Pop psychology has killed the villain
The majority of comments here seem to be critical of the author&#x27;s thesis, with one even questioning the cultural-political motives behind this media outlet.<p>FWIW, I agree with the author.<p>I found myself thinking about this last night as I finished the first 10-episode season of Netflix&#x27;s Cowboy Bebop live-adaptation[0]. There were many changes to the original story in the live adaptation, and I feel that part of these changes involves building up a rubber-ducky story for a plot twist at the end. I&#x27;m opposed to it not just because it&#x27;s a change to the source material, but also because it created a needless sense of moral ambiguity.<p><i>SPOILER ALERT</i><p>In the original, the protagonist Spike seeks justice in the final episode for the death of his loyal love interest Julia, who dies at the hands of Spike&#x27;s arch-nemesis and evil syndicate leader Viscous. With the Netflix live-action, in addition to a number of story changes that allegedly made it more appealing to modern audiences, the love interest Julia lives, exacts her revenge on Viscous after years of abuse, becomes the leader of the evil syndicate, and also... shoots the protagonist?<p>The old Julia was perfect in the original story, but the new one cares more about power than anything else. The new version&#x27;s plot twist for Julia was built up to, with a rubber ducky explanation gradually developed as a side story in each of the new episodes. The director wanted you to see Julia getting her revenge after years of abuse and then cheer for her as she becomes the <i>girl-boss</i>[0] of the most evil crime organization in the galaxy. This ending was... disgusting.<p>An overwhelming volume of contemporary media sends the message that you can be a bad person if you have sufficient justification, and that coincides with OP&#x27;s concern of the overused rubber ducky device.<p>When I was very young and impressionable, I always liked the villains the most. In kids TV shows, villains could never be shown doing anything truly heinous, and so my sense of them was that they were the only ones who actually felt free to do what they wanted. It was the &quot;good guys&quot; who always ruined the party. Like Nietzsche&#x27;s ubermensch, villains were great because they were not imprisoned by morality. I thought villains were amazing until I matured some. I needed to realize the value of morality and understand what real-life villains were actually capable of. More and more, contemporary entertainment seeks to deconstruct that idea, which seems like a shame to me. Every rubber ducky story strengthens some real-life narcissist&#x27;s ego - who wants to live is a society where people like that feel empowered?<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt1267295&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt1267295&#x2F;</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;worklife&#x2F;article&#x2F;20200127-the-advert-that-triggered-a-debate-about-girl-boss" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;worklife&#x2F;article&#x2F;20200127-the-advert-tha...</a>