Thursday, April 21: Femme Fatale
A LIFE WITHOUT DANGER
by Deborah Elliott-Upton
Some days I feel like the Roadrunner, but more often I walk in the footsteps of Wile E. Coyote. That coyote has been trying to catch the roadrunner for a long time and though he’s mail-ordered probably every gadget the Acme Company has in its catalog, he hasn’t gotten the succulent dinner he longs for yet. But, he keeps trying and that’s why I still root for him – and no, I have nothing against roadrunners, but a food chain is in existence for a reason.
Why do we continue to read story after story about the “good guy” catching the “bad guy”? Because it’s human nature for us to still seek truth, honor and justice in a not-so-honest, truthful or just world. In our Walter Mitty lives (and yes, most of us live there ), we want a redemption of sorts.
It’s the same in mystery fiction. The detective, amateur sleuth or private detective has become one of us: the underdog thrown into some bit of danger we never expected, yet hoping to be triumphant in the end with justice being served. As a reader, I want to be drawn into the fray and forced to find the answers. I want to be the hero, to save the day and to outsmart the very genius of the “bad guy” because in my everyday life, I probably have little chance to accomplish any of that.
I’m not a take-no-prisoners attorney who makes criminals pay for their crime. I’m not a savvy detective who tracks and arrests killers. I’m not even an amateur sleuth who thinks faster than trained professionals and traps a murderer not just into a confession, but also a corner where there is no escape.
As a writer and a reader, I can become the one who outsmarts the police and the criminal and come through the experience without a scratch—and do it as fast as I can read. It’s a lovely place to live and I think the coyote might agree. If only he wasn’t famished. Maybe Acme can mail him a roadrunner dinner on ice. But, where’s the fun in that?
I’ve forgotten the source, but I once heard that readers enjoy mystery/suspense stories because we are all potential victims of violence and deception. And as long as we are, we as readers will be drawn toward a form of literature that exposes the criminal mind and promises justice.
I’ve also heard that mysteries remain the second most popular fiction genre, behind romance.
Very fun read!! I love the thought of the bad guy I think because I long to ‘get away’ with stuff….. :]]
I prefer those stories where the bad guy gets away with it. It leaves me with such an unsettled feeling that it stirs me to action. I don’t like holding to the thought that the good guy always wins and bad is put into its place, because that doesn’t always seem to happen.
You do well, Deborah. Or as they might say in the cartoons, ya done good.
I sometimes like the bad guy to get away with a crime, too (but only in fiction!) I think that’s why the ending of the “Silence of the Lambs” movie was satisfying — of course, it screamed, “Sequel!” but mostly it was knowing Hannibal got away one more time. I feel the same about Moriarty not being caught by Holmes — sure, he had been “found out” by the clues so cleverly by Sherlock, but he evaded capture which meant we’d hopefully see him in another adventure — where of course, Holmes would be able to get to the truth by deduction, my Dear Watson.
Bad guys get away with things in real life all the time these days.
In fiction and/or movies I like justice, even if the bad guy “gets away with it”–I like it if an author can make sure I know there is some sort of thorn-in-flesh so to speak.
Maybe that’s why I like Justified (on FX-Elmore Leonard-executive producer and based on some of his writings). There is an odd sense of just balance – not always lawfully. 🙂
Lissa, you do get away with “stuff.”
Debbie – I question why the roadrunner is after such a skinny bird.