Real Villains

 

 

Some stories have a villain, they can be a foil or a threat to our heroes, they even could be examples of what our heroes would be if they go down the wrong path. Especially with Disney villains, a lot of the most well known ones or popular ones are the ones with powers, like the evil queen, Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula, Hades or Yzma, and it’s true that those make them iconic, but it also can be said that some of the best villains Disney or not can be scary not because of powers but because their personalities can be real, they might remind you of anyone you know, met or have seen and that is what can make them such a great villain, heck even some that might have powers can have those personalities and help them become iconic villains you want to root against. Well, that’s why we’re here today, here are examples of real villains that might hit close to home and that would make them more scary, dislikable or iconic villains that still are iconic to this day.

 

The first villain I can think of is one of the classic Disney villains, Lady Tremaine, aka the evil stepmother from Cinderella. This woman married Cinderella’s father when she was a child, but once her father died, Lady Tremaine reveled to Cindy that she was jealous of her beauty and squandered her father’s wealth to her daughters and treated Cinderella like a maid, they got all the riches while poor Cinderella was in rags, even whenever Cinderella had a chance of happiness, whether it was going to the ball or being able to try the glass slipper on, she would do anything to destroy it, but the rewards Cindy earned for her acts of kindness helped the girl win and the wicked witch lose. One of the reasons she is one of the best Disney villains is because she can be a real person. It’s not always the case but sometimes there are parents that can be very controlling, wanting to marry someone for wealth and can be jealous of their kids or stepchildren that they are prettier or maybe better than them and would be willing to destroy and abuse them in order to be on top, and sometimes abusive parents can show favoritism towards certain offspring to lead to them joining in the tormenting. Or some people that take kids to their homes for foster care, they use them just to make money and barely care for them at all, while rubbing it in their faces that their birth children are their kids and they’re just foster kids, please treat your foster kids like you would to your child, they are people with feelings, they need love. There have been some stories about parents that spoil one or two kids rotten while the other kids are treated like options or scapegoats. Makes me think of an episode of Supernanny where this woman treats her older daughter Halley like Cinderella making her do chores and never lets her have any fun or shows any love to her, while she spoils her other daughters rotten, which results in one of them spitting on Halley and her mother does anything. Even when Jo called the parents out, the mother never took responsibility for her actions and barely makes it up to her daughter. Heck even when Jo taught them proper parenting techniques and wasn’t even trying to discipline while her husband made an effort, (sure he spoke to Bryn when he kept putting her back in time out, you’re not supposed to talk when your kids escape from time out and put them back, but he is trying and making an effort and that’s what counts). Anyway, back to the evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine is also scary, from her evil smile or her scowls are sure to make one cower in fear, you can see why it’s not easy for Cinderella to stand up to her. You can see the power she has over Cinderella when ordering her to do chores, whenever we see her we might feel chilled because that look is the look someone who you’d better obey or else, I’m sure some folks have had parents that were like that. A scene that proves it is the moment Cinderella comes in her mother’s dress, just when it seems like things are turning around for Cindy, she looks really scared as Lady Tremaine comes closer to her, she knows how dangerous Lady Tremaine is. The mice too are afraid of her too, the moment she finds out Cinderella was the girl dancing with the Prince at the ball, she follows her, the mice fear for her safety, and run up to Cinderella’s room to warn her, unfortunately, by the time they do come, Lady Tremaine has arrived and locked Cinderella in her room, she is the kind of toxic parent that will do anything to stay on top. The sequel Cinderella 3 A Twist In Time does give her powers, but even with that, you can see that she still is quite evil, she uses the magic to brainwash the Prince into believing that he danced with Anastasia at the ball, when she made the slipper fit Anastasia, she gaslit her step daughter into thinking it was a dream and breaks the other glass slipper and orders her to stay away from the palace so she won’t get the happy ending and even orders her to clean up the glass, even when Cindy comes to the castle she makes the guards think she’s a thief and have her banished and when the King finds out what she did, she disguises Anastasia as Cinderella and then had Cindy transformed into rotten pumpkin and has Lucifer turn into a coachman so he can send the girl to her death. This show what can happen if a Karen or an abusive or controlling parent gains power, they become even more powerful and dangerous. Plus, you can see she’s the kind of mother that is also willing to use her children to get what she wants, making one of her stepdaughters Anastasia feel guilty and unsure about it as the scheme goes on, especially when the king shows her true kindness by showing her a seashell he and the queen found in the beach together, and her mother and sister can’t see the value in it, showing they care more about wealth and status than actual love, this is why it’s so satisfying in the ending when Anastasia refuses to go along with the scheme, and when Lady Tremaine tries to turn her and Cindy into a toad, the Prince’s sword gets the magic to backfire on the woman and her other daughter and they turn into toads and become servants, serves them right, and it ends with Cindy getting her true happily ever after and Anastasia is forgiven and the credits show she got together with the baker (the one seen in that awful second movie), he may not be rich but he treats her well. This shows that when you act like a bully and are too controlling, one day it will all backfire on you and you’ll lose everything. There are folks like that and that is what makes Lady Tremaine one of the most iconic villains even to this day.  

