My rant about villains
Do you remember Cruella De vil? You know the villain from 101 Dalmatians well; she's getting her own movie. No! This is not a joke, I'm not high, drunk, on meth, or having a fever dream. There is a trailer for this movie. Who asked for a standalone movie on Cruella? This movie should be called The Devils Wear Prada 2 because that's what it looks like. I doubt she's one of Disney's best villains. Since we're on the subject of female villains, I'm tired of not seeing them get their comeuppances. I mean, what's the point of them being villains if we don't see them get beat up? No! I'm not advocating violence against women; however, if you don't like the idea of female baddies getting pounded, then don't have them as villains. Disney is not the only one doing this Sony and WB are making movies about the baddies as well. If this doesn't tell you that Hollywood is running out of ideas, I don't know what will.
The problem I have with villains getting solo films is that it makes them empathetic or sympathetic to the viewer. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; in fact, it can make them scarier when we see things from their point of view. For example, I heard Hitler wanted to be an artist. If that's true, you don't think it's sad that he turned out the way he did? Then again, you can argue that understanding bad guys makes them less scary because you know how to deal with them.
Making movies about villains can be an issue if the creators make them victims after the fact. Also, you could risk trivializing their motivation. With that said, the downside to this is that if we do it too often, lines get blurred. Basically, it's a role reversal; we view the bad guy as the hero and the hero as the bad guy. That can be fixed if writers come up with stories of heroes making a change in society instead of enforcing the rules. Plus, we have to choose between the lesser of two evils. This is one of the many things that hurt the Inhumans series and the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
My editor: Wait a minute! If that's how you feel about the subject, then why did you watch The Mandalorian?
Me: First of all, Bounty Hunters operate in the grey area, I mean, what they do benefits both sides. Second, we explore the Galaxy through the perspective of the Jedi for the most part. This show gives us a different point of view. Finally, if you don't think anyone should get paid for taking a life, then you shouldn't support the Troops, FBI, CIA, etc.
My point is just because the bad guy is the main character doesn't mean you have to root for or feel sorry for the character. Godfather, Scarface, and Breaking Bad wouldn't be a hit if that was the case. Also, you don't want to run the risk of deconstructing the bad guy and ruining the integrity of that archetype. What happened to bad guys being evil for evil's sake? We can't get caught up in thinking everyone is misunderstood or victims because we still have to hold people accountable for their actions.
Despite the world not being clear-cut, evil does exist; if you don't believe that, then you shouldn't have a problem with being a victim of assault, theft, and false accusation. The people who do these things should be held accountable for their actions because when you deny evil, you deny responsibility. I know people are put in a position to do bad things, but where do we draw the line? I mean, how do you distinguish someone being a victim of circumstance from someone being evil? This is what I like about kids, they don't shy away from the villains being pure evil. ( For the most part.)
I don't have any issues with sympathetic villains; however, it shouldn't come at the expense of already established characters unless they're obscure. That's what bothers me about the Joker movie. What the writers did with the character in that movie, we already got with Carrie. Plus, there's no reason to have sympathy for a villain who enjoys causing death and destruction. I'm not saying you can't do it, but the ends don't justify the means, regardless of whether he's doing it for attention or to prove a point. I didn't mind the Venom movie because he was an anti-hero in the comics, but Sony wasted this character by turning him into a joke. Plus, Spider-Man wasn't in the movie. I mean, for an anti-hero story to work, you need a hero to bounce off of; that's what made the Deadpool movies work. Heck, I wouldn't mind seeing Bane Conquest get adapted. I would like to see a Riddler movie because geniuses are not appreciated.
Fans of Power should be outraged that Starz is producing a prequel series on Kanen. Kanen said he was never good, so why do we need to see his upbringing? (To be fair, I don't see Kanen as the bad guy in that series, but I digress.) Speaking of prequels, do you think Luke Skywalker would save his father's soul if he knew that he killed children? If that doesn't make him as evil as the emperor, what does? What I took from how Anakin became Darth Vader is that unforgiveness causes people to do bad things. This is something that most people struggle with because A there are things that we consider unforgivable, like rape and murder. B no one should tell you how you should feel when someone wronged you because it's not our place to do that. With that said, how do you expect to have world peace if you don't have peace within yourself?
I'm not crazy about horror films, but this affects them, too. I mean, writers tried to humanize the killers, are you kidding me? They should get beat up for doing this because it makes the killer less scary. In the original Halloween movie, we were told the killer is pure evil; in the remake, the writers ruined that by turning him into a victim. The remake of Nightmare on ELM Street was trying to make Freddy look like he was falsely accused of a crime and killing the kids of the people who killed him as payback. Doing this to the baddies is no different from turning a character like Superman into a bad guy.
Despite that, there are exceptions to the rule, like Mr. Freeze, Dr. Octopus, and Thanos. Before Batman the animated series, Mr. Freeze was a forgettable villain; now he's someone you feel sorry for because he's doing bad things to save his dying wife. Spider-Man 3 did a terrible job at this with the Sandman. The same thing goes for Spider-Man: Homecoming. That's one of the issues I have with Mr. Freeze, it's hard to care about him saving his wife if we don't know what their relationship is like. Spider-Man 2 made Dr. Octopus compelling by having him complete his science project at the expense of others because he believes it will benefit mankind. After realizing the error of his ways, he sacrifices himself to save the city because he made his bed and he has to sleep in it. Infinity War gave Thanos a humanitarian reason to wipe out half of the universe, plus he made sacrifices to do that. Despite that, he was still labeled as the bad guy because A he had no reason to do this and B he didn't consider how this would affect the survivors.
The bottom line is we are not meant to root for the villains. They exist to show us what happens when you're selfish, cruel, abuse your power, and the pathway to hell is paved with the best intentions. You can't always make excuses for it, and you shouldn't. (Also, not every villain needs a backstory.) If you do root for the bad guy, that says a lot about you. Sympathetic villains exist so we can show compassion for them, not defend their actions. That's all I have to say about this subject, for now. What do you think about villains in media?