Are all paranormal investigators cynical, depressed, and...humane?

[Jak]

i just finished watching hellboy and then it occured to me. most paranormal investigators are people dark past that lead them onto a prolonged state of depression, drowning out their anger and fears by hunting the supernatural, heavily drinking and smoking, and putting on a facade of a cynical, sarcastic, asshole. constantine, dante, dylan dog, hellboy, dean winchester, the grimm brothers, etc. does anyone else feel the same way or not?

 

[V]

I was gonna say Fox Mulder isn't, but he has a haunted past and a porn addiction.

 

[Demi-fiend]

They're like that because naysayers keep making fun of them by ridiculing their work. How can the legitimate ones ever gain a foothold in that kind of environment?

http://www.cracked.com/article_21219_5-things-i-learned-as-ghost-hunter-tv-wont-show-you.html

Just because someone doesn't personally believe in ghosts doesn't automatically make them not real. I'd rather listen to a vague recording than to some know-it-all douchebag.

 

[V's patron]

Well the genre does have roots in film noir/ hardboiled detective stories so im guessing they take cues from that.

 

[Dante's Stalker]

Don't burn me for this BUT it's a stereotype.
One that ladies like me don't mind because I dig it. :inlove::inlove::inlove:

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

Yeah, I figure the vast majority are like that-if they don't start out that way, they'll end up that way. Still, I think the odd one might be able to still hold on to a bit of that innocence, that wonder, whereas most become desensitized to it after awhile (lol, the Winchesters are prime examples of that).

I figure Hellboy's father is a good example of the rare few who don't become entirely embittered by it; he was cautious, but knowledgeable enough to know that not all supernatural beasties equalled "bad"...hence his affinity with Abe, Hellboy, and Liz.

 

[V]

....scratch my last post. dead on my feet.

I think they're cynical because in their world the supernatural is normal and it's like working for Rentokil.

Either that or it's like looking for a pen you can't find.

 

[V's patron]

I wanna say the main cast of Yu Yu Hakusho but I'm not sure they count since they aren't actually detectives nor deal with the day to day job off being supernatural detectives as the manga focuses more on shonen-esque fight arcs but Yusuke does grow disillusioned with being Spirit World's agent on Earth and ends the manga as a ramen shop owner who deals with spirit world matters on the side.

so I guess he still fights the good fight, for the weak and innocent, just has expanded his worldview to include both demons and humans.

 

[V]

Also I wouldn't say Dante is humane. He doesn't mind humans because he's prejudiced against demons, and he's an executioner to the latter, even though some demons have been proven to have feelings and be capable of good. The games seem to ride on the logic that demons are inherently cruel, so slaughtering them on sight is justified. But some of them turn out to be allies and Dante could easily have accidentally wiped them out because he's so damn gung-ho. The games contradict themselves this way some.

Also IIRC he painted the walls with Arius' brains right after he was defeated, when Arius was not much a threat anymore and acting kinda pathetic. This didn't even kill Arius, just caused him to fall out of a window and mutate. So what was Dante doing? Being a hardass? Or just a jerk? If you were gonna kill the guy, then kill him quick and make sure. Playing around isn't humane, you demon-racist! Now you've gotta go back down all those stairs to finish the job.

IDK what he was doing but none of that game made much sense anyways.