception: |
| 235 | ** The (mostly British) Enlightenment acknowledges wholeheartedly that humans (especially the working classes and colonized barbarians) are incredibly selfish, materialistic, pleasure-obsessed, aggressive, impulsive, short-sighted, miserable, and otherwise...bastard-y animals (just see HobbesWasRight), and this selfishness is biologically and neurologically immutable (e.g. pain, fight-or-flight, fear, hunger, sex, and such). The classical British Enlightenment (and its American progeny, as well as some of its Continental friends like Lafayette and de Tocqueville) therefore emphasized building political, social, and economic institutions whereby these impulses could be channeled and moderated to serve the public interest. In this theory, private ambition is made to serve the public interest through elections (because the path to power is therefore to protect the rights and serve the interests of ordinary people), and private greed is made to enrich the nation as a whole through free-market capitalism (because in a free-market capitalist society, the best way to get rich is to make or do something everyone else finds useful, or at least entertaining or interesting). To later and more cynical Singularitarian Transhumanists, the only method that will abolish this selfish gene is through evolution into TheSingularity where pain is nonexistent (e.g. {{Assimilation|Plot}}s). |
| 236 | ** The Romantic school argued that humans were capable of being monstrous but [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this might not be such a bad thing]]. After all, civilization is hypocritical and deluded about how noble it is, and ignorant and blind of the harm it unleashes in the name of "progress" (for the very few). Self-proclaimed goody two shoes are [[GoodIsBoring boring]], usually [[SourPrudes prudish]] and [[LousyLoversAreLosers lousy in bed]], and actually not really all that good once you get down to it. People who are monstrous or bad [[AtLeastIAdmitIt at least admit it]]. This was the theme of Creator/MaryShelley's ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' and it was partly as a result of this trope that VillainProtagonist and ByronicHero as in ''Literature/WutheringHeights''' Heathcliff came to be prominent and influential. It also underpinned Creator/FriedrichNietzsche's criticism of conventional morality and a restricted view of human nature as "good" and "evil". |
| 237 | * HumansAreSpecial: The Enlightenment argued that humans are rational and that it was possible for human reason to build a better society and a more equal society. The Romantic would argue that humans are special because HumansAreFlawed and our flaws and weaknesses make us individuals, unique and give us the strength to stand against the conformity of both conventional and utopian groups. This largely stems from the the (mostly French) Continental schools of Enlightenment which, unlike British Empiricism, argued on Cartesian ideas of "first principles" i.e. starting from scratch and building something new from ground up, rather than fixing and refining what worked in the past.[[note]]i.e. AWorldHalfFull and RousseauWasRight -- that is, humankind is a blank slate which is mostly influenced by its environment, and thus not inherently "selfish" or "selfless" inasmuch as simply interested in self-preservation and seeking comfort. This is why they advocate [[ForHappiness utilitarianism]] and democracy. This ultimately derives from distinct historical experiences. England could count on the wisdom of experiences because they had diverse experiences such as the Barons War (that gave them the Magna Carta), a Hundred Years War, a religious reformation, and an UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar led by aristocrats, that provided them strong institutions. France had no such experiences of diverse governments to count on and so they, and other revolutionary nations, ''had to'' start from scratch and first principles and build new institutions on brand new ideals[[/note]] |
| 238 | * InherentInTheSystem: The Enlightened response is to say "And so, we should make a better system" (or, for the more optimistic, "...make the worst aspects of the current system better"), and then [[WeAreStrugglingTogether start squabbling about what "better" means]]. The Romantic response is more variable, but very often tends to be "And so, we should ''destroy'' the system." |
| 239 | * JustThinkOfThePotential: The Enlightenment usually prefers the optimistic version of this trope, with the potential benefits of a new technology outweighing the dangers. Romanticism does the opposite, and the character uttering this line will be almost universally regarded as either foolish (unaware of the dangers) or outright evil (not caring about the damage the new invention would cause). |
| 240 | * KnightInSourArmor: |
| 241 | ** The Enlightenment is ALighterShadeOfGrey version of this trope: the anti-hero will usually be a cynic, but will ultimately strive to do the right thing for the good of all because rationally, it is the right thing to do. |
| 242 | ** The Romanticist is a more... well, romantic version of the trope. Their convictions usually will sound like this: "The world is harsh and cruel, and I've accepted it, and the "rational" thing to do may be to give up, but dangit I'm fighting anyway!" |
| 243 | * LibertyOverProsperity: Enlightenment tries its best to combine the two. Romanticists say the Enlightenment basically went HeWhoFightsMonsters and is slowly sacrificing Liberty for Prosperity (see the bit about CrapsackWorld below). |
| 244 | * LivingIsMoreThanSurviving: It is not enough to survive using practical skills; there are other things that we should live for as well. However, the while Enlightenment is about improving our lives with science and technology, Romanticism values living in harmony with nature and human connections. |
| 245 | * LonersAreFreaks: Both the Enlightenment and Romanticism note that society is alienating and artificial. |
| 246 | ** Where the likes of Goethe would treat this alienation as tragic or the beginning of the path to knowledge (as in Werther and Wilhelm Meister), Romantics glorified the state of being [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority an outsider and rejected by society]], and some, namely Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, saw the ability of some individuals to refuse assimilation in a perfect society (as in ''Literature/NotesFromUnderground'') as a heroic endeavor. Basically, both groups agree that HumansAreFlawed, but Enlightenment is about acknowledging and getting over it and being a better person, while Romanticism is about rejecting social conventions in favor of personal authenticity (cf, ByronicHero). |
| 247 | ** Much later Creator/JeanPaulSartre created UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}} which [[TheMoralSubstitute took an enlightened approach to reclaim the romantic yearning]] for "authenticity". He claimed that life and society was essentially meaningless and that it was up to human beings to give meaning to their existence and take responsibility for that self-defined ideal, and that "Bad faith" was all around us which means there's no one definition of authenticity that anyone can follow, rather they must follow their reason and their conscience. |
| 248 | * NatureIsNotAToy: Whereas the Enlightenment would agree with this trope in the vein of NatureIsNotNice, the Romantics would point out that this trope is true in the sense that ''[[GaiasVengeance abusing]]'' [[GaiasVengeance nature is not nice]]. |
| 249 | * OrderVsChaos: An Enlightenment would favor order for society while a Romanticist would adore the chaos of nature. UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud, who saw himself in the Enlightened tradition, argued that HumansAreFlawed and since actions are driven by unconscious decisions, attempts at order (at home or in society) will fail, but by being honest with oneself, self-critical and being more tolerant of human weakness it would be possible to contain and prevent chaos. Surrealists however, inspired by Freud, saw the unconscious and human flaws as an inherently good thing, since without it life would be boring. |
| 250 | * PerfectionIsImpossible: Both sides tend to argue this (and accuse the other of seeking the impossible perfection), but with different alternatives. Enlightenment prefers to use laws and philosophy to make society [[FairForItsDay better than it was before]], [[TheFutureWillBeBetter confident their descendants will repeat the]] {{Reconstruction}}. Romanticism rejects this assumption, and often states that even attempting to make society better will make things worse. |
| 251 | * {{Postmodernism}}: Both the Postmodern and Romantic movements basically emerged as a backlash against modernity and the Enlightenment. However, Postmodernism registers about equal skepticism towards both Romanticism and the Enlightenment, questioning the reality of Romantic concepts like authenticity, naturalness, and truth, while also questioning the usefulness of Enlightened concepts like progress, value, and objectivity. Postmodernism is thus viewed unfavorably by both groups, while it in turn views each as interesting and useful when taken with a grain of salt, hence the famous Postmodern infatuation with {{Irony}}. For an example of how this works, consider the important proto-postmodern text ''Dialectic of Enlightenment'', which critiqued modernism and Enlightenment as being nothing other than an extended, totalitarian form of the same (Romantic) primitive world-mythology that grips all people - ''"[M]yth is already enlightenment; and enlightenment reverts to mythology."'' |
| 252 | * PunkPunk: In general, anything with "-punk" in its name has a strong tendency towards Romanticism, due to the genre's cynicism about human advancement, preference for older and more visible machines, and strongly antiauthoritarian tendencies. However, this isn't a hard-and-fast rule, and many "-punk" works actually lean towards Enlightenment in their embrace of the possibilities of their setting's unique technology. For example, {{Steampunk}} works tend to have an idealistic and nostalgic view of the steam-powered technology of the 19th-century while ignoring the oppression that occurred during this time period. PostCyberpunk, being a reaction ''against'' the extreme Romanticism of the {{Cyberpunk}} genre, is another obvious example. |
| 253 | * RedOniBlueOni: Romanticism tends to be the Red Oni, Enlightenment tends to be the Blue Oni. |
| 254 | * ScienceFictionVersusFantasy: While there are many exceptions, science fiction (glorious future) tends towards Enlightenment, fantasy (glorious past) towards Romanticism. |
| 255 | ** This occasionally leads to some FandomRivalry between the two, particularly SF readers (and writers, most notably including Creator/DavidBrin) who perceive fantasy as inherently reactionary. Seen historically, the first work of ScienceFiction, ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', was [[{{Irony}} very much a romantic work]]. Mary Shelley's work had tropes like NobleSavage, the ByronicHero (she was living in a house with the original--who, incidentally, had knocked up her stepsister--when she wrote ''Frankenstein'', and her husband fit the trope too) and angst over man becoming God in creating life, and scientific endeavor as an exercise in hubris. Likewise, a work that heavily influence fantasy fiction, Creator/LewisCarroll's ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', was very much about math, word puzzles, and LogicBomb, while William Morris' MedievalEuropeanFantasy romances used a ConstructedWorld to put in social criticisms. |
| 256 | ** As Creator/AlanMoore argued in ''Dodgem Logic'' Science Fiction in the 19th to early 20th Century was essentially skeptical and ironic in its treatment of progress and the likes of Creator/HGWells and Creator/JulesVerne argued that new technology could be used for abuses and saw the development of technology less as evidence of man's rational progress [[CassandraTruth and more as an arms race for powerful nations]]. It was [[NewerThanTheyThink only in the early 20th Century]], and largely in American fiction, that the idea of science fiction as Enlightenment rather than Romantic flourished. |
| 257 | * TheSocialDarwinist: |
| 258 | ** Romanticists warn about the Enlightened's descent into amoral {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s obsessed with EvolutionaryLevels ([[HitlerAteSugar Nazi comparisons]] galore). On the other hand, the Enlightened denounce Romanticists (more specifically, the Luddites) as savages glorifying the dog-eat-dog the-weak-get-killed-off brutal CrapsackWorld of the past (TheDungAges comparisons galore). |
| 259 | ** Team Enlightenment points out that Romanticist glorification of TheHero, their fetish for "great men" and "the natural man" who rises from RagsToRiches and then remodels the world is essentially a ''romantic'' dressing up of this concept, noting that it argues that such exceptional people (mostly UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte fanboys) deserve to conquer and rule others because they have a higher understanding than the lowly mortals who should be content to remain subjects. |
| 260 | * SocietyIsToBlame: The Enlightened response is to say "And so, we should change society," and then [[WeAreStrugglingTogether start squabbling about how to do it]]. Conversely, Romantics are more likely to see social problems as stemming from inherent human nature, and can only be managed at best rather than abolished. |
| 261 | * SoldierVsWarrior: The Soldier mindset is more in-line with the Enlightenment crowd, while Warriors are more subscriptive to Romanticism. |
| 262 | * SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVersusFate: Generally speaking, Enlightenment argues in favor of ScrewDestiny, with its focus on progression, idealism and science, while Romanticism favors BecauseDestinySaysSo, with its focus on mythology, and philosophers like Schopenhauer emphasizing how humans are driven by non-rational motives that make any long term improvement at best temporary, and at worst an illusion. However, there's a ''lot'' of variation, with some Enlightenement philosophers such as d'Holbach and some scientists arguing that free will is an illusion, and many Romanticists like Byron glorifying political or individual rebellions, and philosophers like Creator/SorenKierkegaard giving incredible weight to the subject of individual responsibility. |
| 263 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Romanticism tends towards the cynical, but with a large amount of deviation. The Enlightenment is more complicated: |
| 264 | ** Enlightenment figures from the European continent, particularly (for some reason) Germany, really were idealistic and optimistic (take Immanuel Kant and Leibniz as examples). Other Continental Enlightenment types (like Creator/{{Voltaire}}--no, not [[Music/{{Voltaire}} that one]]) were willing to admit that most HumansAreBastards, but [[AsLongAsThereIsOneMan trusted in the virtue of some people]] to keep things improving. |
| 265 | ** Rousseau, who was the one figure both Enlightenment and Romantic writers claimed for their own, was idealistic about social progress and believed it was entirely achievable with a positive vision of society, as opposed to a negative one like Hobbes. He also believed it was realistic, citing the influence of Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli (whose reputation Rousseau played a role in reviving). |
| 266 | ** Enlightenment figures from the British tradition tend to assume absolute cynicism--HumansAreFlawed animals and [[MachiavelliWasWrong Machiavelli Was Right]], in their opinion--and then proceed to create institutions that guide that cynicism to public benefit (think of UsefulNotes/EthicalHedonism, {{Hobbes|WasRight}} and Lord Mandeville's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fable_of_the_Bees The Fable of the Bees]]''). In other words, it's a position that transcends the Sliding Scale: they're idealistic about the big picture (society) ''because'' they're cynical about the small one (the individual). Though in regard to Romanticism, a case could be made that it can be idealist, though in an [[BlueAndOrangeMorality anti-rationally different way]] than how an Enlightenment leaning individual would define Idealism. |
| 267 | ** Romanticism was largely idealistic about individuals but cynical about institutions and governments, while Enlightened were idealistic about institutions, laws, government and ideologies but cynical about individuals working outside or entirely escaping the influence of these systems. |
| 268 | * StillFightingTheCivilWar: Enlightened see refusing to admit that your side lost as pointless, whereas Romantics see continuing in a long-over fight as [[HonorBeforeReason glorious]]. |
| 269 | * StrawNihilist: Romanticists see the Enlightenment as converting humanity into a race of nihilists, thus in Romanticist works such nihilists are usually portrayed as Enlightened people who failed to find an objective proof for a "meaning in life" (for a contemporary version of this, see CyberPunk, with high technology but [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman existential angst]]). The Enlightened tend to see nihilists as Romantics who have abandoned rationalism but failed to find anything to replace it with (Creator/FriedrichNietzsche while critical of Enlightened rationalism in general, agreed with this view). [[TheAntiNihilist Existentialists]], incidentally, are found on both sides. |
| 270 | * WarIsGlorious: More common among the Romantics, who view war as a way of testing a people's strength and proving the worth of an individual warrior. At the very least, passions run high in war, and conflicts are intense and bloody, both of which make for good stories. However, even the Enlightenment may find WarIsGlorious, especially in regards to highly advanced societies defending civilization from the AlwaysChaoticEvil horde, and may find something beautiful in the order and disciplined involved in the military, and a common enemy giving a single purpose for people to unite behind. |
| 271 | * WarIsHell: |
| 272 | ** More common among the Enlightenment figures, but war involves the tragic deaths of the noble, the splitting of families by death or divided loyalties, and {{Worthy Opponent}}s who could have been friends killing each other simply for being on opposite sides - all causes for misery for Romantics. In Enlightenment stories, the emphasis is on WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife and resources, due to war exacting a high cost on a nation's wealth and the civilian population. |
| 273 | ** Romantic works often portray war as becoming hell specifically when the sides take advantage of modern industry and weapons. |
| 274 | * WildChild: The Enlightened side sees feral children as having suffered horribly for missing out on rationalism and civilization. Romantics celebrate the feral child as a form of NobleSavage. Notably, the Enlightened approach is used for dealing with feral children in RealLife, but almost all fictional depictions are based on the Romanticist angle. |
| 275 | [[/folder]] |
| 276 | ---- |
| 277 | !!Examples: |
| 278 | |
| 279 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 280 | |
| 281 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 282 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has villainous examples from both sides of the spectrum. The artificial evolution committee [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness SEELE]] is Enlightenment [[TotalitarianUtilitarian Utilitarianism]] to the extreme, with their {{TransHuman}}ist ideology of using science to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens destroy the Angels]], ascend the EvolutionaryLevels, and assimilate humanity into TheSingularity to abolish the physical/biological/existential selfishness that exists in every individual. SEELE is obsessed with the Future of Humanity, and thus they believe in a philosophy of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. They don't care about the present-day harm done to the people they manipulate, as long as Utopia arrives. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Gendo]] is an extreme Romanticist AntiHero, who only cares about his dead wife and messiah [[spoiler:Yui]], he doesn't care if [[spoiler:[[SaveTheGirlScrewTheWorld the world is destroyed, as long as he can see Yui again.]] Gendo]] symbolizes an obsession with the Past, an obsession with [[spoiler:Yui. He lives in the Past and makes monuments to the Past, the Reis. He doesn't care about the Present, about living with his own son, Shinji.]] This obsession with the past reaches its logical extreme when [[spoiler:Rei, his monument to the Past, turns everybody into primordial DNA soup that was life four billion years ago.]] Whatever their philosophies are, both of them don't appreciate the Present, and thus their obsessions reach their selfish and villainous extremes when they start ruthlessly manipulating other people, and thus in the end they are both no different. |
| 283 | ** Shinji, who used to be in the extreme Romantic end of the spectrum, develops an UsefulNotes/{{Existentialis|m}}t philosophy in ''The End Of Evangelion''. [[spoiler:In the end he appreciates his depressing individual life in the Present despite his full knowledge that it's a CrapsackWorld and individuality is painful, culminating in him deciding to reject Instrumentality, a FalseUtopia made of the extreme combination of both Enlightenment (as a utopian Singularity) and Romanticism (as mankind reverted to primordial soup and forcefully assimilated back into the Mother of All Mankind).]] |
| 284 | * ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' straddles the gap between RealRobot and SuperRobot, but slams the dial ''hard'' towards Enlightenment. |
| 285 | ** Your mileage may vary ''slightly'' on that last point- for all its idealism, a key theme is that of the very transhumanist (transhumanoidist?), and warlike, Zentraedi being won over by good old-fashioned human concepts like love. So it does in a way play with Romanticism a bit. |
| 286 | * ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', for all its seemingly Romantic emphasis on emotional intensity, falls '''hard''' on the side of Enlightenment. The ethos of the series having a very strong belief in the idea of progress and the ultimate perfectibility of the human (and beastman?) condition. The heroes may have "kicked logic to the kerb", but only with the aim of creating their own logic that works for them against all attempts by the anti-spirals to make them regress back to the level of barbarism; vehemently rejecting the idea that you can't evolve and progress without destroying yourselves. After the end credits, humanity - in league with several other species - is shown to have created a near-utopian society and on its way to show the universe itself who's boss. |
| 287 | * The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise flip-flops back and forth on the scale. In the Universal Century, the proto-transhumanist "anti-Earth" (What "anti-Earth" means varies with perspectives) ideology of Zeon Zum Deikun is highly Enlightened (supporting humanity moving away from Earth and evolving into Newtypes), but various series portray this as a bad thing, a good thing, or a good ideology [[DontShootTheMessage corrupted by assholes]]. Incidentally, the Axis Zeon movement is highly Romanticist, as their leader Haman Khan believes that HumansAreBastards and is (theoretically) fighting to [[RightfulKingReturns restore the fallen Zabi family]], but this faction is portrayed entirely negatively. Put another way, in the Universal Century, [[CrapsackWorld ideology is mainly an excuse for people to kill each other]], and neither Enlightenment nor Romanticism comes off particularly well. |
| 288 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', after a considerable course of trials by the evil in humanity, is ultimately Enlightened, showing that humankind have a potential to reach a true understanding of one another and extend it to even extra-terrestrials, thus casting aside their difference and reaching true peace. |
| 289 | * ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has elements of both, in a variety of characters. Lelouch seems to be a classic ByronicHero, and at first, he tries to be, but that ends up not going well for him - and he definitely had a lot of Enlightenment-style ideas and practices all along. Suzaku, on the other hand, gives himself over to Enlightenment-style logic, as a reaction/atonement for his emotional, self-propelled action of [[spoiler: killing his father]] when he was young. However, he doesn't quite understand logic and critical thinking enough to be truly an Enlightenment figure - he ''is'' working for TheEmpire - and he ends up denying his Romantic feelings too much (see the PictureDrama Turn 0.56). Emperor Charles, on the other hand, is something of an immature Romanticist masquerading as what Britannians see as an Enlightenment figure. He preaches imperial domination and all that - not a true Enlightenment view, but that's beside the point - but what he truly thinks and feels is just angst that he's far too old for, over the death of his mother when he was a child. Overall, the series is less concerned with promoting one view over the other than with depicting the interplay between the two. |
| 290 | ** You could say, to go off of an example under mythology, that Lelouch is Athena attempting to be a ByronicHero, and Suzaku is Poseidon attempting to be an Enlightenment knight. This might seem to have UnfortunateImplications, from the fact that they are literally fighting for each others' homelands, against their own, but that falls apart in that none of the other Britannian or Japanese characters are clear-cut one or the other way, either. |
