Villians

In English class today, the professor presented three topics for discussion: a plan for re-buffaloizing the mid-west plains, and something about expatrioted, two things I didn't know anything about, and then the third topic, a discussion on whether girls the "Plastics" from the movie Mean Girls, girls who are the rulers of the school and exist as a kind of elitist nobility among the students, really exist. I've never seen the movie, but I saw the commecials enough, combined with how most Hollywood movies work, to put forth a nice theory for the class. I said that the reason the girls are portrayed as such, as being some how in power while at the same time being universally hated or what have you, is simply an attempt by Hollywood to villianize the girls. I pointed out that if the movie had been done with them not being in power, and just bitches, then the hero, Lindsey Lohan's character, whoever, would lose all credibility and justification. "Those girls picked on me so I'm going to be mean back to them" isn't as persuasive an argument as "Those girls are tyrannical and evil incarnate and must be stopped."

Of course, we couldn't talk about this all period long. We had to actually learn. But the issue tugged at the back of my mind, and I decided to show them to you, since I must release my ideas somewhere, and I have no friends, it seems. Anyway, the whole thing stems back to the nessessity to villify characters in movies. The plastics are BLATANTLY evil, partially because its funny, and partially because audiences are stupid. They need things laid out for them in very obvious terms. The girls are evil because they're the bad guys, its just that simple.

I also realized that there were two kinds of bad guys, in general. The overlord and the minion. The mean girls are obviously overlords, the big bad guys, whatever. They're the characters who personify evil. They come from a long line of overloards. Darth Vader, the Iceland Team in the Mighty Ducks, Saddam Huissein, whoever. The minions are just that. Faceless pawns. They're interesting to me in how similar they are. Stormtroopers (who many people thought were robots when the first movie came out) and TIE Fighter Pilots all wear face-concealing helmets, where as their rebellion counterparts have their faces in full view. Remember the beginning of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, how they show the rebel soldiers lined up ready to defend the princess? They show a close up of a soldier who looks like he could be your grandfather, not so much that he's old, but that he has a loveable face. Right away you look at him and think: "This guy is a good guy, I like him."

Then he gets shot. WHAT THE FUCK! I LIKED THAT GUY!!! YOU BASTARDS KILLED HIM! I HATE THE EMPIRE!!! Yeah, that's how movies works. I noticed a similar thing in Top Gun. Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer barely wear oxygen masks, but their Russian (or whoever) bad guy enemies have their faces entirely concealed, and have tinted visors. They aren't human.

Gah, I hate when I get all rambly. Seems like a good reason to stop and lie down.