Disney’s (not so) vicious villains

Have Disney villains lost their edge?

by Kayla LaBeau A&E Editor

The classic villain is no more. The vain, evil dictators who were evil for evil’s sake do not exist. Every villain has become more relatable to the point where they could, and sometimes do become the protagonist.

Dolores Umbridge, Count Olaf, The White Witch, Judge Doom and Fire Lord Sozin are all prime examples of masterful villains with incurable darkness deep in their souls that could never offer any semblance of redemption to their character. They are just bad people.

This style of villain is a true antagonist, the ones audiences love to hate. There are very few people in this world that will defend the horrible actions of any of these characters, but that is what makes them great.

Villains without a gray-area of redemption give every audience a single character to focus all of their negative emotions toward. When the entire fanbase can look at a single character and say “this is the absolute worst character and I hated them the whole time,” then they all have somewhere to push their hate.

There is no redemption arc. There is no Doofenshmirtz-style backstory that makes audiences feel sorry for them. There is just a deep dislike for these characters rooted in every fan.

This is no longer the case. Villains have been given their own movies, their own backstories, their own chance to be the “hero.”

This trend has given us backstories on Maleficent, the Joker, the Wicked Witch of the West, Cruella and so many others. These stories give villains a redemption arc that they do not always deserve.

Villains are murderers, dark magicians, selfish dictators and powerful symbols of evil that audiences now sympathize with and end up supporting. These horrible people are given pats on the back, trophies and their actions are being approved by the masses.

In “Despicable Me,” Gru commits multiple serious crimes, including, but not limited to, theft, attempted murder, child endangerment and neglect, reckless driving, and assault. However, he is the protagonist. He is the person who is supported by the audience the entire time.

Audiences seem to be willing to excuse any bad actions under most circumstances, as long as they can find some sliver of good in them or find even the slightest unfair circumstance. Loki Laufeyson-Odinson tries to murder many people, take over Asgard and genocide the frost giants in one movie, yet he was easily the star of the show. However, all of this is excusable because Odin was not a good father toward him.

This willingness to use any excuse to reward a villain comes from our own lives. No audience member wants to see themselves in these villains, but oftentimes, they do. They excuse these villains so that they can excuse themselves.