| 291 | * In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', the forest gods and animals are Romanticist, and the humans living in Iron Town are Enlightened (especially in their industrial ambitions and egalitarian treatment of downtrodden types like lepers and ex-prostitutes). In the end, peace is achieved on Romanticist terms, with the surviving villagers deciding to work in harmony with the forest. The Romantic figures are destroyed entirely, and while Iron Town may be destroyed, it will be rebuilt better than before since its residents better understand their relationship to the natural world. The ending is more a dialectical "synthesis" and {{Reconstruction}}, where the Enlightenment side accepts the Romantic "dystopia" critique and moves forward with a better understanding. That ending is actually very pro-Enlightenment, as a core value of the Enlightenment is rejecting dogmatism in favor of better ideas when one has more knowledge - which can include swallowing elements of the Romantic critique. In other words, an Enlightenment figure can evaluate a Romantic {{Deconstruction}}, say, "You're right!", and find a repair while still remaining ''entirely'' an Enlightenment figure. |
| 292 | * ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' is based on a conflict between the [[GoodRepublicEvilEmpire Romanticist-based Galactic Empire and the more Enlightenment-based Free Planets' Alliance]]. Neither of these are treated as a particularly ideal society. |
| 293 | * ''Anime/OriginSpiritsOfThePast'': The Forest and Ragna, though which side is which is complicated. On the one hand, there's the whole nature vs. science thing; on the other, Ragna and especially Shunack are obsessed with the past while the Forest is a genetically engineered Hive Mind of plants (possibly a biotech Posthuman) that brought down the old order. |
| 294 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'' is this, though it's more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealism vs. cynicism]]. One of the strongest themes running through the show is the power of dreams, and the ability to do anything if you want it hard enough, opposed by characters (especially Bellamy, in the Jaya sub-arc) who don't believe in the power of dreams or TrueCompanions. |
| 295 | * ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin'' presents a Romantic notion of witchcraft with neo-Victorian costumes. |
| 296 | * The MagicalGirl genre generally tends toward Romanticism. |
| 297 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': |
| 298 | ** This trope is a major theme in the series. On the Enlightened side, we have the cold, ruthless TotalitarianUtilitarian scientific [[spoiler:Incubators]] who will do [[PoweredByAForsakenChild anything to harvest energy]] and reverse entropy. On the other side we have hard Romantics such as Sayaka who follows the HonorBeforeReason KnightInShiningArmor morality, and [[WhatHaveIBecome who is utterly disgusted by the very thought of becoming anything other than human]]. Homura is more balanced, with her AntiHero-ism that is just as ruthless as [[spoiler:Kyubey's]] as she will do anything for the sake of [[spoiler:[[AlwaysSaveTheGirl protecting her beloved Madoka]]]], but at the same time she often serves as the ([[CassandraTruth ignored]]) voice of reason for the other magical girls, and at one point says that she is "on the side of those who think rationally". [[spoiler:Madoka provides a decision buffer in the Present between the two conflicting philosophies; she is disgusted upon both of them for their antiheroic extremism and manipulations, but also at the same time appreciates their intentions, knowing that Incubators try to prevent [[ApocalypseHow Heat Death]] and [[AncientAstronauts liberated mankind from the Stone Age]], while Homura is doing her best to protect Madoka.]] |
| 299 | ** The ending of the original series could be described as "Romanticism respecting the Enlightenment". [[spoiler:Madoka reorders the universe with ThePowerOfLove]], transforming from a girl who hates herself to... [[spoiler:a happy girl who essentially kills herself and disembodies her spirit in order to create a new system where all {{magical girl}}s are saved while the Energy system is not compromised. Madoka lets the Incubators exist to prevent entropy and give humanity civilization, while eliminating the worst and unnecessary waste products of the Puella Magi system (witches). She simultaneously assists Kyubey in his goal of preventing the heat death of the universe, and gives up her old self to help fix the world. If Madoka straight-up wished that Kyubey didn't exist and accepted her life as "naked and living in caves" while the universe dies from entropy, the series would be fully Romanticist]]. |
| 300 | ** ''[[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion Rebellion]]'', on the other hand, sides firmly with Romanticism. Kyubey gets much less screen time in this movie than in the series, and his role is much more clearly villainous as he [[spoiler:tries to restore the old witch system with no regard for the humans' fate]] and generally acts like a StrawVulcan, with his failure to understand human motives reaching utterly ridiculous levels. He also [[spoiler:concedes to Homura that human emotions are something that he will never either comprehend or control, while Homura intentionally creates a LotusEaterMachine on her own terms just to be able to see Madoka in her human form again]]. This time Homura is ''not'' "on the side of those who think rationally", as [[spoiler:the motive behind her transformation into Akuma Homura]] is irrational to the core, which is fully acknowledged by Homura herself. |
| 301 | * ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' is strongly romanticist from the art style and shot composition to character motivations to the heavy RuleOfCool in action scenes. Balalaika's rationalist ideology and fighting style, Enlightenment, make her that much more intimidating as a result. |
| 302 | * The ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'' franchise in general remains on the Enlightened end of the spectrum and relatively idealistic - even in the worst of times. |
| 303 | * ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' season 3 boils down to this: The Crimson Denizens led by the cold and ruthless Enlightened [[spoiler:Yuji Sakai]], with a belief that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, who tries to create a world where the Crimson Denizens no longer have to consume humans to survive, versus Shana's and the Flame Hazes' equally ruthless Romanticist [[AntiHero Anti-Heroism]] who will do anything for the sake of [[spoiler:protecting the Humans from being devoured by the Crimson Denizens. The Flame Hazes, eventually realizing that their current methods aren't working, give in and submit a rule the outright prevents the Crimson Denizens from consuming humans in any way, whom Yuji accepts. Judging how he succeeds in the end, this would make the series an Enlightened work.]] |
| 304 | * ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is heavily Romanticist. Japan is just a tool of manipulation by the Kakuzawas, who are Romanticist due to their motivations being based on folk bloodlines and history. The Kakuzawas try to wipe out and replace the human race with the genetically engineered Diclonius via spreading a virus that will result in its infectees siring Silpelit Diclonius. Even the Diclonius are Romanticist, as they rely solely on their emotions and instincts [[spoiler:(although most of the reason is due to the emotional and social abuse they experience, which results in their biological survival instinct fusing with their psychosis, which insists that humans must be eradicated or they will eradicate Diclonii)]], plus the fact that civilizing them is near-impossible due to their lethal PsychicPowers, combined with the awakening of their powers occurring at a childhood age, where they cannot understand between right and wrong, effectively making them {{Noble Savage}}s at best and AlwaysChaoticEvil at worst [[spoiler:(with the exception being Nana).]] Interestingly enough, it's [[spoiler: Lucy]] who ultimately goes on the side of Enlightenment as [[spoiler:she rejects the Kakuzawas' plans to supplant humanity with the Diclonius and even calls them out over their foolish ambitions being based on legends that ultimately were never true in the first place and saying that they are no more than just humans with atavism]]. |
| 305 | * ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has this as one of the central themes of the series and takes it to [[MagicVersusScience near-literal levels]], with the Magic Side being Romanticism and the Science Side being Enlightenment. It reaches its pinnacle during World War III, and ultimately [[spoiler:the Science Side wins, making the series more towards Enlightenment]]. |
| 306 | * ''Manga/DeathNote'' is generally Romanticist in character, with VillainProtagonist Light Yagami being a VisionaryVillain who wants to make the world a better place by force, which appears on the surface to be a sign of evil Enlightenment. And by the end (especially in the anime), several characters (and the authors) simply point out that [[spoiler:he's only doing what he does to satisfy his own ego and madness; he's actually a Romantic figure, and his support for the Enlightenment is just self-delusion.]] His main adversaries, meanwhile, are non-ideological and are essentially fighting him because that's what they do; while they disagree with Light, that's not really why they're fighting him. As a final note, it's worth noting that the actual Enlightenment voices in the show (Chief Yagami and [[OneSceneWonder courageous news reporter Koki Tanakabara]]) both come across ''extremely'' well in their support of the lawful actions of the police force and the constitutional government of Japan. |
| 307 | * ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' is extremely Romantic, albeit a very [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealistic and optimistic]] version. The heroines are reincarnated heroines from the lost Silver Millenium, led by [[PrincessesRule a princess]], they fight for and with ThePowerOfLove, and their destiny is to create a beautiful new [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Crystal Tokyo]] in the future under a new Queen Serenity. The latter in particular has proven ripe fodder for many a DeconstructionFic or plain old DarkFic. |
| 308 | * ''Anime/PsychoPass'' is complicated. The society built around the Sibyl System is an Enlightened TotalitarianUtilitarian state where people are imprisoned or killed based on their likelihood of committing crimes rather than on anything that they do, but the system generally seems to work pretty well (except where it doesn't), to the point where people are more likely to die from ''too little stress in their lives'' than from criminal activity. By contrast, the Romanticist villain Makeshima wants to bring down this system and release humans to follow their natures; he and all of his minions, however, are {{Serial Killer}}s, and he in particular is a complete sociopath. [[BlackAndGrayMorality Neither side is good]], [[spoiler: but Akane, the protagonist, turns out to be very strongly Enlightened indeed. In the ending, she decides that she'll work with the Sibyl System, but [[TheFutureWillBeBetter someday humans will come up with a better solution and pull the plug on it]].]] |
| 309 | * ''Literature/BlackBullet'' leans heavily towards the enlightenment side. One of the main themes is that humanity lives in a CrapsackWorld where Gastrea destroyed most of humanity and cursed children live with constant discrimination and racism. The protagonist wish to destroy the Gastrea and want to reform society to create a better life for both humanity and cursed children. In particular, Seitenshi serves as a Martin Luther King Jr. type figure who wants to implement civil rights for the cursed children and wishes to reunite humanity and cursed children in society to defeat the Gastrea. The protagonist, Rentaro Satomi, also share the same goals with Seitenshi, as he's a [[TheNeedsOfTheMany utilitarian]] who does not want to see anyone suffering and want to bring happiness to the cursed children's lives that they never had. Interestingly enough, Rentaro's partner and cursed child Initiator, Enju Aihara, falls into both sides of the spectrum [[note]]Enju also shares the same goals with Rentaro and Seitenshi and wanted to use her abilities to defeat the Gastrea, but she [[AllLovingHero has strong beliefs of love and forgiveness]] and that hope that one day, [[ThePowerOfLove her love and compassion for everyone]] will hope that humanity will accept her kind.[[/note]] |
| 310 | * The ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series overall is not even subtle about being on Team Enlightenment. The Administrative Bureau and the Mid-Childan society in general are a futuristic utopia based on cooperation and reason, while the Belkan civilization (whole dangerous legacy the Mid-Childans still have to deal with) had been firmly rooted in romanticized chivalry and warfare. The title character takes to the Mid-Childan culture immediately, while her opponents throughout the seasons are either [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha driven (mad) by passion]] or [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs blinded by their notion of honor]] and generally try to go it alone. She usually manages to [[DefeatMeansFriendship pull at least some of them over to her side]] by the end of the respective season, and thus far only ''[[Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce Force]]'' has introduced what appears to be an Enlightenment-style VisionaryVillain (although he hadn't received much characterization before the series was put on ice). |
| 311 | * ''Anime/StellviaOfTheUniverse'' lives so far off the Enlightenment edge of the scale, you can't even see the Romanticism end from where it stands. The series is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, but the devastation was a natural catastrophe, not anything created by civilization -- on the contrary, science and technology, powered by the remnants of humanity banding together, had carried the latter out of stone age back into space era in mere two centuries after the catastrophe, and now, the technological progress of united mankind is their best hope of surviving ''another'' impending (natural) apocalypse. The sole prominent Romantic element is the character of Ayaka Machida, who rejects the ideals of Enlightenment in her pursuit of personal passions and flaws, and ends up hurting a lot of people before her actions catch up with her and nearly end up ruining her as well. In the end, she is redeemed by overcoming her lone wolf nature and embracing cooperation and others' company. |
| 312 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Given that most of the heroes consist of various martial artists (of which the protagonist, Son Goku, spent his early life growing up in the wilderness after his adoptive grandfather's death) and in the case of Vegeta a prince of a near extinct species who has some [[HotBlooded fervent pride]] for this heritage, and not to mention all sorts of magic and supernatural beings, this series is largely Pro-Romanticist by default. This isn't to say that the series is inherently anti-Enlightenment, given that Bulma's Dragon Radar and other creations of Capsule Corp are important to helping Goku and co. with whatever needs they need, but the series also displays themes of wariness of becoming overly reliant on technology and methodology, especially at the expense of instinct and appreciation of nature and traditions. Many antagonists represent some of the negative aspects of Enlightenment thinking, though a few are also Romantic in mindset in order to display some of Romanticism own imperfections. Some examples include the following: |
| 313 | ** The Red Ribbon Army employs various forms of weapons and other technology (e.g. [[MiniMecha Battle Jackets]]) to achieve their goal of getting the Dragon Balls to fulfill Commander Red's goal, which they believe to be world domination, [[spoiler:but actually he just wants to be a few inches taller]]. Everyone the Red Ribbon Army throws at Goku is defeated with ease and are only able to inflict a defeat on him when they hire the mercenary Tao Pai Pai, an assassin who also has extensive martial arts expertise. Also amusing to note that one of the creations of the Red Ribbon Army, Android 8 (who has a resemblance to the creature from Frankenstein (see literature below)), developed his own free will and decided against serving his creators and instead to protect people and nature from the RRA. |
| 314 | ** King Piccolo, as a ContrastingSequelAntagonist, is far more Romanticist in outlook. In addition to restoring his youth via the Dragon Balls, he simply seeks to rule the world as a king with no other sort of ideological agenda (e.g. seeking to create a utopia, claiming the supremacy of one ethnic group over another, etc.). He also claims to be a demon (though later revealed to be of an alien race known as Namekians) and proudly wears his disinterest in modernity on his sleeve. He was the greatest threat that Goku and co. fought against when he first appeared because he had extensive martial arts skills and training in addition to his immense power instead of relying on technology. His son, Piccolo, by contrast eventually reveals himself as a good example of Romanticism (RousseauWasRight) after training and caring for his ex-opponents' son that brings about a HeelFaceTurn. |
| 315 | ** The Frieza Force is highly set into Enlightenment based on their use of various forms of high technology, such as scouters, healing pods, and spacecraft (in the case of the latter, those were far more advanced than anything that Earth had at the time of Raditz's introduction). While Frieza and his underlings tend to be smug when comparing themselves against the Z-fighters and Vegeta because of high opinion of their superior technology, this ends up leading to their defeat. Numerous times, the villains end up losing because they miscalculate the ability of their opponents by their power levels alone, not accounting for skill or tactics, or the fact that the characters learn to recognize this and trick their opponents by hiding their power. The few exceptions in the Frieza Force are Vegeta and his squadmates (Nappa and Raditz), who are Romanticist (Being motivated by the pride of their race and also among the few henchmen of the Frieza Force who are after their own goals instead of being obedient cogs in the machine of Frieza's Empire). Fittingly, Vegeta also survives to [[RousseauWasRight become a decent person]] as part of a long running HeelFaceTurn. |
| 316 | ** Dr. Gero relies on technology to create his soldiers, consisting of fully artificial androids (Androids 16 and 19), cyborgs (17, 18, and himself), and a Bio-robot (Cell) made from the genetic material of various warriors. However, Gero has long lost interest in the Red Ribbon Army's goal of world conquest and simply wants everyone to suffer in retaliation for his son's death just before the destruction of the RRA. Cell believes in Enlightenment principles to an extent, though is more of a narcissistic {{Ubermensch}} than anything else. Cell genuinely believes that he is perfect upon absorbing 17 and 18 and holds the Cell Games to trumpet how he is the greatest being in the universe via Bio-engineering and then destroy everyone on Earth after his assumed victory. However, Gohan taps into his emotions, brought about by Cell's destruction of 16, to achieve a new form, Super Saiyan 2, in order to defeat and ultimately kill Cell. |
| 317 | *** Androids 17 and 18 are irreverent joy seekers who couldn't care less about what authority figures (Dr. Gero included as he [[KilledOffForReal found out the hard way]]) expect of them (and arguably during this time could be considered Byronic heroes of sorts). Android 16, like Android 8 mentioned earlier, initially follows his programming, but manages to gain an appreciation of nature and thus decides to fight against Cell to prevent him from destroying the Earth and all the people and animals that inhabit it. Though in later sagas, 17 and 18 grow out of their states of delinquency, with the former becoming a wild life ranger who protects endangered animals from poachers and the latter becoming a wife and mother. |
| 318 | ** Some of the Majin Buu saga's antagonists are more romanticist-derived in their mindsets, thus making this another Romantic vs Romantic conflict. While [[EvilSorcerer Babidi]] and his minions have no particular philosophy, the titular Majin Buu of this story arc displays certain romanticist ideals. The first form that is shown, Fat Buu (sometimes called Innocent Buu), is like a young child that has not been raised to know right and wrong and thus is oblivious to how others are hurt in his path of destruction (of which he continues even after killing Babidi). Mr. Satan ([[{{Bowdlerise}} AKA Hercule]]) manages to get him to promise to never kill again after [[RousseauWasRight befriending him]]. However, when gunmen attempt to kill Mr. Satan, Buu expels his wrathful and selfish nature [[EnemyWithout into a new being]], Evil Buu (of who can be considered an example of Dark Romanticism in a sense), who then absorbs the former becoming Super Buu. This Buu is someone who is fully well aware of good and evil and takes sadistic pleasure, in killing, torturing, and, in the case of some of his victims, eating whoever comes in his way. However, when Super Buu and Fat Buu are defused, Buu then turns into a being of pure animalistic instinct known as Kid Buu, who is not acting under any sort of civilized notion of morality at all. |
| 319 | ** Zamasu and Goku Black are solid examples of the [[HobbesWasRight worst kinds of outlook of some Enlightenment thinkers]]. Upon seeing both the [[HumansAreBastards barbaric nature of some mortals]], despite the gods granting [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill sapience to them choose not to live that way]], as well as how powerful some mortals have become, Zamasu decides that all mortals most be destroyed in order to make a [[FinalSolution "peaceful" universe where only the gods would reside free of chaos and mortal evil]]. While other antagonists have committed destructive acts of villainy, The Zamases are portrayed as particularly monstrous, based on [[KnightTemplar Zamasu and Goku Black's warped view of justice]] that ticks off even the usually kind and forgiving Goku. |
| 320 | ** The various teams that compete in the Tournament of Power during the [[Recap/DragonBallSuperUniverseSurvivalArc Universe Survival Saga]] run the gamut between these philosophies. While the teams from Universes 4, 9, and 10 do not represent any particular ideology, the teams of Universes 2, 6, and 7 are mostly Romantic (with some individual exceptions) while those from Universes 3 and 11 are Enlightenment. Most of Universe 2's fighters are devoted to Love and Beauty (per their MagicalGirl parody with especial mention to the Maiden Squadron), while those of their counterpart universes 6 and 7 embody various aspects of instinct and rugged individualism. The fighters of Universe 3 consist of various cyborgs, robots, and a MadScientist. The Pride Troopers of the Universe 11 are superheroes who hold strict views of Justice and are apathetic to emotional appeals, especially from lawbreakers, and thus only regard fighting and victory as a means to an end rather than any sort of test of skill and strength and [[BloodKnight certainly not any sort of sport to be enjoyed]]. Though Universes 3 and 11 were among the last three in the fight, they still fail to defeat Universe 7's fighters, given that they had a balance of both rugged individualism, swift improvisation, and [[ThePowerOfFriendship trust between each other]] in order to outlast everyone else and win the battle royale. |
| 321 | ** The Broly story arc, as shown in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', displays some other Romantic ideals. Broly has been raised on a deserted planet, only accompanied by his father Paragus. As a result, he is a socially awkward NobleSavage who doesn't act based on the motives of other civilized members of the Frieza Force (e.g. greed, hubris, hatred towards particular groups of people). By contrast, Frieza and Paragus are acting out of their respective grudges against the heroes and thus manipulate Broly into being a weapon to serve that end. Notably, Goku even says about Broly that he isn't a bad guy and wishes he wouldn't be working with the two aforementioned villains. However, Frieza does exploit the Saiyans' emotion-derived power [[spoiler:by shooting Paragus in the chest and then claiming to Broly that a stray blast killed his father]] in order to trigger Broly's transformation into a Super Saiyan. [[spoiler: When Broly and his companions are visited by Goku after the battle on earth, the former shows no sort of ill will while Goku offers capsules with some amenities to them and extends a hand of friendship.]] |
| 322 | ** In ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', the Shadow Dragons to some extent represent a Romantic mindset. They are created as a result of the overuse of the Dragon Balls, of which Bulma's creation of the Dragon Radar contributed to this by making them easier to find and use, and thus unleash a sort of GaiasVengeance on the human race for their collective misuse of this supernatural resource. |
| 323 | [[/folder]] |
| 324 | |
| 325 | [[folder:Arts]] |
| 326 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_art Academic Art]] is UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment's artistic offspring. Its main characteristics are idealism (portraying reality at the high end of the SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty and through muted emotions), StrictlyFormula, and favoring allegorical {{art}}works (i.e., with religious, mythological, or historical themes). Notable exponents of this movement are Creator/AlexandreCabanel, Creator/WilliamAdolpheBouguereau, and [[Art/Odalisque1874 Jules Joseph Lefebvre]]. |
| 327 | ** The only time where Cabanel rebelled against the Movement's conventions was during his formative years. When he painted ''Art/TheFallenAngel'' as a student, his technique was not yet the absolute perfection the Academy demanded and his imprinting of emotions was deemed more appropriate for {{Romanticism}} than for Academicism. |
