When Bad Guys Turn Good
/About a year ago, when Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, there was a controversy over the tie-in toys for the film not having many Rey figures. You can refresh yourself on the story here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/toys-wheresrey-monopoly-hasbro/
The stand-out quote, to me, within this article is this:
“They put a huge investment into marketing and merchandising the Kylo Ren character. They presumed he would be the big breakout role from the film. They were completely surprised when it was Rey everyone identified with and wanted to see more of.”
Now, it is true that over the last couple decades, the visage of Darth Vader has become quite synonymous with the Star Wars brand. He’s one of the most recognizable characters in all of popular culture around the world. I have to think that’s where the execs were going with the toy thing. Vader is iconic and beloved in his own way, Kylo Ren looks a lot like Vader, therefore he will be iconic and beloved as well.
The thing is, Vader didn’t start out that way. Take a look at vintage Star Wars Ads. Vader is present, sure, but seldom is he the focus of all the attention. Even when he’s larger than the other characters, he’s looming menacingly in the background. It’s more common to see the Star Wars logo and the droids as the focal points.
It took decades of Vader getting steeped into our collective psyche for him to become the “face” of Star Wars. But here’s the other thing that sets Vader apart. He was a great bad guy.
There’s a concept in professional wrestling… stick with me here… of being such an effective bad guy that the crowd turns you into a good guy. Think of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was a bad guy for years, but he was so cool, so effective, the fans couldn’t help but love him and eventually started cheering for him.
That’s what happened with Vader. Yes he turned to the light side as part of the story that the fans had no hand in, but it was his effectiveness as a bad guy that made the fans cheer at his redemption. People loved to hate him and then hated him so much that it was amazing when he made his turn.
Another great example of this is Swearengen from the show Deadwood. He’s is such an awful person, such a miserable villain, yet so effective at it that when he teams with the heroes against later threats, it is delectable for the fans.
Okay, all this feels a little rambling but my points are these:
- Maybe Kylo Ren will prove to be the face of the new trilogy, but that is going to take time.
- Viewers/readers tend to cling to the protagonist in a story rather than the antagonist. That’s sort of the point. At least at first. If anyone wanted Kylo Ren to be the breakout star, maybe he should have been the protagonist (not advocating for that myself, just saying).
- You, as a storyteller, writer, producer, filmmaker, executive, etc. don’t get to decide which characters the fans will like and cling to. What you can control is that each character is as effective as they can be. If in doubt see number two above.
