Disney villains tend to consistently fit into a “villain” trope. Appearance wise, these include those that are considered unattractive in contemporary society (eg. being overweight/severely underweight) and exaggerated body features (https://anatomyofevil.wordpress.com/ goes into great detail). They also seem to 1) habor intense jealousy 2) possess great power and 3) are overcome with astronomically high levels of greed and obsession. These villains are juxtaposed against the protagonists, who just like the villains, fit into a particular “main character/hero/princess” trope.
When we consider these characteristics more closely, what’s scary is that the “good” characters - whom we identify as being relatable - may in fact not be as relatable as we might want them to be. Meanwhile, the villains, whom we intrinsically attempt to distance ourselves from, may actually have more relatable features than we realize or want to admit. As Forbes explains in The Aesthetic of Evil, most of us subconsciously or consciously desire to remain “morally pure” because our moral compass drives us to do so. But in reality, good and evil both coexist within each of us.
In my opinion, Disney characters, good or evil, represent two ends of a spectrum that each human being constructs based on their sense of self: on the most “desirable” end, the Disney princesses and he male leads are the epitome of impeccable romance, looks, personalities, and on the most “undesirable ends” the villains the representation abject life dissatisfaction, castaways and basically a life gone wrong.
This rigid representation of evil in classic Disney villains made me think about Eddie Carbone in A View From The Bridge. In the play, Miller depicts Eddie as a protagonist with a tragic flaw; he attempts to break up his Catherine’s (his niece) relationship with her Italian immigrant boyfriend Roldopho at whatever cost, reporting Roldopho to the immigration bureau. Carbone can be considered the villain; but interestingly, Miller sets up the play to evoke the audience’s sympathy for Eddie, and to mitigate any disgust they may have for Eddie. In doing so, Miller’s illustration of Eddie’s character downfall because of his immense love for Catherine adds a more emotional dimension to the play that the audience can relate to. But in my opinion, the emotional dimensions of classic Disney villains are often severely downplayed, thus we are less likely to be motivated to relate to them; it’s almost akin to masking of our own insecurities and idiosyncrasies deep down.
Having said that, I felt that the Maleficent (2014) movie was fantastic in taking a completely new and unconventional approach to the portrayal of Disney villains. By by delving into Maleficent’s story, thoughts and emotions, the audience becomes forgiving towards her, and the uncovering of her “good” within her “evil” exterior makes Maleficent far more appealing to the audience. It’s great that Disney is putting in more effort to achieve this: the lines between good and evil are blurred in Moana (2016) where Maui can be interpreted as either a villain or a hero and as it plot progresses, it becomes clear that Te Fiti is in fact not a villain.
