http://www.dalidkristopherallan.blogspot.com/
THE TRUE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE
OF A VILLAIN IN A MOVIE
A Research Paper Presented to
The Faculty of the English Resource Center
Bachelor Arts in Multimedia
Asia Pacific College
Magallanes, Makati City
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Course
ERESWRT - Research Writing
Kristopher Allan Dalid
April 2014
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
of the Study
People always wondered why there are many villains in movies and
in comic books? All know that their main goal is not good and could lead to
destruction, But first lets look back at the history of supervillains and the
father of all the villains which is John Devil.
An article by Andrew Paquette Entitled "John Devil" John
Devil was a book during the late 60's and it was about a Mysterious faceless
crime leader and was called "John Devil" and his evil plot
was to use armored warships to free Napoleon and conquer India.
According to Paquette "John Devil will be of special
interest to fans of detective stories, crime thrillers, classic mysteries, pulp
literature and proto science-fiction(http://www.blackcoatpress.com/johndevil.htm)."
Whenever the readers hear
the word villain, they always think that they are psychopaths, Evil people who
want destruction of the world. One example of the famous villain is the Joker.
From his looks only, you could already say that he is a psychopathic person .
Villains in the movie based on an article by Nicole Galloway-Miller
entitled 'Villains: The Psychopath or Sociopath" Villains in movies
are bad guys whom are always hated by movie viewers; they are always being
hated by them because of their evil deeds and plans. The villains have
Psychological problems one of the main reasons is ASPD or Antisocial
Personality Disorder which means that they have mental illness and they are
aggressive, But they are very talented and has above average intelligence. That
explains why the Joker could come up with very intelligent strategies on
trapping the batman. Sociopaths on the other hand have the Jekyll and Hyde
characteristics. which means that they are charming and pleasant. But in the
inside they are Evil and full of hate.
She stated that "the most interesting type is
psychopath is the creative one. Basically, they are con artists. This sociopath
fits in well with writers, artists, bohemians and revolutionaries. There, he or
she can blend in and seek out victims pretending to be a misunderstood creative
genius(http://www.spectaclepmg.com/2012/06/villains-the-psychopath-or-sociopath/) ."
Statistically, People hate villains because of the excellent job
the writers of the story do. We could not hate a villain that does nothing
really dreadful and scary. It was the job of the writers in making them totally
evil.
An article of Sam entitled "Why do villains want to destroy
everything?" Villains have a different perspective on their mid that they
think that is right, for example of this is the iconic Joker. He is a psychotic
person that wants to prove that the soul of Gotham is corrupt, Even though it
was a false statement, The Joker still continues even though it wasn't real.
That goes to show that the villains do something in their mind what is right.
Sam stated that "Villains could still be motivated by
simple goals, like mad scientists performing experiments to further their
nefarious careers, or corrupt executives screwing over the little people to
make more money(http://www.pywritechnics.com/writing/why-do-villains-want-to-destroy-everything/)."
Viewers dont understand the worth of villains and why they are in
the movie. But there is a quotation by John Rogers that “You don't really understand an antagonist until you
understand why he's a protagonist in his own version of the world.”
An article by Travis Langley entitled
"The psychology of superheroes (and villains)" will help the viewers
see the side not only for the hero, but also for the villain. In that article
the villains and the heroes are all the same but they have a different mindset.
Both hero and villain have the same trait but in that trait they have different
perspectives.
Langley stated that "Though identifying with the forces of
good is healthier than aligning with evil, this need to dichotomize good and
evil may cloud some ways that superheroes and supervillains are actually
similar to each other—for example, in their fearlessness and flamboyance. After
all, these characters do not simply fight or commit crime. Most fight or commit
crime wearing colorful costumes(http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/09/13/the-psychology-superheroes-and-villains/43ukfWyuIHdeOKC5wv8P9M/story.html)."
In this study, the researcher has observed that the supervillains
are more important than the hero, and the villain plays a vital part in the
story even though the villain does something bad in the movie that makes the
viewer or readers get mad at the villain.
Having background information about supervillains may help the
readers and understand the true value of a villain they portay and why they
should be respected.
The focus of this paper is to explain the true side of the villain
and why they should be admired. This paper will be educational to the readers
on why the villains are special and why superhero movies does not go without a
villain.
