Do you ever feel sorry for the evil character in tv shows?

[Paige]

For some reason a lot of the the time I feel quite sorry for the evil character. I'm like wow they must be really messed up something really bad must have happened in their lives to make them do that.

Does anyone else feel sorry for the evil characters or is it just me haha.

 

[Turnip]

Depends on the character, some are mention to be felt sorry for or even related to.

There's Dr. Horrible for example...

 

[King_Oni]

I only feel bad for them when they fail, tbh

Perhaps I'd just me though, but I'm burnt out from all these "happy endings" in movies and tv shows.

 

[wyverary]

My short answer is, if you wind up NOT feeling a little sympathy with the "evil character," then it's not a very interesting character to begin with.

The classic example, I suppose, would be Satan from Milton's "Paradise Lost."

 

[ChildoftheCorn]

Sometimes. Often I'm just baffled by their idiocy and poor decision making.

 

[Paige]

Sometimes. Often I'm just baffled by their idiocy and poor decision making.

I think a lot of these character are quite intelligent the way they get away with things for such a while. I do how ever think the decisions they make to get revenge of some sort is kind of dumb.

 

[Ereth]

Sometimes the desire for revenge overrides logical thought. I don't have to look far for examples---anyone who watches The Walking Dead (the television adaptation of the comic) should know what I'm talking about.

 

[Turk]

Yeah I kinda feel sorry for them. They probably wouldn't even bother, if they knew their elaborate and well thought out plans could be foiled by a script writer, and his half assed intervention. Or is it logic that I feel sorry for?

 

[Vanilla]

Yeah I kinda feel sorry for them. They probably wouldn't even bother, if they knew their elaborate and well thought out plans could be foiled by a script writer, and his half assed intervention. Or is it logic that I feel sorry for?

True, it's actually quite typical for the evil character to be the 'brains', while the good guy is the 'muscles'. I personally can't relate to 'muscles', which is why the good guy also has to have 'heart'. A good example of this is Superman vs. Lex Luther. Of course this is only one stereotype.

But yes...an interesting villain is always easier to relate with, and adds an extra dimension to the story, I think. We're allowed to realise the villain is human, rather than a faceless monster.

 

[Judge]

I found myself feeling sorry for Amon Goeth...played by actor Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List". I have no idea about the actual man, but Fiennes did a brilliant job of projecting an incredibly evil man struggling to be a nice guy. And he just couldn't do it.

Haunting...

"I - I pardon you."

 

[wyverary]

I found myself feeling sorry for Amon Goeth...played by actor Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List". I have no idea about the actual man, but Fiennes did a brilliant job of projecting an incredibly evil man struggling to be a nice guy. And he just couldn't do it.

Haunting...

"I - I pardon you."

That is one of the most intense and compelling bits of acting I've ever seen, and an excellent example of the topic at hand...it's true, and I don't know if it's entirely the acting, but there is a sense of...I don't know if I would call it "pity," per se, but...it really makes you wonder how anyone could become such a monster. Fiennes, in my opinion, masterfully instilled a little bit of inner turmoil, which comes out now and again in some truly brilliant scenes (including the one you mentioned).

 

[Judge]

That is one of the most intense and compelling bits of acting I've ever seen, and an excellent example of the topic at hand...it's true, and I don't know if it's entirely the acting, but there is a sense of...I don't know if I would call it "pity," per se, but...it really makes you wonder how anyone could become such a monster. Fiennes, in my opinion, masterfully instilled a little bit of inner turmoil, which comes out now and again in some truly brilliant scenes (including the one you mentioned).

Yes. It made me feel bad that I felt bad for such a character. Very odd...but then "hats off" to any actor who can project such emotions to his audience.

 

[Wintertime]

Oh yes. The reason is- because I know it is fiction, and nobody is really getting hurt. I am a Breaking Bad fan, and I was rooting for Walt the whole time (even though he disgusted me sometimes, too). Would I root for him or anyone else if they were real? Of course not. Not by any metric. That's the fun of tv or movies or books, you can root for the baddie because they aren't real. I also watch Walking Dead but for some reason its easier for me to root for the 'good' ones on that show, and the 'bad' ones are just, ooh! So bad!

