A Matter of Perspective

Consider this typical fantasy story:

There was once a young handsome man who was good with the sword, excellent with everyone in the village he lived with, and loved and cherished by all. However, he was unhappy because the one girl he fell in love with did not love him. He tried to impress her several times to no avail. In his desperation, he even tried to force her to accept him by threatening her and putting pressure on her. It didn't work. Still, when she was abducted by a hideous beast hiding away in the nearby forest, he wasted no time in rushing to rescue her. Unfortunately, the beast was stronger than him and he was killed, despite managing to mortally wound the beast.

Pretty sad tale of a pretty standard hero, right?

It is, of course, the story of Gaston, from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

How about this story:

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl that was naturally coy. She was inexperienced in love matters, but romantic. One day, her paths crossed with those of a man who sought to possess women. He immediately took a liking to her. He started following her around, stalking her. He scared away all her male friends and even travelled to different cities when she went there. He showered her with gifts and demanded that she let him use her as he pleased. In the end, the girl's defenses eroded and she gave in, forever becoming his slave and possession.

A pretty sad tale of a stalker getting what he wanted, right?

It's of course, 50 Shades of Gray.

The first story looks to be that of a hero, but it really is the story of a villain. The second story looks to be that of a villain, but it really is the story of …well, someone who the author wants us to think of as heroic or good in some way :/

The point I'm making is that in both snippets, I faithfully wrote out the key plot points of both stories. I chose to write them in a 'heroic light' in the first one and in a 'villainous light' in the second one. The original movies are pretty well known to bring to mind the original 'light' in which the stories were written.

How is Gaston the villain in Beauty and the Beast?

Because everything he does is cast in a negative light as the audience is privy to his motivations and his strategies (which are malevolent and manipulative). There is no 'mitigating justification' for what he does. Everything is presented in its full ugliness.

How is Gray from 50 Shades of Gray the hero?

Because everything he does is cast in a positive light or at least a forgiving light ('he is abusive because he is a broken man, but with a heart of gold'). Everything he does is presented as amazing, heroic, good, or "understandable" and a reason to pity and empathize with him rather than reject him as a character.

Granted, some members of the audience won't put up with rationalizations of toxic behaviors (thank goodness), but a lot of them will. Hence 50 Shades of Gray's success (ok, it also promised porn to wine moms).

The perspective in which we, as creators, present our characters' behaviors is key in how these characters are 'coded' in terms of 'good' or 'bad'.

I once took a challenge to write Harry Potter's Snape as a good character (before it was canon/cool and yes it was fanfiction, judge away!) and the only thing I needed to succeed was to write the story from his POV, delineating his motivations for everything he did, and boom! Instant Good Guy. Not just Antihero or Redeemed Villain or anything like that. He still did atrociously toxic behaviors in the beginning chapters, but they were all cast in a redeeming light because the audience could see why he did them, or what he was trying to accomplish. I did such a good job of keeping him in character while presenting him as a good guy that I won an award for it.

Being aware that we, as creators, control the perspective from which our characters will be perceived is vital: we not only create the audience's experience of these characters, but we also 'teach' in a way, which behaviors can be considered acceptable and which not. This can have impact in real life: consider how many people go out of their way to be acerbic and verbally abusive in their effort to sound intelligent like House MD or like Rick from Rick and Morty. That's because both of these characters are perceived as desirable by the audience.

Blackadder on the other hand, who is infinitely entertaining, clever, witty, and astoundingly glib is not an example people tend to want to follow as much (at least in my experience). That's because he is still presented as a petty villain in the show. He's just a fun petty villain with some of the best dialogue I've ever encountered.

Could your heroes be written as a villain, or vice versa, if someone else was telling the story?

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