Tumblr crosspost (14 September 2020)
Feb. 28th, 2024 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineAn anon on Tumblr said (evidently in relation to this post):
I find myself a villain stan often because I’m drawn to the villains that are well-intentioned extremists. Yeah, they’re always too willing to accept collateral damage to achieve their goals so they have to be stopped but damn if I don’t find their goals compelling as well as the lengths they’d go to achieve them. I love it when they put their money where their mouth is and they’re willing to die or worse to change the world.
I replied:
I think that is the quandary—a villain who has a worthy cause (but takes it Too Far) is often all the more individually compelling because of it, and particularly so when the rest of the cast either a) has the right idea but doesn’t act on it or b) doesn’t even share the worthy cause. This is a large part of the reason that I’m often a villain stan myself!
Buuuut at the same time, I think limiting action for the cause to the villain/villains (as is very often the case) does shift focus from the cause to stopping one or a few bad actors. And so, not always but often, the cause itself goes fundamentally unaddressed. And that’s where my frustration lies.
I find myself a villain stan often because I’m drawn to the villains that are well-intentioned extremists. Yeah, they’re always too willing to accept collateral damage to achieve their goals so they have to be stopped but damn if I don’t find their goals compelling as well as the lengths they’d go to achieve them. I love it when they put their money where their mouth is and they’re willing to die or worse to change the world.
I replied:
I think that is the quandary—a villain who has a worthy cause (but takes it Too Far) is often all the more individually compelling because of it, and particularly so when the rest of the cast either a) has the right idea but doesn’t act on it or b) doesn’t even share the worthy cause. This is a large part of the reason that I’m often a villain stan myself!
Buuuut at the same time, I think limiting action for the cause to the villain/villains (as is very often the case) does shift focus from the cause to stopping one or a few bad actors. And so, not always but often, the cause itself goes fundamentally unaddressed. And that’s where my frustration lies.