But I also have to turn away if some of the violence gets really excruciating.

 

[Judge]

Oh yes. The reason is- because I know it is fiction, and nobody is really getting hurt. I am a Breaking Bad fan, and I was rooting for Walt the whole time (even though he disgusted me sometimes, too). Would I root for him or anyone else if they were real? Of course not. Not by any metric. That's the fun of tv or movies or books, you can root for the baddie because they aren't real. I also watch Walking Dead but for some reason its easier for me to root for the 'good' ones on that show, and the 'bad' ones are just, ooh! So bad!

But I also have to turn away if some of the violence gets really excruciating.

Excellent example. At times it was hard not to root for Walt and Jesse. You became invested in them as characters....and deep down they didn't really want to be bad guys. But yes...they were only fictional characters.

 

[Turnip]

Walter White is/was/became a "bad" guy, but I he wasn't written as the "bad guy" of Breaking Bad, he was more an antihero (or a Villain Protagonist or Anti-Villian if you go off of the expanded classifications from TV Tropes)

 

[Wintertime]

That is true, Turnip. He was a bit of an anti-hero imho. I believe that we were supposed to be sympathetic to him at least initially, although it gets muddy because the showrunner had said in later interviews that he couldn't see how anyone could root for this 'bast***' after a certain point of the show.

The bottom line for me is that it is a tv show, and therefore is fantasy, and media of all kinds from literature to plays to modern media like film and TV have many examples of 'bad guys' that we are allowed to be 'rooting for' in a sense, as per the author presenting them as the protagonist. Because it isn't real, and that makes all the difference. I know that reading Crime and Punishment certainly didn't make me supportive of violence or anything, heh. But I loved Raskolnikov and its probably my favorite book of all time. Because it was a good story, and it wasn't real. If it was real, yes, I would probably have different opinions and I certainly would never condone violence or people getting hurt. If that makes sense.

 

[Wintertime]

I thought about the original question a bit more because I think I interpreted it a little wrong, and I would have to add that I absolutely love 'morality play' sort of stories. I think the same regarding what was mentioned about the normal 'happy ending' sort of stories being really boring. I like to ponder how a person could be enticed into 'badness'. Its interesting to think about. I would say I definitely feel a little bit sorry for evil characters (thinking about films like Pan's Labyrinth now) but in a sense where I don't support their deeds. This question is harder for me to answer than I thought it was. Lol.

 

[Ylva]

Yes. Often, the "bad" guy deserves to win (and what they do isn't that evil anyway), and then some Deus ex Machina comes along and hijacks an otherwise interesting plot and makes the idiot "good" guy win instead.

 

[KassieMac]

Is anyone else watching Fargo on FX?

Maybe it's just me, but I see some important concepts here that will probably go right past a lot of people. It's a story of what happens when the bullies, people intimidated by bullies, and people in extreme denial are in positions of power & authority. They ignore and dismiss those who are honest, intelligent, logical, and use common sense, and as a result the situation just keeps getting worse. And as one character transitions from being honest, kind-hearted, and abused to becoming deceitful, selfish, and cruel, his life improves ... he's happier ... and people treat him with respect.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the insight shown in the writing, but I hope that people won't see this as a guidebook to getting ahead in life. I see it as a commentary on just how messed up our society is.

 

[wyverary]

Is anyone else watching Fargo on FX?

Maybe it's just me, but I see some important concepts here that will probably go right past a lot of people. It's a story of what happens when the bullies, people intimidated by bullies, and people in extreme denial are in positions of power & authority. They ignore and dismiss those who are honest, intelligent, logical, and use common sense, and as a result the situation just keeps getting worse. And as one character transitions from being honest, kind-hearted, and abused to becoming deceitful, selfish, and cruel, his life improves ... he's happier ... and people treat him with respect.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the insight shown in the writing, but I hope that people won't see this as a guidebook to getting ahead in life. I see it as a commentary on just how messed up our society is.

I've not seen the TV series, but I hear it's excellent. Now I want to try to catch up on it. What you describe, though, sounds a little different from (at least my memory of) the film.