| 328 | [[/folder]] |
| 329 | |
| 330 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 331 | * ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'': Strongly Pro-Enlightenment. This is typically expressed in that they tend to have a strong degree of cynicism along the lines of British tradition, but it is born of their disappointment towards society failing to meet their Ideals. Team Romanticism is usually represented by Marvel Comics [[CaptainErsatz ersatzes]] [[TakeThat who get thoroughly beaten]]. |
| 332 | * Creator/MarvelComics was itself more Pro-Enlightenment than DC Comics. The Franchise/MarvelUniverse had relatively more complex origins and villains, many of them lived in a real-life city like New York, whereas DC had simplistic stories, villains and EmpathicEnvironment like Metropolis (the Home of Superman, and so bright, cheerful and optimistic) and Gotham (the Home of Batman, so dark, dingy and pessimistic). |
| 333 | ** ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is CaptainPatriotic in the Enlightenment tradition, he defends values and ideals and embodies them as best as he can in a rapidly changing world and commands leadership by consent and consensus rather than simply being the most powerful and charismatic of them all. |
| 334 | ** The Vigilante heroes of ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/ThePunisher and ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} are as a rule more romantic than Marvel's Team Heroes. Within them, Spider-Man is more Enlightened than the latter two, since he sees superhero careers as responsibilities and a daily struggle to balance both to the best of his abilities, while the latter two see crime-fighting as a personal crusade, rooted in trauma and personal demons. |
| 335 | ** While ComicBook/XMen have an Enlightened crusade of equal rights and social justice, their appeal as outsiders who are different from society attract many Romantic types. ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} is perhaps the most romantic figure in the Marvelverse, with his DarkAndTroubledPast, Heathcliff-like looks and charm and ByronicHero Lone Wolf nature. ComicBook/{{Magneto}} is likewise a TragicVillain in the Romantic mould. |
| 336 | ** In the ComicBook/FantasticFour, the conflict between Reed Richards and Doctor Doom. Both are brilliant scientists but the latter is a MadScientist dictator who combines magic with sorcery and promotes IntellectuallySupportedTyranny (Romantic) while Reed Richards represents the Enlightenment. |
| 337 | * Within Creator/DCComics, Superman is usually the embodiment of the Enlightenment (RousseauWasRight, HumansAreSpecial even if HumansAreFlawed) while Batman is the Romantic figure, a KnightInSourArmor protecting a WretchedHive and CrapsackWorld in ''Franchise/TheDCU''. |
| 338 | ** Superman's enemies are generally motivated by rational (if evil) goals such as TakeOverTheWorld[=/=]TakeOverTheCity/despotism and representative of some form of tyranny which Superman wants to oppose. Batman's enemies however are largely InsaneEqualsViolent who commit crimes for no rational reasons and render any attempt to reason or reform them a complete joke, with that most romantic of tropes, BedlamHouse becoming a CardboardPrison. |
| 339 | ** Likewise, Batman is largely a loner who broods in a castle with only a loyal retainer as his near-equal (in other words not quite equal), fitting the ByronicHero archetype well what his messy self-destructive love life and passive-aggressive arm's-length dynamic with his sidekicks, whereas Superman is extroverted in both his superhero and civilian identities, usually engages in long-term relationships and friendships and is loyal to his roots and community. |
| 340 | ** Of course Superman is bestowed with the SuperpowerLottery from birth and is a Romantic figure of optimism and progress, while Batman despite being a billionaire (and essentially as advantaged as Superman in the eyes of the ordinary man) is a BadassNormal who mastered all known physical and scientific skills and stands out across all comics as the only major hero without superpowers or PoweredArmor, or other gimmicks (Enlightenment). Likewise, Batman is a detective, someone who uses reason to pursue the truth. |
| 341 | * Broadly the difference between Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns''. ''Watchmen'' is on the Enlightenment side, exploring superheroes WartsAndAll but ultimately criticizing WhatMeasureIsANonSuper and Deconstructing the idea of superheroes as power fantasies. Miller is Romantic, believing that even in a modern post-apocalyptic Reaganite America, Batman can have a great deal of appeal as an anti-Establishment myth and figure despite the changing sociopolitical landscape. |
| 342 | * Olivier Rameau: The land of [[SugarBowl Reverose]] is at the extreme end of the romantic side - to the point that incursions by elements of the Enlightenment side are often treated as existential threats. |
| 343 | * ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' and ''ComicBook/SubMariner'' are an AlternateCompanyEquivalent to one another and occupy opposite sides of the Romanticism vs Enlightenment spectrum. Aquaman is Enlightenment and was originally conceived as a human adapted to underwater life via scientific means, and while his origins have changed since, he more often than not showcases the beauty and wonder of the sea and its inhabitants, with Atlanteans being humans adapted to living undersea in CrystalSpiresAndTogas. Namor, by contrast, was a HalfHumanHybrid and a VillainProtagonist at the start, his Atlanteans were merpeople hostile to outsiders, and he represents the lurking terror and unknown quantity of the sea, functioning as Romantic. This also extends to their personalities, especially early on, with Aquaman being written as a curious bookworm and trickster who did things for the sake of it, while Namor was a hot-tempered ByronicHero who did things out of duty or because he'd been crossed. |
| 344 | [[/folder]] |
| 345 | |
| 346 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 347 | * ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureau'' can go both ways. In one way, it's the HighFantasy-oriented ponies with their [[SugarBowl sing-song idealism]], magic and value-based society that may seem like the Romanticist faction opposing the advanced, [[CrapsackWorld yet environmentally decrepit and immoral]] TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Enlightened humanity, but the variation comes at a second glance when the humans try to defend their own [[GoodIsOldFashioned idealistic, though conservative]] [[HonourBeforeReason and debatably outdated values]] against the progressive but [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans terribly]] [[KnightTemplar pragmatic]] [[AssimilationPlot process of ponification]]. |
| 348 | * ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' is a huge advocate of Enlightenment. The protagonist, Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, is a rationalist who grew up with enlightenment ideals. The writer, Creator/EliezerYudkowsky, is the founder of Blog/LessWrong, a blog dedicated to rational thinking. Within the fanfic, Dumbledore represents the Romanticism, while Harry represents Enlightenment. Harry drifts away from the modern form of Enlightenment to the classic one over time; his goals stay the same, but his methods change from free thinking and experiment to revelation and epiphany. |
| 349 | * ''Fanfic/ScarsSamsara'' is heavily focused on this philosophical conflict, just like the above. Here, Scar is the one who's trying to bring enlightenment ideals into the Pridelands, while Mufasa and the established order try to resist him. Most [[RationalFic rational stories]] feature this to some extent. |
| 350 | * ''Fanfic/TheLastRingbearer'' has the democratic, technology-using and highly-enlightened ''human'' civilisation of Mordor vs. the backwards, arrogant, racist elves who want to enslave/exterminate humanity and stop all technological progress forever. [[WriterOnBoard You'll never guess which side of the dynamic the writer is on]]. |
| 351 | * The conflict between The Emperor (Enlightenment) and the citizens of Equestria (Romanticism) in the ''[[Fanfic/TheEquestriaChronicles Legends of Equestria]]'' continuity is clearly one of these. The Emperor favors a completely technology-driven society, built on the principles of mechanization and a rigid social structure. The inherent ideals of the ponies instead favor a more communal and friendly society. |
| 352 | * In ''Fanfic/{{Nosflutteratu}}'', Pinkie Pie helps Twilight resolve her dilemma by tricking her into thinking with her heart, not her head. |
| 353 | * ''Fanfic/ProdigalSon'': In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10699391/10/Prodigal-Son the first natural philosophy class Hiccup attends]], Artemisia brings up the idea that the world is round, while one of her more fundamentalist students Linus surmises that the Earth is flat because the Bible says as much, only for Artemisia to dismantle the notion through geometry. She then goes on to correctly assume that the Sun and stars are millions of times farther away from the planet than the planet's circumference, a notion that baffles even Hiccup. She is then hounded on by the impudent student after class, only for Artemisia to use his very talking points (quoting St. Augustine) against him. |
| 354 | [[/folder]] |
| 355 | |
| 356 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 357 | * Creator/FrancisFordCoppola and Creator/MartinScorsese both made {{deconstruction}}s of the gangster genres from two different views: |
| 358 | ** Coppola's ''Film/TheGodfather'' is Romantic, painting the Gangster family as modern day Renaissance Princes and their crime business in a benign light. The Corleone family is shown as a loving family despite their criminal enterprise. TheDon has a code of NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids and he wants good kids]]. Michael Corleone asserts to Kay, the AudienceSurrogate, that fundamentally gangsters are no different from politicians, businessmen or any other man who is responsible for other people. The Corleone crime enterprise is used as a dark metaphor for UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream and the overall contradiction of immigrant families assimilating, symbolized by Michael's desire for the family to get into legitimate businesses, which elevates him into a TragicVillain and ByronicHero. |
| 359 | ** Scorsese's vision is Enlightenment. He sees gangsters in ''Film/MeanStreets'', ''Film/GoodFellas'' and ''Film/{{Casino}}'' as hoodlums with DelusionsOfEloquence, poor street kids who fall into the criminal life because of poor homes, AbusiveParents and lack of opportunity. The Mob bosses seem AffablyEvil and NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters but that's just for show, in the end, everyone is OnlyInItForTheMoney and for the sake of it they will kill their friends, rat on each other, destroy themselves. The most violent street hoodlums will be the first to be disposed and often in the messiest of ways to MakeAnExampleOfThem, while the ones with cleaner hands, walk away with absolutely nothing to show for themselves, at the end of it all. |
| 360 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 361 | ** For the most part, the franchise is a thoroughly romanticist work: while nominally a science-fiction story, it is heavily inspired by high fantasy, with its Wagner-flavored music and the focus on larger-than-life heroes that are far above the common man thanks to an innate superpower (Force sensitivity). This is no more sharply contrasted than in the lush, vibrant SceneryPorn of the [[TheRepublic Old Republic]] and the cold, utilitarian appearance of TheEmpire. |
| 362 | ** However, the franchise is also one of the most well-known examples of GoodRepublicEvilEmpire (an Enlightenment trope), and when it comes to the Jedi and the Sith, the roles are reversed: the Republic/Rebellion-aligned Jedi preach stoicism and rationality (Enlightenment), while the Empire-aligned Sith preach letting one's emotions, especially anger, run wild (Romanticism). |
| 363 | ** In the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' continuity, Luke decides that BothSidesHaveAPoint, and seeks to unite both Enlightenment reason and Romantic emotion into the New Jedi Order, most notably by lifting the old Order's ban on romantic love. |
| 364 | ** It's unsurprising that ''Star Wars'' straddles the divide so thoroughly, given that it's based on a Japanese story (''Film/TheHiddenFortress'') and Chinese philosophy (UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}}, which strives for balance, not one side over another), thus distancing it (somewhat) from the European heritage this page is focused on. |
| 365 | * ''Franchise/JurassicPark''. The owner was a believer in Enlightenment reason with the cloned dinos, while the Romantic heroes sensibly pointed out the various problems in his park. This is purely an invention of the films; in the books the owner had no apparent philosophical stance at all and the Enlightened heroes sensibly pointed out the various problems in his park. |
| 366 | * ''Film/FightClub'' is Romanticist, as befits anything based on the heavily [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzschean]]-influenced work of Creator/ChuckPalahniuk. Palahniuk's novels often uses a CrapsackWorld to show the flaws of Team Enlightenment, have some Team Romantic protagonists show up and reject it, then break the protagonists into bits by the end of the novel. This certainly happened to the narrator of ''Film/FightClub'', everyone in ''Literature/Haunted2005'', and the protagonists of ''Choke'' and ''Invisible Monsters''. In both the film and book of ''Literature/FightClub'', the narrator ultimately rejects Tyler Durden's hyper-romantic goals, though the denouement is radically different in the film and movie. |
| 367 | * ''Film/DemolitionMan'' has Dr. Raymond Cocteau on the side of Team Enlightenment, as a totalitarian technocrat creating the city of San Angeles as overly sanitized, rational, morally upright, detached from base passions, and politically correct. On the other hand, LaResistance leader Edgar Friendly, as well as both protagonist John Spartan ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards and]]'' antagonist Simon Phoenix, are all Team Romanticism, opposing Cocteau's totalitarian technocracy as a fight for freedom (Friendly), on Classical Liberal principle (Spartan), or out of sheer disgust (Phoenix). |
| 368 | * ''Film/IRobot'' has Romanticist elements. The hero bemoans the replacement of the cottage industry by robotic industry, and muses that he might be the [[OnlySaneMan "last sane person"]] on earth. The robot apocalypse is written to be the result of logic. The goal, ending humanity's wars and self-destruction, is noble, yet the only reason given for the particular choice of solution (totalitarian uprising) to that problem is the word "logic". |
| 369 | * ''Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai'' features this clash, although it is thoroughly subverted: Colonel Nicholson of Team Enlightenment believes so passionately in law and order that he ends up turning to HonorBeforeReason, and collaborating with his Japanese captors in order to stay in command of his men. The wild, defiant [[KnightTemplar Warden]], representing Romanticism, ultimately behaves more rationally. At least compared to the Colonel. But the other contrast in the movie is between Nicholson and Shears. In this contrast, Shears represents the Enlightenment as he pursues his goals of survival and defeating the enemy by whatever rational means are effective. Nicholson, on the other hand, is the Romantic who puts the concept of honor ahead of those other goals. |
| 370 | * ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'' has Sherlock being largely pro-Enlightenment, in favor of reason, logic, and democratic government, and the movie's villain, Lord Blackwood, being largely pro-Romanticism, in favor of mysticism, monarchism, and a return to older ways of doing things. Seeing that Holmes is a hero protagonist, it seems obvious to say that the movie is pro-Enlightenment. However, Holmes is a freewheeling Bohemian who enjoys the arts alongside his other pursuits, while Blackwood is [[spoiler: [[ScoobyDooHoax a fraud]]]] who wants to impose a new order of his making over the people of Britain. The actual answer is more complex than it at first seems. |
| 371 | * ''Film/TrueGrit'' is a movie about the End of the West, and Mattie firmly takes the side of Enlightenment. Rooster Cogburn is ''very'' Romanticist, as are most of the Ned Pepper gang, and LaBoeuf is somewhere in the middle, trying to be Enlightenment but with a few Romanticist hang-ups. |
| 372 | * ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' is a clearly Romanticist work, as it is about an evil futuristic society where emotion is outlawed, and the extreme Enlightenment idea of suppressing all emotion through technology is definitely shown as wrong. However, the ending, while portrayed positively, never exactly comes clear on whether restoring human emotion is a good thing. |
| 373 | * ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' has an odd case of this (let's ignore the fact that the setting is actually when Enlightenment was just getting into its stride and Romanticism hadn't been born yet -- the series is famous for its AnachronismStew in more obvious ways). The very Romantic Elizabeth and Will struggle against the Enlightenment mentality of her father and presumed future husband, and... actually comes out the winner. The implication of the whole story is that Enlightenment is sensible, but wrong, and Romanticism is silly, but happens to be right (a Sparrowvian sentiment if ever there was one...). |
| 374 | * ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'' is romanticist even for cyberpunk. Electronics are giving people neurological disorders and a pharmaceutical megacorp is withholding the cure, which the [=LoTeks=] want to steal and distribute. And then there's Johnny's own goal of having his wetware removed so he can regain his childhood memories. |
| 375 | * ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'': the teaser trailer presents a rather Romanticist view of space travel - "because our destiny lies above us." |
| 376 | * An element of ''Film/IntoTheStorm2009''. For example, it is the gist of the Halifax VS Churchill debate. Halifax (pro-enlightenment) is proposing a pragmatic way out for the British Empire to remain, while Churchill (pro-romanticism) is priorizing honor and duty instead of survival. |
| 377 | * UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, as seen by ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', is all about this conflict. The movie is on the side of the Confederacy, which it associates with Romanticism, and title cards glory in comparing the quasi-feudal Old South to an idealized view of medieval Europe (in full PurpleProse, of course). As ''Gone with the Wind'' would have it, the Civil War was all about the Enlightened North bringing modern, industrialized destruction to the fragile Romanticist South with its GoodOldWays. The ironic tragedy of it all, from the perspective of the film, is that it was precisely because of their outdated Romanticist view of war that the Confederate soldiers rushed off to fight an Enlightened enemy whom they could not have possibly defeated. |
| 378 | * ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' comes down hard on the side of Team Enlightenment. |
| 379 | ** Monsters and fear can be conquered with technology, knowledge, and guts. When a literal PhysicalGod comes back and threatens Armageddon, it gets its ass handed to it by four guys with tools they made themselves and knowledge they gathered for themselves. There's no attempt to use magic against Gozer; it is defeated by science and reason. The subtext here is almost inescapable. |
| 380 | ** Furthermore, the technology involved doesn't require you to be special to wield it. The boys aren't [[TheChosenOne the chosen saviors of mankind]]; they're three scientists and the hired help who figured out something through study, developed a technology, and used it to solve the problem. Once they come up with the central technology, a normal guy like Winston can use it and even develop himself (in the ExpandedUniverse) to become an expert and invaluable teammate. |
| 381 | ** The premise itself is very much Team Enlightenment. Gozer isn't beaten with mysticism or magic. Knowledge, courage, and technology will suffice. Gozer represents the romantic view, with its ancient past, the terror dogs, the symbolism pulled from myth, and its mystic plot to return via an over-convoluted fertility rite. |
| 382 | ** The busters themselves only passingly reference religion, with Ray saying of God only he's "Never met him." Winston alone professes faith, but he confronts Gozer with technology, not religion or magic. |
| 383 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' expanded on the idea that enlightened ideas of reason and knowledge beat back our fears. Egon is the primary brains behind the technology. Why did he do it? Because he was menaced by the Bogeyman as a kid, motivating him to apply his intellect and reason to understand and best the things that scared him. |
| 384 | * ZigZaggingTrope in ''Film/BrotherhoodOfTheWolf''. [[spoiler:The titular Brotherhood are Catholic aristocrats using the Beast of Gévaudan as a way of putting the fear of God back into the French populace and increasing the power of the Church over the King. TheHero, Grégoire de Fronsac, is a naturalist fighting for Enlightenment principles, and is able to deduce [[ScoobyDooHoax the real nature of the Beast]] early on. However his sidekick Mani is a legitimate MagicalNativeAmerican whose healing powers turn out to be {{real|AfterAll}}, and the Brotherhood ends up being brought down by the Vatican itself. The {{Bookends}} also shows an older Marquis d'Apcher about to be guillotined by a mob during the ReignOfTerror brought about by those same Enlightenment ideas. He accepts his fate with fatalism as a casualty of the death of the old world that TheConspiracy tried to preserve.]] |
| 385 | * ''Film/{{Gattaca}}''[='s=] soulless eugenicist dystopia represents the Enlightenment run amok, but the plucky hero manages to succeed where "science" says he should fail due to his inferior genes. The tagline, "There Is No Gene for the Human Spirit", sums up the Romanticist message. |
| 386 | * ''Film/PacificRim'' wears its Team Enlightenment badge proudly on its sleeve. The very first opening lines could serve as the team anthem, in fact: |
| 387 | -->''"There are things you can't fight, acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a [[HumongousMecha Jaeger]], suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can ''win''."'' |
| 388 | * In the Polish book and movie series ''Przygody Pana Kleksa'' (Eng. The Adventures of Mr. Inkblot) this is the conflict between Mr. Inkblot and the Grand Electronic, the former is essentially a cross between Dumbledore and Mary Poppins while the latter wants to turn the entire universe into a MechanisticAlienCulture. |
| 389 | * ''Film/Nightfall1988'': Aton represents Enlightenment through his optimism and scientific devotion, while Sor represents Romanticism through his [[TheEndIsNigh doomsaying]] and religious devotion. The film itself pulls firmly towards Romanticism by having Sor be unquestioned in his authority while Aton's supporters undermine him by insisting science is fiction and betraying him to Sor. It also shows Aton's over-indulging in lust/love through his obsession over "that woman". |
| 390 | * ''Film/TheSunIsAlsoAStar'': This roughly describes Daniel and Natasha's views. He believes in fate and just going with your feelings. She believes you should analyze things and go by what science shows to be true. Despite this, they both find each other attractive, and seem to learn from each other. |
| 391 | * ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'' does some interesting work with this; |
| 392 | ** At first, the premise is fairly Enlightenment. The villain, Rafael Montero, is a Spanish colonial governor and aristocrat, wedded to the old ways and firmly believing in his right to rule the peasants, who's chased out of office by the Mexican War of Independence. The hero, Diego De La Vega, opposes him, fights for the people he oppresses, and seems supportive of said revolution - at any rate, he expects that it'll allow him to hang up his cape, since there'll be no more need of Zorro once the Spanish are gone. However; |
| 393 | ** The villain actually takes to the new system fairly well. On his way out, he gifts the Crown's lands to the local gentry, ensuring the survival and dominance of his social class into the new order. Upon his return, he hatches a plan to buy California from the Mexican government that very nearly succeeds. Whether as a Crown governor in New Spain, or a budding robber-baron in Mexico, he generally finds ways to manipulate the system for his own ends. |
| 394 | ** The movie pretty much confirms his cynical view that nothing changes ("the Spanish oppressed you, the Mexicans ignored you, the dons seem content merely to cheat and lie to you"). The California we see in the 1840s is as class-ridden as ever, the few soldiers we see are corrupt or incompetent, and the Mexican government seems to have no presence there. All in line with the Romanticist skepticism of progress. |
| 395 | ** Finally, while Diego's concern for the peasantry, opposition to aristocratic oppression, and sympathy for the revolution can all be viewed as Enlightenment values, the way he expresses that is purely Romantic - as an outlaw, an individualist, and a folk hero, single-handedly doing what's right to defy the corrupt system. |
