A villain is simply a hero with the wrong motive.
MI6 as portrayed in James Bond films is a top-notch spy agency with ludicrously high-tech gadgets and information-collecting assets. Now imagine an organization of similar power and scope, but evil. I of course am referring to the real MI6. Just kidding, they’re a bit underwhelming in real life.
The 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, like every Bond flick, featured a catchy musical sequence in the opening credits. This one performed by the rock band Garbage, with vocalist Shirley Manson. The movie itself is a little ridiculous and has little rewatch value for me. However, Garbage’s music video of the same name is really something. You can watch it for yourself below:
I saw this video for the first time around 13 or 14 years ago. I wasn’t sober at the time, but this particular video stayed with me even after I woke up, and comes to the top of my mind frequently up to the present day. The first element of the story that struck me was the bittersweet existence of the android. She’s fully self-aware with human feelings, and is aware of the bomb in her torso. She’s even aware of how much time she has left up to the exact moment the bomb detonates. Her life is also extremely brief. Outside the lab she’s alive for mere hours. Despite all this, the android apparently embraces her her purpose to the point of even delighting in it.
She hooked me, but the story element that kept me coming back was her creators. They’re completely mysterious and to be fair, that’s an advantage short-format stories have over long-format. No baddie can be as scary as the unknown. The main villain coming across as ridiculous or pathetic is a major pitfall and, unfortunately, almost all Bond villains fall into it. Every villain in Pierce Brosnan’s Bond flicks have the same exact plan – to set off a nuke to make money. But the motivations of the villains in this music video are unknown, and for the best.
At the beginning, the viewer likely doesn’t even realize these are villains. They’re simply scientists building an extraordinary android. But when they have her kill a man, that clears up any doubt and we realize that they are evil. But not irrationally evil, they must be absolutely sure that her “kiss of death” ability works as intended, but that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy watching. The scientists behind the mirror grinning maliciously as they watch her kill a man is one of my favorite moments in the story. They’re pleased their creation works, and also, simply like to watch murder.
I remember the first time I watched this, my mind was racing to figure out what the android’s purpose was. I assumed it was some sort of assassination or infiltration job, but of course I was mistaken. They simply built her to deliver a bomb. It’s actually really shocking if you think about it. This is like spending weeks crafting a katana just use it to smash a brick. But that of course is the whole point, and why this evil organization is so great. They could have delivered the bomb in a janitor’s cart but that would be crude and uninteresting. Terrorist attacks typically need a message to accompany it (even Osama bin Laden had his letter to the American people), but there’s no need for one here. The attack is the message. They built such an elegant and significant weapon and used it as a disposable tool. It’s not just a crude terrorist attack anymore. This is a work of art with layers to it like an onion. The general public would be terrified of a deadly bombing in Chicago, but authorities would investigate the blast site and discover it’s not so simple. They would realize that someone had built a life-like android that fooled everyone, then used her as an explosive device. The attack demonstrates that not only is there a group of people capable of building perfect androids, this isn’t even difficult for them, and are no doubt capable of much more.
That’s the type of larger than life yet still plausible villains I would like to see more often in fiction.
Ian Kummer
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Great commentary.
Personally, I have always considered revenge to be one of the most interesting themes for stories/films etc.
I love your honesty brother.
I’ve always wanted to know why bombs in films compulsorily need a red or green digital countdown timer.
Ian,
Lovely post. And indeed, in fiction, we like out baddies to have something special about them to make them worthy enemies of the good main character(s).
You are absolutely right about the sheer extravagance of the unknown creators’ plan. I can think of a few other movies (Speed springs to mind) where the bad guys (mostly) are in many ways more interesting than the good ‘uns. Think Luke Skywalker (typical bratty teenage) and Darth Vader. Or similar.
The interesting thing here is the scriptwriters wanted to set up a plot that was worthy of the viewer, so as you so ably describe, they make them mysterious. One such is the tanker truck in Spielberg’s early movie, Duel. Waht are the motives here? Who is the driver? Why has he got in in for the MC? And so on. The more questions the better, really. And not all need to be resolved in the story.
I don’t know what prompted this post (perhaps your current writing project?) but it certainly got my interest.
Peter