Here's a fun talk: Villains. I love villains. If anyone is to ask me who my favorite character in a book or movie is, it is almost always: A) a villain, B) someone with a dry wit or C) A really tortured character
Or D) All of the above. LOOKING AT YOU SEVERUS SNAPE!
But besides that, my favorite villain usually isn't... a woman. And this is not because I don't the women can't be completely awesome villain because I think they can. But the problem is the angle directors, writers or actors often take with a villainess.
And that is: They make their main weapon their sexuality. Yeah. You know who I'm talking about. I call this Poison Ivy Syndrome, named after a villain from Batman who charms men by her use of her beauty and poisonous plants which usually make men fall in love with her so that she can horribly kill them. But that's all that special about her.
And there's the problem. Her main weapon is the fact that she is attractive and can manipulate men. Which makes her completely nonthreatening to women. I often don't find female villains as threatening as male villain because A) I am a woman and B) I am a straight woman. Why should I be intimidated by someone who's power doesn't really affect me?
This is probably only a woman's standpoint because I'm sure men find them very intimidating. But characters like poison Ivy also give woman a bit of a bad name: That we're manipulative and evil and crazy. Now, this is true with some women but certainly not the majority.
That being said, their are certainly villains who are women and are done right so lets look at a few of them:
Bellatrix: Oh yes, everyone knows this one. This woman's weapon wasn't that she was beautiful (Though Helena Bonham Carter certainly is). It was that she was bat. shit. crazy. insane. Honestly, this woman was as terrifying and powerful as she was oddly hilarious. When ever I read about her I enjoyed her presence even if my heart was pounding. This especially holds true to her portrayal on screen (Which is phenomenal). There's a certain scene in the sixth movie right after Dumbledore is killed. The death eaters are marching through the forest to escape. But Bella isn't marching. She's skipping. And giggling. And singing. Then she sets Hagrid's hut on fire while jumping up and down, squealing like an excited school girl.
I was laughing at her antics but yet there was still a feeling of discomfort at how crazy she was. And even though I was laughing I think my face was frozen into a WTF face. Because, Dumbledore just died and I should be sobbing.
But I just can't because of Bellatrix.
That's the trick with her character. She has an edge to her that makes her both funny, uncomfortable and terrifying which is something you really need from a villainess.
Lust: Ok so first off: I doubt most of you know who this is. Second off: I know the title makes it seem like she's the exact opposite of what I like in a villainess. Because her name is Lust. Lust is a character from a little anime known as Fullmetal Alchemist, which happens to be my all time favorite. Lust is one of the first villains introduced in the series, though she isn't the main villain.
Yes, she is beautiful and this does come in handy. But half the time she isn't even using her beauty to her advantage. It just kind of works for her. And besides being beautiful: Lust is scary and intimidating. Maybe it's the voice, maybe it's her mysterious presence or maybe it's her sharp finger nails which can grow to any length and pierce through anything at will, but she is a deadly combination of charm and scary.
This combo still could have failed (And it did in an alternate telling of Fullmetal Alchemist known as Brotherhood) but Lust was an incredibly interesting character at her core. So though she was beautiful, she still seemed like a real person with her own problems and flaws and you really grow to like her throughout the series. When she seems more real, she also seems more scary. Whereas Poison Ivy got little to no development and just wanted to take over the world.
Alphard: Again, probably none of you have heard of this. She's from an anime called CANAAN which is much more underground than Fullmetal Alchemist. My explanation of this one is short:
1. The main character and Alphard's rival is a woman and therefore there isn't much exploitation of sexuality needed as the main character wouldn't be affected by it.
2. Alphard is a complete bad-ass with great aim with a gun and superb skill in hand to hand combat. Why charm the guys when you can kick them to kingdom come?
3. She also has the "interesting character" factor going for her.
4. She's the head of a terrorist organization and she's only in her early twenties
And that's about all I need to say.
Disney Princess Villianesses: The funny thing is, I think kids films handle villains who are women the best. Because they can't be overtly sexual in anything. It's Disney. Their villains actually have to be intimidating and scary.
And boy are they! Some of Disney's best villains are women. Everyone remembers Maleficent, Ursula and the Evil Stepmother because they were just so cruel, hateful and honestly more interesting than whatever Disney princess they were up against. They could turn into monsters, they had evil minions and they didn't need men for their evil schemes.
Usually they worked for something like revenge rather than taking over the world. Ursula wanted revenge for being shunned by the mermaids, the evil queen wanted revenge because she was no longer the prettiest in the land, Maleficent wanted revenge because she didn't get a birthday invitation (That's got to be my favorite. What, you didn't try to kill the daughter of a king when he snubbed you? Clearly you aren't having a sensible reaction).
If there's one thing Disney did well, it was definitely villains and the women are no exception.
So that's all for the villains talk today. And while I know most of you think Bella Swan is a villain she was not in this post (But it is coming. Dear God it is coming)
Tommorow I'm talking about a bit more obscure stereotype that irritates me. See you then!
-Authoress Anonymous
PS: I also got my first rejection yesterday! Woohoo! Let it begin!
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