| 396 | ** The sequel follows the same example. Once again, it's set against a major historical change (this time the admission of California to the Union as a free state) which teases the possibility that Zorro might be able to retire and leave things in the hands of a newer and more just government. Once again, that hope is proven wrong and Zorro needs to pick up his cape again to stop a new threat to California. Notably, when the representatives of the new system (the Pinkertons) show up, it's a disappointment - they're on the side of the "good guys," but still villainous and ultimately ineffective, requiring Zorro the Romantic outlaw hero to clean up after them. |
| 397 | * ''{{Film/Clara}}'': Clara is spiritual, carefree and sees meaning in the universe's patterns, a positive Romantic view. Isaac is a strict materialist, uptight and insists such patterns are random, as a negative Enlightened view. |
| 398 | * ''Film/LoveAtFirstBite'' has this as its central conflict. It is first represented by the Count (Romanticism) being kicked out by the government (Enlightenment). Thereafter Enlghtenment is represented by Van Helsing. This being a movie that sides with Romanticism, the Enlightenment side is presented as dry, dull, and passionless. |
| 399 | * ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'': If the film can be said to have a CentralTheme, it is this. Andre is Romantic, talking about a taking part in a series of experimental theatre projects that facilliated a spiritual awakening in him. Wally is Enlightened, prefering a more calm, comfortable life bolstered by science (especially electric blankets). Neither is presented as being right, but the last moments of the film suggest Wally has taken Andre's words to heart. |
| 400 | * ''Film/TheLastSamurai'': Combined with SoldierVersusWarrior. Katsumoto and his followers fight for a traditionalist and spiritual worldview as an EliteArmy of {{Samurai}} against materialist, RepressiveButEfficient Westernisers (personified by the wealthy merchant Omura) who use armies of conscripts with rifles and artillery. [[spoiler:All of Katsumoto's followers besides [[MightyWhitey Algren]] die in the final battle but they are successful in proving that classic Japanese values must be respected. [[DoomedMoralVictor Which was probably their goal all along.]]]] |
| 401 | [[/folder]] |
| 402 | |
| 403 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 404 | * ''Literature/ZenAndTheArtOfMotorcycleMaintenance'' is about classicism (enlightenment) vs romanticism. |
| 405 | * Andrew Miller's ''Literature/{{Pure|2011}}'' is set just before the French Revolution, before the days of Romanticism, but deals with basically this conflict. Should we sweep away the past and look rationally towards a better future, or is history too much a part of us, societally and emotionally? |
| 406 | * On one level, ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'' can be read as an allegory of enlightenment versus romanticism. Team Enlightenment includes Sam (major character) and Rob, Nathan, Tracy, and Jack (secondary characters), while Team Romanticism includes Ernie (major character) and Cassilda, Danny, Saul, and the pastor (secondary characters). Debbie is initially a fence-sitter but eventually joins Team Enlightenment. The last chapter hints at a reconciliation of the two. |
| 407 | * In one Creator/GuyDeMaupassant short story, a young woman and her grandmother represent respectively, the Romanticist mindset of her generation, and the Ancien Régime Enlightenment. They clash their views about love and marriage, with the granddaughter stating that one can love only once, marriage is sacred and cheating spouses should be harshly punished. The grandmother (a noble lady from before the revolution) argues that ''love'' is sacred, marriage is just a social convention, love can and should be looked for outside marriage and that is natural to have multiple loves during one's lifetime. She then admonished her granddaughter that holding such dogmatic views would make her an unhappy woman. |
| 408 | * ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' is often read as a pro-Romanticist parable on the evils of industrialization. Which is what it is...except when it's not. J.R.R.T. was a ''much'' more subtle and sophisticated thinker than that, and his view was that ''both'' 'Reformers' (liberals, social planners, industrialists, Progress, Enlightenment) and 'Embalmers' (reactionaries, clinging to the past for its own sake, close-minded, Romantics) were flip sides of the same bad thing, and both tendencies could be and were used by Melkor (the master of Evil) and his servant Sauron in their plots. The creation of the Rings of Power, for example, combined a Romantic desire to preserve the past and stop change with an Enlightenment faith in the power of Reason and Science and Logic to make the progression of time stop. Sauron played the Elves like a piano using both tropes, and thus brought about the creation of the Rings. Likewise, there was good in both the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and this too was shown to be true among those characters in the story who remained at least partly uncorrupted and loyal to God. |
| 409 | * Creator/RudyardKipling is an example of both the good and bad sides of Enlightenment-- he genuinely thought [[WhiteMansBurden Western imperialism was helping the non-Western "savages"]], but tended to express that in a way [[FairForItsDay we now perceive]] as condescending at best and racist at worst. He also had a romantic side to him as was expressed in his aesthetic appreciation of fishermen, soldiers, railwaymen, and all the various cultures in India. Really he was fascinated by anyone who lived differently from him. |
| 410 | * ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' is distinctly Romanticist-- it treats society (in the form of the Combine) as a corrupting force, suppressing and perverting emotion, and using technology to achieve its nefarious ends. |
| 411 | * Creator/CSLewis: ...Well, that's a complicated answer. |
| 412 | ** He tended to be suspicious of Enlightenment and more Romanticist in taste. Which is interesting as Lewis had a personality closer to TheSpock than TheMcCoy. Though in ''The Four Loves'' Lewis once [[GentlemanSnarker snarked]] that no one could really learn good and evil from "a vernal wood" unless they had an idea of it before hand and that someone could draw a lesson Wordsworth would not approve of as creatures in vernal woods spend a lot of time eating each other. |
| 413 | ** Lewis is on record, though, as saying, with regard to human relations (as contrasted to relations with other classes of being, such as beasts or God), he is a democrat because HumansAreBastards and no individual or clique can be trusted with too much authority over their fellows. However, democracy has its own corruptions, notably "Demonic Democracy," described by [[Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters Screwtape]] in "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," [[TallPoppySyndrome as social pressure that demands no one be excellent, since this would violate "equality."]] |
| 414 | ** Screwtape, a senior devil, continually advises Wormwood to rely on deception, jargon, and emotion to keep his human from acting morally and ethically. He wants the human thinking about "That was a phase," "This makes me happy," or "That idea is courageous," rather than the more banal questions, "Is this true?" or "Is this just?" Awakening the "patient's" reason would be a terrible idea according to Screwtape, as many of the decisions of the Hell-ward road have no rational justification at all. That's as enlightenment as it can get. |
| 415 | ** In his little-read ''Literature/ThePilgrimsRegress,'' Lewis had two allegorical characters named "Mr. Enlightenment." They were father and son, both negative figures. The father was a cocksure "village atheist" who dismissed philosophy, religion, and romanticism without looking into them, assuming we've OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions. The son was a pathological Freudian who claimed every disagreement with his position was a self-serving rationalization. "Pilgrim's Regress" is subtitled as a "defense of romanticism" (among other things). Later editions include a long postscript in which Lewis, a literature professor by trade, dissects about a dozen different meanings of "romanticism" and discusses each one. |
| 416 | ** In ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'', we have alternating criticisms of Enlightenment and Romanticism: |
| 417 | *** In ''Out of the Silent Planet'', the villain is an Enlightenment-style evil scientist who invents a spaceship so we can invade Mars, kill off the innocent Martians, and take it as a home for humanity's descendants. The Martian races themselves are clearly a harmonious mix of Romanticism (hrossa, pfiffltriggi as artists) and Enlightenment (seroni, pfiffltriggi as technologists). |
| 418 | *** In ''Perelandra'', the same villain has flipped to the Romantic side, obsessed with a universal life-force that is "beyond good and evil" and getting all Byronic/Nietzschean/Wagnerian, trying to convince the heroine that rebellion against God is a good idea. |
| 419 | *** In ''That Hideous Strength'', the new set of villains work for an Enlightenment dystopia that will eliminate organic life and reduce humans to disembodied brains. |
| 420 | ** In short, Lewis was less attached to either way of thought than to the idea that both should be used to serve good ends rather than bad ones. |
| 421 | * ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' is a peculiar take on this, viewing a society that is decidedly Romanticist from a lens that could be either Romantic or Enlightened depending on how one chooses to see Creator/FrankHerbert.\ |
| 422 | On one hand, Herbert [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] the RobotWar in the series' {{backstory}} (the Butlerian Jihad), treating its effects realistically, but he doesn't seem to criticize the (Romanticist) premise of the trope. On the other hand, although he used--nay, [[TropeMaker made]] and [[TropeCodifier codified]]--the (Romanticist) FeudalFuture trope (which he presents as the logical conclusion of the changes wrought by a realistic RobotWar), he does not present the Imperium as [[CrapsackWorld a particularly nice place to live for most people]] (regardless of whether a [[DecadentCourt Corrino]] or [[GodEmperor Atreides]] is on the Golden Lion Throne), and [[WordOfGod is said to have commented]] that (Creator/KevinJAnderson's so-called prequels notwithstanding) the series is supposed to end with the establishment of a real democracy (in other words, GoodRepublicEvilEmpire=Enlightened).\ |
| 423 | On the whole, Herbert tended to warn against the ''excesses'' of science, but on the other hand, he never rejected it as a force for good; being that his fundamental philosophy was "environmentalism," which seeks to protect nature (Romanticism) from the excesses of industry (Enlightenment) but often uses rationalistic justifications (Enlightenment) and the tools of science (Enlightenment) to do so. The only character in his oeuvre who might be seen as an AuthorAvatar is Liet-Kynes (and his father Pardot), who are decidedly Enlightened in outlook (their dream is to terraform Arrakis from a desert planet into a verdant, more ordinary planet, with oceans and plants and everything).\ |
| 424 | Herbert's wiser characters in ''Dune'' recognize that the Universe is too big, complex, mutable, and powerful for Englightenment logic to ever entirely encompass: in that it's Romantic. Yet science and logic and politics and reason are not ''bad'', as long as those using them remember that they have limits that they cannot escape, and they can never entirely escape the tendency of the Universe to surprise them (in that sense, he's rather like arch-Enlightenment guy Creator/CarlSagan). |
| 425 | * ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'' portrays some Enlightenment figures as almost latter-day superheroes. |
| 426 | * ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' mixes the two. At first it appears to lean ''heavily'' towards Romanticism, with Dresden being an archetypal ByronicHero with inherent superhuman powers, a kne-jerk reaction to authority and a KnightErrant mentality, making several disparaging comments towards modern science and technology. It's even built into the setting. Magic can easily disrupt modern technology. However, as the books go on, they lean not pro-Enlightenment, with Dresden's fight being against frequently monarchic and old-fashioned supernatural enemies that see humans as potential food or slaves and seek to dominate them feudal style (albeit from the shadows). He also demonstrates an increased appreciation for the capacities of mortal tech, especially in combat, noting that most supernaturals don't appreciate just how powerful and dangerous humanity has become - Though he notes with satisfaction that even the biggest and baddest supernatural bad guys don't act openly because they're scared of the humans they deride. He even stops once or twice to wax lyrical about things like satnavs and planes, about how cool they really are. Hell, he even develops a better relationship with authority. |
| 427 | * Marge Piercy's ''Literature/WomanOnTheEdgeOfTime'' can have multiple interpretations but no matter how you cut it, comes off on the side of Romanticism. |
| 428 | * Creator/HPLovecraft, pioneer of the ''extremely'' cynical, Romanticist and GothicHorror-laden CosmicHorrorStory genre, did like modern astronomy, and took a stance that's closer to Enlightenment (not the idealistic kind, but more similar to the British tradition that tended towards the HumansAreBastards perspective). He also had an oddly Romantic view of the Enlightenment itself, often styling himself as an Victorian gentleman of leisure. This is in contrast to fellow ''Weird Tales'' contributor Creator/RobertEHoward, who was certainly a die-hard Romantic who believed civilization was an aberration; obviously, this discussion came up often in their correspondence. |
| 429 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' enjoys PlayingBothSides of this debate: |
| 430 | ** On the whole the series subverts a lot of fantasy and chivalric tropes by presenting a very cool Enlightenment view on feudal traditions, militarism, government and ideology, by emphasizing a heavy sense of {{Realpolitik}}. However at the same time, Martin does empathize and identify with those who ''do'' believe or are inspired by romantic tropes (such as Brienne, Davos, Dunk, Arya Stark, Samwell, Jon Snow and Sansa) who come to value and hold on to these ideals in the face of violence and extremism, because in a world without ideals, it's up to [[UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}} people to define and embody them to give it any meaning]]. |
| 431 | ** In a romantic work, the magical faction would be right with the non-magical MeasuringTheMarigolds type shown to be wrong; in an enlightenment work, it would be the reverse. In the books, magic ''always'' comes at a price, is likened to CosmicHorror and the people who practise magic (such as Melisdanre and Moqorro) have BlueAndOrangeMorality and despite having genuine powers are shown to have limited understanding over their own magic. The non-magical scholarly folks are shown to be [[ProfessionalButtKisser lackeys]] of the ruling classes, TooCleverByHalf, tend to belittle and marginalize the genuinely curious and knowledgable. Then there's Qyburn, an Ex-Maester who brings a scientific spirit of inquiry to the study of magic and becomes a competent doctor ''and'' a {{Necromancer}} who harvests the dead and the living, showing that mixing the tropes might not work. Ultimately both the magical and non-magical folks have a very limited understanding of the world and forces beyond their control. |
| 432 | ** The contenders for the Iron Throne invoke a lot of romantic justifications for their cause. Balon Greyjoy (and later Euron), as well as Robb Stark AppealToTradition, reviving dead titles, and past glory, rather than remain in the unified 7 Kingdoms. Daenerys Targaryen believes that the throne belongs to her by right of blood since her father's throne was usurped, and whose tyranny she is generally in denial about. Renly Baratheon believes that since everyone likes him, and since he commands a large force he should be King, law of succession be damned. Stannis Baratheon is Team Enlightenment, in that he seeks to restore rule of law, order and reform Westeros, wants the Throne because of his legal claim and duty. He also agrees with his Hand that, "A King protects his people, or he is no true King at all." |
| 433 | * ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt'' has the magical and highly traditional Inapt races (Romantic) and the forward-minded, technologically-oriented Apt races (Enlightenment). |
| 434 | * Creator/DavidBrin, of course, is one of the most vocal critics of Romanticism (or [[http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2011/11/pining-for-feudalism-as-antidote-for.html "Pining for Feudalism"]]) in the SF&F community, with harsh criticisms of ''Franchise/StarWars'' (Romanticist) in comparison with ''Franchise/StarTrek'' (Enlightenment). |
| 435 | ** The ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series is an unusual example, essentially every alien race in the series is more technologically advanced than Earthclan, but they are utterly stagnant due to all their technology coming from the Library handed down from their [[{{Precursors}} ancestral species]]. Whereas humans prefer to use as much technology that they developed themselves as possible and have often used their interest in scientific advancement to their advantage. |
| 436 | ** In ''Literature/ThePostman'' the [[CrazySurvivalist Holnists]] represent romanticism with their campaign of conquest aimed at making themselves the feudal lords of post-apocalyptic America, while Gordon's reformed United States and Cyclops represent enlightenment. This was something of a TakeThat directed towards AfterTheEnd books which seemed to romanticize the fall of civilization, with Brin noting pointedly how bad a life like that would be, and everything we'd miss. |
| 437 | ** Also a central theme of Brin's most recent novel, ''Literature/{{Existence}}''. The new aristocracy consider the enlightenment a failed experiment and seek to return humanity to a form of feudalism (after all 99% of human societies couldn't be wrong, could they?) and the often allied Renunciators want to restrict technological progress. Meanwhile others attempt to create artificial sapience or revive the neanderthals. The Artifact exacerbates the argument, [[spoiler: especially when it turns out that the emissaries' species are all extinct, the Renunciators insist that technology must have killed them while the elites jockey for opportunities to upload themselves into the Artifact copies (and for their troubles get tricked into becoming part of a solar system spanning telescope)]] |
| 438 | * Chuck Palahniuk's novels, mentioned under Film, usually feature a strong criticism of the Enlightenment with their CrapsackWorld settings. The protagonists then wind up to be strongly Romantic individuals who are terribly messed up, often as a result of their Romanticist views. For example, ''Literature/FightClub'' may be taken as a testosterone-fueled criticism of modern life, but the protagonist winds up rejecting everything his SenseiForScoundrels hoped to do, shoots himself in the face to try to undo his plans to shake modern society, and winds up committed to an asylum. ''Literature/Haunted2005'' is a set of short stories critical of the world of Enlightenment interlaced with the Romantic-heavy physical and moral breakdown of the {{jerkass}}es who wrote them. diary features a protagonist whose Romanticism essentially makes her powerless while the Enlightenment world around her wrecks her life and Romantic forces push her towards a supernatural disaster her Enlightenment intellect can't save her from and haven't been able to save her from for two previous cycles of reincarnation. Phew. |
| 439 | * Creator/WilliamMorris, with his utter disdain for 19th century industrialism and visions of [[{{Arcadia}} rural idylls]] based on simple craftsmen making beautiful things, falls firmly into the Romantic camp. ''Literature/NewsFromNowhere'' was explicitly written as a Romantic response to Edward Bellamy's pro-Enlightenment ''Literature/LookingBackward'', which Morris found stiflingly industrial, favoring a more "back to nature" agrarian communist {{utopia}}. |
| 440 | * ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'': The technocratic TotalitarianUtilitarian FreeLoveFuture World State is a dystopian deconstruction of the Enlightenment utilitarian post-scarcity utopia; everyone's basic biological pleasures are provided for by the advanced technology, but this scientific society also ends up encouraging neglect for creativity and individuality (e.g. the family is entirely destroyed, with natural reproduction outlawed and "mother" or "father" considered ''dirty words'', no one is interested in TrueArtIsIncomprehensible, and ''Romeo and Juliet'' is comedy), while use of genetic engineering for happy but disturbing ends forms one of the bases for society (e.g. humans now all have perfect health but also a HiveCasteSystem, one end being the retarded but perfectly contented slaves, and the other being the intelligent alphas who needed said slaves to look down upon). On the other hand, the Savage is Romanticist, appreciating his life of pain and superstition, and considers the World State to be amoral and unnatural. Still, the life on the native reservations is no picnic, and his mother (who grew up in the World State) has been miserable living there. |
| 441 | * Creator/PoulAnderson: |
| 442 | ** "Holmgang": the villain, a humanist, is part of a movement to break down the order of society, increase the amount of variety in human institutions, and end the decadent society because mankind can be safe and sane for only so long. He reveals that in fact, he's part that will forcibly push mankind into this breakdown, and an eruption of violence. |
| 443 | ** "Goat Song": Harper goes to destroy the society constructed by SUM, urging people to give up the bracelets that contains a promised earthly resurrection, spreading myths and legends, and trusting in things can not be found in science. He's the hero. Yes, this is the opposite of "Holmgang". |
| 444 | ** ''Literature/TechnicHistory'': As fitting for a SpaceOpera this series tends to lean toward the romantic, with it's adventuring, colorful cultures, politics both on an imperial and tribal scale and it's tragic clashes of honorable characters. Yet it also has an enlightenment side, such as a search for knowledge and a respect for science, and a balanced appraisal of both the benefits of commerce and it's costs on those who can't compete. |
| 445 | * Mary Shelley's ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' was written for the Romantic movement, and its [[MadScientist central protagonist]] [[CreatingLife creates life]] to prove that he can, without asking whether he ''should''. The book's answer, of course, is that he most certainly ''shouldn't''. Or, at the very least, if he wanted to create life, he should have taken responsibility for the creation and nurtured it rather than abandoned it. |
| 446 | * Creator/JulesVerne's posthumously-published ''Literature/ParisInTheTwentiethCentury'' runs on this trope. It's basically a somewhat dark satire on industrial modernism, where technological marvels abound and war has been rendered meaningless by the horrors of mechanized warfare and the pragmatic concerns of international trade, but there is little soul; commerce, scientific progress and the like are lauded, the arts have decayed into LowestCommonDenominator trash, humanities are ignored, and there is little room for any other such Romantic notions. This makes the protagonist, one of a small dwindling band of closet romantics, unable to cope in his own era, and he ends up [[spoiler: wandering the streets, impoverished and in despair, and eventually dying.]] |
| 447 | * ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' has the weird quality of being Enlightened in its sympathies-being about reform bringing in technology, the rights of the unfortunate-while being Romantic in it's decoration-having medieval splendor, savage warlords, and so on. |
| 448 | * ''Literature/LoneWolf'' is exceptionally Romanticist in character. Technology is nearly always used by the bad guys, including steam-powered and polluting ironclad vessels, and [[GreenAesop clean and pristine environments]] weaken the Darklords of Helgedad, the villains for the first 12 books. Later, Lone Wolf travels to a world under the control of the BigBad, where advanced {{Magitek}} weapons are brought to use against him. Yet Lone Wolf only uses a very few examples of {{Magitek}} himself, never even so much as picking up a musket, and if the Kai win, Magnamund will remain in MedievalStasis forever. This is presented as a good thing. |
| 449 | * ''Literature/OryxAndCrake'', despite the title, revolves around the friendship between Jimmy (later Snowman) and Glenn/Crake. Jimmy represents Romanticism, attending an arts school when arts and humanities are out of favor and collecting forgotten words from books he can't bear to destroy. Crake represents Enlightenment, designing as he is a new humanoid race meant to function without religious leanings or romantic love (although Crake himself isn't immune to the latter.) Margaret Atwood's sympathies clearly lie with Romanticism, especially since Crake [[spoiler: releases a supervirus to kill every human being on the planet]]. |
| 450 | * ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' is basically Mark Twain's deconstruction of the popular romanticization of what he obviously regarded as the DungAges through the eyes of a solidly Enlightenment protagonist. Note that while Twain ''definitely'' opposes Romanticism--he partly blamed the fandom of Sir Walter Scott's Romantic works for the American Civil War, leading to a lifelong hatred for Romantic ideals--he wouldn't quite fit in with Enlightenment thinking, as he was far more cynical about human nature then most Enlightenment figures. |
