In a world, where everything is black and white - how do we recognise the grey? Do you think you know when a character is good or bad? Do you find yourself rooting for the bad guy sometimes? Is your conscience not troubled with that thought?
Photo by Paul Garaizar on Unsplash
The terms – ‘villain’ and ‘hero’ have been around for a while. We think that the meanings are crystal clear in our minds – the good guy and the bad guy. Another fancy way of saying them is #protagonist and #antagonist. However, have you ever pondered over the underlying connotations? Have you really thought about who is who and what exactly sets them apart? Another question is what happens when the hero does a question act and the villain does something compassionate? Are they inherently evil or is it the age-old question #naturevsnurture?
I hate to break it to you: IT IS NOT SO SIMPLE. It is a complex argument that raises psycho-socio-cultural questions. Let us dive into the matter to see what I mean.
The figure of the Anti-Hero
Along with all the terms I have used above - there is another word that piques my interest – #antihero. Now, who the hell is that? You might have heard the term ‘anti-hero’ being thrown into the discussion on the web such as in connection to Sopranos (1999-2007) or Joker (2019). All these questions – specific terms and their complex meanings – gave birth to a distinct trope in cinema: the figure of the antihero. It gave rise to a figure who is not a textbook villain but isn't a brave-hearted hero either - this character lies on the edge of these two realms. This personality begins to blur the clear-cut boundary between 'heroes' and 'villains' and thus, poses a new perspective - the humanitarian lens.
The humanitarian perspective
This perspective of analysing and understanding characters shows that no one is perfect and no one can be fitted into a box labelled either good or bad. rather it is a dialogue of their actions in life which brings forth a completed and wholesome mage of their existence. This method rather reflects that the characters are inspired by 'real' people of this society, who are indeed neither good nor bad - because they are humans.
To err is human, to forgive divine ~ Alexander Pope
And I think I can claim confidently that no one is divine in this capitalistic society. This breaks the perfectionistic outlook and helps the characters become closer to people around us and thus, taking representation in cinema to a different level. The distinction between a hero and a villain becomes even more complicated when isn't your conventional superhero film but a more sombre drama.
Examples in contemporary media
I want to bring in two #films and a #book in this discussion to actually portray what I am trying to explain.
Suicide Squad (2016)
You (stylised as YOU) by Caroline Kepnes. (this is now a hit #Netflix series too)
Cruella (2020)
Suicide Squad (2016)
2016’s #SuicideSquad revolved around a team of super-humans (or 'monsters' if you want to call that) who are assembled by a powerful and radical secret government agency. Here, the said squad is intentionally made up of people from the lower end of morality and could probably fit the ‘criminal’ criteria perfectly. They are recruited to execute a dangerous black ops mission and save the world from a powerful threat in exchange for reduced sentences. These people are called supervillains instead of superheroes and somewhat hint at the debate of man vs monster except that the monsters are now on both sides of the table.
The supervillains are always in the dilemma – whether they should be good, responsible individuals and save the world or just not care about it and act selfishly. This recurring theme adds to the blurring of the boundary. It makes the audience question: are we supposed to like them or not? Yes, they are saving the world, but they are in a constant dilemma and they are not doing it for altruistic motives - they are only doing it to reduce their prison sentences. But again, they are risking their lives and acting as a team to save others – shouldn’t their good deed be rewarded? The dilemma in their behaviour mirrors the one the audience has: to support them or not?
YOU by Caroline Kepnes
Moving on to the book/series of the same name – #You. #CarolineKepnes' thriller trilogy gained its due recognition when Netflix commissioned a 2-part series in 2018. We follow Joe Goldberg who is your average bookstore employee - intelligent, well-read and likes to talk to people. the only hiccup seems to be that Joe is a ‘#psychopath’ and a stalker – as the popular media tends to label it. both the formats (book and series) highlight the comfortable ambience but the book masters it through Joe’s POV; thus, giving us a greater insight into his psyche. He is mysterious, manipulative and loves people in extreme ways. He is a professional stalker and his actions are often questionable, illegal and unethical but, yeah, there is a but to this. For some reason, we want to root for him and want to say that he is good at heart.
As insane as I sound right now, I can assure you that this emotion from the consumer's end is absolutely intentional from the author and director's end. They want us to side with someone who is not only wrong morally and ethically but a criminal and a risk to society. I remember that there was a point while I was reading that I was questioning my own sense of judgement – I was questioning my morality. This is all because of the brilliant character sketch of Joe. Another aspect to be mindful of is, that Joe, a male character is written by a woman and probably Kepnes has used the dissimilarity of gender as her weapon.
Joe is played by the brilliant Penn Badgley - yes, the Dan Humphrey of Gossip Girl (2007-2012). The rom-com premise of this book/show deceives the audience yet does not deceive its own genre: thriller. Joe’s character shows how flaw and malice interest the human mind – how we want to know about things going wrong, how we crave controversy, how our mind is attracted to evil and how the ugly thrives in the same world where good is the only way to be! When I say I root for him, I do not, in any way, mean that what he is doing is right but I just wanted to highlight the conflict these characters raise in our own conscience. I read a brilliant article in The Guardian that talks about how the world is problematically addicted to this "awful, sociopathic show." It is fast-paced, tense and does not make sense all the time yet ... you cannot stop watching/reading it (pun intended).
Cruella (2021)
Finally, arrives the most recent addition to Disney’s ever-growing live-action movie collection. It is posed as an adaptation of an animated classic but it isn't a remake but rather, a full-fledged origin story for one of the worst (and best) villains that ever lived! In 1961’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians, #CruellaDeVil was irredeemably evil – she wanted to make coats with dog skin (it hurts my soul to write it – a younger me would have been traumatised to think about it but now I think have seen a lot more or at least I pretend to do so) and I agree that there are some crimes from which there is no redemption, and killing puppies is one of them.
Anyways, the live-action version does not feature any sort of graphic ideas but rather wins our hearts (my heart!). On a side note, I celebrated my first ever Halloween party at university dressed as Cruella herself and it was incredible - more about that some other day. In #Cruella (2021), Emma Stone made us believe and fall in love with this villainous figure. She was the perfect mixture: evil with a reason. The interesting thing was - I knew Cruella from my childhood days as the evil lady with vicious intentions but the live-action version which I watched as an adult, completely transformed the pre-conceived notion about this character.
Cruella, being included in American Film Insitute (AFI)'s AFI’s 100 Years…100 Heroes & Villains list, is capable of extreme acts but somewhere within our hearts, we believe in the dream of this little girl who dreamt, one who wanted something big from life and one who did pot the effort to become the best at what she does. Also, hats off to #Disney for creating an outcast, who is impossibly rootable. The film is quite dark yet still light-hearted which marks Disney's signature style. It is completely character-driver and honestly, so worth it! She is a character the world feared and hated but now she is a character the world fears and loves!
Dichotomy of words
Through the above three examples hopefully, I could, if not explain but touch upon the dichotomy of the words – heroes or villains. I wanted to show how the blurred boundary of reason stops you from labelling them as good or evil. If we assume that we like heroes and hate villains – then what about these three examples?
Photo by Marc Kleen on Unsplash
Do we hate the Suicide Squad or love them? Do we hate Joe or love him? Do we hate Cruella or love her? Are they villains or heroes?
So Are they villainous heroes or heroic villains? The question remains unsolved … (a little BuzzFeed reference if you get it.) Hope you enjoyed this rant analysis and recommendation. ~ K
If you want to do more research into the concept, please feel free to check out these resources: