Today’s blog was going to be about gender in story–and we will still get to that topic, another blog–but I saw a movie yesterday that has really got my mind set on villains. So I just have to talk about villains, today. The movie, by the way, was Law Abiding Citizen, which was not too shabby. And I should say that if you haven’t seen it–spoiler alert–we’re going to talk about it here.
The story features two main characters, both are good, and both are evil. What? Yeah, you heard me correctly. They are both good and evil. So, what does this make them? The protagonist or the antagonist? What this makes them, truly, is believable.
One character is a lawyer, a public defender. He’s a power-hungry ladder-climber who wants to get to the top and enjoy the fine things in life. He wants power, and he wants to use his power. He is all ego. He cuts deals with murderers, and only takes the cases he can win, because he wants to look like a stud. His view of justice is compartmentalized and convenient.
But, he’s also a family man. Loving and faithful to his wife and his daughter. Good to his friends and co-workers. And he is working against the clock and against his own ego to outwit someone who is trying in the madness of their own grief to kill off a lot of people.
The second man is a loving and devoted family man. Something of a genius tinker, he supports his family with his inventions and he makes sure he’s around to spend quality time. By complete coincidence, his house is chosen for a home invasion, and he is beaten and duct-taped-hog-tied. He watches as his wife is raped and murdered, and then as his young daughter is killed. Left with nothing, he watches the justice system bargain and deal his loss and tragedy into a few paltry years.
But he is also a government contract killer, using technology and his inventions to murder people the government wants gone but can’t get to for the job on their own. He takes ten years to build a scheme to cleanse what he sees is the evil from the justice system. He kills off the men who invaded his home and killed his family. He kills off the defense attorney and the judge. He kills off the legal team who support the district attorney. And he is about to kill off every major politician in his city when the other character of this dichotomy finally catches up to him.
These characters will stay with me for a long time. Because they are entirely believable. This is, of course, an extreme example of making your characters human. Most of the time you will have a clear antagonist and protagonist. Your protagonist may have a drinking problem, but he’ll still be a good guy. He’ll be on the right side of things and any deviations are within standard acceptability to the general public. He toes the line.
But also, and here we are finally to my point, the villain is not completely evil. If you want believability, you have to move away from Disney and Maleficent. No one wakes up and thinks “How can I further my evil plans and kill some babies in a dastardly fashion today?” Who the hell would believe that? And if you don’t believe it, you can’t care about it.
I think a better example–if somewhat silly–is on The Simpsons, when Homer gets a job working for the evil villain Scorpio, who just happens to be the best boss Homer ever had. Villains who are just slightly twisted but still human make for better reading.
And on that note, it’s time for me to get my laundry out of the dryer.
Have a fun day!
