In most movies, there’s always the good guy and the bad guy. The one you love to love and the one you love to hate. In any movie you can think of, they are always both there…
Heroes have been created for hope. Because everyone needs to believe that if something bad happens there will be someone to get them out of trouble. They are usually ordinary people who you might find living in your street, who drive the same type of car you do, etc. The producers and the writers of the movies want the public to identify with these ordinary heroes. In that way, everyone can believe in the possibility that he or she could become a hero too.
Villains have been created for hate. People have always needed to blame somebody or something. Someone has to pay for all the injustice, violence, death, sadness and pain. In every movie, all the sins are embodied by one character: the villain. For a while the bad guys were shown as dumb and ugly. But, recently, evil people have been portrayed as smart and handsome, and it’s a successful idea!
Of course, in most of the movies or books, the hero - after a breath-taking chase - always catches the villain and makes him pay for his crimes. The reason is simple: the Bad needs to be taken down by the Good. In our society, people are constantly afraid, stressed because of bad news on TV, wars, bomb attacks and the rest, and they need, for a few hours, to feel like it’s just a dream and that some day some athletic, handsome, super-clever guy will come and save the world! We’re still waiting for him…
I’m going to give you some examples of movies with heroes and villains, and you may choose and comment on the one you prefer:
In Silence of the Lambs there are two main characters: Clarice Starling, a young FBI agent who is confronted with psycho serial killer Hannibal Lecter, who is going to change her life in a creepy way. You can seriously get attached to the bad guy as he is the main character of the story and because of his weird ways. The relationship between him and Clarice is also interesting: it’s not a classic one where two people are attracted to each other and finally end up together. Hannibal is interested in Clarice because she can understand him. Starling feels close to Lecter for some inexplicable reason. In the books, they even run together at the end.
In the more recent movie The Dark Knight, Batman faces the evil Joker, for a fight which is going to drag both of them into a personal conflict. At the beginning, the Joker seems to be just another bad guy whose ass Batman is going to kick. But after killing the woman Batman is in love with, everything turns personal and the way the Joker plays with everyone is just so disturbing and smart that the public suddenly sees him as the worst villain ever.
In the books and movies about Sherlock Holmes, the hero must face Professor Moriarty in the smartest battle ever. We never really meet the nemesis of Holmes, but some allusions are made through messages that the hero receives. Sometimes, it’s even Holmes’ partner, Watson, who catches sight of him. In the final book, Holmes finally confronts Moriarty and, in the initial version at least, the Professor even kills the detective, but the fans where so unhappy that Conan Doyle had to rewrite the ending!
Among the characters I have just mentioned, my favourites are Clarice Starling (sorry, Lecter fans but Clarice really is a very interesting character!), the Joker (because when I watched the movie I thought: “Finally Batman is going to learn that he can’t always get what he wants!”) and of course I do love Holmes because he is my favorite character of all time and Moriarty is far less smart than the detective.
Give me your opinion! Who’s your favorite? Who do you love and who do you hate? Are you pro-goodguys or pro-antiheroes?
Article by Lisa Desjobert
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