It’s
Not always Black and White. By SD Tracy Harper
Sometime the Villain isn’t the villain and sometime the
hero is the biggest villain of them all. I’m going to try and keep this one
short (disclaimer). But, before we let this one run open and free,
let’s take a look at these basic definitions.
According to dictionary.com, a Hero is a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. (Wonder Woman and Storm may have something to say about that. I’m sure Lynda Carter and Halle Berry will.)
According to dictionary.com, a Villain is a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
There are too
many gray areas within both definitions. For example; I didn’t know there were
different levels of courage or ability and what the hell is noble qualities!
All three of these points of interest are each suggestive, and is dependent on
a person’ personal beliefs or agendas. Even the definition of the Villain is
just as bad. Wickedness, crime, and scoundrel are so subjective that they make
my teeth itch. Who haven’t heard the term (general
interpretation) of the lovable scoundrel, or crime of passion, and of
course, she wickedly delicious? Once again, you would have to go deeper into
the definition of the definitions. One person wickedness and another person’s
showing their resolve to fight for what’s right. Do the means justify the end,
or the ends give justification to do wrong? Depending on what sides you are on
to tell your story, a villain can be a hero and the hero can easily be viewed
as a villain. Don’t shake your head
about this concept because it isn’t something new (no reinventing the wheel here). This concept is easily proven by
two words and they are; Misunderstood and Betrayal. Take a look at these two
examples:
Villains being the hero?
A person is
trying to destroy several pharmaceutical companies and after hard work and by
any means necessary, he accomplishes his task. Along the way he kills a few of
its executives, blows up several cars, set domestic houses on fire, expose them
to the media of a very embarrassing way with lies manufactured by him, force a
frighten woman to work with him or she is as good as dead, and during the most frustrating
time of his life the two of them… she’s now pregnant. This is clearly a bad,
bad, extremely bad and naughty guy, am I right?
And the light
switch comes on. The reason for his
rampage is because of an experimental drug. This drug was the cause of the premature
death of his wife and unborn child. He ransacks the accounts of everyone who
was involved with his wife’s giving birth after someone secretly mailed him a
DVD showing everything in the delivery room. He tracks down more information
about everything. Bad guy, am I right? Vigilante
style, am I right? Taking the law into his own hands, am I right?
Now he sets out
to prevent these people from doing to others what they had done to his wife.
This drug was never approved for human testing. This drug is only capable of
changing the DNA in unborn children. This drug makes the children freakishly
intelligent, abnormally strong, and totally obedient. The drawback was if their
mothers were alive, these children will only be obedient to them. At first they
had planned to tell mothers that the children had died in childbirth, but
because of the child’s intelligence, they could still sense their mothers and
had strong, unstoppable, and cunning desires to go to them. These first test
mothers were now being systematically murdered one after another in very
horrible ways. And how did this man find out about the secret government shadow
organization behind it all.
There was an
accident (not really) after a
scientist had discovered what was being done with the drug she had invented and
was injected with it. She knew she only had so long to live and sends a copy of
the evidence she had discover to the latest man who wife was murdered and child
stolen. On the DVD she tells him that the formula is transported every day to a
new location by car. She tells him how to unlock a special file on the DVD that
will give him the locations of the hidden stockpiles of the drug, the pharmaceutical
companies where the drug is being manufactured, and stolen children are located in
inconspicuous residential locations that are heavily guarded. If he set these
places on fire… Well, you can only explain much to the police and fire
department. Are you starting to get the point? Oh, I almost forgot about the
bedroom hijinks between our villain and the woman he forced to work with him.
She was the scientist who had made the drug, and wanted to have her first… you
know, before she dies because they had injected her with her own drug to kill
her. Let me give you the ending. SPOILER
ALERT!
The man finds his child and the obedient gene passes from mother to
father, the scientist’s pregnancy saves her life because the drug is passed to
her unborn child, and the government is paying them a crap load of cash to keep
this quiet and to come up with a cure for the children after they return from
their honeymoon with their children. Of
course, the government has a copy of the formula and a secret stockpile of the
drug to continue the experiment, but for adult pregnant military women who
don’t know they are pregnant.
Heroes being Villains?
In order to save
many, you may have to crack a few heads before you get to the truth. Many
superheroes had to prove their resolves through physical means, and give little
thoughts to mediation, negotiation, or just asking them to tell the truth.
Well, striking terror into the hearts of your opponent is as old as time.
however, when all else fails, hang them over the edge of a roof, dangle them
off a bridge with a rope, give them what they had given to others, expose them
to the media, and threaten to tell their mamas what they have been up to is
tried and true and sometimes works. I wonder, isn’t this terrorist tactics? Now
who’s the hero? Oh, but he had saved the life of a child. Oh, but he had saved
the city. Oh, but he had made law enforcement look the fool as he helps them get
rid of those in the department who was working for the bad guys.
I’m far from an
anti-hero (nor am a derange fan boy).
What makes it difficult when you use a truly heroic character is that they (not just the guys) have to be a dry
biscuit without flaws. Doing this also makes it easy to cause the feeling of
betrayal with the bad guys set them up to take the fall (inevitable). It only works turning the good guy band is when they
take the new view of themselves and agree with it. At that point, the bad guys
wished they hadn’t made that mistake because there is nothing worse for
business then a good guy turned bad. This is especially true if the hero is a
woman. (I’m not being sexist, I just like
bad girls like most men). Besides, there is no better train wreck then a
pissed off woman and most men can relate to that and most women will cheer them
on. Oh and depending on the level of destruction involved… Villain! Let me end
here with this final thought.
Does circumstance actually dictate which side is which?
Killing or
destruction or forced ideology to preserve a particular future is written in
the history books by the winner, or a very creative author. Depending on what trivial cause or what horrific
avenue you wish to take to entertain your audience or truly unique slight on
events, depends on what characters are in play, what goal you set as your
desired outcome, and what circumstance that exist for you to maneuver through
to bring a willing audience along for the ride. Have fun being bad and have
hope the villain will turn over a new leaf, or finds himself a smoking hot scientist
who falls madly in love with them. SD Tracy Harper
Would
you like to have your topic discussed? Would you like to get an opinion
on something that bugging you? Have you ever wonder about what makes an
author pull out their hair? Well, let's sit down for a cup of TEA or a nice healthy shot of CAFFEINE.
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