There were moments in my youth when I should have realized I was a budding contrarian. I remember watching Mighty Mouse cartoons, hoping that flying rodent with the cape and oversized pecs wouldn't make it to the rescue in time. I wanted the villain and the girl to get together. Obviously I knew the villain wasn't truly evil. But I figured out pretty quickly he was way more interesting to me than the hero was.
Now that I'm an adult, my taste in villains has expanded. I watched the BBC TV series, "Robin Hood", mainly because of Richard Armitage, who plays a villain. But he's not THE villain, who we all know is the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff is smarmy and sleazy and cowardly and evil to his core. Yecch. Boo, hiss. Not the kind of villain I'm advocating here.
The handsome Richard Armitage plays Guy de Gisbourne, the Sheriff's henchman. He really rocks that whole villainous sartorial thing—black leather pants, long black leather coat with shiny metal doodads, black boots with clinking spurs that make my heart dance with anticipation for his arrival—so yeah, I'd be lusting after him just for that aspect.
But the thing that makes him, and other villains of his ilk, so genuinely fascinating? The possibility he MIGHT do something heroic.
One of Guy's most humanizing traits is when he gets disgusted by his boss, the Sheriff. Haven't all of us rolled our eyes at the crazy stuff our bosses ask us to do? Still, he grits his teeth and follows orders anyway, hoping it will help him get ahead in the world, so he can have what he really wants: The Girl.
Even though Maid Marian makes me want to take archery lessons so I can learn how to shoot flaming arrows at her skull with 100% accuracy. . .I do love how Guy keeps trying to win her over. He is dazzled by her (God knows why – oh yeah, because he hasn't seen me yet), and he can't seem to figure out why she isn't dazzled by him (me either – I mean, I love Robin and all, but he's cute and good rather than sexy and bad).
The bottom line is Guy could just take Marian by force, and do all kinds of dastardly deeds to achieve his goals. . .but he doesn't. And that's what intrigues me. It signals there is a seed of something heroic inside him. He struggles to keep in touch with it, and when he ultimately fails, then he wrestles with his failure. If he truly were a villain, he'd be whistling a Disney tune as he wiped the blood off his sword, mentally crossing off another item on his never-ending "Evil To Do" list.
With the hero, it's a pretty safe bet that he will be heroic, because, well, it's in his job description. Since he gets paid to be heroic, there's not a lot of suspense involved, because there are expectations of heroism. Don't get me wrong. I love heroes, and I want them to be that way. And it's no doubt a heavy burden to carry, being heroic 24/7, yet they do it without hesitation, making them even more admirable.
But if the villain does something heroic? Get out the smelling salts because women everywhere are going to swoon.
And if he does something heroic because of the heroine? Plug your ears because the heartfelt "ahhhhs" are going to deafen you.
It takes a lot to sway a villain from his nefarious goals, so it's naturally very sexy when the heroine inspires him to change his mind, and his course of action. Talk about a character arc!
So now I'm not feeling so bad about my contrary attachment to these luscious villains. They are merely heroes in disguise, battling their defiant DNA, trying to keep their laudable qualities from being extinguished. All I ask is that they don't let their latent goodness become a dominant feature. If they do, they're going to lose me as a fan.
I am a dyed-in-the-wool contrarian after all.
*****
I think I'm going to miss the A to Z Challenge when it's over! Which is soon. *sad face*
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