Another iconic Disney villain would have to be Mother Gothel from Disney’s 50^th animated movie, Tangled. Before I explain what made her scary let’s talk about her origins. Centuries ago, a drop of sunlight grew a magic flower that could heal the sick and injured, and an old woman named Mother Gothel hoarded the powers and used it to stay young and beautiful and never shared it with others, and kept it hidden, until the queen was sick and expecting a baby, Gothel failed to hide the flower and it was taken to be medicine for the two. Once the princess Rapunzel was born, she tried to take Rapunzel’s hair only to realize that her hair would turn brown and lose it’s powers if cut, and she kidnaps the baby and raises her as her own daughter and uses her hair to stay young and pretty. Like Tremaine, she doesn’t have any powers but she uses something that’s more powerful than any weapon or magic, and that is, words. For 18 years, she has gaslighted and emotionally manipulated Rapunzel into thinking that she is too weak for the scary world out there, she belittles her personality and appearance, even saying she’s a bit chubby and all those things she says, she passes off as a joke or says that she is doing those things because she loves her, as a lot of toxic parents do to their child, it’s no wonder the offspring of toxic parents have low confidence or self esteem. She also never takes responsibility for her actions, uses guilt and plays the victim whenever Rapunzel tries to protest or ask for something, like going to see the lanterns on her birthday, which is what leads to Rapunzel tricking her into going on a trip so she can do it, whenever one is exposed to this kind of parenting, it can lead to kids being rebels or liars. It gets worse though, once she finds out Rapunzel left with the wanted thief Flynn Rider, she is willing to blackmail the Stabbington brothers into helping her come up with a way to catch their enemy and she can get Rapunzel to her tower prison and when she finds Rapunzel, she tries her tactics she did before, but once the girl finally says no, she plays with her words by trying to manipulate her into thinking that he’s only helping her for the crown he stole and warns her that he will leave her, showing how desperate she can get when things don’t go her way. When the Stabbington brothers knock Eugene out and make it look like he betrayed Rapunzel, and Gothel knocks them out when they try to capture her, that has Rapunzel crying to her and going back with her. This gives Gothel the impression that she can still manipulate Rapunzel any longer, once Rapunzel realizes that she is the lost princess and Gothel has been lying to her, and she calls her out with well done sass, and whenever Gothel tries to use those tactics against her once again, Rapunzel defiantly pushes back and stand up for herself. Realizing her victim is strong now, she resorts to becoming more possessive of her, chaining and gagging her and stabbing Eugene, blaming it on Rapunzel. This makes her demise more satisfying, when Eugene cuts Rapunzel’s hair so she won’t be enslaved by Gothel anymore and go to her real home, she’s become centuries old and has been reduced to nothing but dust. Gothel is the perfect representation of toxic mothers, those that use their child for their own benefit and never showing any real love to them, I’ve already pointed out that Gothel uses Rapunzel for her hair, but if you look at the film, you’ll notice she only shows love and affection towards her hair, and kisses Rapunzel’s hair instead of her head or forehead. She is always checking herself out in the mirror and never really cares about her daughter, always insulting her appearance, and those things make her a scary villain. If any of you readers have toxic parents, I want you to know that you are more stronger than you believe and if you stand up for yourself, you’ll be okay!

