It may not work out. Have hope anyway.

stories of hope, part 2

If I have one regret about Hope: A User’s Manual, it’s that it doesn’t include a quote that’s come to mean a lot to me since I heard it some twenty years ago. This is the piece of wisdom that I probably call up the most, listening to it whenever I need it—which has been often in the past several years. But try as I might, I never found the right place for it in the manuscript.

I’ll share that wisdom in a minute. I’m not trying to be coy; it’s not going to shock Blue Room regulars.

Image by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Before we get there though, I want to offer a couple of thoughts connecting my previous article in this series to today’s. As a reminder, last time we talked about two varieties of fiction, especially fantasy and science fiction: grimdark (gritty, violent, nihilistic) and noblebright (a battle between pure good and pure evil, with inspiring heroes and a happy ending). 

First thought. For those who watched Ted Lasso (and you know I did, and analyzed it in more depth than the creators may have intended!), I contend that Ted Lasso begins as a noblebright-coded character. He is consistently energetic, kind, and optimistic, seeing himself as a force for good and the one who, along with Beard, is going to build a new culture at Richmond. There are a few chinks in the armor, but he’s basically a force for unalloyed good. 

That noblebright posture starts to collapse under its own weight in season two. By season three, he’s as complicated as anyone else—still seeking to be kind and benevolent, but a mess, though a “work in progmess,” to use a phrase from the show. I know not everyone loved the third season, and there are a variety of reasons for that. But I wonder whether some of the audience’s ambivalence was because a lot of us loved Noblebright Ted, and weren’t on board with the more nuanced story the show runners wanted to tell about him. Just a wondering I have.

My second thought, and I apologize for the narrative whiplash of going from Ted to here: