Hobbes829
10-02-2009, 12:44 PM
It's in the title.
There are several types of villains and i don't think one is neccessarily better than the other. A lot of it depends on execution
There are villains that think they are right, villains that think they are good, and those that are just trying to get away with something. Sometimes they overlap but i'll try and explain.
think they are right - they can still feel what they are doing is evil but have justifications for doing so. 2 good examples are The Joker in The Dark Knight and The Operative in Serenity. The Joker knows he's evil, but he also thinks everyone is as well. Civility is a facade to him and his goal is to expose it. The Operative fights for some purpose that's never explicitly stated but what's clear is that he feels that his cause is just but he isn't. He knows what he's doing is evil but to him, the ends justify the means. The alliance wants him to get River and he goes about it in horrible ways to the point that he kills children to drive Mal (the protaganist) out of hiding. To him it's all about belief in something more important than himself.
think they are good - Lucifer is the classic example. We have different incarnations of him but i most like the one depicted in Paradise Lost and subsequently used in this season of Supernatural. According to the story, God created Angels and then he created man and held man in greater esteem than angels because he created Man in his image. He told the Angels to bow down before Man, but Lucifer refused as he looked down on humans as deplorable. For that, he was cast into Hell. In supernatural, he's like an eco-terrorist. He loves Earth, but detests humans.
Then there are those that are bad simply because they feel that they can get away with something. Bank robbers don't have to rob banks to save their daughter. We know there are people out there that steal for the sake of stealing and not some larger purose that they deem noble. The trick is the execution. If you write them as simple plot devices and don't give them interesting quirks, etc. it will fall flat. You also need good actors. Angelus is evil and has no other aim than destruction, but David Boreanaz makes him interesting to watch. Hans Gruber wasn't just a bank rober, he was a sophisticated bank robber. Plus that bit where he's making a list of demands to the police and tells one of his cohorts he read about something in Time Magazine is tremendous. A good example of an interesting villain that's just a villain is the bounty hunter Early in the Firefly episode "Objects in Space". He climbs aboard serenity and takes out the crew one by one in different ways, often times making long speeches because he knows how good he is. here's an exchange between Early and Simon (a doctor)
Simon: Are you Alliance?
Jubal Early: Am I a lion?
Simon: What?
Jubal Early: I don't think of myself as a lion. You might as well though. I have a might roar.
Simon: I said "Alliance."
Jubal Early: Oh I thought— That was weird.
What are you're thoughts?
There are several types of villains and i don't think one is neccessarily better than the other. A lot of it depends on execution
There are villains that think they are right, villains that think they are good, and those that are just trying to get away with something. Sometimes they overlap but i'll try and explain.
think they are right - they can still feel what they are doing is evil but have justifications for doing so. 2 good examples are The Joker in The Dark Knight and The Operative in Serenity. The Joker knows he's evil, but he also thinks everyone is as well. Civility is a facade to him and his goal is to expose it. The Operative fights for some purpose that's never explicitly stated but what's clear is that he feels that his cause is just but he isn't. He knows what he's doing is evil but to him, the ends justify the means. The alliance wants him to get River and he goes about it in horrible ways to the point that he kills children to drive Mal (the protaganist) out of hiding. To him it's all about belief in something more important than himself.
think they are good - Lucifer is the classic example. We have different incarnations of him but i most like the one depicted in Paradise Lost and subsequently used in this season of Supernatural. According to the story, God created Angels and then he created man and held man in greater esteem than angels because he created Man in his image. He told the Angels to bow down before Man, but Lucifer refused as he looked down on humans as deplorable. For that, he was cast into Hell. In supernatural, he's like an eco-terrorist. He loves Earth, but detests humans.
Then there are those that are bad simply because they feel that they can get away with something. Bank robbers don't have to rob banks to save their daughter. We know there are people out there that steal for the sake of stealing and not some larger purose that they deem noble. The trick is the execution. If you write them as simple plot devices and don't give them interesting quirks, etc. it will fall flat. You also need good actors. Angelus is evil and has no other aim than destruction, but David Boreanaz makes him interesting to watch. Hans Gruber wasn't just a bank rober, he was a sophisticated bank robber. Plus that bit where he's making a list of demands to the police and tells one of his cohorts he read about something in Time Magazine is tremendous. A good example of an interesting villain that's just a villain is the bounty hunter Early in the Firefly episode "Objects in Space". He climbs aboard serenity and takes out the crew one by one in different ways, often times making long speeches because he knows how good he is. here's an exchange between Early and Simon (a doctor)
Simon: Are you Alliance?
Jubal Early: Am I a lion?
Simon: What?
Jubal Early: I don't think of myself as a lion. You might as well though. I have a might roar.
Simon: I said "Alliance."
Jubal Early: Oh I thought— That was weird.
What are you're thoughts?