Throughout history, any story ever written, inevitably features a villain. It is almost imperative for the dramatic effect, as the teller requires to highlight his theme. Movies have wisely made good use of villain figures, even at the cost of diminishing the hero. It is possible we walk out of a movie-theatre, remembering the chills the villain provided, that is when Hollywood made movies. Today's CGI provides all the scary imaging of monsters, aliens, Cyclops, dragons, werewolves, vampires, mutants, that may raise your blood pressure for a spell, but they are easily forgotten once you exit the theatre. The concept is not new, but advanced technology has made it so easy that it is all left to that department, opting for sensation than human emotion. For over a century, Hollywood has been the leader in filmmaking worldwide and the industry has left us with a rich legacy of villainous characters, who shall live with us for a long time to come. How old is Dracula, Frankenstein or Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Almost 100 years, yet we remember, them from generation to generation. Even old children's movies had their own memorable villains, like the Evil Queen in the first Disney animated feature, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (1937) or the Wicked Witch of the East, in The Wizard of Oz (1939), scarier than Cruella De Vil, herself. As Hollywood matured and ended productions of certain silly comedies, or vacuous musicals, it never stopped embracing a villain. The villain has assumed different forms with the years. Forget the James Bond villains who exhibit no subtlety, but think of a Michael Corleone in Godfather II with the sublime performance by the sublime Al Pacino, who received his first Oscar nomination for this interpretation. Funny to think that eight actors turned down the role, including the two Roberts, Redford and De Niro. Pacino was cast by Coppola despite the producer's objections. While some believe Darth Vader of Star Wars is the number one villain of all of film history, we give our gold medal to Hannibal Lecter of Silence of the Lambs. A first in villainous types, Antony Hopkins performance still gives us chills up and down our spine. It may well be the only thing we remember, yet his on-screen performance only lasted 16 minutes, the shortest turn ever, to win an Oscar, thanks to his bon mots like: "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." Several villains rated among the best are The Joker, by the incomparable Jack Nicholson, in Batman and Joe Pesci in Scorsese's Good Fellas (1990). Hitchcock's Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), gets kudos for creating the most sympathetic villain on the screen. Anthony Perkins' performance was ingenious with audiences rooting for him, despite his horrific crimes. Yes there are 'lady' villains too. Think of Nurse Hatchett, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Louise Thatcher, outstanding as the heartless nurse, (1975). Not to be outdone Glenn Close scared us stiff as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, and the grandes dames of the screen, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" got audiences screaming at each performance. Author Stephen King was delighted with Katherine Bates in the film adaptation of his book Misery and so were we. Yes, ladies can be super-villains as well. If we have missed a number of your favourites, please forgive us as our space is limited and there is much to cover. Besides individuals, Hollywood has targeted a few ethnic groups as their preferred evil representatives, among them the Arabs of course. That occurred pre and post 9/11, an antagonism that goes back perhaps to the time of the Crusaders. Prior to the founding of Israel, the Jew was maligned for a period of time in Hollywood movies. Jewish actors would change their names to sound more Anglo-Saxon, or waspish in order to appease their audiences — but much has changed since Jews now practically own Hollywood. Asians have been and still remain, though less so, a stereotype of the cheating, sly villain without a conscience. Chinese were your cooks, servants or laundry owners, while Japanese were the wild gangs who provided the drugs for the "white man". None has been maligned as the "natives", dubbed as Red Indians. Wars between them dominated the screen for decades. Children played games of "Cowboys and Indians". Bang, bang, cowboys always won. Totally ignored was the savagery of the English settlers who slaughtered the natives during a shameful period in history. Slavery was slightly touched upon, but the compassion of the white man prevailed. With all those villains maligned on the screen, none were treated as bitterly as the Germans. It was a surprise for us in our research to discover that until today, a Hitler-like image, or a thick German accent is still maligned in movies. Despite 50 years of democracy, Germans remain the no. 1 stereotypical villains, with a negative representation, especially in the many holocaust movies, Hollywood is so fond of. Stereotypes of any kind are damaging to peoples of all races. For one brief moment in time the deserts of Arabia, the romance, beauty, magic, adventures of these lands fascinated Hollywood. How times have changed. "A foreigner scarcely counts as a human being for someone of another race." Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) *A version of this article appears in print in the 5 August, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
