On Relatable Villains

[CW: This post discusses the way villains are often coded as marginalized identities. There are mentions specifically of queermisia/queerphobia, ableism, antisemitism, and racism.]

Like many people, I adore fictional villains. Most of my favorite characters of all time are villains, and I in fact have three tattoos inspired by fictional villains. Villains and antagonists are often some of the strongest parts of a story.

Name a fandom I'm part of, and there's a very strong chance the character I find most meaningful and relatable is a villain.

But to be honest? I kind of hate that.

Many, many people have written at length about coding: the way in which characters are implied to be of a specific background or marginalization without anyone ever coming out and saying it. This happens very often with villains, especially in fantasy. For example, the trope of villains with big hook noses is part of an extremely antisemitic stereotype that Jewish people = evil. My personal experience with coding, and the reason I relate to so many villains, is that many are coded as, one, queer in some fashion and, two, as neurodivergent/mentally ill.

These coded villains are not typically written by people who share their coded marginalizations, which adds a definite layer of sometimes subtle bigotry. This gets internalized by people who consume the media, and then applied, often subconsciously, to real people.

Here are a few examples that have personally affected me:

Untrustworthy characters being indicated by fidgeting and a lack of eye contact. As an autistic person, I am uncomfortable with eye contact and find it quite difficult if not impossible to maintain. Because eye contact is held up as such an important part of being trustworthy and honest, autistic people, especially children, are often abused by caregivers until they learn to make that eye contact. Fidgeting and stimming are also "trained" out of autistic people in abusive therapies like ABA.

Evil characters do not experience love, are repulsed by it, and never seek romantic partners. As an aromantic person, I frequently deal with dehumanization and vilification because I do not experience romantic attraction. Aromantic people are frequently seen as frigid, cruel, and even abusive, just because we do not experience that attraction the way alloromantic (non-aromantic) people do.

Characters who have low or no empathy are held up as the epitome of cruel and dangerous. A lack of empathy is heralded as a sure sign of abusive, controlling, and malicious tyrants. But there are multiple disorders, two of which I personally have, that often come with low or otherwise "abnormal" empathy. This does not make us bad people, and seeing villains (both real and fictional) who are portrayed as evil because they're not empathetic is extremely demoralizing and harmful.

What's the point of me saying this? The point is that if you want to write a good antagonist, you should be careful that you're not just using harmful coding as a shorthand that will hurt real people. Take great care (and hire sensitivity readers) so that you don't make bigoted assertions that a trait of a marginalized group is a sign of evil.

I'm tired of relating to villains. I'm tired of seeing my autism, my personality disorder, my queerness, my real-world experience reflected in the people I'm told I should hate and root against. If you are a content creator, please do your part to be mindful of the way coding and tropes can be used to harm.

Representation matters, but the thing is that it has to be positive representation. Give me a glimpse at myself in villain after villain after villain, and you have not told me that I matter. You have told me that I am repulsive and wrong.

Be mindful, be aware, and be better than creators of the past. Don't tell marginalized people that we're evil, because gods all know we get enough of that already.

Until next time,
Jenn.

Write What You Want

There's something that happens rather a lot in the publishing community, and it's this tendency toward telling writers to avoid things that have been done "too many times." Common plots and story seeds are labelled as inherently worthless to work with, and the oft-repeated refrain is, "everybody's tired of it."

I have multiple issues with this.

For one, some of my absolute favorite things get swept to the side and called "boring" because they've been "done too many times." I adore portal fantasy. I think plots where someone who seems like a boring nobody is actually secret royalty are still pretty fun. Faerie tale retellings? Love 'em. I could go on. And if I'm not tired of those plots, it's a safe bet that there are plenty of other people out there who aren't, either. So the argument that "nobody likes them anymore" just doesn't hold water.

For two, sure, there are a lot of plots out there that have been written already. But not by you. Not by me. We have not seen every conceivable take on every conceivable idea. Everybody tells a story differently. If I've read one book about vampires, I've read one book about vampires. The vampiric element is only a part of what makes the story, and I want to read all about the unique twists and turns and worldbuilding each new author brings forth. It's fun, it's entertaining, and I like it. No two authors tell the same tale.

For three, there are so many instances where "everybody's tired of it" comes off more as "it's popular, so I hate it." I don't have a lot of patience for that. Especially when these anti-bandwagons tend to heavily target things that are popular with girls and women. If it's not hurting anyone, let people enjoy things.

Trends ebb and flow, but to say that something is ever "dead" is just plain wrong, to me. Every book has a reader, and the only time I will ever look at a trend or a trope and say it's bad and should never be done is if that trend or that trope is rooted in bigotry. No more Nazi romances, for the love of all the gods. No more "noble savages." No more disabled people getting better through the power of love. Portal fantasy, though? Vampires? A portal fantasy with vampires? Hit me with it. I'll keep reading it for as long as people keep writing it.

(No, for real, if anyone has any portal fantasy with vampires, that actually sounds amazing and I want to know about it.)

In short? Write what you want. Write what entertains you. Write the book that you need, that you want, that you find entertaining. Just because some people are tired of it doesn't mean everyone is.

Until next time,
Jenn.