tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post9140548117408698796..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: Sunday supervillainy a bit early - "The Black Cat"Russell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-60925948104635874092011-10-24T10:54:30.304+11:002011-10-24T10:54:30.304+11:00It's worth noting, by the way, that Poe had pl...It's worth noting, by the way, that Poe had plenty of bad personal experience of his with alcohol. OTOH, he was apparently nice to his cat. I wonder whether he ever felt tempted to do something terrible to it the way his narrator does.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-44360304492680381932011-10-24T03:11:18.232+11:002011-10-24T03:11:18.232+11:00Plenty of villains who do evil because it is evil ...Plenty of villains who do evil because it is evil because they want evil cred.<br /><br />Also plenty of villains who do evil unprovoked and feel bad about it.Svlad Cjellinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-38893840744406911922011-10-23T17:55:01.560+11:002011-10-23T17:55:01.560+11:00Oops. My analysis is all wrong. I always thought...Oops. My analysis is all wrong. I always thought he said he must show that he's <i>capable</i> of doing something evil! So I guess he tries to prove to himself that he's really a good person to the bone. And I guess he fails.Jason Streitfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06950357341620206095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-25222471528533224512011-10-23T17:26:45.243+11:002011-10-23T17:26:45.243+11:00The villain in the American remake seems more moti...The villain in the American remake seems more motiveless. In the original, Dutch film, he's explicit about his motive. Here's what he says: "My daughter was bursting with pride. But I thought that her admiration wasn't worth anything unless I could prove myself absolutely incapable of doing anything evil. And as black cannot exist without white, I logically conceived the most horrible deed that I could envision right at that moment."<br /><br />If he is not capable of doing evil, then why praise him for doing good? He must show that he's capable of the worst possible evil, so that his choice of doing good is worthy of such praise.Jason Streitfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06950357341620206095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-26853543100844053162011-10-23T11:07:32.692+11:002011-10-23T11:07:32.692+11:00"We are looking for characters who perform ev..."We are looking for characters who perform evil acts that they themselves regard as evil in an absolute sense, and perform them precisely because they regard the acts as evil in that sense."<br /><br />It's that second part that's the tricky one. It's not that hard to find villains who call themselves evil; a lot of kids' show villains do that. However, villains who do evil things <i>just</i> for the sake of being evil, rather than out of greed or spite or self-interest, well that seems much rarer.J. J. Ramseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00763792476799485687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-35453034074543972102011-10-23T08:07:46.264+11:002011-10-23T08:07:46.264+11:00Yes, you're quite right that alcoholism has br...Yes, you're quite right that alcoholism has brought this on - good ol' moralistic Poe. Not sure about the guy in The Vanishing. He seemed a bit like a motiveless malignancy to me, even if he was given some motive ...but I haven't seen it since it was first released in cinemas 20+ years ago, and didn't watch it with anything like this in mind. He certainly seems evil. Thanks for the suggestion.<br /><br />I've never seen the American remake.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-38818580409811189702011-10-23T05:57:19.944+11:002011-10-23T05:57:19.944+11:00Also, it's worth emphasizing that Poe's na...Also, it's worth emphasizing that Poe's narrator, in his madness, is not aiming at evil for its own sake necessarily, but aiming at evil as a means of damnation. He wants to go to Hell. That factor distinguishes him from the villain in "The Vanishing," for example, who may not even believe in Hell.Jason Streitfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06950357341620206095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-42956744246070481672011-10-23T05:50:51.527+11:002011-10-23T05:50:51.527+11:00The narrator of "The Black Cat" is suffe...The narrator of "The Black Cat" is suffering from alcoholism, inviting us to read the narrator's state of mind as an artificially induced inversion of natural inclination. He aims for Evil instead of Good, because his moral compass has been reversed by alcohol.<br /><br />To meet your challenge: How about the villain in the original version of "The Vanishing" (1988)? He is a father who, after doing something heroic, decides to prove to himself that he can do something as purely evil as his other act was purely good. I don't remember if this was explicit in the American version of the film, but in the original version, it is quite explicit: He commits a terrible act merely because he thinks it is a terrible act.Jason Streitfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06950357341620206095noreply@blogger.com