Depicting Evil Honestly The Challenges Creatives Face

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Depicting Evil Honestly:The Challenges Creatives Face

What is the real occupational hazard for creatives who depict evil honestly?
Plato warned actors of the danger inherent in the roles they take.
Proverbs warns us of the company we keep.

And yet… we must tell the truth about evil deeds and evil people just as God’s word does. Join us as we unravel the challenges and traps found when we take on the call to depict evil in a truthful way.
 

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2 comments on “Depicting Evil Honestly The Challenges Creatives Face”

  1. Leonardo Ramirez Reply

    It can sometimes be a tough line to walk when screenplay coverage readers ask for the evil villain to have more traits that are identifiabley while there are characters in successful movies who are pure evil. The Joker in the Dark Knight series is a clear example of this. “Some just want to watch the world burn.” How I deal with this when presented, is to add a humanizing moment to the character but not leave him there. But it’s almost as if evil is more interesting. There are some aspects of this that I understand because there are characters who were once good but turned evil. Not all characters fit this narrative though.

    • Joel Pelsue Reply

      Great point Leonardo,

      The challenge is to also make good characters complex, remembering that people are never totally good or totally evil. Even good parents make mistakes, and copy bad habits from their own parents without realizing it. We all rationalize our actions. So we need to make good characters believable and broken, just as we need to be careful to make evil characters restrained. Even an alcoholic father regrets the abuse of his children… maybe even tormented by his sin.
      If we make good characters perfect they become boring. Making evil characters perfectly evil doesn’t have the same trap.

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