Do we love villains more than heroes? The internet has gone wild over the reappearance of a beloved animated baddy. Perhaps we see ourselves in nefarious evil-doers.
Evil penguin spotted in new trailer
Do we love villains more than heroes? The internet has gone wild over the reappearance of a beloved animated baddy. Perhaps we see ourselves in nefarious evil-doers.
It was the moment Wallace & Gromit fans had been waiting for. The teaser for the animated duo's new feature film Vengeance Most Fowl features a talking gnome, false accusations and an action sequence on a canal boat.
But one character in particular has excited fans. The trailer reveals the return of Wallace and Gromit's greatest nemesisThe inescapable agent of one's downfall. Its origins are located in the themes of ancient Greek tragedy. It comes from the Greek word "nemein", meaning "to give what is due"., the evil penguin Feathers McGraw. He appears playing a dramatic BachJohann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. organ solo while glaring at reports of his arrest.
In his debut, the silent but suave penguin manipulated the inventor Wallace into neglecting his dog and best friend Gromit. He then forced Wallace to steal a diamond, using his own weapons. The duo defeated him after a long battle and sent him to a zoo.
McGraw first appeared 31 years ago in the 1993 short film The Wrong Trousers. He has since become a firm favourite with fans. One X user called him "the greatest TV/movie villain of all time".
He was even mentioned in disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson's recent memoir. In it, he claimed fellow politician Michael Gove's "spectacles seemed to glitter... like the penguin in Wallace and Gromit" at the thought that Johnson might die from Covid.1
McGraw is a devious, sinister character who causes great harm to his enemies. Yet fans are ecstatic at his return.
Despite their evil actions, villains rank among the most popular characters in fiction. In recent years, Disney baddies such as Cruella de Vil have been given their own films. Similar honours have been granted to supervillains like Batman's foe the Joker and Thor's arch-enemyThe main enemy of someone in fiction. Loki.
Our love for villains stretches back centuries. Readers of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) often find SatanAnother name for the Devil. their favourite character. Fellow poet William Blake famously wrote that Milton was "of the Devil's party without knowing it".
Satan captivates because he is a rebel and an outcast. He wants to exert his own control, rather than submit to authority. This impulse might echo the individualismThe political philosophy that values the rights of the individual over society. It is a key idea in liberal democracies and modern capitalism. in contemporary society, which often values independence and self-reliance. Villains often disrupt, rather than accepting the world placed before them.
Research has found that we tend to like characters that we can relate to.2 And no-one is perfect. The psychologist Carl JungA Swiss practitioner of psychoanalysis. Initially he was a collaborator of Sigmund Freud's, but his ideas diverged from Freud's and the two became bitter rivals. thought people had a "shadow self" that we repress. Villains let us consider these hidden desires. As science writer Jocelyn Solis-Moreira says: "fictional villains can allow us to privately explore a darker version of ourselves".
Yet for all our love of villains, we still tend to cheer on the heroes - and want their enemies to lose in the end. In most films, the hero gets the biggest billing. We do not watch Romeo and Juliet to see Lord CapuletJuliet's father..
Heroism can be as complex and compelling as villainy. Heroes in tragedyAn event that causes a huge amount of suffering and sadness. usually have a fatal flaw that leads to doom, such as Romeo and Juliet's youthful impulsivenessThe tendency to act without thinking.. And contemporary television shows often star morally ambiguous heroes, whose good deeds are counterbalanced with bad ones.
Do we love villains more than heroes?
Yes: Villains inspire curiosity. We want to know why they chose to be bad and whether they can be redeemed. We know how the hero will act. But villains are unpredictable and leave us guessing about what comes next.
No: Heroes can be richly complicated and sympathetic characters too. They come in all shapes and sizes, from the blood-thirsty warriors of Greek mythology to the hard-boiled detectives of film noirA style of film-making or type of film which shows the world as a dangerous place where many people suffer, especially because of the greed or cruelty of others..
Or... Forget heroes and villains. The characters that we truly love are anti-heroes. These are neither good nor evil, but have positive and negative traits. And they reflect the broken world we live in.
Nemesis - The inescapable agent of one's downfall. Its origins are located in the themes of ancient Greek tragedy. It comes from the Greek word "nemein", meaning "to give what is due".
Bach - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period.
Arch-enemy - The main enemy of someone in fiction.
Satan - Another name for the Devil.
Individualism - The political philosophy that values the rights of the individual over society. It is a key idea in liberal democracies and modern capitalism.
Carl Jung - A Swiss practitioner of psychoanalysis. Initially he was a collaborator of Sigmund Freud's, but his ideas diverged from Freud's and the two became bitter rivals.
Lord Capulet - Juliet's father.
Tragedy - An event that causes a huge amount of suffering and sadness.
Impulsiveness - The tendency to act without thinking.
Film Noir - A style of film-making or type of film which shows the world as a dangerous place where many people suffer, especially because of the greed or cruelty of others.
Evil penguin spotted in new trailer

Glossary
Nemesis - The inescapable agent of one's downfall. Its origins are located in the themes of ancient Greek tragedy. It comes from the Greek word "nemein", meaning "to give what is due".
Bach - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period.
Arch-enemy - The main enemy of someone in fiction.
Satan - Another name for the Devil.
Individualism - The political philosophy that values the rights of the individual over society. It is a key idea in liberal democracies and modern capitalism.
Carl Jung - A Swiss practitioner of psychoanalysis. Initially he was a collaborator of Sigmund Freud’s, but his ideas diverged from Freud’s and the two became bitter rivals.
Lord Capulet - Juliet's father.
Tragedy - An event that causes a huge amount of suffering and sadness.
Impulsiveness - The tendency to act without thinking.
Film Noir - A style of film-making or type of film which shows the world as a dangerous place where many people suffer, especially because of the greed or cruelty of others.