Stories require that protagonists confront difficult decisions and to prove they’ll act on their morals and personal rules. But what happens when a villain realizes they have an ethical problem?
Josh Spiegel highlights an example from The Rocketeer, where Paul Sorvino’s mob boss decides to ally himself with the FBI and switch sides when he learns he’s been in cahoots with actual Nazis.
A move like that requires understanding the motivations of these characters. This ties in with Scriptnotes Episode 465 - The Lackeys Know What They’re Doing, where John and Craig think about bringing some realism to henchmen and questioning whether they have a breaking point that will make them forsake the villain’s agenda:
John: So you see this most obviously in Bond movies. The Spy Who Loved Me has the whole crew of that tanker at the end, the Liparus. Moonraker, Drax Industries has all these people who are doing these space shuttles and like who are they? Why are they doing this? Are they zealots? Are they science zealots? You just don’t know. And this is really very well parodied in The Simpsons. There’s a whole episode with Hank Scorpio where he recruits Homer and he sees why these people are working there because he’s a really good boss and he’s really caring and considerate.
So, I would just say pay special attention to those minor characters, those guards, those watchmen, and really be thinking about why are they doing what they’re doing. And you don’t necessarily – you may not be able to give dialogue or even a lot more time to those characters, but do think about what their motivations are.
And sometimes if you do that you can come upon some surprising choices. Like Iron Man 3, one of the henchmen just says like, “Oh, no, I’m not being paid enough,” and just runs. Those can be surprises that let the audience and the reader know that you’re really being paid attention and that can be great.
Alyssa Visscher looks at this from the perspective of D&D, thinking about how players who want to be an anti-hero or anti-villain need to draw clear lines about when they would be going too far, and what moral lines they’re comfortable erasing.
It can provide nuance to a character to give them an exception to the evil deeds they’re willing to do, but those choices need to feel grounded in the character. Ronald K. Fried asks if Vito Corleone would actually ban his mafia family from selling drugs, digging into the real life mobsters who inspired the character and the problematic lionization of honor among mafiosi.
Sometimes going in the complete opposite direction creates a memorable villain. In Watchmen, Ozymandias murders millions of people to enact his plan, believing it’s the one path to avoid nuclear armageddon. Ville V. Kokko examines how Ozymandias could consider this a moral decision, and the viewpoint that would allow almost any behavior that was believed to create a better world.
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🎭 Stronger together
Though the WGA has called off its own picketing after reaching a tentative agreement with the AMPTP, you can still help SAG-AFTRA!
For ways you can support the SAG-AFTRA effort to negotiate a fair contract with the AMPTP, check their strike hub for more information.
⏱️ Ready. Set. Write Sprint!
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
What’s a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but here’s the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Shout out to last week’s Sprinters Robin, Chitra Soundar, Brian Matusz, and Aimee Link!
📖 The Kids Are Alright
This week’s Featured Friday in Weekend Read heads back to high school! Read Booksmart, Lady Bird, The Fault in Our Stars, and more in the Discover tab.
Still haven’t tried Weekend Read 2? Download the free trial from the App Store to check out our app for reading, listening to, and taking notes on scripts while on the go.
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Mason Curry looks at Philip Larkin’s explanation that art is made when an artist feels something deeply and then tries to recreate that feeling in their audience.
What else is inneresting?
Matt Birchler compares the speed and capacity of technology between the 1990s and today; feels old.
Feeling like something needs to change? Patrick Rhone wants you to consider whether you need a change of scenery or a change inside yourself.
A good reminder from KC Davis’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning:
No one ever shamed themselves into better mental health.
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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