| 451 | * The last [[PopCultureOsmosis (and highly-forgotten)]] voyage in ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' was made as a satire of the Enlightenment in Jonathon Swift's time, with the Houyhnhnms representing the ideal human society the Enlightenment craved but could never achieve, and everything wrong with such a place. |
| 452 | * Creator/BrandonSanderson: |
| 453 | ** Sanderson often comes off in favor of Enlightenment in his works, as they usually take place during an age of progress and innovation. The Romanticism angle is still given a fair shot, however, and more than once in his books problems have been caused by people insisting on studying things when the older, traditional way was working fine. In several books there are characters who miss the old ways (like candles versus electric lights or fireplaces versus heating magitek) but understand that things can't stay the same forever. |
| 454 | ** "Literature/SixthOfTheDusk": It comes out on the Enlightenment side, but in a balanced way. Progress is repeatedly seen as inevitable and developing technology is having a positive impact whether Dusk sees it or not. And the audience is certainly likely to sympathize with the scientist deuteroganist. But on the other hand, the traditional ways of Dusk's people are ultimately shown to have value and in the end it's the insight from them that provides critical insight for the future. |
| 455 | * The "Literature/TheSouthernReachTrilogy", true to both its Lovecraftian and eco-fantasy inspirations, comes down strongly on the Romanticist end of the spectrum. The unknown is a source of horror and danger rather than discovery and possibility; the "pristine" nature of Area X compares favorably with the toxic pollution and social decay of the modern world; the narrative focus is on the characters' emotions and subjective perceptions; science and logical reasoning are of little to no use; and [[spoiler:ultimately there are few answers as to what has been going on the whole time]]. |
| 456 | * Creator/HarryHarrison's AlternateHistoryWank ''Stars and Stripes Forever'' features a war between the United States and the British Empire. The Americans are utterly heroic and possess superior technology, representative democracy, a civilized and by-the-book warfare doctrine, and Enlightened 21st Century views on race and gender. Opposing them, you have the inhumanly stupid, evil and stereotypical British who shun technological advancement, live under a repressive and backwards medieval-style ''absolute'' monarchy, practice RapePillageAndBurn to an extent that would make the Mongols proud, and are deeply racist and sexist. No points for correctly guessing which side Harrison's on. |
| 457 | * In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', the Northern Confederation faces various enemies, but their ultimate adversary is the Republic of Azania. In their war, the sides essentially personify this tension: whereas the Confederation is a right-wing libertarian, openly reactionary state of [[GoodOldWays rugged frontiersmen]] that aims to reproduce America under the Articles of Confederation, complete with traditional values and a horror for bureaucracy, oppressive technologies, and even big business, Azania is a technocratic-totalitarian LadyLand that uses science, technology, eugenics, and state planning to abolish [[NatureIsNotNice violent, unequal nature]] and seeks to create an artificial, all-female utopia. So, this one gender-flips the usual stereotypes, but otherwise plays totally straight. |
| 458 | * Though the the series is set at least a century before either of these schools of thought were formally codified, this dynamic plays out frequently in Hilary Mantel's ''Literature/WolfHall'' books. Thomas Cromwell, with his extensive travels, practical experience as a banker and merchant (among many other occupations), appreciation for new trends in theology, politics, and economics, and generally pragmatic outlook, represents the Enlightened thinking that resulted from the Renaissance. King Henry and most of his court, meanwhile, are still stuck in the Romantic Middle Ages, believing themselves to be the noble knights of a medieval poem rather than outdated figures at risk of becoming obsolete. The divide between these two perspectives is probably best illustrated when a courtier threatens Cromwell with soldiers; Cromwell successfully one-ups the man by threatening him with creditors. |
| 459 | * Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Trends}}": In this story, these two opposing philosophies are presented as religion and science. During the First World War, people became more unconventional and technology-minded. In the fifty years since then, the "pendulum" swung back, and society has become religious traditionalists again. Otis Eldridge, a [[DarkMessiah charismatic religious leader]], represents Romanticism while John Harman, who has sunk his personal fortune into the rocketry project and scientific progress, represents Enlightenment. |
| 460 | * ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' is an interesting case, in that, while he is the TropeCodifier for the GreatDetective, and seemingly on the Enlightenment side, he does from time to time show Romantic leanings. In "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", he waxes philisophic about a moss rose being evidence not only of God, but firm proof that GodIsGood. In "The Solitary Cyclist", he says he almost mistook the client for a typist, until he noticed a radiance about her that made him realize that she was a pianist. In "The Blue Carbuncle", he [[LetOffByTheDetective allows the Thief of the eponymous object to leave]], citing, among other things, the season (Christmas) as a reason for mercy. And while he chides Watson for embellishing and dramatizing the cases, he himself will admit to a flair for theatrics when involved in cases, and when he tries to write an account of one of his cases himself, concedes that the dramatic elements are necessary to make the work engaging to an audience. |
| 461 | * ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'' and the TV show based on it sometimes engage in this trope, not surprisingly given the Napoleonic setting: |
| 462 | ** In ''Sharpe's Rifles'', the brothers Tomas and Blas Vivar - the former a pro-French sympathizer, the latter a nationalist aligned with Britain - embody the Enlightenment and Romanticism sides of this trope. Sharpe himself doesn't really see himself as either, though he's fighting alongside the Romanticist brother. |
| 463 | --->'''Tomas Vivar''': Bonaparte brings the light of reason. There are two Spains, Lieutenant. My brother's Spain is a monastery: silence and superstition. My Spain is a court: science and scholarship. If you were Spanish, which would you choose, Lieutenant? |
| 464 | --->'''Richard Sharpe''': [[WorkingClassHero I am neither monk nor prince.]] [[TakeAThirdOption So I would choose a tavern.]] |
| 465 | ** ''Sharpe's Devil'', on the other hand, has the two aligned differently and shows that Romanticism isn't restricted to people with conservative/monarchist beliefs. Set in the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWarsOfIndependence, the book introduces Lord Thomas Cochrane (a naval captain leading the Chilean fleet in its war against the Spaniards) as a loud voice for Team Romanticism - he relishes freedom from all authority, the glory of war, and his general world of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, has a bad relationship with the politicians leading his side, and hates the idea that his revolution will ultimately add up to nothing but creating a "government of lawyers" (which he regards as the scourge of mankind). It's finally revealed that he [[spoiler:had made his own plans to break UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte out of his Saint Helena prison and offer him a chance to lead Chile and rebuild his empire in the Americas. Sharpe, who's just spent twenty years of his life fighting the wars Napoleon started to dominate Europe, is horrified by this, preferring his quiet life in Normandy to the world of adventure - and death and bloodshed - that Cochrane and Napoleon find meaningful.]] Cochrane and his Chilean masters thus represent two different faces of the revolutionary movements sweeping Europe and the Americas - one emotional and militaristic (Romanticism), the other rationalistic and legalistic (Enlightenment). |
| 466 | * ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' has a very Romanticist bent, with its titular tragic ByronicHero denied so much because of his deformity and an open Romanticist, but looking it with an Enlightened perspective and you see... an abusive, exploitative, murderous StalkerWithACrush who is actually the VillainProtagonist. He also gets redeemed at the end, although it comes as a serious emotional shock to him. |
| 467 | [[/folder]] |
| 468 | |
| 469 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 470 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 471 | ** Very Enlightened, particularly with the Vulcans. Who were, in turn, occasionally [[StrawVulcan proven wrong]] by [[TheMcCoy more romantic types.]] Which conveys, if clumsily, the idea that both are right in the right place and wrong in the wrong and the problem is deciding which is which. |
| 472 | ** Klingons and Romulans in some interpretations (as edgy-but-not-necessarily-evil ProudWarriorRace s rather than AlwaysChaoticEvil races) are more Romantic whereas Vulcans are more Enlightenment, yet they have some surprising Romantic traits like mysticism and dark tribal traditions as was shown in the episode ''Amok Time'' (this was even more so in the past, when they came close to destroying themselves, taking a more Enlightened philosophy in response). The humans may actually be the best examples of Enlightenment in the Trek verse. |
| 473 | ** The Borg are a heavily dystopic take on Enlightenment, speedily adapting to every new technology they see and subsuming individuals to make their race stronger. Of course, they're the bad guys, so Romanticism gets its turn in the sun whenever the Borg are the MonsterOfTheWeek. |
| 474 | *** It's been argued that the Borg embody ''both'' capitalism (Romanticism) and communism (Enlightenment). The Borg dispel any notion of individuality, to the point that [[WeHaveReserves all Borg drones are mere cogs in the greater machine totally lacking in any free-will]], while the Collective also sees anything and anyone as a mere resource to be consumed, no matter the consequences. |
| 475 | --->'''Q:''' The Borg is the ultimate user. They are unlike any foe your Federation has faced. They're not interested in political conquest, wealth, or power as you know it. They're simply interested in your ship, in its technology. They've identified it as something they can consume. |
| 476 | ** If Michael Eddington is anything to go by, the Maquis breakaway from the Federation has elements of Romanticism in conflict with the prevailing Enlightenment ideology of the Federation. Though their initial grievance was the handover of their colonies to the Cardassians, they also value the rugged frontier lifestyle above the utopian society of the Federation. |
| 477 | --->'''Eddington:''' Why is the Federation so obsessed with the Maquis? We've never harmed you. And yet we're constantly arrested and charged with terrorism. Starships chase us through the Badlands and our supporters are harassed and ridiculed. Why? Because we've left the Federation, and that's the one thing you can't accept. Nobody leaves paradise. Everyone should want to be in the Federation. |
| 478 | ** For individual characters, Spock represents Enlightenment with his logical approach and [=McCoy=] represents romanticism with his HotBlooded, emotional, sentimental nature. |
| 479 | * Gene Roddenberry's posthumously produced series ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' has the heroes trying to rebuild a democratic interstellar Commonwealth while fighting SocialDarwinist {{Nietzsche Wannabe}}s, environmental extremists, and other enemies who are harder to place. In one episode the captain convinces a newly crowned feudal monarch to abdicate in favor of a democracy. |
| 480 | * ''Series/TheXFiles'': [[AgentMulder Mulder]] is on the Romantic side (being willing to forget Ockham razor in many circumstances) and [[AgentScully Scully]] is on the Enlightened one (always searching for a scientific explanation). However, they swap roles when it comes to religion, since Mulder is agnostic while Scully is a staunch Catholic. |
| 481 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is a deconstruction of this entire trope, with Enlightenment being the major driving force of the 'verse, but Romanticism being an ever-present part of the less developed worlds, like the ones the main characters find themselves on. The episode "Safe", though, seems to be a slap at Romanticism. One of Simon's insults to the crowd that wanted to BurnTheWitch was "ignorance". Simon himself, being a doctor who went to the best Alliance-sanctioned schools, leans hard toward Enlightenment. His (eventual) love interest [[spoiler:Kaylee]] leans very Romantic, which complicates their relationship. TheFilmOfTheSeries ultimately lands on the Romantic side, [[spoiler: as the Enlightenment-minded Alliance attempts to create peace by deliberately destroying the human emotional spectrum, and succeeds in killing 90% of the population of the planet Miranda, condemning the rest to a FateWorseThanDeath as the first Reavers]]. |
| 482 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 483 | ** Most of the Doctor's chronic enemies are Enlightenment thinkers -- the Daleks and the Cybermen had a sort of [[{{Dystopia}} "Utopian"]] goal of destroying everything not Dalek or Cyber, the Sontarans are imperialists who have used technology to overcome their biological limitations and the Time Lords are corrupt politicians who put so much faith in history's inevitable development that they never help anyone or change. |
| 484 | ** Yet the Doctor isn't purely a creature of Romanticism either, usually being positioned as following elements of both viewpoints while the [[MonsterOfTheWeek villains of the week]] always overprofessed one or the other. Individual incarnations of the Doctor sometimes tend more towards one or the other; for example, the Tenth Doctor being quite an Enlightenment-centric believer in the power of science and reason, and the Eleventh having more of a Romantic streak with a propensity to make it up as he goes along rather than make logical detailed plans for action. The Third Doctor is probably the most Enlightenment, criticising Linx in "The Time Warrior" for giving humanity technology it hasn't progressed enough for yet and fighting a conspiracy of reactionaries trying to return the world to a "golden age" in "Invasion of the Dinosaurs", but even his philosophy involves a certain amount of pop-Buddhism; then he's succeeded by the Fourth Doctor, a Doctor aesthetically inspired by Romantic poets and a spreader of individuality and chaos, who nevertheless makes a point of schooling Leela in the logic and reason her society was not yet developed enough to know about. |
| 485 | ** Romantic enemies tend to show up as one-shot enemies and were especially common in the more science-positive '60s and '70s. A few notable examples are Mehendri Solon from "The Brain of Morbius", a MadScientist, MadArtist and fascist in a strongly Byronic mold whose attempts to build a body for a Time Lord dictator are arranged around sentimental, aesthetic motives; the Mandragora Helix in "The Masque of Mandragora", which was targeting Earth around the beginning of the Renaissance with the goal of preventing the Enlightenment from happening and keeping Earth in a perpetual dark age of ancient superstition; and any number of villains from the Creator/WilliamHartnell "pure historicals" who would call the Doctor's science witchcraft or attempt to sacrifice his companions to the gods. [[note]]Although, on that last point, it should be observed that the villains in the Hartnell historical "The Reign of Terror" are the most literally Enlightenment villains the Doctor ever faces, being that they're French Revolutionaries.[[/note]] |
| 486 | ** "The Face of Evil" is about Xoanon, an all-powerful A.I. driven insane by having the Doctor's personality implanted into it, attempting to resolve its crisis by socially engineering a culture based on each half of its personality and having them fight to the death. The "computer" race is the Enlightenment Tesh, who have high technology, view the expression of emotions as taboo, hide their women, wear identical clothes and use psychic powers to manipulate each other. The "Doctor" race is the Romantic Sevateem, who have low technology, wear skins and follow ancient superstitions but value emotional self-knowledge and freedom, and have equal gender roles. When the Doctor himself enters, he's able to teach the Sevateem warrior Leela some principles of scientific rationalism, before having a long talk with Xoanon about its feelings. |
| 487 | ** What is interesting to note about the various incarnations about the Doctor is that the various incarnations alternate between Enlightenment and Romanticism, with the odd-numbered Doctors being Pro-Enlightenment and the even-numbered Doctors being Pro-Romanticist. |
| 488 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 489 | ** Romantic in spirit, with high pitched {{Melodrama}}, fantastic scale, prophesies, fate, and GoodOldWays. Moreover Delenn who was one of the most central characters was TheMcCoy and she didn't really have TheSpock to balance her (Franklin was the closest thing to a Spock and he didn't interact with Delenn much). |
| 490 | ** On the other hand, ''B5'' also presents a struggle for a better, more rational future, and emphasizes the importance both of backward-looking rootedness (in the Minbari) and of forward-looking independence (in the humans). In the other words, a happy marriage of Romanticism and Enlightenment, embodied in the similarly happy marriage of John Sheridan and Delenn. |
| 491 | ** From a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] perspective, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski is an emphatic liberal, a deep-seated believer in science, and a thoughtful atheist (i.e. all Enlightenment) who nevertheless clearly has deep respect for thoughtful conservatives/traditionalists and people of faith even as he criticizes the excesses of religion. In other words, Enlightenment respecting Romanticism and giving it its due-and given that much of ''B5'' is at least partly an AuthorTract, this comes the closest to expressing the show's overall tone. |
| 492 | * ''{{Series/Numb3rs}}'' might be a poster boy show for Enlightenment but Larry Flinhardt is a romantic and often has friendly tension with Charlie about this. |
| 493 | * ''Series/{{Lost}}'' has this as a central conflict with Jack representing the Enlightenment and Locke ([[{{Irony}} ironically, given his namesake was a pillar of the Enlightenment]]) representing Romanticism. Ultimately [[spoiler: Romanticism wins, as Locke turns out to have been right about everything, as Jack admits.]] |
| 494 | * ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' has groups that represent extremes of both ends: |
| 495 | ** Vigilance believes in a glorious past, even giving themselves names of figures from the American Revolution. They believe that privacy has been stolen from them by the government, though the privacy rights they believe in were never really constitutional rights, they were merely the result of the practical difficulties of collecting information in the pre-digital age. When they put the government on trial, Collier says the defendants were only entitled to the rights given in the original constitution, clearly forgetting that as a black man, he would have had no rights whatsoever under the system he was espousing. |
| 496 | ** Decima, and Grier in particular, believe that nation states are obsolete and humanity should be united under the rule of a BenevolentAI. Grier has lost faith in humanity to the point that when presented with the possibility that an AI would destroy humanity, he still thinks it would be preferable to the slow path to destruction humanity has already put itself on. |
| 497 | * ''Series/TopGear'': |
| 498 | ** The Presenters tend to be a mixture. Jeremy is quite strongly Romantic but has some Enlightenment moments, the ever-practical James is strongly Enlightenment (but is himself not immune to Romantic harkens), and Richard is perhaps the most firmly Romantic of all. |
| 499 | ** Perhaps best shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4CPBfpnye0 this one episode]] which pitted the American-made Corvette [=ZR1=] against the German-made Audi R8. Even though he considered the R8 to be far superior in almost every technical respect and gave the [=ZR1=] a verbal thrashing, he eventually came to the conclusion that given the choice, he'd take the ''[=ZR1=]'', because the R8 was too joyless. |
| 500 | -->''"Be in no doubt, then. that the Audi is a better car. It's better built, better to look at, better to drive, more comfortable, easier to park and - in the real world - faster. You'd have to be ''bonkers'' to buy the Corvette. And that is why you ''should''. "'' |
| 501 | ** This feeling also applies to the automotive industry as a whole. Even James is saddened whenever a company releases a new model that sacrifices fun or speed for things like eco-friendliness and safety features. Given the choice in any "old versus new" comparison review, they will happily take nostalgia and purity of the driving experience over improved technology and practicality. |
| 502 | ** Stereotypically, nations build cars in different ways. Italians make soulful works of art that would win everytime if the show was a beauty contest, but reliability and build quality are secondary considerations. American and Australian cars are built by rough blue-collar types and they make up in sheer speed and wild styling what they lack in fancy technology or sophistication. German and Japanese cars are built in laboratories by precision engineers and bristling with high-tech gadgets, but their obsession with practicality means anything that doesn't serve a purpose besides aesthetics comes off and they simply do not have the spark other makers have. British cars that are high mark[[note]]Aston Martin and Jaguar, '''not''' [[TheAllegedCar British Leyland]][[/note]] are also build by artisans but build quality ''is'' a top priority, so depending on your interpretation they could be firmly in the middle, or [[YinYangBomb both extremes at once]]. |
| 503 | * ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Variant. It turns out that HYDRA is split into two major factions: The descendants of the original ancient cult that worships [[spoiler:the Inhuman Hive and wants to bring it back from exile]], and Red Skull's splinter group. While both factions work together on a regular basis, the religious HYDRA derides Red Skull's faction as cowards and faithless for refusing to participate in their sacrifices, while the Red Skull faction sees the cult as fools for trusting in an ancient religion instead of science and reason. Both sides are still equally evil. |
| 504 | * The main character of ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' straddles the line. |
| 505 | ** On the Enlightenment side, he's the ultimate ScienceHero, to the point that he not only refuses to carry a gun but genuinely never needs one: between his scientific knowledge (not just in theory but as it applies to everyday items) and his ability to think on his feet, he can jury-rig an escape from just about any situation imaginable. He's also a firm rationalist, to a degree that borders on {{Flat Earth Atheis|t}}m (since the show would often leave the door open to supernatural explanations that Mac himself refused to accept). |
| 506 | ** On the Romanticism side, he's a freethinker who embraces both the rugged individualism of his small town background and the bohemian lifestyle of the big city he lives in. He's notably suspicious of authority, bureaucracy, and government: he's served in Vietnam, but doesn't remember it very fondly, and while he's an intelligence officer in season 1, he quickly moves on to [[HeroesRUs a private organization]] with a lot less red tape and whose values are compatible with his own. |
| 507 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'' comes down firmly on the Enlightenment side of things: it's a saga about military and scientific teams from Earth gradually freeing the galaxy (and then other galaxies) from the rule of aliens who use superstition to enslave people by posing as their gods. |
| 508 | ** Even when benevolent deities like the Salish or the Asgard appear, it's made clear that they, too, are aliens rather than gods, and SG-1 will often either encourage them to tell their followers the truth, or explain it to their followers themselves. |
| 509 | ** This reaches its peak in the last two seasons, during which the villains are the Ori, a race of ascended beings on a different plane of existence who seem nearly omniscient and omnipotent and could very well be argued to be, in fact, literal gods by the standards of many religions. The main characters, however, maintain that their powers do not make them gods, simply beings with greater knowledge and resources than themselves, as well as arguing that even if the Ori do have the power of gods, the way they use it makes them unworthy of worship. It should also be noted that even the Ori draw power from the worship of their followers, which isn't far from the Enlightenment trope that human beings create their own gods. |
| 510 | ** Finally, the powers demonstrated by the beings worshiped on the show are never described in divine or supernatural terms. All of them exist either as a result of technology, or, in the case of godlike beings like the Ancients and the Ori, evolution. |
| 511 | --->'''Daniel Jackson''': Just because I don't know how the trick is done doesn't make it magic. |
| 512 | [[/folder]] |
| 513 | |
