Andy- Good vs. Evil

Good versus evil. A conflict as timeless as the question of the chicken or the egg. The question now is if it really exists, or if all our morals are gray. Good versus evil, dark versus light, hope versus despair, they are all part of a common theme in cultures past and present. With events like 9/11 and the holocaust it is easy to believe that there is such a thing as absolute evil, and with people like Mother Teresa and Gandhi it easy there seems to be some pure good in the world. We think of these examples only because they are the very extremes. In our everyday lives we make small decisions of right or wrong will little effect. Just because we hold the door for someone or pick up a five dollar bill someone drops doesn't mean we are good or evil. Everyone does something bad once in a while and we all try to be nice sometimes. In the last two decades the fantasy genre has undergone a major transformation. Lord of the Rings, the father of modern fantasy, is epitome of good versus evil. For most of the last half-century most of the fantasy genre has followed suit. This is not a bad formula, especially for the epic fantasy genre, but recently fantasy has become much a gray genre. Characters no longer have stalwart morals, but many are dynamic and face internal struggles about right and wrong. Fantasy authors no longer have characters that fight for good against all evil. This is also accompanied by the genre become more realistic and gritty in an attempt to reflect our lives and help us relate to the genre. Though at times it seems like there are truly evil people in the world there is always some good. I believe that Good and evil are not absolute, but that we all have a little bit of both.