There must be an action that represents a point of no return and hope for redemption.
The point of no return aligns the audience with one of the sides - good or evil. The Joker in Batman and Voldemort in the Harry Potter novels are also great archetypes for villains. There is nothing redeeming about them; they are manipulative and completely evil. Joker and Voldemort also share another trait - badassness. Both characters have a formidable presence and possess great powers, namely intelligence and wizardry, respectively. They are worthy adversaries for any hero.
One of my favorite, more recent examples is Ra's al Ghul from Batman Begins. There is part where Batman's training with the Himalayan ninjas ends, and Ra's al Ghul asks Batman to kill a guy for stealing a goat or something. Batman looks at him in disbelief, but Ghul is completely serious. This Ghul's moment - despite becoming Batman's father figure, he asks him to do something so unmistakeably evil. This is Ghul's point of no return - we no longer care about all that he has done for our hero; Ghul's a bad dude. I mean seriously. You don't kill a person for goat stealing unless you went to TX A&M. Those goat/sheep f'ers, argh.
Also, there cannot be any source for redemption. Take Darth Vader for example. What seems as though the perfect formula for a villain - dark outfit, scary voice, great powers, etc. - is actually a hero who has been manipulated. Yes, Vader is the Villain in Star Wars, but by the end of Empire Strikes Back, I, too, sensed the good in him and hoped he would redeem himself.
This is why I look forward to the Iron Man 2 movie. Mickey Rourke's character plays Ivan Vanko. For the purposes of the film, he plays "Whiplash", who is Russian, brilliant, and deranged. Now, in the comics, Ivan Dranko was the Crimson Dynamo - the communist version of Iron Man. But, this movie makes him Whiplash, which is fine. It's just an amalgamation of both characters.
How will he be? Will there be a point of not return? Will there be redemption? I doubt it on the redemption of the villain. I think Whiplash will be flat out evil. I
However, the Iron Man comic story has always been about Tony Stark's demons and his quest for redemption*. He messes up so much, has so much hubris, but when everything is on the line, Tony Stark always sucks it and fights back. Iron Man 2 also adapts the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline where Stark becomes an alcoholic. I find this story very compelling because when all hope seems lost, the redemption occurs.
At some point, I should address in 31 days, I will be married. Ok, I just addressed it. Haar.
* denotes that many would argue the original Iron Man was about Western technology versus Eastern mysticism, ie. Iron Man vs. the Mandarin and his 10 Rings. The movie adaptation takes after the "Demon in a Bottle" plot.
The point of no return aligns the audience with one of the sides - good or evil. The Joker in Batman and Voldemort in the Harry Potter novels are also great archetypes for villains. There is nothing redeeming about them; they are manipulative and completely evil. Joker and Voldemort also share another trait - badassness. Both characters have a formidable presence and possess great powers, namely intelligence and wizardry, respectively. They are worthy adversaries for any hero.
One of my favorite, more recent examples is Ra's al Ghul from Batman Begins. There is part where Batman's training with the Himalayan ninjas ends, and Ra's al Ghul asks Batman to kill a guy for stealing a goat or something. Batman looks at him in disbelief, but Ghul is completely serious. This Ghul's moment - despite becoming Batman's father figure, he asks him to do something so unmistakeably evil. This is Ghul's point of no return - we no longer care about all that he has done for our hero; Ghul's a bad dude. I mean seriously. You don't kill a person for goat stealing unless you went to TX A&M. Those goat/sheep f'ers, argh.
Also, there cannot be any source for redemption. Take Darth Vader for example. What seems as though the perfect formula for a villain - dark outfit, scary voice, great powers, etc. - is actually a hero who has been manipulated. Yes, Vader is the Villain in Star Wars, but by the end of Empire Strikes Back, I, too, sensed the good in him and hoped he would redeem himself.
This is why I look forward to the Iron Man 2 movie. Mickey Rourke's character plays Ivan Vanko. For the purposes of the film, he plays "Whiplash", who is Russian, brilliant, and deranged. Now, in the comics, Ivan Dranko was the Crimson Dynamo - the communist version of Iron Man. But, this movie makes him Whiplash, which is fine. It's just an amalgamation of both characters.
How will he be? Will there be a point of not return? Will there be redemption? I doubt it on the redemption of the villain. I think Whiplash will be flat out evil. I
However, the Iron Man comic story has always been about Tony Stark's demons and his quest for redemption*. He messes up so much, has so much hubris, but when everything is on the line, Tony Stark always sucks it and fights back. Iron Man 2 also adapts the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline where Stark becomes an alcoholic. I find this story very compelling because when all hope seems lost, the redemption occurs.
At some point, I should address in 31 days, I will be married. Ok, I just addressed it. Haar.
* denotes that many would argue the original Iron Man was about Western technology versus Eastern mysticism, ie. Iron Man vs. the Mandarin and his 10 Rings. The movie adaptation takes after the "Demon in a Bottle" plot.
1 comment:
Regarding Tony Stark's quest for redemption, I think that Nick Fury's conveyance of Stark's father's ambitions for/belief in Stark injected both him and the movie with the shot of humanity and higher purpose that it needed. It was a turning point for me, anyway.
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