Essay/Term paper: Opinion on movie villians

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Movie Reviews

Movie Villains


What really is a villain?

Villains have been alive forever, there is no way to easily detected them or stopping them. They come in all shapes and sizes from animals to little children to even space aliens. Each villain has his or her own particular style, usually greed. Another big reason for there evil acts is because of revenge, revenge can turn innocent people in to cold blooded killers. The term used to represent villains is antagonist, or someone who opposes the protagonist or hero of the story. Movie villains are not just plainly the main enemy in a movie as in Nightmare on Elm Street series or on the Friday the 13th series, but sometimes it is just a little enemy, sometimes killed off, that is the villain. Sometimes the protagonist turns out to be the biggest antagonist in the story, like in the movie La Strata. Villains usually meet their end by death, but sometimes their fate can be worse than that, like in the movie Time After Time a character call Dr. Stevenson, who is also know as Jack the Ripper, meets his death by traveling to the farthest time ever in the face of the earth, probably when the earth is completely destroyed. Other villains meet their doom with being put in jail. There are a few movies in which the villains actually comes out victorious, as in the movie Chinatown. Villains or antagonist are the spotlights of most movies.

What is the origin of villains?

Villains have been around since evil has walked the earth. Movies have made evil from all the different ages to come out, for instance Messala in Ben Hur is from the early AD years and Toecutter from the movie Mad Max lives in the late 1990"s. Probably the earliest known villains would be the serpent in the garden of eve. It was the first villains by coaxing Adam and Eve into eating the apple. From there more villains came, from Egypt"s Pharaohs to Chinese emperors. One movie era of villains was villains from the medieval times or a little earlier, like Vikings and evil knights. More modern movie villains were Nazi"s, mad scientists, psychopaths, gangsters, people with super human powers, and spies. Villains have evolved devilishly throughout the ages.

What are some famous villains?

There are millions of villains throughout movie history, some stand out more than others. One villains I think anyone can recognize is the wicked witch of the west from The Wizard of Oz, she is so sinister it makes her stand out and also everyone likes her flying monkeys. One villains from biblical times is Dathan from The Ten Commandments, who is the sinister helper of the Pharaoh Ramses that tries to kill Moses. Dathan meets his despise by being engulfed in a trench than makes him fall into a place worse than any other place in the world. A fairly old villain is Long John Silver from Treasure Island. Long John doesn"t die in the end, he escapes because he tricks Jim into letting him go from his prison, he escapes and probably is still trying to find gold to this day. One more modern villains is Jaws, not the fish, from the James Bond series. Jaws is a really tall man who has hands as big as a person head, and metal teeth that can crush thorough anything. Jaws never dies but usually comes back in another movie, he actually turns good in one movie. Villains are in every form and in every age.

Why do villains appeal to me?

I love to watch villains do there dirty work and to use trickery to ruin the hero"s life. It is not that I am a villain in real life, but it just intrigues me to watch them. Usually the villains get their just desserts but I always think in the back of my head that they would come out on top. One villains that totally was intriguing was Noah Cross from Chinatown. He was pure evil committing such crimes as rape, incest, child abuse, murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, and bribery and he actually comes out on top at the end of the movie. The wrong person got shoot and his daughter, which he raped and abused, gets returned to him at the end of the movie, probably to get raped again. That type of movie villains is rare, and when it does happen it is amazing. Another thing I like is when villains are still alive and waiting to come back in a sequel as in the Omen series. I just love that little antichrist Damien and all of his little killings. Movie villains are my favorite thing in the world, they are so evil it is funny.

Works Cited

Stacy, Jan The Great Book of Movie Villains Chicago: Contemporary Books Inc. 1984






Pathfinder Information
Topics 1. Villains
2. Movies
3. Movie Heroes

Additional Sources
1. Villains in motion pictures.
2. Moving-pictures--Plots, themes, etc.
3. 1996 Movie & Video Guide

Topic: Movie Villains

Thesis Statement: Movie villains are numerous what are some of their reason for their cruelty.

I. Explaining villains
A. Villains have been around since the garden of eve.
B. What makes villains who they are, what drives them to evil?
C. The speech is setup into listing villains and explain their backgrounds.

II. Villains
A. Wicked Witch of the West.
B. Leatherface.
C. Long John Silver.
D. Noah Cross.
III. Villains and their untimely death.
A. Every villains has his own reason for his acts, each is different.
B. Mostly the common reasons are, greed, revenge, or just plain psychopathy.
C. I love villains, and even though some of the movies are just plainly disgusting, they are fun to watch.