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BOO! |
Hey there, Everyone!
Hope you had a great week and are having a fun weekend.
Are you familiar with the saying...everyone loves a bad boy
(girl)? I've even heard friends say...the bad guy's the best part. Or actors
saying playing the villain is more fun.
Have you guessed what we're musing today?
...your favourite villain...type of villain.
Think Dracula. Think Hannibal Lector. Think the jealous
husband/wife.
Type of villain...paranormal, psycho, spur-of-the-moment
And...why?
Let's see how our Musers' conversation went this week:
LAURA MAISANO, new MUSER author
I love villains who are gray, who do what they do for a
reason. Sometimes it's even a good reason, but their methods are still evil and
unconscionable. The ones who you want to root for, but can't...or maybe you
sometimes do. :-)
I also love the really, REALLY evil ones like the Sheriff of
Nottingham in the BBC Robin Hood. Sometimes, you just need a good "bad
guy."
I like really dark villains -- Dracula vs. Wolfman, who does
not want to be what he is. A serial
killer vs. John J. Doe, who shoots someone during a holdup and carries on from
there. I also like villains with a
personality. I loved the Sherriff of
Nottingham on the Richard Green Robin Hood series (the characterization, that
is) and also the orc commander in the final Lord of the Rings movie.
...Antagonists, usually villains, are needed to provide the
protagonists with a challenge. An opponent with some depth/personality adds to
the challenge and interest. I'm
definitely not talking hero worship of the bad guys.
My favorite villain these days is definitely from the Game
of Thrones series. The head of the Lanister family. Lord and protector - the
father. He was as unscrupulous as they come but everything he did, every
devious manipulation, was for the good of his family line. Although he is
probably in whatever hell they have on GOT I'm sure, he was no doubt the
ultimate statesmen and leader.
I like villains with personalities, even if they're crazy.
One of my favourite villains is Mordred, in different Arthurian books and
movies. He always has an intriguing past and often isn't really a villain, such
as Mordred from Mary Stewart's book The Wicked Day. In this book, he is devoted
to Arthur but gets into bad circumstances due to his ambition, even though he
has good intentions. In other books, such as T.H. White's The Candle in the
Wind, Mordred is the villain, but we can see what has corrupted him to be so.
And if TV shows count, then I find that Once Upon a Time
does a great job characterizing their villains, such as the evil queen, Regina,
who turns out to not be a villain after all (or is she...?) and Rumpelstiltskin,
who certainly has villainous tendencies, but is too unpredictable to be counted
as a villain or a "good guy" (I wouldn't go so far as to call him a
hero).
Patrick Bateman from American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is
one of the most chilling villains that I have come across. Outwardly he is the
all American dream, handsome, suave and a successful investment banker. Yet behind
closed doors he is a sadistic rapist and a serial killer. The most chilling
thing is how close to home the character is. If, like me, you have worked in a
corporate environment you will have encountered these men and women; the
vacuous, materialistic type boasting about having the latest model of car, this
season's Manolos or designer taps in their remodelled bathrooms. Yet the hole
in Bateman's soul cannot be filled by consumer items and he murders for sexual
pleasure, because a cash machine told him to do it or once just to see if he
might like it. He epitomises the lofty heights of high consumerism when people
become as disposable as possessions and the rich sit outside the law. Even when
Bateman confesses he is not taken seriously due to his perceived standing in
society. An over the top and utterly terrifying villain.
Arnold Avery, the villain in Belinda Bauer's award winning
Blacklands is another character that has made a dark impression on me. Bauer
weaves a wonderful narrative in which some of the scenes are written from the
point of view of a jailed paedophile serial killer. She takes us right into the
psyche of a killer to the point where it is uncomfortable to read yet she never
has to resort to shock for effect. Every one of Avery's actions is laden with
meaning. For example even the simple act of rubbing a plaque leaves the reader
horrified as he becomes aroused in simply touching the commemorative name plate
inscribed with the name of one of the children that he has murdered. Unlike
Bateman he is a subtle and understated but chilling villain.
I think there's something wrong with me! I don't like
villains at all. The only sort of villain I could appreciate is a person who at
first appeared to be a villain and later turns out to be a good guy. The
character who came to mind, is Robin Hood, which is interesting because I see
that two other Musers have given the Sheriff of Nottingham as their favourite
villain!
I don't like nasty people, so I don't like reading about
them but I look forward to reading the other Musers' posts too as I feel I'm
missing out on something!
Personally, I love the paranormal villain best. Darth Vader... Voldemort... Those two are my all-time favorites! I love that they are so powerful and hard to overcome. For me, the good vs the evil really depicts
heaven and hell, God and Satan, etc. It
is very powerful. They are the forces we
encounter in our own lives daily only personified into fictional reality
However, Hannibal Lector is also very intriguing. I am morbidly fascinated with the serial
killers. I like them to be have maybe a
touch of humanity left (Dexter). I want
to understand how and why their mind functions - but I love the suspense as
well. I like the mystery element -
trying to figure it all out and make it make sense.
Villains - Like Dawn, I like villains that sneak up on the
reader. You don't realized they are a bad right away.
That and villains that do it for all the right reasons.
I want to sympathize a bit with the villain, not detest the
ground they walk on.
They are fun to write and play with. I enjoyed writing the scenes in the third
book in my saga.
I'm not overly fond of villains myself, but we need to have
them to add tension and interest to our stories. The ones I like the best are the ones the
hero, or preferably the heroine, has the honor of administering the beating
they so richly deserve. Unfortunately,
life rarely imitates art and villains in the real world so often don't get what
they deserve. Since I am very much an
"eye for an eye" kind of person, I get a lot of personal satisfaction
out of a story when the bad guy finds out what goes around comes around, as the
cliche says.
Funny you should mention Hannibal Lector. He's just the sort
of cringe-worthy villain I love to hate. Since you need a villain/conflict to
make the story more interesting, his character would be at the top of my list.
Witty, charming, even likeable in a twisted sort of way. Hannibal is the kind
of guy who keeps you on your toes. The type you would never, ever want to let
your guard down around. The kind who can make the hair stand up on the back of
your neck.
My favorite antagonist in the written word: Lady Catherine
de Bourgh. She's believable--as are most of Jane Austen's characters--in her
selfish ambitions and encounters with Lizzie Bennet. But you can sort of see
her point of view, in wanting the best for her daughter to the point of
threatening Anne's competition. It's when you can see the antagonist's side of
things and/or empathize in some way, that is when the character starts to
breathe...for me, at least. Another villain I enjoy is Dolores Umbridge from
the Harry Potter books. She makes me think of aspartame: sickly sweet yet
poisonous!
My favorite antagonist in the movies is Mrs. Elton from
Gwyneth Paltrow's "Emma" (yes, I know, based on the book by Jane
Austen, which I haven't finished reading.) She's just so--over-bearing and
annoying, that I can't help but laugh at and despise her.
So, for me, a villain doesn't have to be outright scary to
be effective. Give me someone smart who has a good motive, and I'm in!
Thanks for joining us and see you next week!
If you have a question or comment you’d like us to muse upon, do
not hesitate to contact me Christine
Steeves-Speakman at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com