stories where main characters change themselves in ways which are basically improvements—getting beyond the usual human is a plus, but for purposes of this discussion I’m including any significant positive change.
I wouldn’t consider Dune or Neuromancer to meet those criteria.
Dune is a retelling of a very old colonial myth, where the white man goes to live amongst the savages, and, being white, immediately becomes the best of them. He then realizes the deep wisdom they have, the value of their connection to their environment, and leads them against the rest of the white men to eventually be the leader of the savages and possibly also whites. This is Dune, but also Avatar, Dances with Wolves, Fern Gully (IIRC) and several others.
Paul doesn’t improve—he is a superhero whose power is privilege. Since he never has to confront the privilege of being a colonial, I would say Paul never grows in any substantial way.
Neuromancer is a fun cyberpunk story, and definitely worth reading, but the main characters don’t really improve. They have incredible experiences, but the bleakness of cyberpunk means that these experiences are quickly ground to dust by the world they live in. I think the epilogue was pretty clear on that.
Dark City and Limitless are also basically superhero movies, except in Limitless the superpower is Adderall.
I’d be interested to see how any of the above display themes of characters improving themselves by figuring out what self-improvement tactics work or don’t work—they’re all fantastic stories and movies (Dune is a bit tired, but builds an evocative world at least), and I’d like to be able to go back to them and have something new to experience.
I wouldn’t consider Dune or Neuromancer to meet those criteria.
Dune is a retelling of a very old colonial myth, where the white man goes to live amongst the savages, and, being white, immediately becomes the best of them. He then realizes the deep wisdom they have, the value of their connection to their environment, and leads them against the rest of the white men to eventually be the leader of the savages and possibly also whites. This is Dune, but also Avatar, Dances with Wolves, Fern Gully (IIRC) and several others.
Paul doesn’t improve—he is a superhero whose power is privilege. Since he never has to confront the privilege of being a colonial, I would say Paul never grows in any substantial way.
Neuromancer is a fun cyberpunk story, and definitely worth reading, but the main characters don’t really improve. They have incredible experiences, but the bleakness of cyberpunk means that these experiences are quickly ground to dust by the world they live in. I think the epilogue was pretty clear on that.
Dark City and Limitless are also basically superhero movies, except in Limitless the superpower is Adderall.
I’d be interested to see how any of the above display themes of characters improving themselves by figuring out what self-improvement tactics work or don’t work—they’re all fantastic stories and movies (Dune is a bit tired, but builds an evocative world at least), and I’d like to be able to go back to them and have something new to experience.