I was reading a story on Kindle anout a soldier in British SAS. He was exceptionally brave, athletic, sharpshoote, etc - your typical HERO man. Fit to be the main character in a cheesy Hollywood action movie.
After finishing the first book, out of 33 in the series, Kindle linked me to Goodreads for reviewing it. There, I read other reviews for the story and one struck me as peculiar.
I read review by this person who gave a 1 star rating and the whole premise was that no soldier or man could be this perfect and over achieving. Hence, the story was crap.
That brings me to Universes. When a story is built, it contains a backstory and an environment in which the story plays out. This is called the Universe of the story. Like Middle Earth of the Lord of the Rings stories, or Elves kingdom in Inheritance (Eragon) series, or Marvel Cinematic Universe that you see in Avengers series.
When you read a story, you must assume that the universe behind the story is real. Only then, you see how the story plays out. If you want to question the Universe, there is no point in reading the story - because you are a Non-believer.
Back to this story, the universe has this ideal man who can do wonders, can run marathons while physically hurt, move (figuratively) mountains, can charm anyone and kill hundreds of soldiers single-handed - your James Bond or Rambo type. The unwritten rule for any reader is that you first believe such a person exists. Then, you read and enjoy the story.
This also extends to the reviewer's prejudice which made him believe that such a person cannot exist. But, we know of people who defy all odds and known expectations of what one can do or can achieve. To think someone cannot achieve so much just because I don't think it is possible is in itself so wrong, and so prejudiced.
I mean, if such a hero could not be true, how can we explain the James Bonds, Rambos, Jackie Chans, Steven Seagals, Jason Stathams, Transporters and other "Heroes" in movies !!
Or for that matter, how can we accept Thalaiva Rajanikanth, Chiranjeevi, Prabhas, Nagarjuna, Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan, Mithun da, and countless other Indian movie heroes, eh?
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