Why do villains always appear so sinister and devious?
For instance, The Joker from Batman or Whiplash from Iron Man (obvious influence for my question) – the good guys always wear the “good guy” cape and the bad guys are always dressed in dark, sneering away with a grin on their face. I know these are based off of the original comics (in which it fits in with the whole original point of a superhero that fights crime) but it seems like even yet in most modern-day movies it never seems like a side vs. side situation, there’s an evident good vs. evil.
In reality, it doesn’t always work that way. There’s a disagreement on two neutral sides and a fight as a result and only with one’s own judgment, position and reasoning does a “good” and “bad” side come about. Very few movies actually pull it off – or they’ll show you what it’s like to be in the villain’s mind which makes you feel inclined to sympathize with them, but I feel it’s never a neutral sided fight.
Why is that? Do you really think villains actually thrive on being or seeing themselves as evil? In their mind, aren’t they doing something just as good as the hero?
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It is not supposed to be reality based. It’s fantasy, it has extremes.
Remember Kill Bill Vol 1, one of the villains was a cute little Asian school girl. That biatch was scary.
GoGo was fabulous!
Villians can also be tragic. Sandman has pathos.
Ted Bundy kind of broke that mold.
(Strokes mustache and smirks)
I think it has to do with the society in which the comics were made. Even though Iron Man and the Dark Knight are recent movies, they’re based on old comics. Iron Man is from 1963 and Batman’s first appearance was all the way back in 1939 (can you believe it?!). Superheroes and comics have evolved over time, but up until recently the whole “multi-faced villain” who was somewhat sympathetic wasn’t really popular.
The most recent portrayal of The Joker was the most interesting of any others I’ve seen, just because he was more realistic and more batshit insane (pardon the pun, har har) than just plain evil. Similarly, Scarecrow from Batman Begins and Obadiah Stane from Iron Man were more power-hungry and sadistic than evil, which is more realistic considering there are plenty of people like that in the world, unfortunately.
You’ll see plenty of more “neutral” villains in more recent fiction, like Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter. There’s a reason he has so many fangirls, you know.
To make it easy to tell them from the good guys.
Why do the good cowboys wear white hats and the bad ones wear black hats? [and why was that a subject of cynical humor in black comedy routines in the 1970s?]
@janbb . . . i wish you wouldn’t sneer like that when you are stroking my mustache. it’s a bit disconcerting.
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