Friday, April 16, 2010

Villains: They Always Go Bad in the End

It's been a long time since I've talked about Super Heroes. I guess they kind of lay dormant over the winter (more of a Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter time of year) and then burst forth like I just lost interest in that simile. Moving on.

I pretty much just like the archetypal hero story--no matter what it is. It can be done more or less well (preferably more well) but I will always think it's entertaining. Here's a case in point: I liked Clash of the Titans. I really enjoyed it. I like all the parts these stories always have. He finds out he's a god/superhero/wizard. He is fortified with special gifts/powers/utility belts/invisibility cloaks. He's up against seemingly insurmountable odds/enemies/immortal pirates/dark lords/krackens. He does something resourceful with the help of his friends/fellowship/mortals/fellow outcasts and it is awesome. If you are lucky there will be slow-motion fight scenes set to powerful orchestral music. Don't get too attached to the wise father figure though because he has to die. If you are lucky he will get to come back White/as the force/in an imaginary train station/or never die because he's Zeus and Zeus is immortal.

I would love to find out that I am half-God or a half-blood or chosen in some way or spoken of in a prophecy. Even if any of that did happen to me chances are good that I would become a villain instead of a hero. Villains start out much like heroes except they always go bad--usually because of pride or jealousy or falling in acid. In their final transformation they get their arms and legs cut off and they are fitted into a custom black suit or they make eight crazy mechanical arms or something like that. Some are more subtle--a subtlety which belies their true ferocity and deadly guile.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure that given the right extraordinary circumstances I would become a villain. Mostly because of how I don't like to help people.

10 comments:

  1. "release the kraken!!!!!!!"

    i didn't see the movie but that's the only line i need to know.

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  2. The Dark is Rising! But not the movie.

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  3. I think you forgot the orphan part. Or at least minus one parent. Obviously, parents drain your magic. I know that is one of my main goals in life, to suck the magic from my children's lives.

    Thank you for giving me a place to vent my feelings on this issue. It's been building for a long time.

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  4. And yet the villains seem to be just a little more observant. "Hey! That guy in the glasses looks just like Superman without the glasses! I wonder..." While all the heroes friends just can't quite make the jump. "Diana Prince is never here when Wonder Woman is. Someday Diana will get to meet her!"
    Snerk

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  5. I've always wanted to be a super villain. It's a good ride until you get defeated.

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  6. I'm a closet fantasy junkie myself (Lord of the Rings) but sometimes I get bored through the epic battles that always culminate in the end. Kind of like you know they are going to work up to this but you just wish there was a reference to it instead of the actual war. You know what I mean? Maybe it's just because my bladder is always full by this point in the movie??

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  7. So, from the Buffy the Vampire realm, you would identify more with Faith than with Buffy?

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  8. I'm all about the Hero/God myth and how it ALWAYS makes for a great story.

    There was a scene in a TV Show (In Plain Sight) where the US Marshalls are talking about a crime lord who is so powerful people are still afraid of him even though he's hiding out in South America and it's been like 10 years. Mary says, "I'd love to have that kind of power." And Marshall says "Yeah, but wouldn't you rather that power come because love instead of fear?" and she says, "I don't understand the question."

    I would turn villain simply because I would want that kind of power and I'm with Mary, I don't understand the difference between it coming from fear or love. That's also, incidentally, why I decided NOT to be a school teacher. Ever.

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  9. Your thoughts on Medusa? I commented on my blog that my husband and I agreed that original Medusa was creepier- odd, but creepier. And digitally-animated Medusa? Ho hum, she's like an anaconda with hair extensions. Love your blog!

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  10. I can't even begin to comprehend exactly how many movie allusions were contained in that single post.

    Mind = Blown

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