Posted by Jennifer Asencio | Published
Once upon a time, movies were about battles between good and evil. There were specific camps that the audience was expected to focus on. We didn’t always have to like our heroes, and some of the best heroes were deeply flawed, but they were distinguished from villains by fighting for justice, right, and protecting the innocent. No matter how blurred the lines were, we knew who it was.
Recently, there has been a tendency to retell the stories of the wicked to explain and justify their actions. Stories have been retconned to turn old villains into good ones. This has even harmed those who were heroes by retelling iconic tales.
Netflix recently announced another such effort, a rewrite of the Cinderella tale that dismisses the evil sisters, the “senseless girls,” as misunderstood. The latest entry in the Predator franchise, Predator: Badlandsit’s about a misfit alien who tries to blend in with his tribe of dangerous hunters who prey on them. Instead of learning from the negative example of jealous adoptive friends or fearing the Predator’s inhuman instincts, the audience is asked to empathize with these characters and relate to their personalities.
This happens in many popular franchises. Many versions of Dracula try to bind this ancient monster in love with Mina Harker, until you bring him out as the reincarnation of his lost love. Dracula: Untold it makes him a hero, fighting the Turks by any means necessary. Although it is true that Ivan the Terrible, the inspiration of Dracula, faced the Turks, the regional war was known for its unusual brutality. His adaptation of the myth is so pure evil that he attracts more evil around him. Dracula is not a character to look up to.
Another character that has seen a rewrite change is Maleficent from Disney Sleeping Beauty. Young children who saw her in the animated version on the big screen were frightened by her magical presence, especially when she transformed into a dragon to fight Prince Phillip. Angelina Jolie’s portrayal not only transforms the fearsome witch into a hero, but the movie Maleficent makes her a victim of the cruelty of King Stephan, the father of the fairy tale princess.
How Evil Changed Everything
They are not bad is one of the first attempts to revive characters that were originally written off as bad. The film is based on the play, but the play itself is based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, a darker and more violent film set in Oz.
The play changes the role of Glinda, the writer L. Frank Baum who is placed in the role of the Good Witch of the North, when he was the peer of the Wicked Witches of the East and West in their youth. He was thrown into the middle They are not bad as ambitious and popular, while the villain of Oz, now named Elphaba, is a sympathetic character whose gradual transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West is marked by her support of righteous causes and fighting against an oppressive tyrant.
When They are not bad was first published, its transformation of how we used to see the Wicked Witch of the West was a new take on not only the character but also the sense of silliness. Presented as a behind-the-scenes story, it introduced so many of the same villains that when the film was based on a novel-turned-game, the concept itself was epic.
The Problem with Criminals
The problem with these revisions is that making people evil reduces their evil rather than increases it. When Hannibal Lecter has a compelling story of surviving the Nazis, it’s almost clear that over time he becomes a deadly killer. If the Predator is a bullied youth who doesn’t fit in with his tribe, he’s sympathetic and a victim… and victims can’t be villains. Even Lucifer, the Devil himself, is likable when his curiosity about humanity leads him to solve crimes for fun.
A story needs a conflict, even if the conflict is between two “heroes,” as in a romantic comedy, where the resolution involves bringing the opposites together. However, the resolution of the conflict must be satisfactory, and that means that some “bad” must be eliminated. If that evil has a valid reason for being so evil, it becomes a war between two good guys. One of them has to lose in the end, leaving the audience feeling bad for the loser. Villains give us a clear enemy that we shouldn’t feel bad about defeating.
Game of Thrones Failed Because It Had No Haters
Game of Thrones and the novels they were based on blurred the lines between heroism and villainy by having very different characters, most of whom were products of the brutal world in which they lived. A character who burned children alive was rehabilitated after years of abuse. The insanity of the charming and kind princess explodes when she is finally faced with loss. Most of the characters in the show, as well as their book counterparts, combine both sins and virtues. Even the innocent queen had a dark story.
The show was very popular, and fans talked about it every week during its run, but in the end, there was no satisfaction. Characters that people have become very fond of endings that left some parts of the plot unsatisfied, and no one predicted its great corruption because his popularity overshadowed his uniqueness. We loved everyone so much that there were few characters we really wanted to see defeated at the end; the truly evil characters were the lesser lords like Walder Frey, King Joffrey, and Ramsey Bolton, who were celebrated by their audience.
Good Must Overcome Evil, Or There Is No Hope
People like to see good triumph over evil because it gives us hope. Real life is complicated and strange Game of Thrones it was that, when the people we love can hurt us, and the people we don’t like can be the people we rely on the most. The futility of an unsatisfying story is great because even entertainment that makes us think or makes us sad on purpose still leaves us with a decision. This has been true since the first stories were told about ancient nomadic fires.
Entertainment should satisfy you, and in order to do so, it should provide closure in itself. In this case, evil needs to be defeated. If that evil is a villain, we must be able to focus on their defeat. We don’t need to feel sorry for bad people. Let it be bad.
