YourĀ VillainĀ Is Problematic
This rant has stemmed from people woobifyingĀ villains,Ā and alternatively, people accusing villains of being woobified because they canāt tell the difference between a humanized character and a woobied one.
Villain Emotional Complexity vs Villain WoobifyingĀ
A āwoobieā is a name for any type of character you feel extremely sorry for. Woobification of a character is a curious, audience-driven phenomenon, that is divorced from the characterās canonical morality. And it is a huge problem with fandom villains. To make things simple, lets just pick one such villain to work with:
Grant Ward from Agents of Shield
It is possible for a villain to be someone we sympathize with - someone with a tragic back story, someone who has suffered greatly and as a result, come out a little skewed.Ā
An Emotionally Complex/Humanized Grant Ward:
During his undercover period he gained a residual fondness for the team that he utilized and continues to utilize against them.
Because of how much Grant has gone through, he understands the way human emotions work and he knows how to twist them - he manipulates people by absorbing his own emotional weaknesses and using them as exploits. He manipulate people by relying on their good or better natures. He manipulates people by relying on his backstory for sympathy.
Is genuinely attracted to Skye. He physically desires her and knows that to have her he must come across as believable, approachable, redeemable. If this doesnāt work, then he is willing to do everything he can to change who she is to make himself more desirable by forcing her standards lower. Heās obsessive over her and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
Totally cares about the team! He could have killed Fitzsimmons but instead he just threw them to the ocean in a box and they totally could have gotten out right?
Absolutely loves Skye! That wasnāt a rape threat in season one donāt be silly. He was just making a point about how he feels about her!Ā
Heās suffered so much how dare they put him in a cell and isolate him like that, itās inhuman!Ā
He cared about May! He didnt use her body as a way to manipulate her and keep her from being suspicious what are you talking about Willis?
Backstory completely justifies all crimes 100%
This is the most common example - and it can be applied to every single villain there is, that fandom defends or woobifies. The woobification of a villain is the justification of their actions by erasure or excuse. It is the trivializing of the nature of the crimes and the stringent refusal to accept that the bad guy did bad things. This is problematic.
VillainĀ Emotional Complexity vs Humanizing vs Woobifying
Villains are people. They have reasons for doing what they do. They are complex onions full of many layers and meanings just like the heroes are. We see the heroās point of view more often than not so sometimes the villain is portrayed as worse than they actually are in a normal context. It is alright and okay for a villain to express positive emotions, positive thoughts, and do positive things. Thatās what people do. Hell, it is even possible for a villain to repent, and redeem themselves.Ā Ā
But that is woobifying āā
No. Stop. It actually isnāt. The difference between humanizingĀ a villain and woobifyingĀ a villain is paramount to acknowledge.Ā
A humanized villain still does bad things, or acknowledges that they have done bad things, or knows in some way that their actions are socially unconscionable but has still done them and still continues to do them while being aware of the wrongness of their actions and, alternatively, doing good things at other times.Ā Ā
A woobified villain doesnāt do bad things, has never done bad things, totally had good reasons for doing bad things, doesnāt feel bad because it wasĀ āfor the greater goodā, is a tragic baby who must be protected at all costs, can do no wrong, has done no wrong, and may or may not repent but is completely and utterly a totally good guy with a bad reputation shhh.
I hope this helps explain villain portrayals a little better. A villain can be portrayed as a redeemed or repenting person without being a woobification. Villains can do good things without being woobies.
