Time to Save the World

I hate "that person" who says this, but the copy of On Rhetoric that I'm using is Kennedy's first edition.  Before this week, I was certain that all of my books had come in, but have since been sadly disappointed.  The Hendrix center book store and the library were out of the 2nd edition.  The Pickens and Anderson county libraries didn't seem to even have Kennedy's On Rhetoric, so I had to settle with the Clemson library's copy of the first edition.

Having said that....

Aristotle says in Chapter 6 of book 1 just above 1363a that "...there is no reason why the same thing may not sometimes be an advantage to both sides.  As a result, it is said that evils bring men together when the same thing is harmful to both groups"(65).

This made me think initially of one of the Pokemon movies (though I can't remember exactly which one at the moment).  Almost in every Pokemon movie there is a threat to the world's safety because some "legendary pokemon" has been awakened.  In at least one (though I suspect it has actually happened in a few of the movies) Team Rocket, in their pursuit to get Ash's Pikachu, stick their nose where it doesn't belong and lands them either in the same or greater trouble than Ash and his friends are in with regard to the world threat.  Then, at some point in the movie, either Team Rocket points out or is coerced to aid Ash in his attempt to save the situation and the world.  

I really hated drawing the connection between what Aristotle was saying and what my unfavorite (I don't know if they would qualify as my least favorite, but they'd be close) characters enacted in a cartoon that feels too childish to be connecting to, so I'm going to draw on something that I have less knowledge about, but shares a similar connection to this excerpt of Aristotle: The Avengers. 

The very basic premise of the Avengers is that the world comes under attack, six (unless I'm forgetting someone) "heroes" are thrown together with the objective to save the world but their different personalities make them enemies amongst themselves (as shown in the top trailer), causing them to agree on one thing "If we can't protect the Earth you can be damn sure we'll avenge it" (end of bottom trailer).  This line as Robert Downy Jr./Tony Stark says so well is the "common ground" of these heroes.  Were saving the world be as easy as writing a rhetorical, persuasive speech, this--as I think Aristotle would agree--would be the place to start.

"A thing is good when not in excess," says Aristotle (1363a pg 65).  This is another problem in the Avengers.  These "heroes" have an excess of power and a lack of control.  That's why this alternate opening scene came about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5HVgumJAGo 

I'm not sure that the avengers would agree to Aristotle when he continues, 'And what has cost much labor and expense [is good]; for it is an apparent good already, and such a thing is regarded as an "end" and an end of many [efforts]; and the "end" is a good' (Kennedy's brackets, pg 65).  Even the bad guy can expend much for evil deeds and that would not be good.  However, in order for someone to do good, it will cost labor and/or expense.  The completion or thwarting of either the good or bad thing is an end--this, I think, can be agreed on--for any story has to have an ending, and, like its other movies (as well as other movies not made by Marvel), it is usually with the completion/thwarting that the movies end.

Works Cited

Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. Trans. George A. Kennedy. 1st ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. Print.

Marvel. "Marvel's The Avengers- Trailer (OFFICIAL)." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrNdBpGMv8>.