Your politics vs. Your characters' politics

Okay, this is a semi-rant and train of thought post, because I've had a couple whiskey and I'm Having Thoughts About Things. You have been warned.

There was one thing that always bothered me in villains that monologue in movies (I also see it in how social media trolls seek to portray the opposition lately, which is what triggered this- they reminded me of bad writers).

I'm talking about ideological villains or terrorists, not the delicious, unapologetic, Hans Gruber style villains. Those last ones are *chef's kiss*.

Usually in really typical action or thriller stories, the villain has their monologue scene where they explain their motivations. That is in itself a problem since we don't get to see why a villain is a villain before that monologue, making them potentially cardboard and uninteresting if the rest of their design is uninspired. However, it's not the biggest peeve I have for it.

It's that they usually cartoonishly voice the opposition.

Take any historical era, and look at its movies. Is it the 50s? The villain is a communist or a communist spy. Is it the 90s? The villain wants to protect the environment or stop pollution. 00's? They want to stop frakking or overpopulation sapping the earth's resources. Take your pick.

I think the 80s were an exception to that, where villains were mostly bullies of various types and caliber or people seeking to rob banks or do pretty standard crime on a large scale.

Don't get me wrong. A villain that has some ideas that are perhaps or totally legit, or a cause that is commendable, or a grievance that is valid but takes it too far (terrorists) or goes 'an eye for an eye' on previous aggressors is a totally legit type of villain. I have made an article about exactly that sort of villain.

My little rant today is not about those. I like those if they're well written.

My problem is when the villain is the villain ONLY because the writer hates that particular stance, position, ideology, or cause. Is the writer pro-life? The villain is a crazed woman that seeks to make all women sterile or enforce a regime where everyone gets mandatory abortions. Is the writer pro-choice? The villain is a crazed woman that seeks to kill every woman that dares oppose the right to abortion. Beyond that cartoonishly extreme portrayal though that is basically an illustrated ad hominem, no other counterargument is given within the story or by the hero on why the villain is wrong beyond their specific extremism that doesn't extend to the people the villain represents.

These are propaganda films, stories, or comics where the villain is the villain simply because the writer deems it so. Bonus points if they don't even take it too far like the examples I gave- the villain is a villain because they want to advocate for the opposition in these types of stories, like the words they utter are toxic gas. [legit exception to this is peak nazis. Not unripe nazis as I'll explain in a bit. But they can still come across as cartoony and not realistic- a different problem to what I'm talking about]

Same goes for the hero by the way- the hero is the hero only because the writer deems it so. There are main characters that are supposed to be likeable to the audience, but they are really not because they're actually a-holes that are rude, obnoxious, demanding, uncaring, conceited, or support a flawed argument as the writer's mouthpiece. Yet the story demands the audience to like them (to mary sue levels) over the opposition that often comes across as more sympathetic simply by the fact that they need to interact with the main character.

So, it comes down to your politics vs. your characters' politics. Again; don't get me wrong. It's TOTALLY LEGIT for the main character to have the same politics as you. It's also TOTALLY LEGIT for the opposition/the villain to have the opposing politics to yours. (btw in case you're wondering not a single character in WM has my politics…yet)

What is not legit is not doing the work to present BOTH characters as individuals with a personality and character design that is not "Good Politics A" and "Bad Politics B". As with any character trait, if you write a character as basically one-note Trait Character, they run the risk of being considered two-dimensional or badly written. (basically the same thing as one character's trait being only Girl and only Fat Kid in older hero team stories)

You should at least grant your villain the courtesy of portraying their politics as nuanced enough to be enticing to a large group of people- large enough to be the opposition to your politics, even if it's the common consensus that your politics are the right politics. I'll be irreverent here and say that this unfortunately includes Nazism- protraying Nazism as this weird death cult (it is) that brainwashes people (it does) into being human-hating automatons (they do become that) in its initial stages is plain wrong and brings peoples' guards down that they'll know it when they see it and reject it in real life- when that is unfortunately not the case.

Yes; peak nazis- when they're already on board committing genocide without much rationalization- will sound cartoony if forced to voice their motivations and they are ideologues (i.e. ascribe to nazism for nazism, not for profiteering or other things). However, pre-nazis DON'T sound like that. The earlier in the process they are portrayed, the more legit they're likely to sound in the problems or grievances they have. If your nazi villain isn't yet peaked, write them like their ideology is legit- to them.

I'm not saying it is easy. It's disgusting to do it if you feel strongly against a certain political stance (I've moved on from nazis now btw, but definitely goes for them too) but if you're not looking to make light propaganda, if you're looking to reach audiences on both sides of the fence, you'd need to immerse yourself enough in that political group's culture and style and rhetoric to accurately portray it AND add other characteristics to your villain that make them a person, not a cutout for punching.

They'll probably be a vile person since they're villainous on top of their flawed politics (or a deranged person, or a brainwashed person, etc) but they will have to be a person.

Same goes for the characters that share your politics: they also must be a person- flawed, limited, with motivations that aren't only Heroic Altruistic, with fears and with ambitions and hopes. And they happen to believe what you believe.

Of course, you can't do this for your entire cast (you can, but not everyone does it or can show their work even if they actually do it) but seriously consider doing it for your A and B roles. Your message will be a lot more impactful for it, if you're looking to pass a political message. Even if you're not, people will be thinking about your characters a lot more as they look through their fridge for food.

That's a win, right?

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