November 8, 2006 • Print This Post
Why do villains come out at holidays?
This past week in my neighborhood, the Halloween decorations came down and the Thanksgiving or Christmas/Hanukah decorations went up.
And so it seems did a few bad attitudes.
At the soccer game, the coach yelled at his team, (I mean really yelled) the father sitting a bleacher down from me kept yelling at the referee, and two others were yelling at each other. Hardly festive or good sportsmanship.
The man at the gas station was so nasty when I asked him to change a fuse in my dashboard, that I told him to forget it and drove down the street to another station where I’ll be buying gas from now on.
The guy at the car dealership didn’t return my call because he knew he was going to have to replace a part.
Now this isn’t really about people who were mean last week, but got me to wondering why they converged just as I was feeling all turkey and mistletoe.
I have two handy ways of dealing with real life villains. 1. I write them down on an index card and file them away for later use. Or 2. (And I love this one.) I pull up a new document, type “Nasty man at the gas station” then push the delete button. (Very satisfying and it isn’t illegal.)
So as soon as I finished deleting the gas station attendant, I got to thinking about holiday villains and how unlike real life villains our story villains can be, thank goodness. In fiction we can imagine them however we want. From the worst to the most lovable and redeemable. Especially when they’re holiday villains.
Take the Grinch. What a great character. And don’t you love the song? “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.”?
And my favorite, Ebenezer Scrooge a la Dickens. I read the story every year. And watch the Alistair Sim movie every Christmas Eve when everyone else has gone to bed and I’m wrapping presents. And the Muppet version? Can’t get enough of it.
And think of all the spin off scrooge type films and television specials.
I guess the nice thing about lovable villains is that they were miscast as villains in the first place and really only need understanding, a miracle, love or a ghost or two to make them what they should really be.
I like a villain to have at least a seed of goodness and I like to read and write stories where the bad guy might someday become the good guy if he ever gets his own book.
Does anyone else have a favorite villain?
Posted by Gemma Bruce @ 12:25 pm • Filed under: Gemma Bruce
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scrooge was a good villain and the neigbors from national lampoon vacation
I am also a fan on the Grinch.
I have a soft spot for most villians. I you really think about we all know someone that will remind us of at least part of some of are favorite villiams. My Mom is Scrooge, I love her to death and she really tries to enjoy the holidays, but she always comes off a little bah humbug. The stress of the holidays start to get to her, and then her evil side comes out. I just try to remember that we all have a little villian in us, maybe it is only for one day, or a season, or God forbid a life time. But the world is a lot more interesting with my “Scrooge” I mean Mom.
My favourite villian is scrooge, but he finds his way and turns himself around. The Grinch is another favourite of mine. Sometimes I feel like an old scrooge myself, when I have to face the people and the crowds and some of the frustrations like the post office and things………