[ SECRET POST #1446 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1446 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 13 pages, 302 secrets from Secret Submission Post #207.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

I think it would speak to the truth of real evil even more if they WERE good-looking. To show that just because someone is beautiful on the outside, it doesn't mean that they're a good person.

I mean, they do the whole "I'm super-ugly but I have a heart of gold" thing all the time.

And it's kinda insulting to the audience to assume that they'll sympathize more with a villain if he or she is good-looking. It kinda says "Let's make them as ugly as possible so that we'll be sure the audience won't like them at all." And it's kinda sad that the writing isn't strong enough to do all that on it's own.

[(Anonymous)]

Studies on the halo effect show that good-looking people are more likely to also be considered intelligent, brave, and other good traits. So it's not entirely insulting to the audience to make the villains ugly to make them 'more evil', it does work somewhat on a psychological level - although yeah I can see where you're coming from and it's sometimes rather lazy storytelling.

[hinodeh.livejournal.com]

Some authors certainly invoke this trope. Just not all.

Yeah, but not that often for villains. At least as a long time anime and manga fan, I can say that attractive villains have a much higher chance of being redeemed, having a sympathetic motivation, a pet the dog moment, etc.
Ugly villains are much more often complete monsters.

Well, there are plenty of good-looking villains who have no redeeming qualities and yet there are fans who try to justify their behavior or argue that they're deep down nice or something. Either way, I agree with you that making the audience hate the villain by making him/her ugly isn't exactly stellar writing. What should matter are the deeds.

[roaringmay.livejournal.com]

First of all, I agree with your comment. Especially with the last part.

Though I do remember Schiller's Die Räuber and it had a pretty long paragraph on physiognomy and how one of the characters was born ugly and thus "evil" by default since the outer appearance = personality (roughly summed up). Of course, that's 18th century literature but I sometimes wonder if people continue to (sub-consciously?) let this influence their decisions regarding character design.