A Writer's Responsibility

This is long, and I make no apology for the majority of it not being under a cut.

Today, I have had it irrevocably spelled out for me that I could never write for a network television show... and I'll be surprised if I ever get published - why?

Because I won't compromise.

I have been sitting here today trying to put into words just how I feel, right now, over the question of what /is/ a writer's responsibility.

Is it to bow to pressures of a society that seeks to be entertained only by a 'fluffy bunny,' 'black and white,' 'comfortable' view of a world where there are no monsters under the bed, and we're not faced with moral questions that might alarm us when we see our answers?

Or is a writer's responsibility to her characters, their integrity, and the integrity of the world/society they write.

Is it a writer's responsiblity to challenge us as readers (of any kind of text, be that literary/visual/audio etc) - to hold up the mirror before our faces that prompts us to see within those dark corners of our own beliefs, attitudes and psyches, and make us think and to make us realise, as we examine the villain, Wait a minute - I understand - and there but for the grace of God, go I.?

Is it a writer's responsibility to remind us that the world is not a fluffly place, but that in spite of that, there is still hope?

Is it a writer's responsiblity to remind us that the answers to moral questions aren't 'black and white,' but that in spite of that, there is still hope?

Is it a writer's responsibility to remind us that, actually, there are monsters under the bed and that they could well be, likely are of our own making, but that there is still hope?

And should the writer hold up all of that to us and say, Look... I am the voice of your conscience, I have seen your actions, and your thoughts. I know you and can judge you, and find you wanting, but there is no cause for alarm - do not despair, because there is still hope.?

I believe the all of the latter.

There is only one TV show I could name that consistently, through all its incarnations, was not afraid to do that - to challenge us, to hold the mirror to us, to shake us from our comfortable complaceny and to make us think. That show is Star Trek.

They did it consistently, and they did it well, and still, at the end of each dark night they took us through, made us face, they left us with the message that, yes, there is still hope, but that it is our responsibility to take that potential and shape it, embrace it, make it ours.

They did it in The Original Series, they did it in The Next Generation, they did it with bells and whistles in Deep Space Nine, they did it less well in Voyager, but they still did it, and yes... they even did it in Enterprise toward the end - but then what happened? The show got cancelled.

Is it a symptom of the sickness in our society that we, as a people, given the choice would turn our back on anything and everything that holds that Mirror Darkly up to our faces and demands Look! - that we abrogate the responsibility for our own morality and moral choices - everything that proves our humanity - to others, whom we then revile?

Give us more shows like Star Trek, Writers - challenge us. Shock us from our moral apathy! Show us the real world through your art.

Last night, Stargate: Atlantis, one of the shows that created for us a wonderful 'dark mirror,' with such potential for the kind of examination of ourselves that I fear we need, finally capped its consistent failure to do so. I know there are many who will read this paragraph and tell me, "Yes, but that's not the kind of show it is. They don't write like that." and while I acknowledge that, know that you're right, and hate that it's true - I still had hope.

( My disappointment in Atlantis (cut for spoilers) )