[REVIEW] End of Month Reviews #45 - September 2007 [spoilers]

[Martin Phipps]

On Dec 6, 4:14 am, Tom Russell <milos_par... at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Dec 5, 1:38 pm, Martin Phipps <martinphip... at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > > Unfortunately, Martin Rock-- like many of us-- does not always act
> > > logically. :-)
>
> > I would argue that we do.  The unpredictability of human behaviour is
> > overrated.  Our feelings, our reactions and our ultimate decisions are
> > all basically responses to the world around us.  People who truly
> > behave in unexpected ways are those we label insane.
>
> But those responses are not necessarily "logical"; or rather, we act
> according to our own inner logic, which might not hold up to the
> scrutiny of others.

There is method even in madness.  We act according to our motivations
and our motivations are emotional, instinctual, but we can identify
certain key instinctual motivations (sexual, survival, social) and
predict how people will behave.  (A hungry person will seek food.  A
cornered animal will attack.)

> > > But his emotions, his
> > > personality, his foibles got in the way.  Something similiar could be
> > > said, perhaps, of Martin Rock.
>
> > Emotions are reactions to stimuli.  Your personality is determined
> > partly by nature and partly by nurture.  Nobody's perfect but most of
> > us behave rationally.
>
> Or, rather, most of us behave according to our personalities.  And I
> think the nature-- and the nuture-- of Martin Rock's personality has
> been established throughout the run.

But the more we learned about Martin, the stranger it seemed when he
wouldn't stand up for himself.  He should have gotten angry at Anders
in that scene.  He should have gotten more angry with the woman who
raped him.  He should have told the judge about the ADA working for
Snapp and avoided going to jail.  Maybe these examples form a
patten... but I thought you said you were trying to portray Martin as
"badass".

Martin