Another great Disney villain I can think of would have to be the agent from Disney’s underrated movie, Bolt. Now he’s not exactly a villain per say, in fact there really isn’t a villain, the real conflict is Bolt being lost in the real world and realizing that his whole life has been a lie, but the closest to a villain in the movie is the agent, because he represents a lot of the crew in Hollywood, he is willing to exploit kids, teenagers or even pets to make money, he and the crew were willing to trick Bolt into believing that he really is a superdog and do everything to keep it that way, from doing every scene in one take and never letting Bolt leave the set, which is what lead to Bolt getting lost in the first place and never cares about the fact that the actors have lives too and should be allowed to enjoy it too and never sees them as people, only as ways to make money. He goes on with her about photoshoots and press junkets or booking Penny on talk shows, even when Penny is distressed about Bolt being missing, he was even willing to get a replacement to keep going on with shooting, and still not caring about Penny’s feelings. The last straw finally comes near the end, when shooting a scene,  the replacement Bolt gets scared and ends up knocking over torches causing the studio to catch fire, (the fact that they didn’t have any fire safety equipment like fire extinguishers didn’t help matters) and Penny ends up stuck inside the building, Bolt goes in to rescue her but once they find a vent, Penny is too weak to go any further, but Bolt does his superbark through the vent to alert the firefighters of their whereabouts and get them out in time, and once Penny is put onto a stretcher in an ambulance and Bolt is put on Penny’s chest, Penny’s mother is clearly distressed seeing her daughter in this state, the agent joins the ambulance and seems to empathize with her but then he declares he wants to use the disaster to his advantage and for publicity, and this angers Penny’s mom so much that she throws him out of the ambulance, and quits and the film ends with Penny and her mom enjoying a nice normal life with their pets. This agent is a real person, because he can be a lot like those kinds of filmmakers in Hollywood that are willing to use celebrities for their talent and beauty, and show no care for their physical and emotional well being, never letting them rest or enjoy life, it’s no wonder some resort to drugs or go down dangerous paths in life, this is why I reconsidered my dream of acting, if the industry is like this count me out. I’m sure there are crew people in Hollywood or the film industry that do care about the well being of celebrities and if there are, let’s follow their example and make sure they can feel well, and especially hire actors that can bring joy to their co stars and make it feel less like work and more like a job, if we do that, Hollywood won’t be so evil. And let’s let celebrities live their lives, and try not to bother them when they’re with families, especially the kids might feel uncomfortable, they deserve to live like how we do. Cut the paparazzi please and just let them live too, they’re people like us!

 

