absurdity | i think this belongs here...

apoc's sig seems to read "Death to false metal".

Anyway: you're right about the art student/character development thing.  Character development isn't a necessarily good or bad thing: it's a property.  Just like salt (again with the comparisons, more on that later) it can be used sparingly or excessively.  I can use "the lack of character development" as an explanation for me not liking a movie, but another movie might have just as little character development but be incredibly enjoyable.

Comparison is used as a coping mechanism by humanity at all levels.  I react to a stimulus differently than, say, neph or foe because I have different previous experiences against which to compare and contrast the shared stimuli.  The sight of a dead body doesn't phase neph one bit, as it seems a perfectly normal thing in comparison to his experiences at his old job, while I'm more likely to have a far more visceral reaction, as I have no previous experience with dead bodies against which to compare the one in front of me.

Okay, that was poorly planned, thought out, and written.  Me tired.  Blegh.