Classical tragedy was the war between good and evil. We wanted evil to be defeated and good to be victorious. But the battle in modern tragedy is between good and good. And no matter which side wins, we'll still be heartbroken.
The most painful moral struggles are not those between good and evil, but between the good and the lesser good.
If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.
Christ shared our experience; he suffered as we suffer; he died as we shall die, and for forty days in the desert he underwent the struggle between good and evil.
Reducing everything immediately to good and evil is bad history - not only because it isn't true, but because reductionism is unpersuasive; it is boring. Good history, on the other hand, demands that one talk socratically - that one can present alternate viewpoints, not strawman arguments.
Some things must be good in themselves, else there could be no measure whereby to lay out good and evil.
People's character is their behaviour - we're all capable of good and evil.
I liked the clear morality of 1941, when you had no doubt about good and evil. There was a lot of idealism, people fighting for a cause. People are searching for morality today.
I'm a fan of the sensibility of comics, and I love the escapism of them and the defining of good and evil. They're just so creative, too.
In very general terms 'Top Of The Lake' is about good and evil. It's a deep dark mystery. It also deals with lots of fascinating human relationships, and it's also about the battle of the sexes.