| 514 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 515 | * An interesting example of Romanticism ''harmonizing'' with the Enlightenment: Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's Ninth Symphony, especially its final movement (the famous "Ode to Joy"). The music is by Beethoven, who ''[[TropeCodifier defined]]'' Romanticism in music, and the Ninth Symphony is very much a Romantic work. However, the sentiments Beethoven expresses are firmly Enlightened, and indeed the ''text'' of the "Ode to Joy" is a barely-reworked version of a poem by Schiller, one of the few indisputably Enlightenment poets, with the theme of universal brotherhood and peace and people coming together in joy. |
| 516 | * Cat Stevens: |
| 517 | ** "Father and Son" portrays both the Enlightenment, with the rational, restrained father, and Romanticism, with the passionate son who feels restricted by his father. Since the son seems to be a more sympathetic figure, the song is decidedly Romantic. |
| 518 | ** "Where Do the Children Play?" is strongly Romantic too, as it laments the destruction of nature that comes with "development." |
| 519 | ** On the other hand, "Peace Train" is definitely Enlightenment, with its focus on progress and a good future. |
| 520 | * Music/TheBeatles (Romantic) and Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} (Enlightenment). |
| 521 | ** The Beatles sang songs about friendship, life, love and desire, and often sang it from the persona of good-natured NiceGuy and pivoted on an image of idealized love. |
| 522 | ** The Stones sang songs about how hard, painful and nasty relationships could actually be, sung from the persona of womanizers, sleazebags, and {{Fetishized Abuser}}s. |
| 523 | * HeavyMetal tends to be Romantic, with its [[LargeHam dramatic style]], over-the-top {{Epic Riff}}s, and lyrics about dark, emotionally-charged topics, including [[HorribleHistoryMetal history]] and [[HeavyMithril fantasy/folklore]]. |
| 524 | ** Metal can run the gamut from the extremes of both ends of the spectrum, however. DeathMetal, MelodicDeathMetal, BlackMetal, and PowerMetal tend to be at the extreme Romantic end of the spectrum, while some other styles like ProgressiveMetal can often fall at the extreme Enlightenment end of the spectrum. |
| 525 | * Even by the standards of metal, Music/{{Rammstein}} are remarkably far over on the Romantic side of the spectrum — as one might perhaps expect of a German metal band that draws heavily from German literature when writing its songs. Most notably, they have recorded two songs that are rewrites of Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe: "Rosenrot" (of "Heidenröslein") and "Dalai Lama" (of [[Literature/TheErlKing "Der Erlkönig"]]).' |
| 526 | * For music listening, vinyl fans tend to lean toward the Romanticism side, with claims that vinyl records sound "warmer" than digital music, as well as citing large album artwork along with the "ritual" of putting on an LP and flipping it over. [[Platform/CompactDisc CDs]] and other digital files are very much on the Enlightenment side, with their lack of surface noise, distortion, and playback degradation as well as greater portability, but proponents of vinyl claim that digital audio sounds "cold." |
| 527 | * ''Music/{{Rush|Band}}'': "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres", from the album ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}'', is about this conflict nearly tearing the Greco-Roman pantheon apart. The song argues that both are necessary for a healthy society; a purely emotional society will descend into hedonism and do dumb things like [[WinterOfStarvation not storing food for the winter]], but a purely logical society lacks social glue and is doomed to stagnate. The resolution of the story happens when [[spoiler:the explorer from "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage" appears out of nowhere, the eponymous UnrealisticBlackHole having ripped his soul out of his body, and advocates the coexistence of both, with Apollo and Dionysus tasking him to maintain this balance as Cygnus]]. |
| 528 | [[/folder]] |
| 529 | |
| 530 | [[folder:Myths & Religion]] |
| 531 | * In addition to Apollo and Dionysus cited above, a famous rivalry that perfectly encapsulates this debate in Myth/ClassicalMythology is Athena versus Poseidon. Poseidon is the older god, ruler of the sea and storms, famous for being moody and passionate. Athena, however, is the goddess of [[TheChessmaster strategy]], wisdom, justice and peaceful arts, who is perfectly at home in the cosmopolitan city of Athens. Also a pretty nice inversion of MotherNatureFatherScience. |
| 532 | * The {{Myth/Arthurian Legend}}s, while predating both movements by centuries, can be considered Proto-Enlightenment in that they involve efforts by Arthur and his Round Table to create a more perfect society, Camelot, in a time of [[CrapsackWorld Chaos]] and [[DarkAgeEurope Darkness]] that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire. This is especially applicable to the early Chronicles (e.g. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britainniae) as a way of showing what authors believed to be [[{{Utopia}} model societies]] in the face of [[RapePillageAndBurn ravages of Barbarians]] and other afflictions in the Post-Roman era.\ |
| 533 | Ironically the Arthurian Legends have also been an inspiration for the Romanticist movement, of which it derives its name from the Medieval Romances, and also brought about a revival in interest in the Arthurian Mythos starting in the Nineteenth Century. Though that is arguably due to the fact that the Romances did not have to address the same issues as earlier authors. |
| 534 | [[/folder]] |
| 535 | |
| 536 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 537 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' hit both, depending. But it was probably more enlightenment. |
| 538 | ** The ForeverWar between the Sword Worlders and the Darrians is a [[PlanetOfHats war of hats]] of Romanticism versus Enlightenment, as the Sword Worlders are a ProudWarriorRace and the Darrians are ForScience. Each thinks the other [[FantasticRacism barely sane]]. The Third Imperium is more enlightened in its ideology on the whole, it is feudal on the interstellar level but only because it is too large to expect anyone to climb to the top in one lifetime, individual planets are largely left to themselves and can have any local government from democracy to dictatorship. |
| 539 | ** Aslan, though, are more Romanticist than the Imperium, having much more in common with the Sword Worlders save that their social structures have barely progressed beyond tribal levels. |
| 540 | ** In the Interstellar Wars, the Terrans are mostly Enlightenment, being ForScience and thinking GoodRepublicEvilEmpire. They do have some romantic traits like [[GlorySeeker glory seeking]] and SpaceCossacks. Vilani are harder to place; they are closer to strains of thought that existed long before either romanticism or enlightenment, resembling Confucianism in some ways. |
| 541 | ** The Hivers are quite firmly enlightenment, having a society that can be best described as "anarchic socialism" and being not only highly technologically advanced but also quite willing to share it with less fortunate races. |
| 542 | ** The Zhodani don't fit neatly into either position; they have an Orwellian police state that's apparently a fairly nice place to live, if you have psionic abilities or don't mind having your mind read by the authorities. |
| 543 | ** The Reformation Coalition following the fall of the Third Imperium has two major voting blocks, Centrists advocate a more centralized government along the lines of the feudal technocracies that govern most of their worlds, while Federalists prefer it more decentralized and democratic. |
| 544 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', enlightenment ideas are basically deemed as heresy by the Imperium of Man which is ripe with religious fundamentalism and xenophobia. This comes across as extremely ironic as the Emperor of Man tried to squash superstition in favor of the ideals of reason and logic in order to starve the chaos gods, only for his Imperium to degenerate into what he fought against after thousands of years. |
| 545 | ** Emotions are what also feed the chaos gods. As a mater of fact, it was the excess indigence and pleasures of the Eldar that gave birth to a chaos god and led to their fall. |
| 546 | ** The only "enlightened" might be the Tau, who are idealists that [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans believe in spreading]] the enlightened ideals of the [[TotalitarianUtilitarian greater good]] across the galaxy. The Tau are also the only major race that will consider diplomacy. |
| 547 | ** All in all, while the excess of Romanticism is NECESSARY for the survival of the galaxy (enlightenment won't help much in this setting), 40K can be looked at as a TakeThat towards the ideal, showing the CrapsackWorld that can result in a universe not based upon progress and reason. |
| 548 | * The ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' is heavily Romantic. Civilization is essentially decadent and corrupt and just a tool for this or that AncientConspiracy of supernatural beings to manipulate or feed upon ApatheticCitizens. Elder vampires use their awesome power to maintain their autocratic authority against their rebellious younger childer. Brutal NobleSavage werewolves rage against evil corporations in league with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s trying to pollute and destroy Mother Earth. Mages engage in a centuries old battle of MagicVersusScience with the heroic player characters struggling against the [[WellIntentionedExtremist technocratic conspiracies]]. Changelings long to return to {{Arcadia}} but never can and must face dying out from the [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve lack of belief in the supernatural]] among the [[{{Muggles}} humans]]. The [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Fallen]] have broken out of {{Hell}} only to find a world (which ''[[PlayerPunch they helped to Create]]'') [[CrapsackWorld utterly devoid of faith]], [[HaveYouSeenMyGod God, and Her angels]]. |
| 549 | ** At the same time, whenever the authors start to explore the default antagonists, it often turns out that the StrawmanHasAPoint and the Enlightenment-themed opposition isn't so ObviouslyEvil after all. Each group of antagonists will generally KickTheDog enough to avoid becoming a mere DesignatedVillain, but the only AlwaysChaoticEvil enemies in the universe's otherwise GreyAndGrayMorality tend to be more Romantic in disposition: Baali deliberately embrace classical evils, Earthbound demons lack the capacity to move beyond their Torment, and there are various other [[LeakingCanOfEvil Leaking Cans of Evil]] that were natural parts of the universe dating back to antiquity... or through all of time. |
| 550 | *** Civilization might serve the AncientConspiracy of the vampiric elders, but the advancement of science and technology are frequently presented as the first and final hope for overcoming the oppression of these old monsters that cannot change or adapt. The Sabbat are only effective at their stated goal of opposing the ancients when they leverage their flexibility and capacity to think in new ways. |
| 551 | *** The Werewolves have fared miserably in their war against the Wyrm largely due to hidebound traditions and old grudges (the /newest/ of which are still centuries old). Meanwhile, the Wyrm only started lashing out once it had been driven mad by the Weaver... who bound it up in hopes of creating [[AndIMustScream a world where nothing ever changes]]. |
| 552 | *** The [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans Technocratic Paradigm]] has provided humanity with wonders that had previously been accessible only to the Awakened few and is also the single greatest source of strength for the spiritual barriers that hold back the worst of the game universe's CosmicHorrorStory and allow mankind to live in a "mere" CrapsackWorld. Plus, they support an army of SpaceMarines whose main objective is the defense of Earth against all manner of supernatural evil and who (depending on the source) are more or less friendly towards traditionalist Mages. Of course, this comes at the cost of the mass murder of everyone who ''doesn't'' fully follow the Technocratic Paradigm... |
| 553 | *** If the winter of the changelings were to find its way to a new spring, TheFairFolk they would then become would be a blight on mankind. |
| 554 | *** The Fallen only exist because a faction of angels led by the Morningstar wanted to reach out and free humanity from ignorance despite God insisting that they let Eden remain exactly as it was (and subsequently being a spiteful dick about it). |
| 555 | ** One theme in Mage: 20th Anniversary Edition is that both the Traditions and Technocracy missed a trick when it came to the increasing empowerment of ordinary mortals in the 21st century, which is a highly Enlightened idea. |
| 556 | * By contrast, the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' tends to take a far more Enlightened turn when it touches on these themes, though it generally tries to avoid taking an overt side between the two (because the [=oWoD=] was seen as overly-politicized, to the detriment of the line). ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' appears to be Romantic at first glance with its longing for a lost Atlantis and its focus on the power of symbolism, but the Seers of the Throne rely on anti-rationalism for temporal power, and serve their masters by preventing humans from looking for something greater and achieving their true potential; in other words, the villains draw upon Romanticism for power. Similarly, the Pure Tribes' ideology is based on looking back to a fallen Father Wolf and trying to resurrect a lost Pangaea. ''However'', while the villains are nearly always Romanticist when they have an ideology, the heroes tend to include both Romanticist and Enlightened viewpoints in their ranks (and squabble over them). |
| 557 | ** In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' the Invictus and Lancea Sanctum are Romanticist while the Carthians and Ordo Dracul are Enlightenment. The Invictus and Carthians are particularly opposed, being vampiric aristocrats and revolutionaries who seek to try out virtually every other form of government. Curiously in Invictus-run cities the Carthians tend to be the least amoral vampires, while Carthian-run cities tend to run downhill at record speeds. |
| 558 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' does a lot with these opposing ideals despite it not being a core theme. If there are two factions trying to do the same job but with different means and goals, there's a very good chance that they'll be divided along this line. |
| 559 | ** In the Time of Tumult, the Gold and Bronze factions are divided about the return of the Solars. The Gold Faction wants to restore the Solars to power so that their peerless genius and innovation can make for a better world. The Bronze Faction opposes the Solars' return, trying to keep Creation as it was for the whole of the Second Age: safe from the wild, dangerous extremes of Solar overlords. |
| 560 | ** The Realm and Lookshy is largely about this. Lookshy held to the old, lingering ways of the Shogunate while the Scarlet Empress forged a new path for the Realm out of the Shogunate's ruins, challenging even the Sidereals with her audacity. |
| 561 | ** The Scarlet Empress' two most probable successors are much the same: her centuries-old daughter Mnemnon is a Sorceress known for pushing the mystical envelope as far as she possibly can, reaching great advances in power through often-sketchy means. When the young, charismatic Roseblack finally resolves to return home with her army, meanwhile, she plans to seek a return to the ways of the Shogunate rather than move forward with the Realm's empire. |
| 562 | *** Though this conflict can be approached from the opposite direction: Mnemon believes that her right to rule comes in part from being the oldest Dynast currently extant and, all things considered, hasn't changed much about her House's incredibly rigid social structure for centuries. Roseblack, on the other hand, has shown somewhat of a populist streak and is supported by an ArmyOfThievesAndWhores. |
| 563 | ** Even the returning Solars sometimes divide along this line, between those that simply wish to return things to the way they were in the First Age and those who wish to forge an entirely new world of their own design. |
| 564 | * The old Planescape ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting had the Blood War, a genocidal conflict between two different races of demonic beings. One side supported tyranny, order, infernal justice, conformity, and iron discipline. The other were AxeCrazy maniacs who believed individuality was so important that letting hordes of their own die trying to prove individual worth was better than forcing them to actually act like their more disciplined enemies. Given one side would remake the cosmos into the fantasy version of Dante's Inferno, and the other into Milton's Hell, neither is right. Then, on top of that, there are philosophic "guilds" players can join which grants them power and access, provided they believe as the group does. These groups range from the far-Enlightenment Fraternity of Order to the completely Romantic Society of Sensation. Not only is no one portrayed as right, but even allegiances frequently transcend the conflict. The Athar are Deists in the Jefferson/Locke vein, and their greatest allies are the thoroughly Romantic Believers of the Source - who worry about past lives and ascension. |
| 565 | * ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has the Inner Sphere, feuding nobles houses who have been in a state of SpaceAgeStasis for nearly four centuries ever since they nuked each other back to the 20th century. And invading them the Clans, genetically engineered SocialDarwinists who have actually made improvements on their tech, even though their Warrior caste act like Bronze Age savages. |
| 566 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has this dichotomy between the colors of mana. Generally (though not uniformly), red and green are romanticist with a focus on emotions, freedom, instincts, tradition and so forth, while white and blue are enlightened with a focus on order, law, curiosity, intelligence and so on. Black uses traits of both sides to further its own goals. |
| 567 | * ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles'': This is a convenient way to boil down the conflict between [[SoulsavingCrusader the Brotherhood]] and [[DeusEstMachina Cybertronic]]. The Brotherhood is Romantic, espousing spirituality and PsychicPowers as the path to a united humanity and step forward as a species. Cybertronic is Enlightenment, and equally interested in seeing humanity unite and advance, but as Enlightenment advocate creating a mass-collective consciousness through use of BrainUploading instead. |
| 568 | * ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'': The heroes are cartoonishly Romantic, consisting of "mad dreamer" kings, swashbuckling adventurers, craftspeople of transcendent skill and magicians straight out of a Disney movie. The villains are industrialists, criminal masterminds, mad scientists and military leaders. The heroes' stated goal is to either slow or halt the progress of the Industrial Revolution. Yep, the game swings a mean "Romanticism good, Enlightenment bad"-anvil. |
| 569 | [[/folder]] |
| 570 | |
| 571 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 572 | * Athenian Drama: |
| 573 | ** Creator/{{Aeschylus}}'s ''Theatre/TheOresteia'' explores the fall of the House of Atreus from an Enlightened perspective, focusing on the inevitability of fate, and the laws of family and CycleOfRevenge, the finale explores the theme of forgiveness and redemption, and when Orestes takes refuge at the Agora and appeals to Athena against the implacable Furies, depicts a transition from the harsh judgment of the Gods to the rational working of Laws. |
| 574 | ** Creator/{{Sophocles}} is generally Romantic, emphasizing the cruel workings of fate as in ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', emphasizing that the pursuit of knowledge can be destructive. His ''Antigone'' likewise is a tragedy of a young woman choosing the laws of family and blood over that of the state and custom. |
| 575 | ** Creator/{{Euripides}} is generally Pro-Enlightenment with some Romantic streaks. His plays focus on the horrors of warfare, the suffering of women and generally portray Gods and deities in a manner that makes them human and accessible. |
| 576 | ** Creator/{{Aristophanes}} is a Romantic satirist criticizing the pursuit of knowledge, parodying democratic assemblies and generally suggesting that DemocracyIsBad. |
| 577 | * Over the years, the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare have been read, edited, and interpreted to better reflect the prevailing philosophy of the time. |
| 578 | ** The English Enlightenment-era theaters in England and the Continent emphasized the perfection of the language, and would recut and restage his works to better reflect Aristotle's Rules of Drama. Later Enlightenment writers such as Creator/SamuelJohnson in England and German Idealists however regarded Shakespeare as a true original for his violation of the unities. The Enlightenment critics generally, but not exclusively, favoured the history plays, the tragedies but neglected and/or rejected the "problem plays" such as ''Theatre/TheTempest'' which didn't fit in as either comic or tragic. |
| 579 | ** The Romantics heightened the aspects of passion, horror, and raging emotion to be found in the plays and latched on to those "problem plays". They also regarded ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' as Shakespeare's masterpiece, a judgment that has generally held up and admired ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', ''Theatre/KingLear'' (which before them was generally seen as a controversial play). |
| 580 | ** The Henriad has been especially susceptible to this. The prevailing interpretations before the 20th Century was that it was a ComingOfAge Hero's Journey (avant-la-lettre) of a dissolute Prince who tags alongside a Corrupt Knight Falstaff who gradually comes to fulfill his Kingly father's ambitions and eventually becomes a great Warrior King (Romantic). Creator/OrsonWelles' ''Film/ChimesAtMidnight'' sees Falstaff as a LovableCoward who represents the EndOfAnAge (Merrie England of Rogues, Taverns and Minions of the Moon) while seeing Prince Hal as a machiavellian ManipulativeBastard who uses Falstaff and gradually becomes a warmongering tyrant. (Enlightened) |
| 581 | * When compared to his contemporaries, Shakespeare is more Romantic in form and content than Creator/ChristopherMarlowe who is essentially Enlightened. |
| 582 | ** A good example is to compare the highly problematic anti-semitic masterpieces of ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' and ''Theatre/TheJewOfMalta''. The former play presents a Jewish stereotype who has sympathetic motivations and voices them in eloquent speeches but ultimately remains the villain to be sidelined by the pious Christian heroine (Portia) who appeals to the mercy and the spirit of the law rather than its harsh letter. The latter play presents a Jewish stereotype as VillainProtagonist in an EvilVersusEvil situation where every other authority (Christian and Muslim) are amoral backstabbers who use "religion as a childish toy" and who eloquently argues that all his evil actions come out because SocietyIsToBlame and nobody can claim any idea to be inherently merciful. |
| 583 | ** Shakespeare's history plays and tragedies (''Theatre/RichardIII'', ''Theatre/MacBeth'') tend to be highly individualistic character pieces with some amount of moral commentary about OrderVersusChaos and usually ends with the RightfulKingReturns (Romantic). Marlowe's ''Theatre/EdwardII'' on the other hand is a HyperlinkStory with many characters that shows feudalism to be inherently chaotic, filled with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder, good characters dying unheroically in piteous circumstances, villains dying nobly, and the rightful boy king (Edward III) left cold, alone and LonelyAtTheTop while lamenting his loss of innocence.(Enlightened) |
| 584 | ** ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus'' likewise is a much darker and colder look at the occult and the supernatural than Shakespeare's ''Theatre/TheTempest'' and ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream''. Marlowe realistically shows what a thinking person would react to the existence and arrival of the supernatural, the loss of faith and finally even hints at a CosmicHorrorStory that Hell could simply be the world we live in. |
| 585 | * Creator/HenrikIbsen was Enlightened, emphasizing social criticisms, problems with traditional roles of women and family and difficulties faced by reformers in works like ''Theatre/HeddaGabbler'' and ''An Enemy of the People''. August Strindberg however was Romantic, dealing with dreams, difficult and painful relationships and self-destructive individuals. |
| 586 | * Creator/BertoltBrecht was Enlightenment in form: critical of narrative, story and advocating ViewersAreGeniuses and refusing to allow audiences to identify with his characters superficially. His ''Galileo'' is fascinating for the fact that it is critical of traditional ideas of a science's responsibility to society while at the same time mocking romantic attitudes of HoldingOutForAHero. |
| 587 | [[/folder]] |
| 588 | |
| 589 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 590 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 591 | ** Overall, it portrays an Enlightenment-based future, with benign technological advances and an orderly galactic government, though the Citadel government also [[NoTranshumanismAllowed imposes restrictions on genetic modification]] and AI research. The outlook of your crew varies-- they include Romanticists like the Whitman-spouting Ashley and Enlightened like Mordin Solus who justifies aiding in the Krogan sterility plague with utilitarian logic. Paragon Shep's egalitarian views and support for the Citadel hint at an Enlightened streak. Renegade Shepard meanwhile represents the more pro human and pragmatic KnightInSourArmor and TotalitarianUtilitarian aspects of of Enlightenment. |
