Feeling Empathy With "Bad Guys": How Choices in the Use of "Villain" Affects Characters

(Character and Relationship based Spoilers for Supernatural Season 11 and Lucifer Season 1)

From the start I will admit that I tend to take the emotions and experiences of characters very personally. Since watching the final of SPN I bristle every time someone calls Amara the Villain and this has led me to think more about who we consider "Villains" and "Bad Guys" in the first place.

For those who do not know Supernatural here is a brief summary of Amara's story:

Everything started with Chuck (God) and his sister Amara (The Darkness). (For the purposes of this post I am ignoring the theology of all this). Chuck then created creation (or creation demanded to be made), Amara felt abandoned, and upset that God's pride led him to create something beyond them. She then destroyed one or two versions of creation. God locked her up and threw away the key. Present Day Amara gets released and is grumpy with her brother and with creation. Amara vents and threatens creation. Chuck goes I have no idea how to handle this situation and stays away for most of the season. Amara finally talks with Chuck. Chuck does not really apologize like he should but there is a resolution. 

I feel Amara's  theme song while Chuck was creating the universe would have been something like Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats;
.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaSy8yy-mr8 

It took me a while to figure out why I felt such empathy for Amara. I think it is because I can see her as the product of systematic injustice. While destroying a creation or two is not the best way to handle anger (or any other emotion), being locked up, for what was planed to be forever, is not a proper response either. It is not how someone who is struggling with their emotions and the impact of those emotions on others should be treated. And it should not be surprising that after eons in jail she is angry. 

Or using a different context: Little Women. While I have not read or seen Little Women in forever I remember a part when one of the sisters threw another sisters journal into the fire but most people would say that it would have been very unreasonable if that sister had been imprisoned for the rest of her life for doing so.  

In doing a little research on who are considered Villains I came across a interesting blog post which broke down the spectrum into 5 segments: Hero, Dark Hero, Anti-Hero, Sympathetic Villain, Villain https://modernminutia.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/the-modern-anti-hero-what-the-is-an-anti-hero/ 

Here Sympathetic Villain's are defined as:

The Sympathetic Villain most often starts out as a good or at least neutral character who, when something bad happens, becomes villainous. Often, a personal traumatic event or a history of emotional trauma is present before the Sympathetic Villain slips over the edge into villainous territory. The character is still a villain, still commits villainous acts, and is still viewed as the ‘bad guy’, but often the audience feels bad for the character even as they wish for their defeat.

Why are "Sympathetic Villains" still considered Villains and not "Characters who have lost their way" or "Characters who need a Hug"? Why is it different if the hero is equally poor at expressing their emotions in a healthy way. For heroes this type of issue is considered a flaw, for villains it becomes sum total of their identity. 

I think my struggle with the treatment of many sympathetic villains is that these individuals are often vilified because of poor choices, poor ability to manage emotions, or because someone else says that they are the bad guys and it becomes a type of self fulfilling prophesy not because they are inherently bad.  

This season of "Lucifer" has looked at the impact of being Lucifer would have on an individual. Lucifer has been processing his relationships, his role as the devil, and how the wider world sees him. In this clip Lucifer articulates the complexities of being labeled a villain and impact of this for a person or character. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WedoqpVrd3A

Again putting Theology aside you can substitute the creators, the writers, the fans ..... in for the word God.

Linda: God cast you out because He needed you to do the most difficult of jobs. It was a gift.

Lucifer: Gift? He shunned me. He vilified me. He made me a torturer! Can you even begin to fathom what it was like? Eons spent providing a place for dead mortals to punish themselves? I mean, why do they blame me for all their little failings? As if I’d spent my days sitting on their shoulder, forcing them to commit acts they’d otherwise find repulsive. “Oh, the Devil made me do it!” I have never made any one of them do anything. Never.

Linda: What happened to you in unfair.

Lucifer: Unfair? This is unjust! For all eternity, my name will be invoked to represent all their depravity. That is the gift that my Father gave me!

Now I would say it is false to say that their are no villains. Some characters have no redeeming qualities. Some have no backstory which would explains their motivations. For some it is not the result of abandonment or perceived abandonment or simply acting out. But I think calling all characters with problematic action sympathetic villains is a disservice to these characters. These characters often need compassion and hugs instead.  Before vilifying a character think about the impact on that character of labeling them in such a way.

