I saw a video the other day called 10 Movie Villains That Kinda Had a Point wherein the creator (stoney_tha_great) breaks down the understandable motives behind the actions of some of the most iconic villains in cinema.
Number 4 on his list was Stephen Spielberg’s bloodthirsty shark from Jaws. This great white beasty terrorized a New England beach town (and even made me scared to swim in a pool as a small child). But if you think about it, it’s not like the shark was going door-to-door.
As Stoney points out, those people came to his crib (the ocean), not the other way around. There’s no such thing as shark-infested waters—that’s just where they live. People-infested waters is more accurate.
Anyway, the video got me thinking about how we classify heroes and villains and how much grey area there actually is. One person’s patriot is someone else’s terrorist—and vice versa. Those heralded in one community are demonized in another.
And because it’s so easy to categorize people and divide up the world, we miss out on the virtues of those we despise and the deep flaws in the ones we lift up.
In real life, the lines aren’t as clear. Be careful how you cast your roles.