Dramatic scenes of sin an disaster give audiences the opportunity to forget their monotonous lives and to participate vicariously in exciting adventures.
Examples of the first type of villain are Brutus" in the Popeye" cartoons or Don Corleone in the Godfather" films. Examples of villains who (or which) bring tragedy without really being evil are the terrifying King Kong (1930's), Martians in Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds" (1930's) and dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park" (1990's). .
Another aspect of the villain's attraction is the scapegoat factor. People, as individuals and in groups, have enemies, for various reasons. If another group of people is superior to them, then it is a pleasure to see the superior group depicted as villains and finally punished in the end. Enemies are often satirized. For instance, in many films Nazi soldiers are shown as mindless brutes, always shouting and usually overcome by the cleverer, more virtuous Americans. This phenomenon of seeing someone you hate as a loser is a source of enjoyment. Sometimes groups -at the moment especially Muslims- are seen as a threat because their mentality is so different. By putting them in a ludicrous position or by forcing them into the bad guy role we have the feeling we can control them and reinforce our Western values.
Many well-educated, sensitive and more demanding spectators are dissatisfied with robotlike, superficial villains who destroy but have no character. If there is no background or psychological action, if the audience is not required to reflect on the villain's motives, strategy and feelings, then the villain is only a one-sided, boring bad guy in a film made for sensation-thirsty audiences.
3. Examples of villains, why and how they were created, and their impact on society.
a. Technology and totalitarianism.
One of the earliest bad forces" which gave rise to many villains was technology, but more especially mass production.