Musings on Babylon 5 and Questions of Living

Heavy References to Babylon 5 

I don't think you can call them spoilers for a show that ended 18 years ago

Babylon 5 has been on my mind this week because I finished a random B5 novel I picked up at a local used bookstore a while ago. If you don't know, Babylon 5, in a nut shell, was a space station which more or less was a city sized UN, but instead of countries you had planets represented. Below is the intro for season 1. (And which I was able to reference in one of my upcoming pieces for Portico Collective on the Psalms which makes me giggle):

I have been having many thoughts and feelings about life and faith and community and family and purpose. ( a) because the lead up to the season 11 SPN final b) thinking about how I want to structure my summer). But in being re-immersed in the B5 universe I have been reminded that B5 was one of my first substantive introductions to faith and spirituality.

I shall always remember the wise words of Delenn:

"Then I will tell you a great secret Captain, perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that is born in the stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."
- Delenn

But like Jeffrey Sinclair was told "there is a hole in your mind", the "me" bit of the universe has a few holes of its own. And sometimes I am content with that, content knowing that I might just yet be the next Valen a Minbari not born of Minbari. And sometimes the holes are just holes blinding me to the life that is just outside the walls I create around myself. When I feel the emotions floating around me and start to drown. Where I have trouble imagining the next weeks story arch, let alone the next 5 year story arch of my life.

As I started walking down my memory lane of B5 (as such journeys aided by google and YouTube are prone to do) I found little jems like being reminded of the Ranger's pledge. Which I realized in its own way was an past echo of "Always Keep Fighting", "You Are Never Alone, and "Love Yourself first".

We are Rangers.
We walk in the dark places no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no one may pass.
We engage in battle, we do not retreat.
We live for the One, we die for the One.

In this moment the "me" bit of the universe is struggling to figure itself out. I am trying to figure out what change in perspective is needed and how to make it so. I hope to use this summer to walk in the dark places and stand on the bridge and engage in the battle and see what amazing hybrid is formed in the end.

Connecting with Writers: Robbie Thompson

This Post Contains Non Plot Spoilers for Supernatural

An poem I wrote on a different topic but applies to this weeks blog

A little over a week ago we learned as a fandom that Robbie Thompson will be moving on from his role as writer and co-executive producer of Supernatural. There has been a deep outpouring from fans, cast, and crew alike. As I processed his leaving, and read the stories of others, I stared to ponder why we feel connected to particular writers.

For me the connection with Robbie Thompson started last year at the DePaul Fan Studies Conference on Supernatural. I had watched 7 1/2 out of 10 seasons in the 2 months leading up to the conference. (In part this was because I had gotten Paul Booth, who runs the conference, to promise me a high five if I got through season 5. For future reference Paul Booth gives great high fives :) ).

The Guest of Honor happened to be Robbie Thompson. Honestly going in I did not really know him who he was. other then a co-executive producer for SPN. Then Robbie Thompson's keynote started and ran straight into his writing workshop/discussion. He spoke for what turned out to be over 3 hours and in the process he became one of my writing idols. He truly treated us all like brothers and sisters. He was insightful and vulnerable and honest. He spoke about SPN, writing in general, and about himself. And then the moment I will remember for a long long time: Telling him I was new to the show and was not yet caught up and having him tell me "Welcome to the Family". 

Robbie Thompson had never met me before that autograph but I felt he had seen me, understood a bit about me, and truly made me feel like he valued my experience and valued me as a person.

While it can be hard to pin down why we connect with certain creators over others, in the case of Robbie Thompson I think it is because he makes us feel loved, seen and appreciated. His writing advice was to "Write what you feel" and he is a master at "feeling" what others experience and going out of his way to validate those experiences. 

For example he wrote the 200th episode "Fan Fiction" which validated the importance of fans and which welcomed and celebrated all fans who creatively make the SPN Text and SPN Cannon our own. He highlighted that fans are amazing and powerful individuals, whose oddness and goofiness is what makes us fantastic and what makes us a family. 

Robbie Thompson is moving on to continue to work on 3 different series in the Spider Man Comic Multiverse. (Correction only 2 are in the Spider Man Multiverse. The 3 titles are: Venom: Space Knight, Spidey, and Silk) I do not know all the details, since it will take a while until they become trade paperbacks and available at my public library, but I know they are going to be pretty amazing. 

For example in a Panels Interview called Silk Goes To Therapy: An Interview With Robbie Thompson I learned that he is having one of the characters "Silk" regularly go to therapy to deal with the trauma which made her a superhero. The below is from part of that interview which captures how deeply he understands his characters and the fans of those characters. 

CPH: When Reed Richards first suggests she talks to Dr. Sinclair, Cindy is pretty reluctant. But then she gets a number of subtle suggestions that maybe it’s okay to reach out for help, and eventually Cindy calls to set up an appointment. Why was it important to show that initial reluctance and denial?

