Alexandra Flores RHET 105
Sympathizing With Villians
Abstract: The audiences need to re-examine a villain and give them an origin story was examined. I used the movies Joker 2019, Maleficent 2014, and Cruella 2021 as primary sources, and as the secondary source used, “I Am The Villain of This Story!”: The Development of The Sympathetic Supervillain by Leah Rae Smith. Villians have been evolving and have even performed heroic acts in looking for forgiveness from the hero. The villain has gone from being evil just because to doing crime because of their trauma and will then try to become a hero themselves.
This means people sympathize with a villain's trauma and use that as an excuse for the villain's actions. They then want to see the villain act more like or become a hero in their own story. Maybe then the audience can do the same.
Keywords: Villains, Origin stories, Trauma, sympathy, Movies: Cruella, Joker, Maleficent, Disney
Everyone has idols. People you look up to and can see yourself in whether that's a
character in a book or movie or your next-door neighbor. People usually like to see themselves as positive role models because no one likes to think they're a bad person but having negative traits isn't a bad thing. Everyone has them so it makes sense when people begin to see themselves in
movie villains especially Disney ones. Disney is a franchise many people grew up viewing.
Seeing that Disney remade the most memorable villain of your childhood into a relatable villain is happening more often. These villains are getting more in touch with reality. I will talk about how people re-examine a villain by watching their origin story and will defend a villain's actions by citing their trauma as an excuse for many reasons like people's need for character
development, predictability, and their want to sympathize or identify with the villain.
“I Am The Villain of This Story!”: The Development of The Sympathetic Supervillain by Leah Rae Smith talks about the evolution of villains and their change from evil for no real reason to using trauma as an excuse for their evil and lastly transforming into the heroes of their stories.
Smith says “This transition is owing to the growing inclusion of sympathetic origin stories used to manipulate audience perspective, to question the identification of them as villains, and the justification of their actions” (Smith 2). This is meant to imply that the transition the villains go through is due to the audience being manipulated by their sympathy for the villain's origin story.
The audience is then left justifying a villain's actions because of the villain's trauma. Audiences need to re-evaluate a villain's origin story so they can understand the world around them. Smith says, “This is a realization that is later made in superhero comics as readership became older and more aware of the world around them, a world that did not have definitive sides of good and evil but was filled with questionable good guys and relatable bad ones'' (Smith 4). This also
demonstrates how, as we get older, readers begin to doubt their own definitions of good and evil.
Now, we rethink “was Maleficent actually in the wrong for the curse she placed on aurora? And what could have been done differently?” in Cruella we think “was Cruella's abandonment issues a good reason to seek revenge?” and for the Joker, we think “how would I have reacted if
everyone told me they didn't like me and the only resources that were helping me keep it together were taken away due to budget cuts?” This also ties into what smith says on page six, “the sympathetic origin stories, as well as the compelling arguments they make in defense of their actions, reveal that villains are becoming, in many cases, the voice of reason in a world that is turned upside down with circumstances such as viruses, bombings, and protests.” In cases where the audience is left to wonder what happened the villain can be left to be the voice of reason.
Most importantly the transitioning of villains through the years has brought up an important thought for the audiences. Smith says, “ Since the audience has typically sided with the heroes, this knowledge reveals that, along with the blurring of sides, there is also a possibility that they have been cheering on the wrong group the entire time, a concept that has been explored in various mediums in the past two decades or so” (Smith 11).
In the new movie Cruella, the main character is a woman who would skin puppies alive if she had to in order to manufacture a lovely coat. In this movie where her origin story is explained it makes the audience feel like it's okay that she wants to murder puppies because she had a hard and complicated life. Estella, the main character, was left an orphan when who she thought was her mother is murdered by her actual mother. She finds out her birth mother had sent for her adoptive mother to be killed and then plots revenge. Although the movie Cruella is set before 101 dalmatians, Cruella still shows character development which may give the audience reason to excuse her behavior. Near the end of the movie, Cruella apologizes to her friends for the way she treated them and they defeat the Baroness. This character development shows that she does have it in her to see right from wrong and repent for her mistakes which gives her fans hope that even after her trying to make a coat out of living beings she can change her ways as she
did before. Predictability is another need the audience may have. In all of people's childhoods, we have been taught that your actions have consequences and in most many children's movies or books that are meant to teach kids a lesson, you can see the villain repent and learn a lesson.
When it comes to sympathizing with Cruella many can. Although not many have gone through what Cruella has, some people were adopted or just don't have a good relationship with their mother or parents in general. People may dream of putting their parents in their place as Cruella did.
