Alternative explanations are what fandom is all about! Honestly, with every piece of work created, the author's interpretation is only one of many possibilities. I don't think it matters so much what the author meant, because they are presenting events, and if those events happened in real life, everyone would interpret them differently. Ohba says that Mikami and Light are both evil, and to me, what they do is not evil. Even if what the author meant was to make them evil, what they do defies my definition of evil. And so, I can't see them that way, even if the author says they are. But yes, that's just an example.
You have a point there. I can't really see him being completely honest with those kids either. Really, the only person I can see him being completely honest with is Watari. Most people, even those who are fairly honest, tend to obscure the truth when talking to children, because they unconciously want to paint a different world for them. L's motivations are quite different...he seems to want to make them think the world is worse than it is. But yes, I do think it was to gage their reactions, and I also agree with you about the inconsistancy--though, that could be explained by them wanting his POSITION, not wanting to be HIM. There's a difference between L the job, and L the individual human being (though I think he himself gets them confused a lot of the time).
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Date: 2008-03-03 05:25 pm (UTC)You have a point there. I can't really see him being completely honest with those kids either. Really, the only person I can see him being completely honest with is Watari. Most people, even those who are fairly honest, tend to obscure the truth when talking to children, because they unconciously want to paint a different world for them. L's motivations are quite different...he seems to want to make them think the world is worse than it is. But yes, I do think it was to gage their reactions, and I also agree with you about the inconsistancy--though, that could be explained by them wanting his POSITION, not wanting to be HIM. There's a difference between L the job, and L the individual human being (though I think he himself gets them confused a lot of the time).