The Heroes, The Bards and The Audiences

The Heroes, The Bards and The Audiences

I forgot where I heard/read about this: was it Xena the Warrior Princess or Violinist of Hameln? Anyway, the saying goes:
There are 3 types of people:

1. The Heroes - the main characters, the object of praises, the ones under the spotlights.
2. The Bards - the singers of praises, the ones putting the first group into the pedestal.
3. The Audiences - this is where most people fit in. I'm here all my life.

Back then I thought "Heroes are the greatest. while Bards are not significant. Such is the greatness of a hero, even if a bard didn't pick up the story, another would."
But after I entered the working environment, my view was reversed. No matter how good a product is, if the owner can't sell it, it would be gone in obscurity. On the other hand, no matter how shitty a product is, if The Bard sings all the right tunes to the right ears, even flaws become strong points.
That, and I've come to realization that heroes are human too, they have flaws, they pee when dumping the big ones (an ex-colleague proved that he could un-load without peeing, but that was not pleasant - so there you have it).

Romance of Three Kingdoms - Glory of Shu

This story never gets old; new writers would picked up the old story and re-told it, but most depict Liu and gang as the good guys. I beg to differ, though to be honest I never read the authoritative, only the dramatization Sānguó yǎnyì.

1. Ma Chao was a terrible person, causing the death of not just his father, but his (almost) whole family.
2. There was an episode in Sānguó yǎnyì where Liu Bei and Cao Cao visit a farmer. The farmer has no meat to serve and decides to butcher his wife to get some. Upon knowing it, Cao Cao wants to kill him, but he refrains and waits for Liu Bei's respond. Liu Bei praises the farmer's kindness (Boy, am I glad for not living then and there when such moral compass was in place.).
3. Zhuge Liang was a revolting man. During the exodus to Xiakou, Cao Cao's ruthless butchering of civilians are infamous. But when I think from different perspective, rousing civilians as living obstacles certainly help to stall pursuers' progress (in a heated stand-off, slip a guy in to throw the first stone, slip out, sit back, enjoy the chaos, eat pop corn, piece of cake.). 

For people unfamiliar with (any variant of) the story, above statements may not mean much, but for those who do, I'm just trying to be a Bard there, singing different tune.

The Horse and The Rider

In Silver Spoon, of the same fact: "A rider who can tell a horse where he wants to go and let it figure out how to get there on its own", Hachiken and Mikage come to different conclusion; the former considers the rider is amazing, while the latter considers the horse is the amazing one.
Which camp are you on? The Horse or The Rider?
Both are heroes in this story: Arthur and the knights of the round table, Robin Hood and his band of outlaws. Hachiken and Mikage play the bards, each imbues his/her own subjectivity. While we (as usual) are The Audiences.

This is the kind of story I like to hear/read. Rather than being force-fed by The Bard's judgement on right or wrong, give the facts give competing opinions keep it open let the audiences expand their imagination.

In the real world the rider would be the manager and the horse the worker. But for the worker to be able to find his/her own way, that's one competent worker. On the other hand, isn't that what managers do? bark orders then go home on the dot, leaving the workers doing overtime day in and day out? Well, that's one big over-simplification. Consider the context: equestrianism. Certainly The Rider's job is not that trivial; steering The Horse in line with the trajectory, reaching the goal as fast as possible, with no/minimum mistakes along the way.

That's my expansion from 2 panels of manga. Leaving an inconclusive situation may entices The Audiences to wear The Bard's hat. Maybe the tunes are all over the place; maybe no one would ever hear the tunes; maybe... maybe...; but surely there is satisfaction - however fleeting - of wearing different hat.