'The second you decide all villains are secretly the heroes — and heroes are actually the bad guys — chances are that what comes next isn’t going to be all that great for continuing (or starting) nuanced conversations about them in fandom.'
Christopher Volger writes, “From his point of view, a villain is the hero of his own myth, and the audience's hero is his villain. A dangerous type of villain is ‘the right man,’ the person so convinced his cause is just that he will stop at nothing to achieve it.” These are the villains who spawn out of trauma, the Kylo Rens and Daemon Targaryens and Shen Qingqius. But their history is meant to inform the character, not excuse them. And Volger’s advice was for writers, not fans themselves.
When a villain tells the audience and hero some dramatic sob story about how traumatic their childhood was, we can sympathize with them while also seeing the story as a manipulative tool. The last thing you’re supposed to do, however, iswith them.
If people were doing this privately, enjoying their villains of choice in a way that didn’t affect other people, this would be a different discussion. But over and over again we see fans use the same tactics fictional villains use for sympathy used to shut down valid criticism of a work or character. What could be healthy discourse about a work becomes something sinister and cruel, used to try and control other people.
True Fandom Elders ™ may remember the days of “Draco in Leather Pants,” a fannish trope that shaped the way that Draco Malfoy evolved from an annoying antagonist into one of the pillars of fandom and a major thirst object. The phenomenon,, “is when a fandom takes a controversial or downright villainous character and downplays their flaws, often turning them into an object of desire and/or a victim in the process.
That’s woobification for you: something that ultimately strips the fun stuff out of the villainous characters you know and love. It doesn’t “complicate” the villain to insist that their bad relationship with their parents means everything they did in canon was misunderstood or doesn’t matter.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Meet Lakeyah, Your Fave Rap Girls’ Favorite RapperIn the span of five years, rapper Lakeyah has gone from performing at high school poetry slams to signing to Quality Control (the label behind City Girls and Migos), being named to XXL’s freshman class, and racking up features with all of your favorite rappers (like Latto and Flo Milli).
Read more »
Perspective | Think Taylor Heinicke is just a backup? Think again.Taylor Heinicke has earned the chance to prove he’s more than just a backup.
Read more »
Dear Abby: I think I’m a musical genius, my wife thinks I suckDear Abby advises a man contemplating divorcing his wife over her lack of interest in his music, and a parent of a daughter getting divorced.
Read more »
Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup is a bigger problem than you thinkThe Qatari regime is trying to whitewash its fundamentally authoritarian character.
Read more »
Analysis | What Americans think a GOP Congress would do depends on their partyYouGov got Americans on the record about their expectations for the midterms — and found the same polarization as always.
Read more »