| 592 | ** The main trilogy's storyline also presents a conflict between Romanticism and Enlightenment. The central conflict of the story is a RobotWar, and the first game generally plays the Romanticist AIIsACrapshoot trope straight, though there are some hints that the organics' bigotry may be partly to blame for the conflict with some of the synthetics, [[spoiler:like the geth and the rogue AI on the Citadel]]. This gets subverted in the next two games, and many conversations touch on the themes of organic and synthetic evolution, and that the two may not be mutually exclusive. [[spoiler:The Synthesis ending of the third game takes that idea to its logical conclusion, and as such may be considered the ultimate Enlightened ending]]. |
| 593 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Oddly enough. In particular, this whole spectrum of thought is speculated on and brought out in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''[='s=] hidden Terminals. These Terminals tell the story of the struggle between the Flood and the Forerunners, with the Flood presenting its invasion as necessary for life's eventual evolution as a ultimate species and as a stage in evolution for the universe as a whole eventually. On the other side, the Forerunners keep the stand that they are guardians for the genetic diversity in the galaxy and should impend any step in evolution if necessary to keep that diversity, even if flawed and eventually self-destructive at times. |
| 594 | * ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' features Caesar's Legion as the Romantics, and NCR and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Mr.]] [[TotalitarianUtilitarian House]] as the Enlightenment. You, as the {{Wildcard}} possible fourth endgame victor, can go either way as fitting your Wildcard nature. |
| 595 | * ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'': The real nature of the political divide in the Russian warlord state of Tomsk, as opposed to the usual "left vs. right" angle - as the four salons are more or less politically syncretic. The Decembrists (who focus on preserving Russia's natural environment and cultural history) and the Humanists (who emphasize protecting the human rights and civil freedoms of the people) are Romanticists; the Modernists (who want to turn Russia into a technocracy by advancing education and scientific progress) and the Bastillards (who appeal to Hobbesian stable government, protective militarism and anti-extremism) are very much the Enlightenment of the equation. Tomsk itself, a nation of scientists and intellectuals that styles itself on 17th Century democratic ideals, is the Enlightenment to fellow Siberian unifier [[TheGoodKingdom Kemerovo]], an unusual feudal monarchy that blends the best bits of Soviet socialism [[DaysOfFuturePast with Muscovite aesthetics]]. |
| 596 | * ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' is weird about this. The {{youkai}} that make up the vast majority of the cast literally depend on romanticism to survive, needing to be believed in and gaining power from the natural order being observed, [[spoiler:but were originally created using SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic by an advanced civilization of [[HumanAliens moon people]]]]. And there's a general trend of an ordered society forming, and one of the major factions is working to increase the technological level of the area. The fairies ''should'' be on the side of Romanticism, yet more often than not use their abilities to play pranks and freeze frogs than do anything to preserve the nature they rely on to exist. |
| 597 | * ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' includes a conversation between a demon (chaotic evil) and a devil (lawful evil) about which is the right way to spread evil. The parallel to this trope is conspicuous, with the demon giving the romanticist argument that evil is worthless if it stripped of passion, and the devil making the enlightened argument that evil is just a mob's rioting if it is not ordered. |
| 598 | * ''VideoGame/RType'', in spite of being a simple shoot 'em up genre, bears a hint of Romanticism, which the [[EldritchAbomination Bydo]] embed themselves in, against the Enlightened background of advanced technologies the R-Fighters represent. |
| 599 | * ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' has Opelucid City as well as their exclusive location based on either, depending on the version; Black has Black City with Opelucid City being high-tech (Enlightenment), while White version has White Forest with Opelucid City being eco-friendly (Romanticism). And meanwhile, in Black you can obtain Reshiram, symbolizing the older brother who sided with truth (Enlightenment), while in White you can obtain Zekrom, symbolizing the younger brother who sided with ideals (Romanticism). The sequel game though, complicates things with Kyurem, a living husk who represents a form of emptiness. It's revealed that there was once one dragon, but would split into Reshiram and Zekrom, with the remnants falling to the earth to become Kyurem. |
| 600 | * ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'' has [[TheSpock The Bachelor]] (Enlightenment) and [[TheMcCoy The Haruspex]] (Romanticism) against each other to [[spoiler: save the Polyhedron or the town at the end.]] |
| 601 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 602 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' has the highly ritualistic and devoud [[OurElvesAreDifferent Chimer]] versus the [[ForScience scientific]] and [[{{Naytheist}} atheistic]] [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]], thousands of years before the game is set. The Dwemer are certainly aware of the existence of [[OurGodsAreDifferent the Daedra]] the Chimer worship, but are steadfast in their belief that the Daedra are not gods; so much so that [[PhysicalGod Vivec]] facetiously commented that the Dwemer instead worshiped "their Gods of Reason and Logic." Not that this did the Dwemer any good; [[spoiler:screwing with the base fabric of the Universe caused them all to disappear... somewhere. Not a single person in existence knows what happened to them, and if anyone does, they're not telling.]] |
| 603 | ** Likewise, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has the Stormcloaks (Romantic) and the forces of the Tamrielic Empire (Enlightenment). Team Stormcloak is a band of nationalistic barbarian brother warriors led by a controversial ByronicHero WarriorPrince, fighting to liberate their homeland and regain their honour. Team Imperial is the occupying military force of a civilized, well-intentioned, and cosmopolitan empire led by a general who acts as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure most of the time but also sometimes shows the side of a [[CulturalPosturing sneering imperialist who believes in the superiority of his empire and that the local people would descend into barbarism and anarchy without its laws and guidance]]. |
| 604 | * In ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', Enlightenment ideas and technological science are basically deemed illegal and labelled "Black Technology" by the United Nations since it harms the environment, which is ripe with religious fundamentalism, fascism and xenophobia. This comes across as extremely ironic as magic and the Gear Project were designed for human evolution, only for them to backfire horribly when they began to be used for human greed, resulting in the Crusades, which in turn resulted in humanity regressing into a Dark Ages-like society. The only "enlightened" might be Zepp, who were originally a TotalitarianUtilitarian government before being overthrown and taken over by Gabriel and subsequently reformed into a more democratic nation. |
| 605 | * ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' is a series known for [[PlayingWithATrope playing with]] and [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] any and every dichotomy with its [[OrderVersusChaos Law and Chaos factions]], so it comes as no surprise that this too enters the mix. Unusually, however, both Law and Chaos manifest different negative sides of each. Law, with its [[AsceticAesthetic sleek architecture]], [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot angels]] and liberal use of MagiTek seems very Enlightened, but ultimately promotes very Romantic ideals of Feudalism and Monarchy. Chaos, on the flip-side, is full of {{Social Darwinist}}s who parrot twisted versions of Enlightened ideals, but ultimately crave the old world ruled by {{Blood Knight}}s and see any kind of organized government or hierarchy as [[DemocracyIsBad bad]] and [[LawfulStupid repressive]]. The Neutral Path, of course, often shows that [[{{Reconstruction}} there is still value in each]] - namely, mankind will stagnate if it doesn't keep moving forward, but ThePowerOfLove and [[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship]] are what make life worth living. However, other examples of Neutrality are non-ideological; they aren't so much about promoting any kind of humanist philosophy as they are about taking down both sides before their fighting can wreck humanity any further. |
| 606 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', the primary conflict is between the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel (Romanticism) and the Institute (Enlightenment). The Institute are a group of {{Mad Scientist}}s who want to wipe out all traces of the pre-war America and build a brand new society even greater and more advanced than pre-War America, and even replace humans with the [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Synths]]. The Brotherhood thinks that pre-War society should be held in reverence, even basing themselves on the feudal societies of medieval Europe, and they think the Synths are abominations and want only to see them all destroyed ([[ANaziByAnyOtherName though this view extends to Ghouls and Super Mutants as well]]). [[spoiler:You can, of course, TakeAThirdOption. The Minutemen and Railroad are both mostly Romantic and Enlightened, respectively, with different takes on the same idea, with the Minutemen being an orderly BigGood bringing back classic American ideals of liberty and self-reliance while dressing as Revolutionary War-era rebels, while the Railroad are {{Rebellious Rebel}}s fighting for Synth freedom and changing wasteland society so Synths can be seen as fellow humans with equal rights.]] |
| 607 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', the conflict of Light versus Darkness is played this way. You play as the Heroes of Light who must fight the destructive force of Darkness, represented in game by the Romantic Xande cursing the world due to his anger at being forced to live amongst humans. However, centuries ago, the Heroes of Darkness had been forced to fight the destructive force of Light, when the Enlightened Ancients developed technology so powerful that it threatened to destroy the world. At the end of the game, you even get to team up with the four Heroes of Darkness, who are good and brave people who help you take down the PowerOfTheVoid. |
| 608 | * The original seven factions in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' fall under this trope to one degree or another. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Due to the various interpretations]] [[GreyAndGrayMorality and practical implementations of their philosophical aspirations]], it is impossible to look at any of the factions from just one angle. But, nevertheless, all factions definitely take their position on this spectrum (from the most romantic to the most enlightened): |
| 609 | ** Lord's Believers' ideology basis is Protestant Christianity [[TheFundamentalist with an ambiguous degree of fundamentalism]]. [[ScienceIsWrong They are highly skeptical of science as a method of understanding reality]], [[AppealToTradition turning instead to traditions]]. And, of course, they are extreme conservatives [[AIIsACrapshoot who will never accept AI]] or [[ScaleOfScientificSins other such perversions as the norm]]. |
| 610 | ** Gaia's Stepdaughters are [[NatureHero environmentalists]] [[InHarmonyWithNature who seek an understanding with the nature of]] [[GeniusLoci Chiron]], [[AppealToNature accepting it as the only correct source of wisdom]]. If someone dares to challenge the Planet and threaten its biosphere, [[GaiasVengeance they will be more than happy to become an incarnation of its revenge]]. With no apparent disregard for progress and technology, Stepdaughters' ideal society is something like {{Arcadia}}. |
| 611 | ** Spartan Federation consists mainly of [[TheSocialDarwinist darwinist-leaning survivalists]] who believe that humanity must completely turn into a [[ProudWarriorRace race of warriors]] in order to survive [[DeathWorld in this new world]]. Also, as the name suggests, they are inspired by Ancient Sparta, [[FantasyCounterpartCulture taking its society as a model for creating a strictly hierarchical and militarized state]] [[TheSpartanWay that will not compromise on the training of its exemplarily disciplined army]]. |
| 612 | ** UN Peacekeepers are the most neutral in this regard. Their uncompromising commitment to the UN Charter signifies their readiness to remain faithful to the ideals of humanity (in their understanding) to the very end. [[TheFederation Therefore, they are the greatest adherents of democracy in the game]]. Due to the pluralism of opinions and an orientation solely to the UN Charter, Peacekeepers have almost no prejudices (unlike other factions) about economic issues, social values, or vision of the future, so they can be more romantic in one game and more enlightened in another. |
| 613 | ** Morgan Industries is a faction of all those who believe that capitalism is ideal or simply the most natural economic system. [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety Everything has a price]], and a prosperous society must inexorably grow and expand at the expense of both other factions and even the Planet itself. [[GaiasLament The latter is particularly unhappy with the Morganites]] due to their consumerist philosophy and love of free market economics, but in general the Morganites are not too interested in moral dilemmas, [[TheHedonist being in fact more materialistic than anyone else]]. |
| 614 | ** Human Hive reflects the ideas of the Enlightenment in a slightly [[TotalitarianUtilitarian more utilitarian]] way. From the perspective of [[TheStoic Chairman Sheng-Ji]] [[TheSociopath Yang]], [[TheNeedsOfTheMany the benefit of each individual is measured by their ability to help the entire collective]]. [[HumanResources Even after their death]]. Most of the Hive's bases are underground, and in general, the Hive is more likely to try to subjugate nature than to try to find a common language with it, since the environment of Chiron is perceived as the same opponent as other human factions. [[NatureIsNotNice Not too unreasonably, however]]. |
| 615 | ** University of Planet's main beliefs are that ScienceIsGood, {{Technocracy}} is the best form of government, [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions while religious fundamentalism is a dead end from moral and social points of view]]. They are more than willing to take some risky experiments and [[EvilLuddite see the enemies of progress as the main threat]]. Moreover, they are ready to find answers to any question, [[LackOfEmpathy often sacrificing the ethico-emotional aspect]], if necessary. |
| 616 | * In ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'', the Purity affinity qualifies as strongly Romantic with its [[GoodOldWays reverence for the past]] and message of retaining the classic human identity, while the Supremacy affinity is strongly Enlightenment in flavour with its message of [[ScienceHero technological progress]] and redefining the concept of humanity via cybernetic {{Transhuman}}ism. Harmony, with its message of living in tune with the alien environment and [[BioAugmentation altering human physiology]] towards this end, either qualifies as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality neither or both]] depending on your interpretation. ''Rising Tide'''s hybrid ideologies are a lesser Romantic (Purity/Supremacy, which employs machines expressly to serve humanity while ideologically keeping the distinction clear), ''extremely'' Enlightenment (the aggressively-transhumanist Harmony/Supremacy, taking out all the brakes in transhumanism), and Purity/Harmony, which doesn't cleanly fit anywhere (being both extensively transhuman and ideologically human). |
| 617 | * According to WordOfGod, the contrast between Solid Snake and Raiden, as well as Solid Snake and Big Boss, is this in ''VideoGame/MetalGear''. Snake, an artificial creation of the Atomic age, is pure Enlightenment, which allows him to make actions based on seeing the bigger picture and doing what he has to do, but also cuts him off from his emotions. Both Big Boss and Raiden emerged from what was natural and, while effective heroes, struggle desperately with the depth of their own emotions and their own dark sides; but they can only aspire to the higher philosophy of Snake. |
| 618 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' describes a GreatOffscreenWar between two factions on the planet Bryyo: the Primals who followed the Old Ways and magic vs. the Science Lords who had a more progressive and technological bent. It didn't end well; the environment was devastated, the Science Lords were wiped out, and the Primals have reverted to basically animals. However, one of the Primals and one of the Science Lords did manage to work together to set in motion a plan to restore the environment through {{Magitek}}. |
| 619 | * In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the latter part of the story is primarily driven by [[spoiler:the conflict between two step-siblings, Edelgard von Hresvelg and Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd.]] |
| 620 | ** [[spoiler:Edelgard primarily stands for the Enlightenment ideals, pushing for dismantlement of [[SuperpowerfulGenetics Crest-powered]] nobility order, [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstition de-emphasizing the role]] [[BeliefMakesYouStupid of organized religion]] and establishment of a more egalitarian society, greater inclusion of commoners and judging others by their own skills and merits rather than anything. Personality-wise, [[ToughLeaderFacade she displays a cool, calculated, dignified air with her personal feelings hidden]]. Sadly, [[WellIntentionedExtremist the ways she uses to bring her dream to reality include a lot of bloodshed and disorder]], and [[TheUnfettered she will even overcome the attachments to her friends to achieve the ends]]; consequently, in routes other than her own she will have to be killed to stop the war. On the other hand, in her own route Edelgard has a more expressed ByronicHeroine personality, which is associated with Romanticism, and develops stronger emotional connections to her teammates.]] |
| 621 | ** [[spoiler:Dimitri, in turn, represents Romanticism for the most part, as he fights partly to preserve [[GoodOldWays the current social order and religion of the land]], expresses very strict views on what is right and what is wrong, and [[TheMcCoy believes in his personal morals and concepts of chivalry and honor to guide him in battle]]. He aspires to be the ruler of a [[TheGoodKingdom Good Kingdom]] and a KnightInShiningArmor, but he hides [[BarbarianHero a darker]], [[BloodKnight more violent streak]] underneath that armor. The inability to contain the darker aspects of his personality is what gets him killed in routes other than his own. Meanwhile, on his route, Dimitri is eventually brought to a more reasonable state and sets out to reform the kingdom and its order upon his victory, and the route also reveals that he is actually rather skeptical about the religion, even if he still believes it to be somewhat necessary.]] |
| 622 | ** In the end, the game shows that: (1) both Romanticism and Enlightenment, if taken to extremes, can mean a lot of trouble, and (2) neither of them can survive without the other. |
| 623 | * ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': Oddly enough, in this game's backstory it's the scientist who's portrayed as being on the side of Romanticism, while the businessman is on the side of Enlightenment. Ted Faro believed in EnlightenedSelfInterest, saw machines in practical terms, and ran his company in a manner he saw as the most profitable, starting in environmental revitalization when fighting GlobalWarming was a priority before creating WeaponsOfMassDestruction. Elisabet Sobeck, meanwhile, fosters and values ethics and humanity far more, has a much greater respect for life, and [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules quit her job]] at Faro's company to start her own out of moral principle when he started developing {{killer robot}}s for military use. This is best illustrated when Faro demanded that [[spoiler:Sobeck install a fail-safe into GAIA, a feature that Sobeck fought against. Faro saw an all-powerful machine capable of feeling emotions that's been put in charge of the most important task in human history as a threat that could [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong]] at any moment, while Elisabet thought GAIA being capable of feeling empathy was the most important part of her programming and the thing that would keep her dedicated to her mission, comparing a failsafe to pointing a gun at a newborn.]] Given that Faro is portrayed as the person most singularly responsible for everything that went wrong in the backstory, to the point that "Fuck Ted Faro" is a meme within the ''Horizon'' fandom, the game makes no secret where exactly it lies. |
| 624 | [[/folder]] |
| 625 | |
| 626 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 627 | * ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' is Enlightened. As [[NoNameGiven the Existentialist]] says, "The future's pretty cool!" |
| 628 | * ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt''. The Court is Enlightened; Gillitie Woods is Romantic. |
| 629 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is a strange hybrid. It's about science fiction and solving problems with machinery, which is sort of Enlightenment... but it's "adventure, romance, and '''mad science!''', with tones of gothic, Frankenstein, and Lovecraftian mythos... but all the Sparks have a strong manic streak, so they're happy and cheerful amid the doom, destruction, and tentacled horrors. It's just that kind of a story. |
| 630 | [[/folder]] |
| 631 | |
| 632 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 633 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the Avatar's purpose is maintaining balance. This tends to put Korra at odds with ''both'' sides. |
| 634 | ** Season 1's antagonists are the modern, technology-using Equalists and there leader is [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAmon Amon]]. |
| 635 | ** Season 2's antagonist is the far more Romanticist and spiritual Unalaq, attempting to open the gates between the spirit and physical worlds. |
| 636 | ** Season 3's antagonist is [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraZaheer Zaheer]], who, while an EnlightenedAntagonist, is actually Romanticist, an anarchist attempting bring back the era of true freedom before governments. |
| 637 | ** Season 4's antagonist is [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira the Great Uniter]]. This one's more complicated; while Kuvira's position is largely Enlightened in her rejection of an obsolete monarchy in favor of a modern Empire, the series makes it clear that she's almost completely correct in her worldview, and her evil comes from [[AmbitionIsEvil the means she uses to take and keep power]]. |
| 638 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has Romantic heroes (led by a messiah from the past, no less), while the Fire Nation ''used'' to represent the Enlightenment, but that has long since devolved into mere propaganda. [[spoiler: Eventually, Zuko learns to spread the Enlightenment ideals of the old Fire Nation peacefully, instead of through conquest.]] |
| 639 | * ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' is Romantic with the villain's industrialized city and [[UnwillingRoboticisation roboticised minions]] while the heroes live in the forest and are led by royalty. |
| 640 | * The message of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is ''decidedly'' romantic at first glance; emotions and friendship are important, and the Enlightened main character must learn that lesson repeatedly. However, it's not quite that simple; [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle Twilight Sparkle's]] perspective is shown as having its flaws, but she's far from "[[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong always wrong]]," and her task-oriented character, intelligence and logical skills help save the day at least as often as they cause problems for her. The actual moral tends to be that [[{{Reconstruction}} the Enlightenment needs to give Romanticism its due, but that doesn't make it a bad thing]]. |
| 641 | ** The ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E23InspirationManifestation Inspiration Manifestation]]'' spell is waaaaaay on the side of romanticism, turning anyone that casts it into a VisionaryVillain. It [[AwesomeButImpractical slurps up any practicality in the vicinity and and transforms it in favor of flashy style.]] Think of [[ThisIndexIsHighlyImprobable any trope with the word "Improbable" in its title,]] and you have anything this spell makes. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Except it's ACTUALLY improbable.]] So, it actually makes sense [[WeaksauceWeakness that a single sentence of]] BrutalHonesty would [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight snap the caster out of it]], since [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids the most loftiest of ideals are more easily subjective to someone pointing out their obvious faults.]] |
