Ad — content continues below. Without Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker would still be miserable farm hand on the lonely planet Tatooine. Had Hans Gruber stayed at home instead of taking over the Nakatomi Plaza, cynical cop John McClane would never have rebuilt his relationship with estranged wife, Holly.
James Bond would probably have a desk job, and possibly even married to Miss Moneypenny. Of course, movies offer a distorted reflection of the real world. In reality, people go about their daily lives and rarely come into conflict with each other; the heroes and villains of movies are our myths, as detached from our complicated yet mundane existence as the characters in ancient folklore. Just as stories need villains to create compelling action, so audiences have needed entertainment to make sense of the real world, and also divert their attention from it.
There is, however, a more fundamental reason why we need good-versus-evil stories, and stories with compelling villains in particular. If you would like to know more about the types of cookies we serve and how to change your cookie settings, please read our Cookie Notice.
By clicking the "I accept" button, you consent to the use of these cookies. Morality matters, says Matthew Grizzard, an assistant professor in the University at Buffalo communication department. Viewers tend to like the good guys and dislike the bad guys. They hoped to find out whether simple differences in appearance—for example black clothes compared to lighter colors—would be enough for viewers to categorize a character as a hero or villain.
Earlier research, meantime, had found that heroes and villains differ in morality but not competence. Beyond an understanding of how visuals can influence perceptions of character, the findings indicate that judgments of characters depend on comparisons audiences make between characters—and the order of introduction plays a role. Heroes were judged to be more heroic when they appeared after a villain and villains were judged to be more villainous when they appeared after a hero.
With Walter White, for example, the audience sees the evolution of a character whose ethics progressively spiral downward from season to season, and yet audiences remained loyal to him. That loyalty surprised Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.
Gilligan said in an interview that at some point he thought the audience would turn against the character. All lights shine brighter in the presence of darkness, and the same can be said for heroic deeds. The fact of the matter is, no great light can shine to its fullest extent without the darkness, and without terrible acts of evil, neither could heroic deeds. Growth in a hero helps the reader to relate to the character and want to take their journey with them.
Growth only happens when the right kind of opposition is provided for the protagonist. Contrast in mind, villains are also necessary in the creation of conflict within a story. Through their direct contrast of character to our heroes, and the fated interactions between the two, it can be said that villains are the ones responsible for creating the conflict. What use is a hero to the world without a villain to defeat?
Without conflict, a story would, quite simply, be boring. We need villains to create that conflict with our heroes; the kind of conflict which grabs the reader and creates the initial interest in the story that is being told.
Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph. Villains make a story interesting. Eide, Dani. Ebert, Roger. Edens, Kathy. Favorite Quote: Create your own sayings, for only then do they make sense most. Favorite Quote: "Tough girls come from NY.
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