What are your thoughts and feelings about recent movies and series with redemption arcs for previously sinister villains?

[Chazmatazz269]

I’ve noticed this trend. Wicked women from classic stories are being given redemption tales. Male villains are just evil. While females, well they must have been forced to do evil; usually by a man. Why is it that we are so afraid to admit that women can be just as cruel and malicious as men? So much so that all-time great antagonists are being newly represented as mentally ill, misunderstood or otherwise the victim of a bad, bad man.

[ManOnFire]

The idea that women can do no evil or that they have a reason or excuse for their evil has been around for a long time, and it was actually much worse around the late 90s and into the later 2000s (not the 2010s) than it is now, but I know I don't have to tell you this because you probably remember it also.

Back then Diane Sawyer, Gloria Allred, and the other iconic white-feminists were all doing reports on women who blew up in the news for killing their kids, lovers, etc. and trying their damnedest to say they were troubled or had reasons, and that because of this we should be sympathetic or pardon them for their failures. This psychological brainwash campaign was one of the most wicked in our age. It was basically saying "Women can't ever do anything wrong, they are Jesus Christ, so if they ever are doing something wrong it's got to be because it was someone else's fault."

With what you're describing concerning women villains in these redemption arcs, it's just a newer version of that brainwash. Except that most women of today know that women can be evil on their own, and some of them even praise that.

[Xawyx-2]

Movies always explore new ideas.

Who knows, maybe they'll eventually make a movie or tv series with redemption arcs for Darth Vader, or some other villain.

[Chazmatazz269]

They kind of did that with “Cobra Kai”, but it wasn’t so one-sided. They humanized Johnny. Showing he’s basically a good guy at heart but didn’t have the tools to demonstrate it. They did still blame it on other men though. Ell oh ell!
Furthermore, they gave our original protagonist layers to show he isn’t always the good guy we previously perceived.
I thought the series was brilliantly written and portrayed. But it’s the only example i can think of in which a male villain was given any redemption for a previous story arc.

[Xawyx-2]

Exactly, I agree, Cobra Kai is a very good example.
Thanks for the MHO

[MuddyMole]

I tend to think all these shows are just shameless cash grabs, exploiting people's sense of nostalgia.
Having said that... Male villains are just evil? Rubbish. Virtually every movie villain (male or female) already has a tragic backstory to explain how they ended up the way they did.
Hannibal Lector, Gollum, Darth Vader, Jason Voorhees, Severus Snape (turned out to be one of the good guys anyway)... It's much harder to think of one who doesn't. At worst, they might be greedy.
https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/movie-villains-tragic-backstory

[Chazmatazz269]

Complete nonsense.
Neither Gollum nor Snape were ever villains. Voorhees was never redeemed. Literally nobody watches any “Friday the 13th” and thinks, “Why are they trying to kill him? He’s just a misunderstood boy who misses his mommy!”.
Vader was redeemed in “Return of the Jedi”, but the prequels made him irredeemably evil. He killed children!
You didn’t name ONE male villain who had an entirely new movie or series developed just so he could be redeemed. And you think MY content is “rubbish”? 🤣🤣🤣
You couldn’t be goofier if you were wearing a clown costume.

[MuddyMole]

That's the whole point - they didn't NEED to be redeemed, because their actions had already been explained, and were understandable. Perhaps YOU might have reacted similarly, if you'd ever been through what they had. Exactly as you described these female antagonists, the males might also be traumatized, mentally ill, misunderstood or victims themselves - but they are not evil. Why do you think they even bothered to include these backstories?

[AviatorTom]

Women
Obviously
Kill and are
Evil
too.

[mysteriousNicholas]

Usually the women have some sort of baggage 🛄 🛅