| 642 | *** {{Foreshadow|ing}}ed by the opening, where Rarity makes a puppet stand and it's completely unusable by the very puppeteer it's made for. The following events are a series of that very formula [[SerialEscalation one-upping itself.]] |
| 643 | [[/folder]] |
| 644 | |
| 645 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 646 | * The Romantic movement produced a lot of good poets. Like, a ''lot'' of them: Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/AlfredLordTennyson, Creator/WilliamWordsworth, Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe. [[note]]Oh the irony - "The Classic I call the healthy and the Romantic the sick" - Goethe to Eckermann, 1829. Oh irony squared - as an example for classic he choses the [[Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}} Nibelungs]], which is about as romantic as one could get.[[/note]] |
| 647 | * On the other side of the coin, the Anglo-American and early French Enlightenments (in contrast to the German and late French Enlightenments) tended towards the HumansAreBastards perspective, which led to a fair number of good [[{{Satire}} satirists]], such as Creator/{{Voltaire}} and Creator/BenjaminFranklin. |
| 648 | * The Enlightenment also produced a few poets, the most notable of whom were [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker Germans]]: Friedrich von Schiller is more or less entirely Enlightenment, while Goethe's work has shades of both. |
| 649 | * Creator/SorenKierkegaard, considered the first existentialist philosopher, was overwhelmingly Romanticist in outlook, going so far as to openly scorn Enlightenment philosophy, which is ironic because 20th Century existentialist philosophy e.g. Jean-Paul Sartre was largely Enlightened. |
| 650 | * Creator/FriedrichNietzsche is known, among other things, for defining this conflict; his terms were "Dionysian" for Romanticism and "Apollonian" for Enlightenment. He was highly critical of both sides, but his writings (as well as misreadings of them) remain a major influence on Romanticism. |
| 651 | * The late 18th century saw two major Enlightenment-inspired revolutions, UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, both resulting in experimental republics showcasing Enlightenment ideas on governance. |
| 652 | * World War II. On one hand, Fascism, Nazism and nationalism have roots in Romanticism and an emphasis on folk bloodlines, love/worship of the Fatherland, anti-cosmopolitanism, and an embellished/heroic-epic view of history (Hitler in particular had a Wagnerian Opera-like worldview), while communism and liberal democracy are cosmopolitan philosophies created by rationalists, empiricists, utilitarians and other Enlightenment scientists, making the conflict a case of Romanticism vs. Enlightenment. |
| 653 | ** Despite being a communist nation, the USSR actually had extensively Romantic undertones, albeit underlined in the rhetoric of communism. Given the dominance of Romanticism in Russian culture around the rise of communism and not having undergone the same level of Enlightenment-based reforms as Western Europe (a very prominent example is how Russian serfdom was abolished in ''1861'' when having done so several decades if not centuries prior in the west though a large part of that was serfdom being introduced much later in Eastern Europe than Western Europe.) |
| 654 | ** In a similar sense, the Spanish Civil War between the Nationalists (conservatives/monarchists/fascists) and the Republicans (liberals/anarchists/communists/socialists) could be considered a conflict of Romanticism versus Enlightenment. |
| 655 | * Both representative democracy and communism are different spins on the same Enlightenment ideas, equality for the masses, with some ethical hedonism and meritocracy thrown in. The result being that the Cold War was an uncommon case of Enlightenment vs. Enlightenment, or as it later came to be articulated, moderate reform based on representative institutions (US, Skeptic-Enlightenment) and radical, sudden transformation of institutions and societies from the ground up (USSR, Utopian-Enlightenment). But then again, almost all UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies on the political spectrum are different characteristics of Enlightenment thought, since these debates first played out back then. |
| 656 | ** Libertarian capitalism and classical liberalism is rooted in Skeptical Enlightenment ideals since it asserts that all [[RousseauWasRight humans are good at heart]], and so sudden changes are too much too fast, and its better for a more moderate system that encourages education and meritocracy.[[note]]That being said, libertarians are against most forms of order, including using central government to enforce civil rights, even when those moments are driven by gradual reforms and legal petitions and protests, i.e the same gradualist change they encouraged yet oppose when the moment finally arrives for the changes to take effect.[[/note]] Social democrats, social liberals and moderate socialists generally wish to bring about a more egalitarian society which to its critics tends to anti-individualism. They are usually secular and scientific (natural and social sciences) take part in protests and believe in a strong central government that regulates the economy, and promotes progressive reforms as and when necessary (Enlightenment). Conservatives might be known for their yearning of the past and strong religious views (Romanticism), but this is coupled with their support for free markets and strong militaries (Enlightenment). European conservatives tend to be more explicitly Romantic, especially when they advocate the restoration of monarchy and aristocracy, or in modern times the sustenance of a strong bureaucratic and technocratic elite (Enlightenment Values for Romantic Ends). |
| 657 | ** Fascists have been known for their anti-intellectual rhetoric and support for traditional values (Romanticism), but also support loyalty to the state and discipline (Enlightenment) which is fair since modern fascism began as an attempt to co-opt the features and forms of socialist organizations of the past and present, including loyal partisan identity, strong ideological coherence and efficient organization. Conservative parties were not as effectively organized and ideologically coherent in the past. |
| 658 | ** Anarchism as a whole, to paraphrase the founder of anarcho-syndicalism Rudolf Rocker, can be thought of as a synthesis of an Enlightenment philosophy (classical liberalism) with a Romantic philosophy (socialism), incorporating the belief in progress and individual liberty from the former, and the support for social egalitarianism and cooperation from the latter. Hence the alternative name for anarchism-libertarian socialism. Though different strands of anarchism lean more towards one or the other. For example, individualist anarchists, post-left anarchists, and anarcho-primitivists are Romantics who tend to dislike the ideals of the Enlightenment and think that on the whole it's made the world worse and not better. On the other hand, social anarchists, anarcho-communists, and social ecologists see their ideas as originating in Enlightenment humanism and dismiss Romantic influences on the left-libertarian movement as mere "lifestyle anarchists", more interested in personal rebellion than effective social change. |
| 659 | ** The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street can be thought of as Romantic movements. In terms of actual ideologies, the Tea Party is more romantic, with its strong love of the past and traditional values. While Occupy Wall Street has been likened to the Hippie movements of the 1960's, its criticisms of capitalist accumulation, tax breaks, unemployment are far more specific towards economic inequality than the vague invocations of "free love", as noted by Noam Chomsky. Both are critical of states, but each have opposing attitudes towards capitalism. |
| 660 | * UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill was closer to being a Romantic while Roosevelt was more Enlightenment. |
| 661 | * In current United States party politics, Republicans (Romanticism) versus Democrats (Enlightenment): The Republicans, now calling themselves the Grand Old Party, stand for the traditional values that defined the United States of the past. They exalt ideals like States' rights, Family Values, Religion, and the belief that with Hard Work and ambition you will succeed and achieve the American Dream. On the other side, the Democrats, now defining themselves "Liberals," are cosmopolitan and globalist-minded in their policy-making based on Scientific discoveries (e.g. Climate Change and the campaign for Alternative Energy), Gender and racial Equality, and the proposal of a Welfare State where an advanced economy should be capable of providing for the basic needs of all its citizens. The ideological contrast is further emphasized in the slogans of the contemporary presidents of each faction (Barack Obama's "Hope And Change" implicating greater progress for the future, versus Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" giving prime emphasis on America's almighty and more virtuous past). However, this is just a tendency; there are plenty of strands of conservative thought that appeal to reason and cite scientific studies, just as liberal or leftist thought has sometimes favored emotive arguments (these tend to emphasise compassion and empathy, contrasting with the conservative emphasis on duty and honor). |
| 662 | * Organic Farming (Romanticism) vs. Genetically-Modified Farming (Enlightenment). Science based medicine (Enlightenment) vs. complementary/alternative medicine (Romanticism). Nuclear Energy (Enlightenment) vs. Renewable Energy (Romanticism)[[note]]This one's a bit more complicated. While hostility to nuclear energy ''can'' be motivated by Romantic ideals, there are also perfectly Enlightened reasons to support renewable energy. This is a matter of pragmatism versus idealism more than anything else; nobody really opposes renewable energy. The pro-nuclear camp, however, argues that current renewable technologies can't meet the needs of society (except in rare places-such as Iceland, which is well situated for geothermal power). While these technologies catch up, it is best to use the available cheap nuclear power. Those who strongly favor renewable energy often argue that a drastic switch is absolutely necessary as soon as possible. The camps split along the same lines covered under 'inherent in the system', i.e. one side argues for a gradual change of the current system and the other wishes to change the system radically. Although there is Romantic opposition to renewable energy, in the form of wind turbines: they look ugly, and there are claims that they kill local birds and cause health problems to people living nearby.[[/note]]. Traditional Architecture: Neoclassical (Enlightenment) vs. Gothic Revival (Romanticism). 20th-century Architecture: Modernism (Enlightenment) vs. Post-Modernism (Romanticism). And then there is Traditional Architecture (Romanticism) vs Modern architecture (Enlightenment). |
| 663 | ** The traditional-architecture form of this is one of the more fascinating examples, in part because of its political overtones: do you ever wonder why the US Capitol and White House or the French Palais Bourbon (seat of the National Assembly), look like Greek and Roman temples while the British Houses of Parliament and Canadian Parliament Hill look like medieval cathedrals? Because in the first half of the 19th century, the Neoclassical style was associated with Enlightenment republicanism, while the Gothic Revival style was, being Romanticist, associated with monarchism. Indeed, Neoclassical designs were seriously considered for both Westminster and Ottawa, but then dismissed on the grounds that they were too republican. (Everybody quietly ignored the fact that the seat of the actual monarch, Buckingham Palace, is emphatically Neoclassical.)\ |
| 664 | \ |
| 665 | On the other hand, both Parliament Hill and Westminster, while Gothic in style, have balanced, Neoclassical-style ''floor plans'' and other elements of Neoclassical design (e.g. an emphasis on symmetry). To facilitate this, they purposely used as inspiration the austere and relatively geometric "Perpendicular Gothic" architecture, a sober, post-Plague [[TheLateMiddleAges late medieval]] style characterized by lots of right angles and relatively little ornate stonework tracery (which also had the advantage to 19th-century Brits of being a [[PatrioticFervor distinctively English style]] not found on the Continent). You'll further notice that the Commons chamber and meeting rooms on the north side at Westminster are more or less reflected across the Central Lobby on the Lords side to the south, with only a few things fiddled with to accommodate the slightly different duties of the Commons and the Lords (for one thing, the Lords has to host the State Opening of Parliament, meaning that an assortment of rooms are necessary for the procession of the monarch) and to accommodate the inclusion of Westminster Hall (which had survived the 1834 fire and had been part of the palace since the reign of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William II]]; they weren't about to knock it down). \ |
| 666 | \ |
| 667 | The symmetrical construction rather annoyed Romantic/Gothic true believers. For instance, Augustus W. N. Pugin, the devoted Romanticist Gothic architect brought in to assist the more classicist Charles Barry in the Westminster project (particularly respecting the decorations), famously despaired of the structure, "All Grecian, sir; Tudor details on a classic body." Had he lived long enough, Pugin would have been even more annoyed with/depressed by Centre Block in Ottawa, which is almost completely symmetrical, with the Senate chambers on the east side of Confederation Hall being a mirror image of the Commons chambers on the west side. However, both Westminster and Centre Block arguably present, in architectural form, the character of liberal-democratic constitutional monarchy: a "crowned republic," with traditional, Romantic trappings to bring grandeur, majesty, and magic to an emphatically modern, efficient, and rational Enlightened form. |
| 668 | * The most common stereotype of the environmental movement consists of liberal Romanticist hippies fighting against industrial titans. However, the movement is actually strongly divided between Romantic and Enlightened wings over issues like nuclear power and genetic engineering (supported by Enlightened and opposed by Romantic environmentalists). The opposition is even more complicated; the messages usually take Enlightened forms (such as questioning the science behind climate change), but in America in particular, anti-environmentalism often consciously draws upon conservative elements (Romanticism) for its support. |
| 669 | * The debate on abortion could be viewed this way, with pro-life advocates appealing to Romanticism and pro-choice advocates appealing to Enlightenment. |
| 670 | * UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud saw himself as a man of UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, extending the scientific method to the realms previously relegated to philosophy and literature. Although a trained neurologist himself, he regarded existing methods and tools to be inadequate in articulating the mental process, and so resorted to methods like Talking Cure, analyzing language and dreams, memories and other features that led many to regard psychoanalysis as pseudo-scientific and heterodox. |
| 671 | ** In practical terms, Freudian psychology was individualistic (Romantic), articulating that every person was messed up in a specific way that there was no one single method to cure trauma, and that a cure might not even be desirable since [[MiseryBuildsCharacter those neuroses actually shaped some of our positive attributes]], but also deterministic (Enlightenment): shaped by family, society and other environmental factors, and the ultimate goal is self-understanding and dealing with your past and present and accepting that we are less rational than we believe ourselves to be. Marxists (enlightened advocates) were critical of Freud for his emphasis on the individual self's innate non-conformity and they saw Freud as essentially Romantic[[note]]Freud was largely pessimistic about civilization and progress, believing that man was inherently self-destructive that any advances that come would invariably be twisted for disastrous ends, but at the same time, [[KnightInSourArmor better understanding of our selves could make us more forgiving, compassionate and understanding of each other's flaws]][[/note]]. |
| 672 | ** Psychiatry with its reliance on pills and more visible scientific grounding, and overall positivism[[note]]i.e. cures can lead to improvements and control of our flaws rather in Freud's case understanding and dealing with them[[/note]] runs on a kind of utopian Enlightenment, i.e. the idea that our problems can be solved permanently. Neuroscience led by Erich Kandel on the other hand uses modern scientific study and greater access to brain studies, to essentially reframe many of Freud's ideas about the unconscious in scientific terms, since technology had caught up to test Freud's ideas. |
| 673 | ** UsefulNotes/CarlJung, who disagreed with Freud for leaving out the more spiritual and mystical archetypes in human psychology, was more Romantic, which is the main reason Freud criticized him. Campbell's ''The Hero With A Thousand Faces'' about comparative mythical traditions is naturally more Romantic given its subject and its Jungian inspirations. |
| 674 | ** Of Jung's own modern disciples, there is Jordan Peterson, a psychologist who analyzes narrative archetypes and interprets them from a Jungian perspective (Enlightenment) vs. Jonathan Pageau, an Orthodox icon-carver who interprets the symbolic meaning of images and archetypes (Romantic). |
| 675 | * Analytic Philosophy (Enlightenment) and Continental Philosophy (Romanticism) at least in the eyes of Creator/BertrandRussell. Continental philosophers on the other hand see themselves very much in the spirit of Enlightenment, and their emphasis on argument from first principles and constant engagement with society lead them to form the social sciences. |
| 676 | * TheSixties had a mixture of both. The "[[NewAgeRetroHippie hippie]]" counterculture, with its wild, passionate lifestyle, its rejection of society and materialism in favor of more bohemian ways, and its glorification of nature, was decidedly Romanticist. Meanwhile, the civil rights movement occurred at the same time, and that movement leaned toward the Enlightenment, with its focus on equality and progress. Many people were involved in both the counterculture and the civil rights movement, proving that Enlightenment and Romanticism can coexist peacefully, at least until the counterculture fell out for its DoubleStandard on women's rights, tended to cults led by Charles Manson and Jim Jones, and generally [[WeAREStrugglingTogether fractured over inevitable disillusionment rather than long-term commitments]]. |
| 677 | * One of the more common justifications of European colonialism is that the imperial powers were spreading the benefits of the European science and technology (the Enlightenment) while at the same time seeking to explore and preserve the traditional cultures of the colonized (Romanticism) while degrading the real people who lived there at the same time by abusing their use of the media to the rest of the world. This hollow justification when measured against the reality of what happened on the ground (brutal destruction of local businesses with no compensation, eroding their market base to create support for their goods) tended to be submerged thanks to the AdventureArchaeologist derived from a Romanticist longing for adventure in distant lands, finding artifacts from locales and bringing it to the mother nation of these powers. This romanticizing of exploitation was gradually exposed in post-colonial writings by Edward Said, who worked in the tradition of the Enlightenment to criticize ''Orientalism'', a predominant trope in Romanticist painting and literature. |
| 678 | * Currency: Some Romanticists claim that gold is a historically sound form of currency while many Enlightened see it as WorthlessYellowRocks, preferring a fiat currency. Some Romanticists oppose all currency in general as dehumanizingly [[ObstructiveBureaucrat bureaucratic]], elitist, and [[Literature/TheBible the root of all evil]]. They may instead prefer a group where necessities had to be shared for mutual survival, a la "barter" or "primitive communism". Some Enlightened people oppose fiat currency and the Federal Reserve system in general, seeing it as nothing more than paper printed and falsely loaned away to unsuspecting people, causing [[RidiculousExchangeRates inflation]] and making the people think they have to repay debt when there is nothing to repay. Some Enlightened people prefer communism, others opt for energy-based currency because they believe that EquivalentExchange cannot suffer inflation. Still other Enlightened people think that things such as class and currency are nothing more than necessary evils brought on by scarcity and hunger, that can be disposed off [[TheSingularity once technology and robotics become advanced enough to eliminate the need for labor]] (this was a point championed by Creator/KarlMarx himself; today, this highly Enlightened position is somewhat tongue-in-cheekly called "fully-automated luxury communism"--including if not especially by its proponents). |
| 679 | * You would think that software developers would tilt completely toward Enlightenment, but this thing also crops up there with the free and open source movements on the Romantic side and proprietary developers on the Enlightened. Open source developers generally avoid things like detailed software designs, documentation (when they can get away with it) and testing. Proprietary developers produce a lot of useful software as well, but their development processes tend to be very bureaucratic and their programs very large. |
| 680 | * The relationship between Russia's two main cities, Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, reflects this dynamic in both ways. |
| 681 | ** During UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia era, Saint-Petersburg stood for the Enlightenment, built by European architects as a pinnacle of Peter The Great's modernization efforts, dubbed "The window to Europe". Moscow was the Romanticism, a stronghold of old Muscovite culture, traditionalism and Orthodox Christian spirituality. |
| 682 | ** In UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia, Moscow is a gleaming and shiny modern city full of [[UpperClassTwit shallow and stupid but rich people]], a Mecca for Russian businessmen, politicians and celebrities. Saint-Petersburg is a gothic and decadent CityNoir, populated (according to Russian stereotypes) by [[MadArtist tortured]] [[StarvingArtist artists]], gangsters, drug addicts, and wannabe-intellectual hipsters. (Oh, and liberals and Jews.[[note]]Technically correct on both points; the city's politics are relatively hostile to the government, and the proportion of Jews in Pitr is about .8%, as opposed to about .5% in Moscow.[[/note]]) |
| 683 | * Some kind of this also existed in the society of the Russian Empire, starting from about the middle of the 19th century, due to uncertainty about the future path of Russia's development. Slavophiles insisted on the uniqueness of both the culture and traditions of Russia itself and its historical path, condemning the reforms of UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat and considering monarchy (autocratic tsarism) a natural form of government for a country like Russia. Another philosophical trend, Westernizers, on the contrary, believed that Russia was significantly lagging behind Western Europe and should have caught up as quickly as possible through reforms, both socio-cultural and political-economic, and transformation into either a constitutional monarchy or a parliamentary democratic republic. However, both of them understood the need for technological modernization (especially after the Crimean War) and the abolition of serfdom. Also, both trends opposed any revolutionary transformations and had a somewhat negative attitude towards the policy of the Russian Empire itself, since the tsarist regime had features of both worldviews, not ultimately inclining towards either of them. |
| 684 | * The American neoreactionary movement and the French archeofuturist movement both break the dichotomy. Both envision a cross between extreme traditionalism and scientific rationalism, which often results in a fantasy of a new middle ages where kingdoms use modern tech like nuclear power and genetic engineering. In case of the archeofuturists, it has to be said, that, like the name suggests, they see themselves as the successors of the futurist art movement rather than the enlightenment. Futurism can be seen a a form of romanticism embracing technology. |
| 685 | ** Isaac Newton was actually, besides being an enlightenment philosopher, a forerunner to that. He imagined a new society ruled by a cleric/scientist hybrid caste, who rediscovered the old past technologies and sciences like alchemy. (Basically a cross between a theocracy and a technocracy.) Every temple should become like a university, and should perform scientific research. |
| 686 | * John F. Kennedy's Rice University Moon Effort oozes Enlightenment. Seriously, you could make an enlightenment motto out of the iconic lines: "We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too." The sheer pomp and circumstance, idealism, and unwavering courage gives it the Enlightenment stamp of approval. |
| 687 | |
| 688 | [[/folder]] |
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