With the recent release of Disney’s Maleficent, critics have noted a trend in the way in which we view our fantasy villains. Once upon a time, villains such as Morgoth and Sauron, like Iago, were evil because evil existed. Now, literature and film demonstrate a compunction to explain evil, creating alternative backstories, origin narratives for characters such as Maleficent or the Wicked Witch of the West. When this trend is examined in parallel with the moral ambiguity of such fantasies as George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games Trilogy, a clear trend emerges suggesting that we, in the 21st century, are reconfiguring the definition of “evil.”
About the presenterMarilyn Roxin Stern
Marilyn Stern is a (newly retired) Professor of Literature and Film Studies. She has taught courses in Science Fiction & Fantasy and Graphic Novel to Film, and is Area Chair for SF & Fantasy for MAPACA. Her current scholarship has centered on the presence/absence of female empowerment imagery in contemporary fantasy.