I used to be very anti-Brie Larson back in 2019, but now, I wish I could take back every single negative thing I said about her.
Sure, the hype for Captain Marvel was really annoying, and it didn’t help that the mainstream media had a field day pitting it against Alita: Battle Angel (a movie that I was absolutely obsessed with at the time), but seeing how Brie Larson’s no longer active on social media, I can’t help but wonder if all the backlash she received since then took a toll on her mental health. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were case, since Rachel Zegler is currently going through a similar situation.
Now, movie wise, I don’t think that Captain Marvel and Snow White (2025) are very good at all, but with all the horrible things going on in the world right now, I’m pretty sure that there are worse people out there than Brie Larson or Rachel Zegler.
Okay, so I have A Lot of Feelings about people hating on villain-lovers.
TLDR: Well-written villains are relatable, people are redeemable, good and evil aren’t black and white.
((Wow, I picked a stupidly complicated topic to tackle because I was called out for liking Kylo Ren too much.))
With the release of The Last Jedi, the Internet has renewed its attacks on Kylo Ren and everyone who relates to him. Set aside for the moment all those who consider him “whiny” and “weak” for the crime of having fucking feelings while being male. We can address those later. Right now I’m talking about the same people who condemn anyone who romanticizes Hannibal Lecter, or Loki, or Snape, or any number of bad guys in popular media. “Villains,” they cry, “do evil things, are evil people, and should NEVER be considered anything less than the scum of the earth to be wiped out by GOOD people and REAL heroes.”
This feeds in to a very dangerous sentiment that is snowballing in popular opinion - the idea that if someone is flawed, or has done a bad thing, they are an evil person and are incapable of redemption. Anyone who believes otherwise is an “apologist” for evil. Anyone who does not consider good and evil black and white concepts is a “centrist” and therefore feeding the evil. Yes - there are absolutely some acts that are absolutely evil. But if someone commits these acts, does that mean they are an evil person, doomed to be evil forever? If that’s so, why don’t we just execute people who do bad things? What’s the point of trying to reform our prison systems so that criminals have better access to education and mental healthcare? What’s the point of trying to REDEEM people, to help them become better?
When I taught pre-school and elementary school, I was instructed to NEVER, EVER say that a child was “bad”. Even if they hit another kid, or bit me every day, or threw awful, spoiled tantrums. I could say that a BEHAVIOR was “bad”, but never the child themselves. It’s a method I agree with completely. You don’t know what that child is going through at home, or what example their parents set. You don’t know if they are suffering through a disorder of some kind. If a child is labeled “bad” as a person, they are off the hook - they can do whatever they want, be eternally punished, and continue to do bad things. But if you relate a the child as a PERSON who is engaging in a bad behavior, you can help them out of it. Other children can learn from their bad behavior and the consequences of it. The “bad” child can be better.
Okay, now back to characters:
I consider myself a student of stories. I have a degree in creative writing - which, though it may be otherwise useless, at least grants me a modicum of credibility when I talk about narrative structure and character development. If you want to write a compelling character, they need to be a complete person. They need to have multiple layers, realistic motivations, and most of all: FLAWS. An absolutely unflawed character is a boring cardboard cutout and will tank your story. A villain who rubs his/her hands together and cackles maniacally, spilling PURE EVIL out of their ears, is a boring, stupid villain who will make for a boring story. A good story has antagonists who are relatable, who have real motivations, who have the “there, but for the grace of god, go I...” factor.
Throughout his story, Kylo Ren does some pretty bad things. He’s a very well-written villain for the current zeitgeist. He’s an angry young man who lashes out against the world and his family, trying to live up to a legacy. He’s a school shooter - he killed his fellow students and burned the Jedi temple to the ground. He’s fallen in with a horrible machine of war and oppression because it was the only place that would take him. Unlike Vader, whose fall was operatic, Ben Solo was manipulated (by an older, more powerful man) into embracing violence, anger, and hate that felt justified to him. But Kylo Ren is frightening because he’s a real person - unlike Vader (until the VERY end), Kylo is conflicted. He is reckless and impulsive. He is easily manipulated by Snoke, and sometimes too honest for his own good. He is a well-developed character who Adam Driver plays with incredible skill and nuance.
When people say they relate to villains, they aren’t saying that they condone their actions. They aren’t saying that these people haven’t done evil things. People relate to well-written villains and anti-heroes because they are full, flawed people, like the readers/viewers. Maybe they can understand their motivations. (Hannibal Lecter kills rude people. Loki needs validation because of always coming in second to his adopted brother. Etc.) Maybe they sense the possibility of redemption in them. (Kylo Ren, Snape, etc.) Maybe they just like their aesthetic. There’s a big difference between relating to or romanticizing them and idolizing them.
Viral : ಲೈಕ್ಸ್ ಗಾಗಿ ಗಂಡನನ್ನು ಹೀಯಾಳಿಸಿದ ಪತ್ನಿ?, ಎಲ್ಲರ ಮುಂದೆ ಗಂಡನ ಮರ್ಯಾದೆ ತಗೆದ ಮಹಿಳೆ, ವೈರಲ್ ಆದ ವಿಡಿಯೋ…!
Viral – ಸೋಶಿಯಲ್ ಮೀಡಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಪತಿಪತ್ನಿಗಳ ನಡುವಿನ ತಮಾಷೆಯ ವಿಡಿಯೋಗಳು ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ. ಆದರೆ, ಕೆಲವು ಸಂದರ್ಭಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇವು ಗಂಭೀರ ಸ್ವರೂಪ ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತವೆ. ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ವೈರಲ್ ಆಗಿರುವ ಒಂದು ವಿಡಿಯೋದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಹಿಳೆಯೊಬ್ಬಳು ತನ್ನ ಗಂಡನನ್ನು ಬಣ್ಣದ ಆಧಾರದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೀಟಲೆ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು, ನೆಟ್ಟಿಗರ ಆಕ್ರೋಶಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣವಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ವಿಡಿಯೋಗೆ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆಗಳು ಬಂದಿದ್ದು, ಜನರು ಮಹಿಳೆಯ ವರ್ತನೆಯನ್ನು ಖಂಡಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.
Viral – ವೈರಲ್ ಆಗಿರುವ…
When the Hunter Became the Hunted -- Amanda - 7/29/2015
When the Hunter Became the Hunted — Amanda – 7/29/2015
When the Hunter Became the Hunted
July 29, 2015
Dear Reader,
Wow! The wrath of the Internet has descended full-force on Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the Lion, a beloved inhabitant of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Palmer and his guides lured Cecil from the preserve and wounded him with an arrow. The lion fled, and the hunters killed him two days later when they finally…
