CMU School of Drama


Sunday, April 24, 2011

It can be good to be bad

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Villains have always held a special place in my heart.Drama has a rich history of villains we love -- Shakespeare's Richard III, who is resolved to be a villain; Regina Giddens in 'The Little Foxes,' who has no problems dispatching her husband to achieve her ends; or Velma Kelly and Roxy Hart, those merry murderesses from 'Chicago.'But it wasn't until my 5-year-old, princess-obsessed granddaughter asked her mom why grandma liked 'the bad guys' that it gave me pause.

2 comments:

SMysel said...

There are so many good points about characters in this article! It is so true that the actions of characters is what drives a plot forward, and that leaves no room for passive characters. Villains are also so interesting because, indeed, they are much more complex than the other heros and heroines of the stories. Complex characters that take action are so much more interesting than passive characters that "hope and dream" but do nothing about those hopes and dreams.

abotnick said...

I totally agree with Sophia. Although villians are terrible people and we shouldn't admire them at least they are interesting to watch. They are complex they have goals and wants and they go after them. Complex character are so much more interesting than bland boring characters like Cinderella. She never went after anything she wanted. She just sat around on her butt taking abuse and never doing anything about it till her fairy godmother came. Cinderella had dreams but she never acted on it. At least her terrible step family actually tried to do something with their lives.