September 24, 2008

• wcfq 21a: Villains

  Writers Choice Featured Questions Week 21
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  Who are your top five favorite villains?
  Avenger41

  
  

  In no particular order
  -the Frankenstein monster (book, not movie version)
  -Eric, the Phantom of the Opera (again, book, not movie version)
  -the Borg Queen
  -the Alien-human hybrid from Alien Resurrection
  -Sylar from Heroes

  
  Those who have never read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley have really missed the boat. If you think you know the monster from movies, you really don’t know him at all. The monster, far from being a shambling, groaning zombie homage to the power and sacrilege of science, is a horrifically scarred, but far more humane being than the doctor who created him. The monster is scarred physically and spiritually, but soaks up its surroundings like a sponge. It learns language in a matter of months, both speech and writing. In many ways, it is philosophically more advanced than the “good” doctor. Though it goes on to commit atrocities, it is in essence seeking the attention of its creator like any neglected child. Denied love, it still seeks it’s parent’s devotion, if not love, then hate. In my mind, I identify with the monster more than any other creature of horror. The monster is my misanthropic self denied… If I had chosen hate instead of love when I was at my lowest point….

  Eric, the Phantom of the Opera… here is another monster woefully under represented in the movie rip offs of this classic novel. It’s hard to believe that when this book first came out, it almost faded into obscurity. Of all literary monsters, Eric is the most well-developed. He is possibly the most developed character in the entire book. Funny that very few movies have used his name. In all of them, he has been The Phantom, universally scorned and feared for his hideous countenance. Though like the Frankenstein monster, capable of incredible acts of cruelty and savagery, all Eric craves is love. Though others may read the Phantom of the Opera and sympathize with Christine Daye, I think she was selfish and spoiled. I think she led poor Eric on so that he would continue teaching her, and when the  viscount fell in love with her, she saw no reason to continue her singing career or her relationship with Eric. Though his reaction might be seen as a bit extreme, when taken in context with his experiences, one can’t help but feel sorry for him… perpetually alone and excluded, betrayed by all of society despite his genius. Eric is in many ways like the Frankenstein monster, and yet while the monster is a child seeking his father’s approval, Eric is an outcast seeking some tether to keep him in love with life, to literally make life worth living.

  The Borg Queen… how insidious she was. She was the very essence of the lure of scientific advancement. Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. She is at once the dream of advancement and the horror of blind consumerism. The true horror of the Borg is not that they will assimilate, but that they see individuality as unnecessary and even counter productive. In place of individual thought, there is the will of the Borg Queen, suppressing any thought but the continuation of the colony, in fact, taking over the role of instinct. The Borg Queen is a corruption of all the laws which currently govern society and the individual. She is the final incarnation and triumph of “Big Brother.” As those who have been “rescued” from the Borg have reported, there is an allure to the total acceptance to be found among the Borg. Once the very concept of resistance has been purged through the process of assimilation, there is comfort and completion in the million voices of the Borg all murmuring in one’s brain at once. And the Queen is at once their master and their voice.

  The Alien-human hybrid from Alien Resurrection had a strange charm for all of its grotesque humanity. Though it had a head like a skull, there was a sweetness, an innocence in its eyes, even as it was whacking the face off its alien mother or gnawing on the head of one crazed scientist. (If you ask me, she was sick of being called a “beautiful, beautiful butterfly.”) The thing is, like the Frankenstein monster, she was looking for her mother, and she saw that mother in Ripley. It’s hard to say what her thought processes might have been since she never spoke, but it’s well known that the aliens had a “racial” memory based on their host. Who knows how human that hybrid was really or whether it was entirely sane. In any event, the hybrid was pitiable if only because it never asked for its existence. And though it seemed to be a cold-hearted killer, we can see that in some ways, it still craved a mother’s love. It’s almost worth exploring an alternate reality where Ripley embraced her “daughter” instead of killer her. Hey, that’s what fanfics are for!

  Finally, last but not least, is Sylar, the newest addition to the pantheon of memorable villains. All my favorite villains have some patina of humanity… some scarred portion of their psyche… some warped vision of what humanity could be. Sylar may be a cold blooded killer, but like many, it stems from a need to be… special. He wants so desperately to be more than he is that he uses his “special” ability to mimic the abilities of others (once he manages to crack open their noggins). And while some might consider him mad, and maybe he is, he maintains a certain humorous and dark chivalry about him. He’s like the black knight. You see what he does, you see what his goals are, but you never really see what he is thinking or feeling except in rare glimpses. When he killed his “mother,” you can almost see a child who only wants the approval of his mother, who hoped to delight her with his display. It’s quite obvious she’s already a little off balanced mentally even before he puts on his show, so who’s to say what psychological trauma he may have suffered at her hands in the past. Speaking as someone who knows that the smallest, most insignificant slight can have far reaching psychological consequences, it may be that his mother never intentionally harmed him, but living in a household where attention and approval are constantly withheld is as damaging as any physical or outright psychological abuses. Sylar is a wounded hero, I think. He has made some poor choices, and I believe (without revealing spoilers) that he is about to be played and royally $crewed by the b1tch queen of the show. Whether or not she is telling the truth, the evil she represents makes Sylar a pale shadow by comparison. I think there is potential for his redemption, but he’s not willing to see it. He wants to place himself on a pedestal with humanity, and even other gifted people, far below himself, but with random acts of kindness, he shows that he’s not quite as monstrous as he and others believe him to be.

  There are other monsters on my list of favorites, but these are my top five villains. If it were a top ten, I’d have to add:

   JTHM (there really should be more comics….)
  Dracula (movie, not literary or historical)
  Maximillian the silent, killer robot from Black Hole
  Captain Nemo (in all his permutations, but especially as portrayed by Vincent Price)
  Cthulhu (just because there has to be a Great Old One on this list)

  • 11:19 pm
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