RT:Showing Cindy’s reluctance and then showing her actually going to therapy felt integral to making sure that decision felt authentic. It’s a moment that I think a lot of people initially have when it comes to therapy. I mean, when I needed help, I was in denial about it, thinking—therapy, shmerapy. And I’m the son of a therapist! I’m so grateful I went, but it took a while to get me there. So, we wanted to show the reality of that decision, and, while we’re not trying to be preachy, it was important to show therapy as a normal process, that shouldn’t have any shame or stigma associated with it. It’s normal to go to therapy, and it’s normal to resist going. But in the end: if you’re willing to do the work and you have a great therapist, it can help. I’ve benefited enormously from therapy over the years—it’s changed my life.

So returning to the poem I began this blog with I will Trust in Robbie Thompson and see what new adventure await. I will trust that we will meet once again if only in my daydreams. I will trust that Robbie Thompson will continue to inspire us.

To Our Dear Robbie Thompson
On your retirement from being a Hunter
In the SPN Universe

I met you at DePaul last year
And you amazed me
With kind words
“Welcome to the family”
And the writing advice you gave
“Write what you feel”

As we send you off to new adventures
On golden angel wings
Or maybe I should say on golden spider threads
I just want to remind you
You will always be a part of this family

You may be retiring from hunting
But we will always be your sisters and brothers
And remember as you go out and dream up big and bold and beautiful new things
You are Amazing
You are Fantastic
You are Wonderful

We will always remember when you danced with us
Across the skies of stories
Channeling characters like Charlie and Eileen
Giving expression to our passions and loves
Through a show called SPN

Go forth and do great thing
And know that we will ALWAYS Have Your Back
<<<<<Love>>>>>

by A Dreaming Ace 

Notes on: Exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, by boldly studying and celebrating Star Trek

Yesterday was this years Fan Studies Conference at DePaul Univeristy: A Celebration Of Star Trek. For the past 4 years the amazing Paul Booth has put together fantastic conferences around various fandoms. I have made it to each one so far: Doctor Who, Joss Whedon, Supernatural, and most recently Star Trek.

Now to start I would say that I am culturally aware of Star Trek but I would not consider it one of my top fandoms. Most of my references come from TOS with a little TNG and a touch of DS9, with little to none from Voyager or Enterprise. Last week I watched one episode of each of the Star Trek franchises so I would have a general reminder of who all the characters were before the conference. Despite a weaker background in Star Trek yesterday's conference was both informative and fun.

I love these DePaul Conferences because they provide the opportunity to go to panels on non-everyday topics. The first panel I went to was "A dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars: History, Myth and American Culture in Star Trek" by Lincoln Geraghty. This talk included a discussion about the 3 roles of History in Star Trek.

• Real History and Real History repeating itself
• Creating fictional Star Trek history 
• Representing real history in a science fiction context 

Lincoln also discussed how Star Trek is an open text where viewers have the opportunity to have multiple different readings of an episode, and a meta text which allows readers to place themselves into the text.

Before the next panel began I was struck by some notes, left over from a previous panel, looking at where each Star Trek franchise fell between focusing on The Intent of Actions (TOS, TNG) vs The Impact of Actions (DS9, Enterprise) placing voyager in some murky middle ground. 

During the "Generations of Trek: Film, TV, and The evolution of Star Trek" panel there was a very interesting discussion which look at the cultural context and other big shows during each Star Treks run.  

Decade	Star Trek series	Other Big Shows	American Historical Context
60’s	TOS	Batman	60’s
80’s	TNG	Dynasty	Reagan's America
90’s	DS9, VOG	X files, Buffy	Prosperity, so entertainment could go darker
2000’s	Enterprise	Battlestar Galactica	9/11

There was also discussion about how it began to be hard for fans to keep up with the multiple series, in these pre-streaming days, and many gave up especially when the channels that were showing these shows kept moving them around into various time slots. There was an additional  conversation around how the various movies have struggled because they often became star trek light (Star Trek Flavored but trying to gain a wider audience while never being given the budget to really do so)

Brannon Braga discussed his long history with Star Trek. He discussed Star Trek both as a writer and as a producer. From the fact that writing/producing 26 episodes a year was a real nightmare to the fact that his method is to write 4 hours everyday. He also discussed Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek as apolitical, secular, and beyond social justice to the point where there is no injustice. That everyone has a place in this future and that this is the future we want. He also said that Star Trek was left alone by TV executives because they did not really understand Star Trek but it was popular so they were not going mess with it. He ended with the wisdom that a writer with never succeed if they are not helped along the way. That you can not be a writer for a TV show all by yourself.

