These three enlightened despots prove above all that in the Kingdom of Evil, the Ladies are not the least well endowed. This will in no way surprise regular observers and keen analysts of the workings of patriarchal societies who are always quick to designate women of power as “embittered”of the “crazy” and/or revenge. Reason why we come across them in the first pages of the work devoted to Naughty, naughty. Figures of evil in cinema.
We are often struck by the banality of the evil encountered in the real world in comparison with the flamboyant psychopaths encountered on the big screen. The villains embody, in the author’s own words, the “crystallization of what fiction tells us not to be like”. It is therefore no coincidence that, in the West, the bad guys have atypical physiques and Russian, Asian or Middle Eastern accents. They thus embody the particularities that the elites and the “dominant” culture have long decried. Just like effeminate or transgender physiques that we are advised to be wary of. Understanding the messages hidden behind the panoplies of evil allows us to uncover the clichés that surround us and which offer an incomplete and/or biased vision of certain realities.
Everyone has their own prejudices when it comes to ugliness
According to Julien Magalhães, history consultant and professor of fashion and costume, there would thus be four main categories of Naughty and Naughty : the ugly, the beautiful, the queer and the monsters. It’s always a matter of point of view, of course, but some characters are well and truly dressed, made up and styled with the deliberate aim of scaring or arousing fright.
We think in particular of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, planetary governor in Dunewith a gargantuan physique, sickly paleness and hooked fingers. Qualified as despot in dressing gownit gives substance to the idea of insane power, without common measure. A repulsive being, incapable of controlling his instincts, feasting on the misfortune of others. He is both the lead and the prelude to the long list of deviant personalities reviewed in the work published by Hoëbeke. Where the author makes the link with certain famous paintings and other traditional imagery which visibly inspired the creation of these bad guys of fiction.
“Dune”: after the films, the series…
As proven by Catwoman in Batman, the challengePatrick Bateman in American Psycho or Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview with a Vampirea pleasant face can perfectly hide cruel designs. Just like the overly made-up face of a clown, Joker or Thatcan be a harbinger of cascading setbacks… No wonder since he abandoned the position of public entertainer to enter the category of monsters alongside Michael Myers (Halloween), by Pazuzu (The Exorcist) or Nosferatu
And because it is important to never hesitate to make fun of one’s own terrors, the author closes each of these four major chapters with a focus in the form of a super-quiz or ultimate semiological analysis, by choosing to focus on the rainbow of evil – understand: these colors which betray our personality – by providing us with a psychopathic guide to haircuts, but also by deciphering with a magnifying glass the clichés at work in the universe of Uncle Walt (Disney) while providing us with a “barometer of trust in facial hair in fiction“.
Why do bad guys fascinate children so much?
A skillfully maintained terror
If you see at the bottom of a dark maze, a gigantic anonymous person, shaggy and bearded, draped in black, purple or green, and you choose to deliberately go to meet him, you will no longer be able to say that the author didn’t warn you…
Handling irony with relish, Julien Magalhães mixes historical references and very colorful comparisons in the service of effective and resolutely current prose. Enough to seduce a new generation of fans of horror films and other demonic creatures that this documented, easy to access and very widely illustrated collection should appeal to.
⇒ Naughty and naughty. Figures of evil in cinema | Julien Magalhães Éditions Hoëbeke, 192 pp., €28
