Forty-two years ago, critic Roger Ebert said that because heroes and gimmicks tend to repeat from production to production, "Each film is only as good as its villain."
To deepen our understanding of the complex nuances that antagonists bring to their stories, let's take a look at a recent online discussion. It started when Reddit user CynicalCosmologist made a post on the platform, asking everyone "What movie is really sad when told from the 'villain's' perspective?"
It quickly went viral, and now has 5.7k comments, many of which vividly illustrate the profound change that occurs after we switch the narrative lens.
Image credits: CynicalCosmologist
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We managed to get in touch with the author of the now-viral post and they kindly agreed to have a little chat with us about it.
"I was talking to a friend from work about this subject, and he said how so many examples that fit the subject of a sad backstory are simply born into a world of brutality," CynicalCosmologist said, describing the origins of the post to Bored Panda.
"One commonality of many movie villains is based on the natural world, where these villains are simply carnivores who have to hunt, kill, and destroy in order to survive. This is what made me add my comment on the T-Rex from The Land Before Time; he is fundamentally just a famished creature who has to go to great lengths simply to survive at a time of ecological disaster."
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Jaws. Bruce is just trying to be a shark, man.
UrbanGimli:
THESE SHARK INFESTED WATERS!!!!!
you mean their home?
KILL THE MONSTER!!
SpookyYurt:
The phrase 'shark-infested waters' drives me nuts. Are our living rooms human-infested?? No. That's just where people live. Sharks don't 'infest' the ocean, that's where they belong.
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Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants. All he wants is some peace and quiet.
circa285:
You know you’re a fully developed adult when you start to find SpongeBob really annoying and identify with Squidward’s point of view.
Image credits: SuvenPan
Other commonalities that CynicalCosmologist has noticed are personal tragedy and trauma. "Villains such as Two-Face in The Dark Knight, or Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda, lost everything that they cared about, and their lifelong dreams were destroyed, due to matters that were beyond their control. Similarly, we have villains who only want to protect those they care about from some greater threat, which, for example, applies to Magneto (X-Men) and V (V for Vendetta)."
The Redditor thinks that because of the way these characters are portrayed in film, it's difficult not to see them as "hate-fueled, remorseless monsters."
"If we ever found ourselves in their shoes, however, we would understand the terrible trauma which many of these 'villains' have endured, and I think it's important to recognize this as a driver for their actions, as a human trait," they added.
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Storytellers know this and, especially those who are good at their craft, understand their antagonists. George Langelaan, who penned The Fly, a cult classic sci-fi/horror short story about a research scientist turning into a huge monstrous fly, said in a January 1961 issue of Suspense magazine, "As a writer I take such a liking to villains that I try to give them a jolly good time and, in the end, to let them off as lightly as possible."
He even proposed creating The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Villains.
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This can teach us a lot about empathy. "If we extend this logic to the real world, we see how many people who landed themselves in jail have only committed their crimes out of fear, trauma, and desperation," CynicalCosmologist continued. "Sure, there are fictional and real-life villains who are psychopaths, and have no remorse at all for their actions, but many of them have much more troubled histories."
"A movie can paint a very vivid picture of what they have been through, and it can help people understand what led people down such dark paths, and hopefully get them to rehabilitate. That's why I think this discussion topic is a powerful and meaningful one; it can help make recovery much more humane and effective for many."
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The Redditor has taken notice of many cool movie villains over the years. "I am a lifelong Star Wars fan, and Palpatine has consistently had me on the edge of my seat," they said.
"Sure, the plot developments of each era of the franchise have sparked a lot of controversies amongst the fans, but Palpatine was the mastermind behind the entire conflict from day one. He manipulated and murdered the people closest to him to rise through the ranks of the Sith order, the Galactic Republic, and the absolute control of the galaxy."
"If that's not enough, I was just as captivated by his sinister demeanor and chilling gravitas as a kid as I am today. Emperor Palpatine is the embodiment of the perfect movie villain for me," CynicalCosmologist said, explaining that they might be a little bit biased. "The actor, Ian McDiarmid, went to my postgraduate alma mater, [and] I think [that's] pretty cool."
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As their thoughts on Palpatine suggest, the Redditor believes the "perfect" villain is one who has a grand, thorough scheme for everything. "They consider every possibility before making their next move. An ingenious villain with an ingenious scheme leaves the viewer constantly guessing where the plot of the movie (or franchise) is going to lead; or retrospectively, piecing together the story so far and predicting the outcome."
This is why CynicalCosmologist has thoroughly enjoyed movies with enigmatic puzzles like Glass Onion, or mind-bending twists like The Usual Suspects, and we can only agree that meticulously crafted villains not only enhance the suspense but also contribute to the overall depth and richness of the story.
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