B. Statement
of the Problem
This study aims to answer this question:
1. Why
are villains in the story the most important persons in the movie?
C. Significance of the Study
Film Makers. This study would help film makers emphasize the work and effort of
being a bad guy and how important they are and maybe someday, they could make
the villains their own movies.
Teachers and Professors of Film. Teachers and Professors could benefit from learning
this study because they will be able to make use of the information this study
would give to them.
Viewers and Readers. To know the true worth and learn how important the
villains play in the movie and so that they would not easily judge
or criticize the makers of the film.
D. Scope and Delimitation
This study focuses on how important does
the Villain portray In the movie. This will explain all the theories presented
in this study that will clarify the significance and worth of Villains that
will make them more important than heroes.
E. Materials and Methods
The researcher will use an enumeration
method on why the Villains are important.
The researcher will also use several
online sources as reference to the study that is presented.
F. Definition of Terms
Antagonist. An antagonist is
a character, group of characters, or institution that represents the opposition
against which the protagonist or
protagonists must contend.
Archenemy. An Arch Enemy is
the principal enemy of someone or something. In fiction, it is a character who
is the hero/protagonist's worst enemy.
Villain. A villain is
an evil character in a story, whether
a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fictiorn.
Chapter 2
DISCUSSION
What are the
things that make the Villain important in movies?
.
I.) Definition of Villains
Villains are not just characters that are the antagonist and the mastermind of all the evil plans. All they know they have something planned that is not right but people does not really know the true definition a a villain. Villains are people who have something in planned they are person who has goals in life and pursue their goals whatever it takes and what may come their way. They could be a role model in pursuing your goals and striving in earning the achievement.
There is an article entitled "What Is A Villain?"
by Nicholas Clairmont and it is about explain a villain. The villain is the
person in which they are the person for example they are the smartest person in
the room, they know the rules and regulations more than the others, they also
know the consequences and side-effects on what will happen, but still
they don't care and would still continue what will they do.
Clairmont stated in his article that "The villain is the person who knows the most but cares the least"(http://bigthink.com/think-tank/what-is-a-villain-a-review-of-i-wear-the-black-hat).
II.) Types of Villains
There are different types of villains in movies and this paper will present the readers who and what are the types of villains.
A. Two Major Types
People know that there is a Villain that in a point that turned good, and that villain is Loki the Trickster who helped his brother the hero, Thor in a battle against foes that killed his father. There is also a Pure evil psychotic villain and maybe the most famous villain of all time, The Joker a psychopath who his main goal is to put batman in to struggle and that is his only main goal in his evil plans.
According to an article written by Joe Bunting entitled "The 2 Types of Villains (And Why Your Story Needs Them)". There are 2 Types of villains those are the Good, Old Fashion and the Heroic Bad Guys. The Good, Old Fashioned are those who don't care on what they do and also they don't know what are the consequences there are also going to take. While on the other hand the Heroic Bad Guys, Those are the villains that make plans and have heroic goals, but the goals they want to achieve are evil.
Bunting stated in his article is that "A well-written villain can make or break a story, because a hero is only as compelling as the villain he is fighting against. You’re not going to feel too attached to or root that hard for a hero who’s up against a club sandwich with a gun. But if the club sandwich is leading an uprising of all types of sandwiches against the human race for wiping out their kind"(http://thewritepractice.com/anti-villains/).
B. Different Roles of a Villain in a movie.
There are henchmen, there are masterminds and there are super-villains. These are the types of villains we usually see in movies, but , people don't know that there are more types of villains and they have their specific roles in the movies.
There is also another article by Philipp Lenssen entitled "10 Types of Movie Villains" that will help us understand the different types of villains that everyone see's in movies.
There are 10 types of Villains, The wild beast is like a badass guy in the movie that looks like tarzan and those some bad things. The next type of villain is the The Gentleman Killer, he is a well educated man and you would not recognize he is a villain. Next is the small-time crook, A burglar who does not decide to save a inoccent person. The Supervillain which is well know in superman comics because almost all enemies of superman has. they are always the opposite of the super-hero and mostly have special reasons to hate him. The Psedo-buddy is a villain you wont know he's a bad guy because they are the good guys bestfriend. The nemesis on the other hand is the one who is really the enemy of the hero even without the suits and costumes. The psycho who is famously portrayed by the joker is the person who smiles eventhough he gets beat up. The Gentleman burglar, He’s into stealing jewelry but leaves notes for the good. The nice guy type of burglar is a camoflauge type of villain that would kill you without noticing he was close to you. The last type of villain is The sports villain, totally athlectic and could do martial arts and could fight hand to hand with the hero.
