Why are we obsessed with villains?
When I was younger, I remember reading stories. These were often fairytales with a protagonist and an antagonist. There was the main character, and a villain.
As a young girl, I found myself drawn to the scary characters that I wasn’t meant to fawn over. As children, we are taught to trust good people, and stay away from evil people. Being exposed to these fairytales, I remember being conscious of the fact that I had always wanted to side with the good characters.
As I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate the beauty of nuance. People are not all that they seem to be. They are deeply flawed and, at times, misunderstood.
Heroes are misunderstood, but so are villains.
I blame The Vampire Diaries. In the show, there is a character that everyone and their mother knows, and that is none other than the villainous Klaus. Klaus is brutal, cruel, and harsh. However, he is a beloved character in the fandom.
Nuance is ultimately what forces us to confront our biases and reflect on the grey areas of ethics, morality, and justice.
In the back of my mind, I think about how looks play into our obsession with villains. Pretty privilege is very real, and it works in the same manner for men that it does for women. We love beautiful people. We don’t care how good they are or how evil they are.
The mere fact that they are beautiful excuses each and every single one of their abhorrent actions. That is just the harsh truth that we do not want to admit. Coupled with charisma and confidence, villains are able to charm the audience right into their trap.
On the other end of the spectrum, characters such as anti-heroes play a significant role in this discussion. Anti-heroes are unique as they lack many of the characteristics that we associate with heroes.
They often appear to lack courage, morals, ethics, and other similar characteristics. Additionally, their perception of justice differs from that of the heroes. Anti-heroes do not fight because it is the right thing to do, rather they fight for their own selfish gain.
Examples of anti-heroes include the iconic and extremely vulgar yet self-serving Deadpool, as well as Walter White from Breaking Bad, and Tony Soprano, a mob boss who is manipulative and ruthless, yet draws viewers in due to his internal struggles with mental health and his complicated family.
Our obsession with villains lies in the reality that they are often born from the most heart breaking and difficult circumstances. Their backstories are unique, compelling, and explain the reasons they have turned out to be villains.
It leads us to the issue of nature vs. nurture. Are we born evil, or do we turn out that way? Are villains born to be villains, or do their circumstances and life experiences shape them to be evil? The backstories of villains serve as explanations that lead the audience to emotionally connect with them.
Furthermore, villains teach us to let go of societal expectations, norms, and to question authority. Their ability to be able to do what the rest of us won’t is invigorating to experience. Villains at their core, have a side that is liberating.
We all wear masks in the world. We wear these masks because we do not want others to know how we truly feel deep down, or what we are thinking deep down. Villains roam the earth without a mask to conceal their true feelings or thoughts.
They are unapologetically evil. They cause chaos and wreak havoc onto the earth without thoughts regarding consequences. In the end, villains are unapologetically themselves.
The reality is that villains are just more entertaining to watch than heroes. What’s more entertaining? Being subjected to ideas about doing the right thing and being “good” or watching a villain destroy everything and rant dramatically?
At times, I find popular villains come across as insincere and superficial. In other words, they appear to be pretentious. This can be applied to Patrick Bateman, a character from the popular film, American Psycho.
Patrick Bateman is sometimes perceived as a satirical embodiment of the Wall Street obsessed man of the 1980s, or what is commonly known as the “finance bro” of our era. Patrick Bateman is adored for his charisma, wealth, and power, and this is where the obsession with villains and anti-heroes can cross limits as they are revered for the wrong reasons.
However, I can’t help but wonder, if people can adore heroes for all the “right” reasons, why can’t others fawn over Patrick Bateman for all the wrong reasons?
Patrick Bateman and Amy Dunne are two villainous characters who are the opposite sides of the same coin. Amy Dunne is a character from the novel turned film, Gone Girl. Amy is cunning, intelligent, and manipulative. She is a fan favourite because of her intellect and calculative nature.
All villains gain their fame for different reasons. Amy Dunne is a beloved character because despite her horrible actions, she represents repression. She is the face of female rage.
Amy Dunne has been overlooked by her husband their entire marriage. She feels withdrawn from her husband. When she finds out he has been cheating on her, she is forced to confront herself.
She molded herself to be what her husband wanted her to be. She put on a mask to make him happy. And when she is faced with the ultimate betrayal, the mask drops and Amy discovers who she was meant to be. An angry, scorned woman who is meant to punish her husband. Amy Dunne is the representation of the Shakespeare quote, “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Female rage is overlooked in cinema. It is downplayed. Female rage challenges norms. It allows women to express their darkest emotions, emotions that they hide from the rest of the world.
In the end, rage is what we all have in common. We all have something to be angry about. Villains just express their rage unapologetically, with no restrictions.
