The other week, during a walk, I came up with (well, when I say "came up" I mean nicked from Nostalgia Critic on YouTube) two possible blog topics which didn't seem all that demanding: the pop-cultural clichés I'm really tired of and, as a companion piece, the clichés I can't get enough of. Now that it's time to start on the first post, though, I'm wondering if the topic is as undemanding as all that. Maybe if I limit it to merely villain clichés? I can rant about the overused "peaceful village and grizzled veterans face and defeat a large hostile force" plot some other time.
Generic evil tyrant vs generic good rebels A bit of a cheat, this, as I'm as fed up with the good rebels as with the evil tyrant. The Swedes have a word meaning the "romance of revolution" which tends to be in play when rebels pop up in fiction (and not just popular fiction, either: looking at you, Victor Hugo).
But let's focus on the evil tyrant, and why I'm heartily sick of this villain cliché. There's a hint of political didacticism about the whole setup (now, children, you're never going to support tyranny, are you?), but for once, preachiness is not what bothers me the most. Ironically, I suspect that the reason so many fictional despots are dull is that the authors didn't want to get too political. The plot of a thousand and one fantasy and sci-fi adventures, where the hero falls in with a plucky band of rebels in order to fight against an oppressive regime and ends up saving the day, hinges on the audience whole-heartedly embracing the hero's cause. In which case, it's risky getting too specific about the nature of the regime's evils. One person's dystopia can sound pretty OK to someone else.
But we all hate oppression, right? No matter how your dream society would play out in real life, you want the opportunity to pick your poison. So the generic evil tyrant does a lot of harassing of the populace, to very little purpose. He – or she – has a purposefully vague agenda of getting and sticking to power, without any clear idea of what to do with it except be aggravatingly vile. I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but I almost wish that fantasy writers would risk getting just a little political at times when explaining the villain's motives. At least a pinch of misguided idealism would add some interest to the character.
Generic evil tyrants seldom have much of a private life, either; meaningful personal relationships are thin on the ground. They are more an idea to be fought against than a character in their own right. I'm not saying all fictional tyrants are wash-outs – I have a soft spot for Palpatine – but it's time to add some zest to the tired old fantasy formula. Why not reverse it once in a while? Good ruler vs evil rebels? You can argue the Harry Potter franchise comes close.
Human bigot vigilantes The Watchdogs in Agents of Shield. The Quarrymen in Gargoyles (yes, I spend more time watching cartoons than an adult strictly should, but hey, Puck is in this one!). Friends of Humanity in X-Men, The Animated Series (necessary Marvel preparation, I swear). Whenever bigoted vigilantes show up as occasional villains in a series, my heart sinks. Because they are just so boring.
This type of villain group shows up exclusively in stories which want to tell us something about Fighting Prejudice, and I already have problems with many of these earnest parables. At least the mutants in X-Men and the Inhumans in Agents of Shield (mutants in all but name) are part of the human race, and are thus a better stand-in for various minorities than, say, bears or clones made of gloop or alien shrimp. But the people who are freaked out by them aren't given any reasons for their wrong-headed behaviour, which means that the good guys have no opportunity to come with intelligent counter-arguments. Instead, we get a number of variations on the "you are a monster" theme (from the bigots).
You'd think that the whole point of using a parable would be to address sensitive themes a little more freely, but script writers clearly draw the line at giving bigots of any kind anything interesting to say. I'm left preferring even the most annoying supervillain (hello Apocalypse) as threat of the week to these unshaved dunderheads.
Faux Nazis Last seen in Rebel Moon, Part One on Netflix which contains many clichés that irritate me, as well as some I rather like. The troops of the generic tyrant are sporting uniforms in a style which one could label Evil Dictator Chic and which, like Moff Tarkin's riding breeches and General Hux's ranting in Star Wars, are clearly meant to make us think of Nazis.
Why would you want to saddle your baddies with such a parallel? Why not let them be villainous in their own way? If it's an attempt to make sure everyone understands just how evil they are, it's lazy shorthand and it doesn't work.
Grand Moff Tarkin blew up Alderaan. That's pretty horrible, and hard to excuse even someone with lovely cheekbones. But his crimes are firmly situated in a fictional galaxy far far away. Not ours.