Lenssen stated in the article is that "variants 1-4 will always die at the end. 5 and 6 may die, 7 never does, and 10 mostly only ends up in hospital. 8 and 9 escape to Morocco (http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2005-03-20-n89.html)."
III.) Factors that make the Villains important
Villains are more important than you think, They play a vital part in the movie than anyone else, Why? because its a superhero movie, It does not mean that the hero is the vital part, It is the villain that makes the hero become the superhero in the movie, That's not all there are more reasons why they are vital or important.
A. The readers invest their ears to the villain
Whenever viewers and readers hear a villain plan their evil scheme, the readers always listen to the plan of the villain. people tend to listen carefully to what the villain is planning to do and that makes an important factor for the villain that the people awaits the evil plans of the villain that makes them listen carefully on what they do.
There is an article written by Dr. Mark Aaron Humphrey entitled "The Importance Of A Compelling Villain" would explain why people listen attentively to the villain.
The villain plays a vital part on the movie because they are the one which the people invest their ears and eyes to. The people listen to their evil plans and watch on how they do it. The villains story also is where the movie goes and its the superheroes job is only to stop their plans and which he defeats. Even-though the movie is entitled to the superhero. The villains plots strategies and plans are always shown in the movie.
Dr. Humphrey said that "Great stories establish all of these things, and sometimes give us a window into why these villains became who they are(http://c3.umhb.edu/blog/importance-compelling-villain)."
Every good movie also comes a great battle plan of the villain.
Stories of the Villain makes them who they are. They wont be that evil if they
don't become what they experienced.
B. The Archenemy makes it exciting
Batman and Joker, Spiderman and Venom, Superman and Lex Luthor, and finally Green Lantern and Sinestro. They are all Archenemies to each other. They are the person who gives problems to the heroes. They make the movie or comic exciting because of the action they give to the people. Without them in the movie, there is no thrill the people would experience during the movie because there is no archenemy the hero is going to face.
An article of Jesse Blume entitled "The Importance of the Archenemy" would explain the importance of an archenemy
Archenemy means Great Enemy. from that word alone we all know that
the battle will gonna be epic. They've been great enemies since then on,
therefore they know each other that their strategies should be so well executed
and planned to defeat one another.they’re usually the best ones. They’re an
entirely different class than the average foe.
Blume said that "The differences between the hero and the
villain must extend further than merely color and costume, however. It must be
a part of their psyches(http://renegadecinema.com/7024/comic-book-villain-archenemy)."
Viewers should agree on what Blume said because they should don't
have the same traits and like for example Batman and Joker. They are
archenemies they have a lot of differences from one another so that's why they
are great enemies.
C. Their Roles make the movie alive
Villains play a vital role in the Hero movie. They might be the ones who want to destroy the world, but they are the ones who gives life to the movie. They make the movie a one to watch because they are the play makers in the film. Without their moves or actions in the film, there is nothing to watch and the movie would become boring. For example, a superhero movie without a villain? It would sound very boring and wrong because there is no sense for the hero to become one if there is no enemy. Without the villain, the hero will be useless.
An Article by Skyla Dawn Cameron entitled "The Importance of Being a Villain" will tell us the importance of the villain.
The actions and doing of an evil villain makes the story the vital
part of the movie. The movie could not go without the villain because the hero
would not have a use in the movie if there isn't any thing bad is happening.
The villains is the maker of all moves, if there was no move from the villain,
there is also no action for the hero. Without the villain, There is no hero.
That makes the Villain very important in the movie.
Cameron stated in her article is that "The villain is
critical to the story: it's his actions that provide a large part of the
external conflict (and possibly the internal conflict as well). If nothing
else, your heroine’s victory over a real opponent will deliver more of an
impact, than her defeat of a cardboard cutout that was set up just so she could
knock it over" (http://www.skyladawncameron.com/ELEW/blog/july-villains).
