Thoughts About Characters

Yesterday we were talking about characters. My daughter was really upset about the new trend in movies where all characters turn out to be mean and dirty at the end. Nobody is perfect, there is no question about it, but we all need to believe that we can improve and reach a higher level of good if we try to.

My daughter’s disappointment proved that Bruno Bettelheim has a good point in ‘The Good Enough Parent’ (I had a vague memory that I read it in that book) that children need positive heroes because these creatures (like Santa) impersonate the goodwill of others and makes the world less scary place for them. The new heroes make us suspicious and mistrustful of others, I do hope it will change soon. Until then, I keep on trying to make my characters positive in our board games and I hope the topics and the goals meet real virtues.

Maybe this serious post is not in balance with the funny pictures above, but the fairies of our Glasshouse game are the essence of what I think about positive characters. Their ‘zen’ facial expression makes them my favorite of all Marbushka creatures.