Destroying the Past

I recently heard about a new show on HBO Max called Velma. It is an animated spin-off of Scooby-Doo, a show popular with my kids when they were quite young. I am sure I watched some episodes, though I can't remember them. Good thing for Wikipedia to remind me of who the characters were.

The current version of Velma has all the same characters as the original series - Velma, Shaggy, Daphne, and Fred, but alas, no Scoobert. The current versions of these characters are all tainted with the cynical, depraved, and bankrupt attributes the current writers in Hollywood (or wherever they're located) like to attribute to every character they create.

I understand there was some ambiguity about the original Mystery Team. Was Velma a lesbian, or merely a butch girl? Was Shaggy really a consumer of pot, or was he merely a significant deviant from the mean? I don't know. The original story didn't focus on those qualities. 

But in this day and age, those qualities seem to be the primary focus of our attention. What group or tribe a person belongs to seems to be more important than what a person does. What a person looks like seems to matter more than what is in a person's heart.

I keep searching for stories that explore the goodness of people, the ability of a person to overcome the artificial barriers that lesser people try to erect to keep them down. I like stories that have real heroes but don't heroize flaws in people. I admit that everyone has flaws, but I don't like stories that focus on those flaws and try to make them seem like things to be proud of.

Flaws are flaws, and we are greater when we acknowledge them and overcome them.

For some, Velma will be a delightful and amusing exploration of the darker side of people. But I don't know that I will be among its fans.


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