Real World Villains

*Originally published on 2/14/09


Bill O'Reilly is quick to dub someone a villain. This usually isn't without justification as the people he's talking about are usually corrupt CEO's, terrorists, pedophiles, or murderers. Still, while these are all reprehensible people, I'm not sure that they qualify as villains per se. I will answer the question by comparing them to the gold standard of villainy, whether it be in comic books, old disney films or literature.

The thing about villains is that there's more than just bad actions. The true villains have a certain flair about them, a je ne sais quois that makes them pop more than any other bank robber or killer. Look at the Joker, he's a prime example of a villain. He's insane and homicidal, but he's got the capacity for a very gallows black humor that makes him fun to watch. Brainiac is insanely creepy, so while he doesn't have a personality in the traditional sense, there is something there that makes us want to read about him again and again.

Disney has also been great about giving us characters who are villains in the truest sense. Ursula is captivating to watch as she tempts Ariel to agree to her Faustian pact. Villain songs definitely help, when done poorly it can come off as cheesy, but as was the case with Poor Unfortunate Souls it works wonders. The music is great, as is watching the villain revel in his or her evil nature while simultaneously warping the views of our hero. Despite the revolting nature of the characters you can't help but enjoy their presence on screen.

Like Mistah J himself, Ursula is one of those villains who is a showman...woman...fish? Whatever, they both have that flair. Osama Bin Laden has no flair about him. With him it's the same old "death to American infidels" blah blah blah..Boring! Learn a new tune already! Literally, singing is a good sign of the presence of evil, just look at High School Musical (zing!).

Seriously though, you don't need music but you do need to stand out. Rod Blagojevich is a great example of a real life villain. Now you're thinking that what he did was bad, but Osama was the mastermind behind one of the biggest attacks on American soil so how is Rod worse? Well look at what happened afterwards. Osama's a terrorist and a genocidal madman, but he's no villain. Blagojevich tried to sell Obama's seat, got caught on tape, and when the media had him caught dead to rights, he turns around and says that he's been misrepresented. A media tour ensues and he goes on to compare himself to Ghandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. A white governor compared himself to Dr. King! That takes some major cajones I have to say. Say what you will about the guy and the never ending media sensation, but the guy's fun to watch just because he's so delusional.

True villains often act as a foil for someone else, Lex for Superman, Joker for Batman, Venom for Spider-Man, you get the idea. The foil concept can act in one of two ways. You get the "dark mirror" characters. The ones who possess the same traits as the character, only used for evil. Than you have the ones who are the opposite of the hero in pretty much every way. Blagojevich falls into the latter category as he is clearly the foil for Obama, everything that Obama isn't.

Villains are often used as symbols for other things. Pennywise is a manifestation of childhood fears while also being a metaphor for the traumas that haunt the characters of the novel. In that sense, Cheney could be seen as a villain, being the embodiment of everything that went wrong during the Bush administration. Add that to his cold almost callous personality and you've got yourself a feasible villain. Even without the Penguin comparisons (which are surprisingly apt) he comes off like Maleficient did in Sleeping Beauty.

As you can tell, when put up against true villains, the types of threats we face do not qualify. They are not heroes, far from it, but they are not worthy of the title of villain. It takes much more than just bad actions to earn the title as evidenced by the characters that stand the test of time.