Villain
From Open Encyclopedia
Image:Villianc.jpg A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether an historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villains are the bad guys, the characters who strive against the hero. Female villains are sometimes called villainesses.
It is the unmitigated evil nature which distinguishes the villain from a mere antagonist, like Javert in Les Miserables — a character who opposes the hero, but by such means or reasons as not to become entirely odious, and who may be even repent, be redeemed, or become a "good guy" in the end. The villain is also distinguished from an anti-hero — a character who violates the law or the prevailing social standards, but who nevertheless has the audience's sympathy, and is therefore the real hero of the story.
In spite of being the target of the audience's hatred, the villain is an almost inevitable plot device and often — perhaps more than the hero — the central theme of the plot.
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Word origin
Image:Villains before going to Work receiving their Lord's Orders Miniature in the Proprietaire des Choses Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century Library of the Arsenal in Paris.png The etymology of the word is probably Middle English villein from Old French, in turn from Late Latin villanus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul.[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_etymology]
Physical stereotypes
The physical attributes of the villain vary according to the culture and epoch, and are often a fairly straightforward reflection of that culture's current prejudices — racial, political, religious, or otherwise. Just as a hero is often a paragon of the prevailing beauty ideal, a villain often has some physical deformity — perhaps to suggest an equally deformed mind (as in the case of Freddy Kruger), or a rough and violent background (as in the case of Peter Pan's Captain Hook or Treasure Island's Long John Silver).
Sometimes even mere violations of the prevailing dress code are enough to label the villain of the story. In fact, the villain is often impeccably dressed, but in a style that deviates somehow from the norm, perhaps only for being too impeccable — like the mafioso in a very expensive suit, or the knight in an overdecorated armor.
A typical cartoon villain of the 1970s is pictured at the top of this article. Note the formal black clothes, exquisitely neat facial hair, sharp facial features, and maniacal demeanour. This cliché was also very common in silent motion pictures, when villains had to look sinister for easy recognition. The Rocky and Bullwinkle characters Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, and Snidely Whiplash, as well as the Hanna-Barbera character Dick Dastardly, are well known parodies of this cliché. Sound movies later added to their villain cliché the "evil laughter" and a snooty or smarmy voice.
In opera and musical theater, the villain/villainess is played usually by a baritone/mezzo-soprano.
Psychological attributes
While the stereotypical physical attributes may help identify the villain, it is the psychological and moral attributes who make that role. Even harming the hero, or killing his/her beloved ones, will not make a character into a villain — unless it is clear that the act had "evil" motives.
A common psychological feature of the movie villain is a haughty overconfidence that leads to the unnecessary explanation of one's sinister plans — which is sometimes just a cheap plot device used by the author explain to the audience details which he/she could not express by more natural narrative means.
Another preeminent feature of the villain's evil character is a tendency to abuse his own accomplices, blame them for his/her own failure, and punish them harshly even for trivial faults.
The necessary villain
Are villains inherently more interesting than the heroes who oppose them? They are at least as indispensable to the stories they appear in, probably more so. Those who stand on the side of righteousness and goodness seldom have much choice but to respond, and little choice in how; for villains, all paths are wide open. Many believe that Satan, for Christians perhaps the ultimate villain, is the most interesting character in John Milton's Paradise Lost, for all that he is the embodiment of evil. Perhaps in the nefarious acts of many villains there is more than a hint of wish-fulfilment fantasy, which makes some people identify with them as characters more strongly than they do the heroes. Still, the writer's task in creating a villain is not an easy or a trivial one; a convincing villain must be given a characterization that makes his motive for doing wrong convincing. As put by film critic Roger Ebert: "Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph."[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_REbertSTII]
Yet what makes the villain really indispensable in many works of fiction, from the giant Humbaba of the Gilgamesh Epic to the "bad guys" of virtually all modern action movies, is that he provides an impeccable excuse for sadistic pleasure. The standard action story invariably begins by demonizing the villain — i.e., showing that he is so evil that he ceases to be a human being and becomes a monster; so that making him suffer is a most commendable goal, nothing less than sheer justice. From then on, the reader or viewer can enjoy the sadistic pleasure of watching someone being beaten, burned, chopped, impaled, blown to bits, etc. etc.; and can identify himself with the hero who is doing it — all with a clean conscience.
See also
- Hero
- Anti-hero
- Antagonist
- Heel
- Supervillain
- List of villains
- List of historical people portrayed as villains
- List of James Bond villains
- Mad scientist
- List of movie clichés
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
References
- ^ Webster's New World Dictionary. David B. Guralnik, Editor in Chief. New York:Simon and Schuster, 1984.
- ^ Review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Roger Ebert. From Wikiquote.de:Bösewicht
