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Exploring Our Darker Side — Why We Love Our Fictional Villains.
Fictional characters can become firm favourites in the hearts of readers and viewers. There are many reasons as to why we might prefer one over another, such as a fondness for wise old grandfather figures might draw us to Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, or a desire to be our best selves when we watch superhero movies.
We may be happy to share our preferences for inspirational characters with the world, but often we keep our fascination with the baddies a secret. There are always wicked, evil or downright deranged characters embedded into stories to drive the plot action, such as Darth Vader in Star Wars or Sherlock’s nemesis, Moriarty.
These fictional people possess personality traits that we would normally find abhorrent if we were to meet them in real life, so why would we admire them on our screens or in our books? Are we secretly bad people who yearn for a life of crime?
A recent study, published in the journal, Psychological Science, gives us a comforting explanation. Most of those fictional baddies presented to us are designed to appeal to us on a fundamental level. They are created as flawed human beings with shared personality traits to the average person in the street. Writers provide us with a plausible reason for their descent into evil doings, allowing us to relate to them…