Another one I can think of is Henry J Waternoose from Pixar’s Monsters Inc. When we first meet him, he seems like a kind grandfatherly figure towards Sulley, showing him support and praise for his scaring skills, and they seem to be good friends. We also see how much the company of Monsters Inc, the company has been in his family for 3 generations, and it broke his heart that the company was going down because kids were becoming harder to scare, and children’s screams create power and they’re currently having an energy crisis. The falling of his company has Waternoose becoming so desperate that he and the second best scarer Randall Boggs create a machine called a Scream Extractor that would suck the screams out of children, pretty much traumatizing them, and it also involves kidnapping children in order to do so. When Mike and Sulley find out about Randall’s plan, they go to report the situation to Waternoose and when he seems to care about them and get them out of the mess, that is when he reveals his true colours. Just before that happened, Sulley had accidentally scared Boo when Waternoose forced him to demonstrate a scare, and when he tries to comfort her, he looks at the pictures and this makes him realize that he’s been frightening and traumatizing innocent children on a daily basis, and beforehand it wasn’t seen as a problem because for those like 300 years monsters were raised to believe children are toxic or dangerous to touch, possibly to avoid attachment to them so they don’t develop a conscience or maybe they did believe so, because in our world, things that are powerful like radiation can be dangerous, but Sulley accidentally scaring her opened his eyes to what was happening and it made him feel terrible, even when getting banished all he could think about was Boo. Once he realizes he can go to the village to get back, he comes back to save Boo and he and Mike expose Waternoose’s scheme to kidnap children before letting the company die to the CDA and he gets arrested, think of it as the pre Zootopia scene, as Judy and Nick exposed Bellwhether in a very similar fashion. When it seems like the company is going to close down and there will be no more power, when Mike tells Sulley that they had laughs on their journey, he remembers the times Boo laughed, her laughs were so powerful they caused the lights to blow out and even activate the doors during the classic door vault scene, this is what inspires him and Mike to change the company, where they can make kids laugh instead of scaring them. In season 1 of the TV series Monsters at work shows the transitions that they went through to change the company, with Sulley becoming the new CEO of the company and Mike teaching comedy classes to teach monsters how to be funny and by the end of season 1, and the movie itself we see how things have changed for the better, the monsters have more power and the children aren’t suffering or traumatized anymore. Even in the season finale of Monsters At Work, when Tylor tells Sulley he wished they could go back to scaring, Sulley tells him about what happened with Boo, and that he didn’t like what he saw and explains that laughing is a much more moral way to gain power. This is why Sulley was the perfect CEO, while he does care about the company, he’s willing to risk it or do things more morally instead of resorting back to toxic or negative ways and showing that love and compassion is more powerful than fear, it can make a positive work environment, as we see the monsters having a bigger blast than ever in the Laugh Floor. It can be hard when companies are going down for many reasons and when people are willing to do anything to keep it alive, even if it means hurting others, but with characters like Sulley, they show that it can be possible to keep it alive without hurting anyone and maybe it can work if people that know what’s happening is wrong can speak up about it to convince others to change it or maybe come up with ways to help, and for a movie with cute monsters, it’s quite a story for a family film.   

 

I’m also going to talk about a character that may not be the main villain of this movie and may only have two scenes but someone who can be real and is worth talking about. In Pixar’s The Incredibles, once superheroes are banned and are forced to live normal lives, we see how Mr. Incredible aka Bob Parr is dealing with this, he’s let himself go and is stuck as a claims adjuster, he looks so beat down and depressed and clearly isn’t happy about having to deny people their claims. You can tell him being denied helping or saving others has taken a toll on him, you can see that while he may have claimed to like working alone, he did care about the safety of others and was eager to help, so even when working at his job, he decides to help his client with some loopholes she can use to get her claim approved and even tells her to pretend to be upset so nobody knows what he was doing, the reason he tries to be secretive about it is because of his boss Gilbert Huph, who only cares about making money rather than actually helping his customers and you can see how much he irritates Bob. One day when he orders Bob to come to his office, he lectures him for helping so many people, when that is supposed to happen, insurance companies are meant to help people not hurt them. During the lecture, Bob sees a man getting mugged outside and he wants to help him, but his boss threatens to fire him if he leaves, this angers Bob so much that he ended up crushing the doorknob due to his strength. Once the mugger gets away, this angers Bob even more but once Huph acts like it wasn’t a big deal, this for Bob is the straw that broke the camel’s back that he grabs his boss by the throat and throws him over 4 walls, injuring him. This results in Bob being fired, though his lawyer Rick Dicker pays Huph to keep quiet about what happened. The reason Huph is so hated is because he is someone we all met, there are companies that claim to want to do great things, but in reality there are some with bosses that care more about making money and keeping the company afloat and treat their employees like garbage and have no choice but to obey and end up feeling so depressed in their work or become as bad as their bosses. This reminds me of a Dhar Mann video where a father works for a company that sells healthcare drugs and his boss wants to increase the price for cancer drugs and lay off some of their employees, this brainwashes the father that he tries to push those things onto his 10 year old daughter, when she tries to sell Christmas cookies at school, he tells her she needs to sell them for more than a dollar, but when he finds out she has leukemia and he hears a mother upset about not being able to afford the drugs, he realizes what he’s become and is willing to quit his job when he can’t reason with his boss, as he reveals that he doesn’t care about helping people but making money, and the father starts his own company and is able to make the medicine affordable. People like Huph are why our world can be messed up, those that value power and money over anything else get more money while those that are passionate or caring sometimes barely get a dime and it sucks. While Bob injuring Huph does get him fired, it is quite satisfying to see him give his boss what he deserves, if he couldn’t let Bob leave, he could’ve at least let him call the police, but he didn’t, so that’s why nobody felt sorry for Huph getting injured, because once again it’s clear Bob cares about helping people and if you don’t allow him to do so or let these things happen, watch out!

