“Is there any greater human invention than the all-powerful story?” (Cunningham, 2015, 05). A story is something that has no form, no limits. A pit of endless possibilities that has existed since the beginning of human life, perhaps even before. We can see examples of stories from as early as when cavemen walked the earth, creating rudimentary paintings on cave walls, depicting tales of hunting mammoths and other great beasts. And if we travel all the way back to modern day, we can see examples of stories all around us, with one of the most predominant forms being film. However, even with there being so many different paths a story can take, there always seems to be one storyline that repeats itself again and again. A formula that never fails. A secret ingredient that grips us as an audience, intrigues us, even goes so far as to move us… Good vs evil.
This very simple concept seems to be the root of almost all stories. If there is a character who is good, there is more than likely going to be someone who opposes that character. This could go from a young student being tormented by his bully, all the way to a great hero saving the world from destruction at the hands of an evil mastermind. Therefore, the villain can come in many different forms, but the general storyline is “The villain acts and the hero reacts. That becomes the story.” (Johnston and Thomas, 1993, 15). Giving the audience someone to root for and against allows them to feel a greater connection to the characters, and thus creates a much more compelling story. The hero of a story is usually the most popular character and often the most memorable, with many films using the hero’s name within the title. But “Without the villain, there is no incentive for the hero(in)es to go on their adventures, develop themselves or move forwards in their lives.” (Davis, 2014, 187). Therefore, there is no story without both the valiant protagonist and their evil counterpart. Imagine a superhero that has no arch nemesis to defend the world from, or a spy that has no target to take out or foil the plans of. These would make for some extremely boring films, and this goes to show that the villain is just as, if not more important than the hero.
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