Moreover, another film that emphasized this sympathy with villains is Maleficent. This movie was originally a movie of a villain who cursed aurora for seemingly no reason. The new 2014 version of this movie takes the viewer into a new reality where maybe Maleficent isn't so bad. She was a good fairy once who cared for everything and everyone but was eventually wronged by whom she believed to be the love of her life. Her most valuable possession was stolen from her and so she turned to her evil side but not for long. Maleficent went through amazing character development. She managed to overcome her hate and accept the love she had for aurora. She fought with all she could to protect the princess even if she once wished her to be dead. While watching the movie it was pretty evident to the audience that maleficent would end up loving aurora so it was a predictable move but one that brought the love for maleficent.
Another way for predictability would be that Maleficent was already once a good fairy. Why can't she be one again? The audience's need to identify with maleficent is high for sexual assault survivors because what happened to maleficent could be seen as a metaphor for sexual assault.
She was drugged and taken advantage of. The thing she loved and cared for most was taken from her and if we look at it from an outside point of view it was the most identifying feature that
made her a fairy. Aurora even asked her why she didn't have wings when the others did.
Maleficent was the strongest fairy but remained the strongest even when she was robbed.
Maleficent in this movie caters to a very big population. Going through something like this you want the character you identify with to have their happily ever after. This connects to what Smith says in the first paragraph when she mentions that the lines begin to be blurred on who the villain is. Maleficent was attacked and so was her home. She tried to protect it but was let down by someone she loved and trusted.
The movie Joker is different from most villain origin stories because of how much the audience can relate to the villain. Arthur is a man who likes to live with his mother whom he takes care of. His dream is to be a comedian but meanwhile, he is a clown for different places.
Even with Arthur's high hopes and dreams, he has many problems. He has a mental problem which can better be described as a tick where he laughs with no control even if it doesn't match his emotions and this along with his personality, in general, makes others, not like him. He's told by many he isn't liked. Arthur was in a mental asylum as was his mom and was let out and was put in therapy and medication under a government program which was cut. In his last session, he says “ …until a little while ago it was like nobody ever saw me. Even I didn't know if I really existed.” his therapist interrupts to say she has bad news for him and he continues by saying,”
You don't listen do you? I don't think you ever really hear me. You just ask the same questions every week. “How's your job? Are you having any negative thoughts?” All I have are negative thoughts, but you don't listen anyway. I said for my whole life I didn't know if I really existed.
But I do. And people are starting to notice.” She tells him the government has cut their funding and social services are part of that so this will be the last time they meet. She tells him the government doesn't give a shit about people like Arthur or her. He is left with no way of getting
his medication or someone to talk to. He quits taking his meds. He then begins to hallucinate dating a neighbor and performs in a club where he is noticed by his idol. He is made fun of on tv and then invited back to the show in person. Arthur begins referring to himself as the joker and after arguing with Murray he shoots Murray. Arthur kills a total of 5 people in this movie and starts a movement against the rich. These people break Arthur free of the police once but by the end of the movie is put into an asylum. Things went downhill for Arthur when he found out he was adopted, he was abused while his mother watched, and his mother was crazy and delusional.
What happened to Arthur can and probably has happened to many people in the U.S with no health insurance. He stopped taking his medication, the only professional help he had was taken from him and he found out his life was a lie and he says he has never been happy a minute of his life. The Joker's origin story plays into people's fantasies of what they wish they could do against the government or just to be noticed. The Joker is a big example of people wanting to see that villains are bad for a reason and these reasons help them understand the world around them. The joker shows you an alternate reality of what could happen to you after being taken for granted by the government.
In conclusion, people want to see that the villain they identify with is capable of change or of being good in some way. In Maleficent, she tries to take back her curse because she realizes the princess isn't at fault for her father's crimes, and in Cruella, Estella apologizes to her friends and they work as a team to take down the villain in her story. In the Joker movie, change isn't the type we usually root for but in a way, it calls out the injustices of the world. If people can see the villain as more human than they think they aren't so bad and then it's okay if they think and act like them once in a while. Predictability is a big thing in these origin stories. When we see a
movie of someone being evil just because they feel like it's harder to connect to the movie on a deeper level. These new origin stories give the audience an understanding of why exactly the villain did what they did and have them thinking, “I probably would have done the same thing if not worse”. People need to feel that their emotions are valid and need to feel assured that they don't always need to do what society deems as the right thing to be happy. It's okay to go against societal views and be seen as the villain.
References
Gillespie, Craig, director. Cruella. 2021.
Phillips, Todd. Joker. Warner Bros., 2019.
Smith, Leah Rae. “‘I Am the Villain of This Story!": The Development of the Sympathetic Supervillain.” Handle Proxy, 1 May 2021, https://hdl.handle.net/2346/87581.
Stromberg, Robert. Maleficent. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2014.
