Every Villain Has Their Hero
This is a story that has nothing to do with superheroes. As I’ve written before, Pueblo Villano starts from the idea that every villain has their hero, but who is the villain? And what do we call a villain?
We’re in a town where we generate experiences that allow visibility to uncomfortable opinions—to what we don’t like or what we love—trying not to always say the same thing and always do the same thing, but on the contrary, generate an experience beyond and transport you to this eternally beta town.
But how have we done it so far?
We start from the fact that there have always been many films where the mask reflects fighting for ideals. An example: the anti-system activist V for Vendetta, who becomes an involuntary symbol of social unrest through an individual burst of anger that raises unpredictable chaos, without really knowing what he’s doing.
For this reason we’ve learned the art of storytelling—we accept fiction better than reality. We understand it’s part of the game; it amuses and entertains us. We all know they’re not real events, or that they didn’t happen exactly as they say, but we don’t care.
Like white lies or half-truths, we think they don’t harm anyone and protect us even from ourselves…
So today I want to talk to you about the dark, suffering, and tragic hero called Batman. For such a somber character, there can’t exist a villain with a more suffering story than his—seeing his parents die without being able to do anything. That’s why I must bring—for me, my hero—The Joker, the nemesis of this “hero.” Because he must be colorful and smiling, to bring a bit of anarchy to a chaotic and black world. The Joker is born from the card with the clown face that stares at you fixedly. When it comes up, it returns your gaze with its white face, red lips, and green hair.
We could call him a villain for his disturbed look, slicked-back hair, and permanent smile, but let’s not forget he’s “The Man Who Laughs.”
The problem is they always consider the villain as a vile, ruthless being when he’s based on moral criticism, and they see with horror how people can appreciate this heartless joker as a hero.
What makes the Joker so different as a “hero,” especially in the last film DC released, is how his reality and imagination transport us to what happens in his mind. What for some might be pathetic—how one lives with loneliness and his absurd idea of becoming someone.
The King of Comedy
On the contrary, for some and for me, it’s a brutal contrast between pain and imposture that’s so well expressed by the song with the music Chaplin made for Modern Times:
Smile! Even though your heart is aching Modern Times
So every villain has their hero, which leads us to the pretension: Who is the hero? So it’s time for what many of us still live and see, and what they equally continue living: pretending to be what they’re not. And social media is a reflection of this, by the indication or what tells us—that things always go swimmingly for us—or wonderfully. Above all, “never stop smiling!” so that with your wonderful life on social media, we can be content and happy.