 

Next, I’m going to talk about a few DreamWorks villains, and who better to start with than probably the most iconic one yet, Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2. She does have magic, and can use them to her own benefit, but there’s a lot more to her than her powers, the other things she does can make her quite a villain. She can be very clever, when she discovers that Shrek stole the Happily Ever After potion, she uses it to her advantage, once you see that evil smile on her face, we know for sure she’s onto something. And it’s only once the now human Fiona sees Charming, who tricks her into believing he’s Shrek in his human form, that’s when we are quickly able to figure out the plan, it gets better when we see the fairy godmother locking human Shrek in Fiona’s bedroom and she shows Charming and Fiona over the window and manipulates him into letting Fiona go, you can see her smiling when Shrek isn’t looking, showing how manipulative, she is. She knew about Shrek’s insecurities about his love for Fiona and took full advantage of it, I’m sure we’ve all met people like her before, we’ve all been taken advantage of at some point in our lives. Plus, she also uses another wordly weapon, blackmail. When she orders Harold to have Fiona drink a love potion so she’ll fall in love with the first man she kisses, Charming, Harold already feeling regretful for how he was towards Shrek, at first refuses to do it, but he gives in when she threatens to take away his happily ever after since she helped him with it, unless he does as she’s told, which he relents (though he does later go against her orders after talking to his daughter), she can be like the kind of toxic parent or authority figure who uses money or things as a way to control people and act like it was a transaction that requires something in return rather than it just being a generous thing to do, which is disgusting to do. These negative traits make her defeat more satisfying, when she discovers Harold didn’t give his daughter, he just smugly says he gave her the wrong tea showing he's not afraid of her anymore, and she gets so angry about Shrek and Fiona being together that she tries to blast deadly magic on them, only for Harold to jump in front of it to sacrifice himself and the armour he was wearing bounced back and hit the fairy godmother causing her to become a bubble and burst, good riddance! She is the perfect example of what can happen when an entitled lady gains power, and that’s what makes her a great villain, not just because of her powers but because of her words, she knows what to do to get her way and that is scary.

Now, let’s go onto the villain of my favourite DreamWorks movie. Pitch Black the Bogeyman from Rise Of The Guardians. This guy is pretty creepy I can imagine children looking under their beds, to make sure he’s not there, this guy turns children’s happy dreams into nightmares, filled with fear and darkness, and it can lead to the children losing the joy that can make their lives fulfilling. When Pitch manages to destroy Sandy the sandman it was quite a shock, I bet you didn’t expect that to happen, I know it caught me off guard when I saw it for the first time. We can see afterwards how children are losing their faith, are not very joyful and the world is becoming more darker, something we never want to happen at all. Pitch may have powers as a villain, but one thing that shows that there is more to him, the way he tricks Jack into finding his teeth that hold memories, he talks to Jack about his true fears about never being seen or believed in or that the Guardians will never accept him, he uses all those fears and questions inside his head to torture Jack, this scene is quite tense, it’s no different than those voices inside our heads that fill us with negative thought, belittling our worth and just causing trouble for us, it is quite torturous. Not to mention Pitch’s torturing led to Jack being away from the Guardians when they needed him, which lead to Easter being ruined and nobody could see Bunny (according to the commentary Hugh Jackman might’ve had a few tears when recording that part). Plus, he can also represent those cynical adults who don’t understand the joy in certain things, who don’t see the joy of certain holidays, and/or don’t have a problem with harming children’s self esteem, the Guardians may have lost a bit of touch with what they were doing until Jack Frost comes in to remind them to have a bit of fun, but it’s clear all of them have things to provide that are essential to the happiness of children, they provide, wonder, memories, dreams, hope and fun, those things make for a happy childhood and they’re things we should still be able to have to help us find joy. The egg hunts we had on Easter may seem meaningless and silly but seeing Guardians helps us see that The Easter Bunny was giving us more than candy and eggs but also hope, since it’s the start of spring and it can provide us hope for things to go well, it helped me appreciate Easter more than ever.  Pitch is desperate to be believed in that he’s willing to destroy all those things and commit immoral acts so he can stay in power, and those things are what make him a great villain, especially when it comes to him representing those intrusive thoughts that can drive us insane.

