Fandom responses to the presentation of the ideology of antagonists

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See also: Villains and Fandom • Woobie • Stanning • Fanon Draco
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Villains and antagonists have inspired much debate in fandoms. The motivations of villains are often dissected and discussed, to try to understand their actions.

A villainous character may be viewed sympathetically by fans and may even be considered an anti-hero, if their actions are justifiable. Some fans hope that their favourite villain will get a redemption arc in canon, allowing them to make up for their previous misdeeds. Redemption fics are common in fanfics focused on villainous character.

However fans may be criticized as villain apologists, for excusing a character's evil deeds based on extenuating circumstances, such as a tragic backstory. Villain apologism is often categorized as woobification.

Enemies to Lovers and Enemyslash fics, pairing two enemies in a romantic or sexual relationship, are common for villains. Often a villainous character is paired with the hero of the story. This trope is often criticized for pairing characters who may have had violent or abusive interactions in canon.

There are also Villain AU stories, where a heroic character is reimagined as a villain. Many of these stories are also Role Reversal AUs, where the villain and the hero swap roles, and the villain becomes the hero of the story.

Sympathetic Villains

Many fans criticize the portrayal of villains with valid grievances and criticisms of the status quo, only to have their ideals apparently invalidated by heinous crimes that aren't inherently related to those ideals. These villains may be considered something like "revolutionary", while the heroes may be considered something like "reactionary".

[strawberry-crocodile]
Have you ever noticed a show or movie or comic where the villain is someone who’s challenging the existing power structure or something and it’s like “oh maybe they have a point?” but then the villain does something incredibly morally abhorrent like kill their own troops or something and the story is like “they let their lust for revenge take over” and so now it’s okay for the hero to oppose them and, in the process, uphold the preexisting flawed system?

I call it “pulling an MCU Villain”

#forreal I see this so much #its so insideous #its basically a strawman that gets you to support the hero even if in isolation their ideology is wrong or harmful #mcu marvel [...] #the avatar comics did it in the southern water tribe story #if you're lucky the hero will realize the villain had a point and change it The Right Way #because they have the privilege of being king or hero or whatever[1]
[catzpah]
legend of korra is such a bizarre show because throughout the series, korra is an ardent defendant of the status quo - as the avatar, korra is always protecting the existing power structure from those who wish to change it. but while most forms of media that have a hero who enforces the status quo would also celebrate said status quo, lok doesn’t. amon’s anti-bending revolution is bad and scary but non-benders are shown to be suppressed and jailed for gathering outside of curfew which is also bad. the red lotus is bad and scary but the leaders they speak out against and attack (korra withstanding) are incompetent at best and oppressive at worst. kuvira is bad and scary but wu is just a pompous idiot kid who shouldn’t be leading a nation. the status quo is lok is just marginally better than its challengers and korra dislikes all the people whose power she’s protecting. the devil you know is better than one you don’t, i guess? when the system gets reformed, korra is never an active part of reform. the switch from the council to a presidential system happen off-screen between seasons one and two. zaheer takes down the earth queen. wu is the one who decides to abolish the monarchy. the show takes a strictly anti-revolutionary stance even though the power structure of the world textually requires political upheaval since it’s shown to not be working. but any good political change that happens in the show happens without korra’s involvement! as avatar, she’s the one whose supposed to be bringing balance but i guess for korra to challenge the existing power structures would be too radical? i don’t know what i’m saying with this post – it’s just baffling how the show sets up people in power to be incompetent or evil and then just doesn’t have korra do anything about it. bad writing, bad politics, it’s just not good.[2]

On the other hand, some fans assert that recognizing sympathetic villains as still villainous is valuable as a moral lesson, as "the road to Hell is often paved with good intentions" and "he who fights monsters should take care not to become one" and all that, and stanning can distort perceptions of the morals that characters are supposed to represent.

Discussions of sympathetic villains often discuss cultures of "victimhood", "good victims", "bad victims", and "victim-blaming".

Some TV Tropes articles discuss related phenomenon.[3]

Some fictional villains

Villains and redemption

See Redemption (trope)

Further reading

References

  1. ^ strawberry-crocodile (2020-08-23). "Have you ever noticed a show or movie or comic where the villain …". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30.
  2. ^ catzpah (2020-10-27). "legend of korra is such a bizarre show because throughout the series, …". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2023-05-02.
  3. ^ Villains Act, Heroes React, Villain Has a Point, Designated Villain, The Extremist Was Right, Protagonist-Centered Morality, The Complainer Is Always Wrong
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