D. Villains are more Interesting
Villains are more interesting than heroes. People all know that
the role of the hero is to save the world, but, what about the villain? The
villain is more interesting in which they make their very careful plans tricky
and hard to find out. People know that most villains are smart in their plans
and they have the most devilish minds and very interesting for the viewers to
find out how they would execute their plans neatly and good. They are also more
interesting because of how the writers make them, the writers make the villain
more tricky and that makes the readers watch more of the villain.
Alana Pedalino wrote an article entitled "Movie villains are
more interesting than movie heroes"
Villains nowadays are more charismatic than the heroes and they
were made by the filmmakers to be more exciting by rendering them to become
more special. Villains are more interesting than heroes because of the effort
put in by the writers because they know that the villain plays more than a
villain in the movie, better yet, the villain is the savior of the writers
because they carry the movie to victory
Alana Pedalino stated in her article is that "We should
honor our villains just as much as our noble heroes — perhaps even more, for
portraying them carries the additional acting challenge of adopting the mindset
of immoral, ruthless, psychologically damaged person"(http://www.diamondbackonline.com/diversions/article_90a15406-6132-11e3-a118-001a4bcf6878.html).
Chapter 3
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
This paper aimed to change the views and opinion of viewers and
readers about villains and their true meaning in the movie.
This study about villains revealed the following:
1.People hate villains because of the excellent job the writers of the story do
2.Viewers dont understand the worth of villains and why they are in the movie.
3.Whenever the readers hear the
word villain, they always think that they are psychopaths, Evil people who want
destruction of the world.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. Because of the Villain, the movie becomes more compelling and
exciting.
2.The Villains are more interesting than heroes because of their mischievous tricks that makes them more interesting.
3.The viewers and readers always listen attentively to the plans of the villains and that makes them a vital part in the attention of the people.
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4.An Archenemy plays an important part in a movie because of a heated rivalry between him and the hero.
4.An Archenemy plays an important part in a movie because of a heated rivalry between him and the hero.
RECOMMENDATION
In the light of the findings and conclusions of the study, the
following recommendations are given:
1. The viewers and readers should start opening their eyes and see the true worth of a villain and even though they don't do any help to the hero, they still helped the writers make the story more better.
2. The Teachers and Professors of film should teach their students
the worth and value of the villain so that whenever they would make a movie,
they would put more effort in creating a villain than a hero because a villain
carries the film to become more compelling.
3. The Film Makers should also learn on why the villains should be
more important in making than the hero because without the villain, the hero
would become useless in the movie.
REFERENCES
A. Electronic Media
Andrew Paquette “John Devil” From http://www.blackcoatpress.com/johndevil.htm
Nicole Galloway-Miller Villains: “The Psychopath or Sociopath” from http://www.spectaclepmg.com/2012/06/villains-the-psychopath-or-sociopath/
Sam “Why do Villains want to destroy everything?” from http://www.pywritechnics.com/writing/why-do-villains-want-to-destroy-everything/
Travis Langley “The psychology of superheroes (and villains)” from http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/09/13/the-psychology-superheroes-and-villains/43ukfWyuIHdeOKC5wv8P9M/igraphic.html
Nicholas Clairmont “What Is A Villain?” from http://bigthink.com/think-tank/what-is-a-villain-a-review-of-i-wear-the-black-hat
Joe Bunting “The 2 Types of Villains (And
Why Your Story Needs Them)” from http://thewritepractice.com/anti-villains/
Philipp Lenssen “10 Types of Movie Villains” from http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2005-03-20-n89.html
Dr. Mark Aaron Humphrey “The Importance Of A Compelling Villain”
from http://c3.umhb.edu/blog/importance-compelling-villain
Jesse Blume “The Importance of the Archenemy” from http://renegadecinema.com/7024/comic-book-villain-archenemy
Skyla Dawn Cameron “The Importance of Being a Villain” from http://www.skyladawncameron.com/ELEW/blog/july-villains
Alana Pedalino “Movie villains are more interesting than movie heroes” from http://www.diamondbackonline.com/diversions/article_90a15406-6132-11e3-a118-001a4bcf6878.html
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