Villain or Antihero? (With a side trip into those Chucky movies)
X-posted.
So after a long weekend of being a total lazy-butt and driving around the Tillamook State Forest, eating candy bars and pausing occasionally to jump in the Wilson River and kick-start my heart (melted ice is good swimmin'!) I return with a semi-rambling (okay, having looked the entire post over it's TOTALLY rambling) treatise on some writing type stuff.
I love villains. I crazy-love them. Oftentimes, in my stories, I love them more than the hero or heroine, and in most print and visual media I root for the villains WAY more than the heros. (Case in point: I'm a huge fan of Batman: the Animated Series but I'll only watch episodes that feature the Joker because I [heart] him so much.)
So last night I was watching Bride of Chucky on the SciFi channel, because my VHS tape is lost somewhere in the morass of moving and moving again and losing half my stuff each time. Before anyone starts sniggering at me, go re-watch Child's Play and Child's Play 2 (run screaming away from #3) and tell me they are not kick-ass horror movies which have, if nothing else, a concept unique enough to encompass voodoo, killer dolls and Brad Dourif.
While I was watching, I got to thinking--the Chucky character undergoes a slow transformation across the three films from icky, evil one-dimensional serial killer to someone you might spend time with, if only from a morbid interest in who he'll slaughter next. I have to believe this is a deliberate thing, because Don Mancini, the original director/creator, had a hand in all three films. It brings up an interesting point--when does your villain stop being a villain and start being the closet hero of the story? And can this work in written fiction?
I think, as a rule, it's harder in books than it is on the screen. Writers have to work harder to show nuanced transformation and multi-layered character motivation. Hannibal Lecter was a villain through and through, someone who fascinated you but that if you met alone in a dark alley, would make you piss yourself and run the other way. The Joker (since he appears both in print and on the screen) is a villain but also a fascinating personality that you'd probably spend time with, because he's exciting and crazy and keeps the fun coming. Crossing that line just enough to push readers from being disgusted and horrified to secretly wanting more is a fine art, one that I'd love to master but haven't yet.
The villains in my stories usually end up being tragic, because I've found I can't write straight baddies--they bore me. Even my villains are usually just cardboard villains, and someone else is the real Bad Guy. In a future novel I have planned, though, I finally have a baddie I can take from being straight evil to antihero. Although, if you're weird like me, straight evil may be your thing.
Which do you prefer? Which do you write? Has a villain ever tapped you on the shoulder and said "Dude, I am totally the star of this book and there ain't a damn thing you can do about it"?
Most importantly, is Brad Dourif anyone else's secret boyfriend after watching him on Deadwood? (Now you all know my secret celebrity obsession, and can mock me roundly. I grant permission.)
So after a long weekend of being a total lazy-butt and driving around the Tillamook State Forest, eating candy bars and pausing occasionally to jump in the Wilson River and kick-start my heart (melted ice is good swimmin'!) I return with a semi-rambling (okay, having looked the entire post over it's TOTALLY rambling) treatise on some writing type stuff.
I love villains. I crazy-love them. Oftentimes, in my stories, I love them more than the hero or heroine, and in most print and visual media I root for the villains WAY more than the heros. (Case in point: I'm a huge fan of Batman: the Animated Series but I'll only watch episodes that feature the Joker because I [heart] him so much.)
So last night I was watching Bride of Chucky on the SciFi channel, because my VHS tape is lost somewhere in the morass of moving and moving again and losing half my stuff each time. Before anyone starts sniggering at me, go re-watch Child's Play and Child's Play 2 (run screaming away from #3) and tell me they are not kick-ass horror movies which have, if nothing else, a concept unique enough to encompass voodoo, killer dolls and Brad Dourif.
While I was watching, I got to thinking--the Chucky character undergoes a slow transformation across the three films from icky, evil one-dimensional serial killer to someone you might spend time with, if only from a morbid interest in who he'll slaughter next. I have to believe this is a deliberate thing, because Don Mancini, the original director/creator, had a hand in all three films. It brings up an interesting point--when does your villain stop being a villain and start being the closet hero of the story? And can this work in written fiction?
I think, as a rule, it's harder in books than it is on the screen. Writers have to work harder to show nuanced transformation and multi-layered character motivation. Hannibal Lecter was a villain through and through, someone who fascinated you but that if you met alone in a dark alley, would make you piss yourself and run the other way. The Joker (since he appears both in print and on the screen) is a villain but also a fascinating personality that you'd probably spend time with, because he's exciting and crazy and keeps the fun coming. Crossing that line just enough to push readers from being disgusted and horrified to secretly wanting more is a fine art, one that I'd love to master but haven't yet.
The villains in my stories usually end up being tragic, because I've found I can't write straight baddies--they bore me. Even my villains are usually just cardboard villains, and someone else is the real Bad Guy. In a future novel I have planned, though, I finally have a baddie I can take from being straight evil to antihero. Although, if you're weird like me, straight evil may be your thing.
Which do you prefer? Which do you write? Has a villain ever tapped you on the shoulder and said "Dude, I am totally the star of this book and there ain't a damn thing you can do about it"?
Most importantly, is Brad Dourif anyone else's secret boyfriend after watching him on Deadwood? (Now you all know my secret celebrity obsession, and can mock me roundly. I grant permission.)
Villains SO kick ass. Hannibal Lecter, in The Silence of the Lambs? YUM.
Of course, there are villains, and there are Villains. The capital-V Villains are rather psychotic, downright terrifying, and someone you love to hate. The lowercase-v villains are the bad boys, the anti-heroes, the darkly sexy guys (and gals) we would never kick out of bed.
Both big V and little v villains are fun to write -- but ultimately, I enjoy the little v villains more. Probably because in my heart of hearts, I want to find one in my bed.
Posted by
Jackie |
7:52 AM