I’d also like to talk about an Illumination villain that can be real and that is Jimmy Crystal from Sing 2. He represents the kind of business man that only cares about money and would do anything to get it, treating those he works with like slaves or items to make money. You can see his manager Suki fears him as she always goes along with whatever he does, and whenever she tries to warn Buster Moon and his crew to leave for their safety. There is a good reason for her fears, whenever Buster crosses Jimmy, whenever he’s called to see him, the hallway looks bigger (showing Buster feeling small and weak and how Jimmy has more power over him) and Buster looks scared as scary sounding music plays in the background. Another thing that shows what a bad guy he is, is his relationship with his daughter. He sees his daughter as nothing more than a tool to make him more money, he spoils her rotten, he gives her everything she wants, just to keep her out of his hair, and it’s proven when Buster tries to convince Porsha to switch roles she thinks he’s firing her, and when Jimmy finds out, you think he was angry because of what they did to Porsha, but when he saw her crying he yelled at her to be quiet and called her a talentless loser, showing that he cared about his reputation being down the line instead of his daughter’s hurt feelings, which leads to her crying in her room, knowing she will never have her father’s love and approval. Even when Suki tells Buster and his friends to leave for their safety, when Clay inspires him to not let Jimmy bully them into not putting on a show they put so much work and effort into, they decide to do it, anyway, whether Jimmy wanted it or not. With security from Johnny’s father and his gang (who have been released from jail and are doing community service) and Rosita’s children causing chaos to distract security so the audience can come in the show seems to go on pretty well, the crew even came prepared if Jimmy were to ever try to intervene, once Jimmy tries to kill Buster, Rosita overcomes her fear of heights to save him and continue the show and he’s even betrayed by Suki and held back by one of the gorillas, and when the show is a success, Jimmy sees this as an opportunity to use it to his advantage and goes on stage to take credit for it, but the crew leaves, giving Jimmy the one thing he feared, public humiliation!! Not only was he humiliated but he also got arrested for attempted murder, finally sent to prison where he belongs. The reason he’s one of the best villains from Illumination is because he represents the kind of businessman that has a big ego and is willing to commit immoral and even illegal acts just to gain whatever he wants and it show why some industries are not always as amazing as it may seem, he also serves as a great contrast to Buster. Buster Moon may sometimes be a bit of a law breaker and maybe a bit stubborn but it’s obvious he cares about the ones he works with and wants what’s best for them, he encourages Meena to not let fear hold her back, when he hears Ash playing a song she wrote he encourages her to sing it in the show and is willing to go with other’s ideas, seeing how he liked Gunter’s idea for a space musical and even got him to help him with the script and ideas. To run a music industry we need more folks like Buster, someone passionate and wanting the best for everyone instead of Jimmy Crystal, someone who values image and reputation over anything else and will resort to drastic measures in order to keep it that way and it goes to show that those who do those kinds of things are the real losers and fools.

 

These characters show how certain villains are real and it can make things more scarier in life, but sometimes they can also show us that the problems created by these “villains” can be fixed, if people who are passionate about things and want the world to be better. Maybe those people could be you, we can use our voices to find a way to keep the world a safer more balanced environment to live in, people can still keep companies without them doing things to hurt others, fear will never win over love and compassion and if we help we won’t let harshness, cynicism and fear take over the world and if we find our voices when living with toxic authority figures or family members, you will be able to see your worth and be able to stand up to those folks.

 

Are there any fictional “villains” that you find can hit too close to home? Feel free to comment.