Lisa Klink discussed the writing process. She was for a time a script reader which helped he hone her craft by making her have to explain why a story worked or did not work. She also explained how it is important to look for the weakpoint/challenge for that character. She went into some detail about how writing rooms work and how stories are broken out and how stories change throughout the process of being made. One thing which stood out to me was the impact of having a female headed writing room on the depth of character of the female characters. Lisa also mentioned that when writing for different characters, they should each have such a strong voice, you should be able to remove the names and still have it be clear who each person is. She also reminded us all that "No matter what you do, no matter how good it is, someone will hate" and that you can't take this to heart.

Next I saw a lovely Leonard Nimoy Tribute by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto. I knew very liitle about Leonard Nimoy beyond him being Spock and it was fascinating to learn about his childhood.  I had not realized all the wonderful and kind things he had done nor how he did everything from act, to sing, to write poetry. It was a really touching moment and I even teared up. Afterwards in the Q & A there was a brief discussion about how we connect to these kind people and even though we have never met them it does not mean they have not touched our lives. This tribute also made me think about how I will want to remembered in the future and what I need to do now for that to happen.

Last but not least I ended on a fun note. I learned about the making of and the history of "Klingon Christmas Carol" and the process of taking A Christmas Carol, Re-writing it from a Klingon point of view, and then translating it into Klingon. (They even had certain words created for them by the person who officially is in charge of the Klingon language.)

Like every year Paul Booth's Fan Studies Conference at DePaul University was a great experience. I can't wait to hear what next year's fandom will be.

How have you been impacted by Star Trek? Comment below.

Identity and Fandom: Part 3

This is the final part of a 3 part series on Identity and Fandom. 

I would recommend you read Part 1 and Part 2 first. 

The above is a picture of an article that is often cited by others
on the topic of fandom and problematic things
 but I can't find online :(

A year ago I was at a panel at C2E2 and someone said something like: 

Loving problematic shows does not make you a bad person

This is indeed good news since All Fandoms are problematic in some way. Yes, in this case I do indeed mean All. For some it is its representation of characters. For some representation of cast or crew. For some it is representation in writing or directing. For some it is how fans are treated. For some how fans treat others.... I think you get the idea. 

When something we love is criticized we often have a negative knee jerk reaction. We want to defend the honor of whatever we love, because when what we love is criticized, it feels like we are being criticized ourselves. 

Tonight I happened to be watching "Trouble with Tribbles" and happened upon a great example of this: 

Scotty: And I didn't see that it was worth fighting about. After all, we're big enough to take a few insults. Aren't we?
Capt. Kirk: What was it they said that started the fight?
Scotty: They called the Enterprise a garbage scow! Sir.
Capt. Kirk: I see. And... that's when you hit the Klingon?
Scotty: Yes, sir!
Capt. Kirk: You hit the Klingons because they insulted the Enterprise, not because they...
Scotty: Well, sir, this was a matter of pride.

We can feel that whomever is criticizing must not love our fandom like we do, or is not a "real" fan. But it is from a position of power to be able to love something while discussing how it could improve at the same time.

But what can you do when you are in the middle of that knee jerk reaction

• Take a deep breath
• Recognize that you are in the middle of a situation causing a knee jerk reaction 
• Listen to what was actually said:
• A simply statement like "x fandom could improve in its representation of x group" sometimes is heard as "x fandom is evil and all its fans should be burned at the stakes, attack them now" which is clearly not what was really said. Go back and spend time listening to what was really said.
• Realize that those who have had an experience are better able to point out flaws in how that experience is being represented.
• If you have not had a particular experience or do not belong to a particular group take a step back. You are less able to see the negative impact of how it was represented. You are not an expert on the topic.
• When in doubt ask polite questions such as "As someone who has had x experience how could it be better represented?" or "Would you be willing to tell me a little more about what you have experienced so I can understand it better?"
• Follow the Golden Rule and make sure any comments you make are of a tone you would want someone else to use with you.

As I said in the beginning of this post All fandoms are problematic in some shape or form but that does not make you a bad person for enjoying them. I have attended several panels and conferences which have looked at various fandoms from both a fan and an academic point of view and where great conversations occured on how we can make those fandoms we love better.

I have had the opportunity to watch fandoms I love, listen to criticism and over time improve in their representation. Constructive criticism can make Fandoms more welcoming and help make them safe places for all those who are involved. If you love something show that love by helping make it something that more people can enjoy. Share the love.

What fandoms (Shows, writers, directors ....) have you seen succeed in listening to complaints about representation and therefore improved in there representation.  Comment below.

Next Weeks Post will discuss DePaul University's: ​A Celebration of Star Trek which is occurring Next Saturday May 7th.