Fifty Horror Clichés That Need to Die in a Fire

#12: Gloifying the Villain

Before jumping into the horror genre once more, let us visit the universe of the critically acclaimed TV drama Breaking Bad. A breathtaking story of a once good man falling into unforgivable sin, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White, a fifty year old chemistry teacher living in New Mexico. Always being overshadowed by others despite having massive talent in the field of chemistry, Walter for decades of his life took what he could get with his small family as well as low paying jobs in teaching and at a rundown car wash. However, his life takes a shift once he is diagnosed with lung cancer and decides to end up joining the dark underworld of drug dealing crystal meth to give his family enough money to survive after he dies.  He secretly also wants to do something that he believes can make himself proud and can get credit for doing solely. Adopting the nickname Heisenberg, in a matter of almost two years he manages to become a king in the drug cartel. Due to his great character development from a Mr. Chips persona to one similar of Scarface, (according to the creator of the show Vince Gilligan), Walter White by viewers all over the world is a celebrated character in popular culture. Even after the show was cancelled many years ago, people still talk positively about Walter White's character, calling him a truly celebrated anti-hero. They praise him for his ambition and high intellect to get him out of near death confrontations with some of the most evil characters in all of television. They see him as a true family man going into the line of duty, shedding a bit of blood in his risky position to put food on the table. They see him as someone to look up to.

But is this treatment of Walter White by others actually appropriate? The hard to swallow truth is no. Walter White was never meant to be a man worth celebrating from anybody. He was always meant by the show's creator to be a figure of tragedy, a lesson about avoiding our temptations when met with extreme pressure. But somehow along the way, even Vince Gilligan seemed to forget this as he overly celebrated the gruesome actions Walter committed.  By becoming a drug lord, Walter White ends up corrupting all of the good things in his life as well as ruining the lives of many other people. To his family, he forever tainted them with his notorious presence. His wife from his corrupt ways has been irreparably emotionally scarred and will always be judged by others as the wife of a notorious drug lord. Both of her children, Walter Jr. and Holly, are doomed to bear a similar title with emotional scars of their to face own from the entire ordeal. The blood of innocents because of Walter White's deeds, even children, will forever be on his hands. He cannot take back the deed of not saving his partner Jessie's girlfriend Jane when deciding to watch her choke on her own vomit instead of providing CPR.  This "selfless" act lead to her father's emotional breakdown and the plane crashes that followed due to him neglecting his duty as a air traffic control officer, both which that would lead to an untimely demise.  Walter killed people with his own bare hands, even if some were as immoral as himself, and Jessie became forever chained to the mental scars Walter forced upon him season after season. His brother-in-law Hank lies dead thanks to Walter's decisions, even if the final blow that killed him was not his own. Walter was a villainous protagonist that while well written is no icon to look up to in any circumstance whatsoever. However, the praise remains due to the "awesomeness" of his actions, no matter how terrible they may actually be.

This discussion about Breaking Bad's character of Walter White leads us into the real subject of this editorial part; the glorification of a villain's actions in the horror genre.  Much too often in most examples of horror genre related stories, the villain is overly celebrated for their actions in the plot.  Characters such as Jigsaw from the movie series Saw are celebrated for killing sinful people in massively gore-filled scenes that are nothing but horrific to watch.  Even while sinful, all of Jigsaw's victims did not deserve the massive amounts of cruelty given to them nor should the creators of the film be depicting these acts as the least bit heroic.  Depicting immoral actions as right for any major character, whether it be the villain or the hero themselves, sets a very bad example on individuals.  By depicting these actions as morally correct, you are inviting real individuals to repeat such actions in real life themselves.  Just taking a look at the temporary rise in meth labs following the first season of Breaking Bad as well as the creation of real people who try to repeat fictitious characters's murder sprees is proof enough of this stance.  Celebrating the villain too much when writing them can be extremely damaging to a reader's sense of morality.

  When writing anything, even in the horror genre, it is important to set a strong moral line for the characters and readers from the start.  The purpose of a story is to entertain others or to teach a valuable lesson about life in general.  This is even true in the horror genre.  Despite all of the scares that are crafted to terrify the audience, the end goal is entertainment and sometimes even education.  Making the villain's actions too positive goes against this unwritten rule about fiction in general.  Making the villain's heinous actions be depicted in a more moral light goes against this rule.  By doing this, you leave a terrible example for readers to potentially follow themselves.

  Though you can make the villain sympathetic, showing their actions to be in completely in the right is erroneous.  After all, the villain plays an important role in the story that needs to be well established early on.  Making them complex, but clearly in the wrong is a great balance for their creation.  That or having the audience question social norms through their actions, creating a philosophical aspect to the story is a great way to write the villain.  In the end of the day, the writer should make sure to think about the potential impact their characters could have on others.  If not, it can be an unintentional recipe for disaster.