say what you want about woobifying villains, but i think tragic backstories and redemption via love are staples for good reason. we want to believe that people are fundamentally good, just hardened by a harsh world. that suffering earns you a happy ending. because then it means something, then pain isn’t just senseless and futile.
people don’t ‘excuse’ the actions of villains because they just don’t take those actions seriously. i think it’s a kind of projection – we forgive them because we want to forgive ourselves, and we look for the good in them because we want to see that in the world, even in people who have wronged and hurt us. because earth is a goddamn terrifying place if other humans really are evil, if they’re really monsters.
and idk, i just think it’s kind of beautiful that we all want to believe that the scariest mass-murdering motherfucker alive can be brought down by something as pure and innocent as love. that love is the answer, not violence. i don’t think that’s cheap or ‘problematic’ or a bad influence. i think it’s human, and profoundly optimistic in a way that few people are brave enough to be.
If I didn’t hold the hope that love could make a difference, my world would be cold and bleak.
People who ONLY ever like “pure, cinnamon roll” characters and try to buff away every flaw and every morally grey dimension and reduce stories to pure heroes and pure villains give me the creeps, because it seems to me like those are people who refuse to acknowledge their own capability to do terrible things, the inevitable fact that they have done things that hurt others in the past and will do so again (because that IS inevitable if you interact with other humans), who never question themselves, who think incredibly harsh standards of judgment are just fine because of course THEY would never need forgiveness or mercy.
THOSE are the people who are most likely to stomp on your face with a boot while being utterly convinced they’re doing the right thing and you deserve it. And they will never admit they were wrong and they’ll never apologize, because only bad people do bad things, and of course they’re not a bad person, so if they did it, it must have been good.
Give me friends who are honest about their own capacity to harm, who know where their own darkness lies, and can see it played out in characters good, bad, and – best of all, somewhere in between. Who understand when to rage, when to forgive, and when to just walk away. Who understand that other people, just like them, are ever-changing bundles of contradictions. Those are people I feel I can trust.
Reblogging for the amazing commentary above.
So many of my favourite movies feature villains or antiheroes who redeem themselves, and of those who don’t redeem themselves, they will often have been given the opportunity to do so and openly rejected it.
There’s a reason why Beast from Beauty and the Beast is so popular, why Darth Vader is so popular, why Terminator 2 made such a fun twist as a sequel to Terminator.
The stories where Bad is defeated by Good through Good kicking Bad’s ass can be fun, but oh god, give me the stories where Good teaches Bad how to be Good. Give me the stories where Bad CHOOSES to stop being Bad. Give me the stories where people learn and heal and get better, because those are the stories that give me hope that we can all get better.
[Image description: 4-panel comic. December 9, 2017. Panel 1: Sometimes I worry that nobody wants to read the things I want to write. Panel 2: But I want to read them. Panel 3: And I am a real person even if I don’t always feel like it. Panel 4: So I’ll keep writing.]
In the late hours of the morning, Markus stirs, hazy and leaden with sleep. The sheets are tangled between his legs, twisting and shifting lazily over his skin when he moves, and he flounders in them for a moment before he gets his bearings. Exhaustion clings to him like a second skin. He arches his back and reaches out with an idle hand, and there’s Connor—curled on his side, lips parted, warm under Markus’s touch. Like magic. Like waking up together is something they’ve been doing their whole lives, instead of a new and beautiful thing.
Markus exhales into the sun-heavy air. He wraps his arms around Connor’s waist and nuzzles into his hair, and that’s when he notices it. Granted, his powers of perception aren’t exactly at their height at the moment, but it’s so obvious that he can’t believe it’s taken him this long. A grin tugs at his lips just as Connor fidgets and makes a small noise into his pillow, and reluctantly, Markus loosens his grip. He can’t quite wipe the ridiculous smile off his face as Connor rolls over to face him, eyelids fluttering, LED cycling into blue.
“You’re smiling,” is the first thing he says.
Astute as always. “Good morning to you, too,” says Markus, and presses a gentle kiss to Connor’s forehead. Connor closes his eyes against Markus’s lips, and when he reopens them, he looks a little less glassy, although Markus will be the first to admit he’s incredibly charmed by Connor’s drowsiness. It’s a little bit messy. A little bit human. “Sleep well?”
“We weren’t really sleeping, but—yes.” Connor’s eyes dart briefly towards the ceiling. “Are you going to tell me why you were smiling?”
“Awake and already questioning everything.” Affection melts, unfiltered, through Markus’s words. It’s too early to be tactful, anyway. “It’s just amazing,” he says, and reaches out to card his fingers through Connor’s hair. “You have curls.”
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 