Character Development Research

 Hey guys! Today I am going to be building on the story idea I talked about in my last post. I realized that in order to accurately portray empathy for a villain, there needs to be character development found in the kidnapper throughout the short film. In order to gain more understanding as to how to create such a complex character, I researched the movies, Maleficent and Joker. 

Maleficent is a spinoff from the original movie, Sleeping Beauty.  This movie shows the backstory of the villain, Maleficent, specifically what drove her to become a villain. As a child, she lived an ideal life in the forest where she met a human boy named Stefan. Throughout the years they became closer until Stefan's father, the king, orders him to kill her in order to be named as his successor. Unable to kill her, Stefan betrays Maleficent and cuts off her wings. He becomes king and his wife gives birth to Aurora, whom Maleficent later places the sleeping curse upon. Despite her trying to kill the king and Sleeping Beauty, the audience cannot help but feel pity for her, especially after seeing how she became the villain she is and by who. 

Joker is a movie that presents the story of the Batman villain, the Joker. As a failed comedian Arthur Fleck tries to live his life with the intention of being praised and making a difference. However, seeing as he is mentally ill and has a condition where he laughs uncontrollably when nervous, everyone in society often looked down upon him and viewed him as a joke. It wasn't until Arthur killed someone that he finally began to feel something. He took it upon himself to kill those who ridicule him as he spiraled into darkness. Though he kills many people throughout the movie, Arthur is the product of a mistreated mental illness, which is pitiful among viewers.

The purpose of both these films was to provide a new perspective to a classic movie by humanizing the villain. Maleficent, often seen as a monster, was portrayed as a traumatized and broken creature as a result of loving the wrong person. Arthur Fleck, the Joker, was deemed as a heartless killer when he was actually a mentally ill man broken down by society. What made the audience empathize with these characters was their relatability. Villains are often hated because they appear to be evil and wicked with the intention of causing harm. These films show how there is another side to the story, and present the case of a villain who became bad due to life experiences that many people face such as heartbreak and bullying.  

This definitely helped me understand what it is I need to do for my own movie. Stay tuned for the character development of my own character!