I have a concern.
Why do we seem to like villains more than heroes?
I once taught a medica literacy lesson about Frank Abagnale, the infamous felon who impersonated an airline pilot, lawyer, and doctor, while also engaging in countless cases of cheque fraud. Although there are definitely worse felons, I am still amazed at how much my students admired his escapades and how they viewed Abagnale’s girlfriend or the people he cheated as the villains.
Although villains make for fascinating case studies of human psychology in media, I wished we would like heroes more. Is it a moral failing of our society that we tend to side with the perpetrators? Or, is a functional society too boring and we require endless simulation to keep us engaged with life? Perhaps heroes seem “boring” because they are “too perfect.” Admitedly, Superman was never my favorite superhero. But, I do quite enjoy Batman.
I can roll several villains off my tongue that I enjoy more than the hero: practically every antagonist in a horror movie: Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. Antinous in The Odyssey, and Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. I do generally like Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy, more than Batman… but I enjoy them all as excellent and interesting characters—not as models of citizenship.
But, I find myself wishing that there were more likeable heroes. I want to see a character that has the insanity of The Joker, but instead of murdering, he saves lives. I want to see a femme fatale, like Catwoman, who seduces a villain into ruin.
It’s something I hope I can be successful with in my own stories. How do I get righteousness to appear sexy without the “perfect hero” that does no wrong and girl-bosses and guy-bosses their way out of everything? Perhaps the way is to write heroes who have to make challenging and difficult decisions—violent or not— while remaining true to their convictions.
