The Spectacle Of Villainy

You might be on to something there.

Then again, there's also the implication that their vision is focused, that there's a cold, almost myopic single-mindedness to what they do.

A recent example would be the last evil ex from Scott Pilgrim, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

Then again, there's also the implication that their vision is focused, that there's a cold, almost myopic single-mindedness to what they do.

In general, I think this is more accurate than the idea of villains being 'softened.' 

Nice title for the thread!  I JUST got that.  Hahahahah

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

Nice title for the thread!  I JUST got that.  Hahahahah

 

Yeah, here I was thinking it would be a thread about grandiose, scenery-chewing, over-the-top villains.  Nice misdirection!

Awwwww yea.

Now... I'm assuming that sunglasses don't count in this case?

Scarecrow agrees.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

 

Now... I'm assuming that sunglasses don't count in this case?

Unless they never take them off.

I ask, because sunglasses are a cue that usually communicates something very different from glasses.  For hero-characters, sunglasses are generally meant to exude 'cool' and 'badass.'  Glasses generally don't do that for them.

I'm not entirely sure how to articulate the difference for villains though.

I think sunglasses paint a villain as unknowable, almost as if to say the surface is all you're going to get.

Definitely the case with this dude:

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

 

Awwwww yea.

 

 

 

 

Not cool dude, children might be reading this.

Hitler in Downfall is a little more complicated though.  Especially that scene, where him putting on the glasses is more a nod to his frailty than his villainy.  One of the main themes of that film is that Hitler is not some cartoonish villain with Republic Serial motives, but a human being from whom monstrous evil sprung in an almost casual, matter of fact way, partially from his own ideas, partially from the fanatic loyalty of those around him.  To simply paint him as an irredeemable monster is to lose site of the capacity for evil in all of us.

@RD

I completely agree but I wouldn't read too much into my posting. I was just setting up a dig at GL & couldn't find a "Ming The Merciless in glasses" pic.

To flip this thread on its head, how often does the hero wear glasses?

I always appreciated that Indiana Jones had a bit of a secret identity as Professor Jones, in which he wore glasses. Unlike Clark Kent, however, Indy still had a commanding presence while in civilian garb. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

 

You might be on to something there.

 

Then again, there's also the implication that their vision is focused, that there's a cold, almost myopic single-mindedness to what they do.

This completely.  I also think the "softening" thing works the other way, in that you don't prejudge someone who wears glasses to be violent, fairly or unfairly, which is why it's an excellent prop for a cold blooded killer.

It seems like most movie heroes that wear glasses will get rid of them as they go further into their Hero's Journey.  Glasses are a part of their past life that are to be discarded.  Peter Parker doesn't wear his nerd glasses for long before he doesn't need them anymore. 

You gotta appreciate Harry Potter for being one of the few movie heroes that keeps his spectacles on through 8 films!

One of the many things to love about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is the fact that a female character goes from trying to avoid glasses to being encouraged to wear them proudly.

EDIT: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOJ!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bartleby_Scriven 

To flip this thread on its head, how often does the hero wear glasses?

 

I always appreciated that Indiana Jones had a bit of a secret identity as Professor Jones, in which he wore glasses. Unlike Clark Kent, however, Indy still had a commanding presence while in civilian garb. 

The use of glasses for the aging Kirk in this tense scene was a great character beat.

And, of course, there're these guys.

Back to baddies:

Such villainy!

also

"You'll feel like you've been fucked by a train."

And since Gustavo has already been brought up, we would be remiss to neglect:

(though I realize that Walter White is far more complicated than a mere 'bespectacled villain')

There's Stanley Tucci trying his best to be all creepy and pedo in the fairly shite The Lovely Bones.

Donald Pleasence in Telefon, who gets the second most satisfying death scene of a specs wearing scumbag ever (after Toht)- strangled by the neck until dead by Bronson

I never really watched the TV show Alias but I saw a picture of Ric Young's character in it once, I'm guessing he was a bad guy

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

"You'll feel like you've been fucked by a train."

 

Specs are a great tool if you're playing a sadistic prison warden, see also Patrick McGoohan in Escape from Alcatraz

The Bourne Identity

The Muppet Movie

Ooh, the monocle, that's a new wrinkle.

Hogan!

The thing about a lot of these guys is that, yes, they're villains, but they aren't the ones who are going to mix it up in the end with our hero. They seem either the guy in charge of everything, the mastermind; or the intelligent, yet distant, loner. The businessman, I suppose. The guy who spends his days staring at a screen and just ends up fucking hating humanity, but can voice, perhaps eloquently, why he feels that way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Happenin 

The thing about a lot of these guys is that, yes, they're villains, but they aren't the ones who are going to mix it up in the end with our hero. They seem either the guy in charge of everything, the mastermind; or the intelligent, yet distant, loner. The businessman, I suppose. The guy who spends his days staring at a screen and just ends up fucking hating humanity, but can voice, perhaps eloquently, why he feels that way.

This gentleman gets his hands dirty.

This gentleman gets his hand dirty too.

That man also gets his hands chopped off, so I think we come out even there.

Not sure this one counts...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather 

My point in a nutshell. In that category, Boddicker is one of the few who really stands out.

Aside from some Anime villians, Boddicker maybe the only badass villian who relies on his phyiscal gifts as his main weapons to wear frames.
 

OK, so suddenly the boards are acting weird and won't let me paste images into my posts. So, you'll have to rely on your own memories of Elton John's gargantuan glasses of spangly evil in Tommy.

How many of these actors are sight impaired naturally and how many are the spectacles props?  Any way to know?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

It seems like most movie heroes that wear glasses will get rid of them as they go further into their Hero's Journey.  Glasses are a part of their past life that are to be discarded.  Peter Parker doesn't wear his nerd glasses for long before he doesn't need them anymore. 

 

 

One of the many things to love about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is the fact that a female character goes from trying to avoid glasses to being encouraged to wear them proudly.

 

 

See also: Pleasantville, Major League

In the end it just comes down to cinematic shorthand. It's a cliche, but genre stuff tends to play things fairly broad and wearing glasses doesn't generally shout 'dangerous' or 'ready for action', so they're generally restricted to the more cerebral villains. Kind of hard to imagine Arnie taking out the bad guy by knocking his specs off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul C 

Kind of hard to imagine Arnie taking out the bad guy by knocking his specs off.

You wouldn't!!!

YOU WOULDN'T!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Happenin 

The thing about a lot of these guys is that, yes, they're villains, but they aren't the ones who are going to mix it up in the end with our hero.

The Villain: Yuen Wah

Fave Four Eyed Fights: Dragons Forever, and Eastern Condors

(go to 03:45)

On the 'hero' end of things, I've always liked that Brendan was a glasses wearer in Brick.  Plus there's the great running gag of him calmly taking them off and storing them in his glasses case when he knows he's about to get punched in the face.