Irrational self-confidence is one reason villains resonate deeply throughout culture, says Kevin Wynter, a media studies professor at Pomona College. “In a repressive society like ours, which advocates conformity to better cultivate consumers, characters who actively reject the traps of capitalist fantasy or who operate according to the codes of a self-constructed morality in opposition to dominant society will inevitably be attractive. in ways that we Maybe not everyone wants to admit openly,” he says.
Today, traditional notions of villainy have been replaced by complex, sometimes paradoxical standards of what different groups consider acceptable or threatening. Wynter believes this has led to a “post-villain world.” Tech moguls (Elon Musk), politicians (Mayor of New York City Eric Adams), podcasters (Joe Rogan): for many people, they are the main transgressors of our time (and heroes, for others). They are anti-system. They want to subvert “the system.”
“There are few, if any, villains who so skillfully combine antics, wealth and power as Donald Trump,” adds Wynter. “Even his new parasitic link, Elon Musk, who, again, to some is a figure of perfect villainy, to others is a swashbuckling futuristic cowboy.”
That’s the thing about the future: you never know exactly how it will play out or who it will favor. For some, artificial intelligence was the cardinal antagonist of 2024. In Hollywood and the gaming industry, AI was revealed as more than an existential threatsince many workers were concerned about the job loss.
Others, feeling lost as social media undergoes an abrupt transition, have rightly pointed the finger at digital gentrifiers. “It makes me angry that everything that was fun and useful on the Internet 10 years ago no longer works. this site, obviously,” Tracy Chou, app developer, aware at X. “The reviews are lies about artificial grass. The search is ai hallucination. There is no place to share with friends and family without influencers/memes/polarized content invading the feed.”
in times like unprecedented like oursall anguish and turmoil, a reorientation towards what is truly transgressive is less impactful when considered part of a broader social rethinking. Villainy has long permeated the cultural imagination (the American tradition, after all, was built on the sensibilities of nonconformists, vigilantes, and underdogs), but in 2024 it became the main character.
Because? It could be that villainy, rather than heroism, offers a different texture of purpose, one closer to reality, one that sees our world as it is now (deeply fucked up) and responds accordingly.
What I can say with certainty is that villainy has no particular allegiance. In the end it consumes everyone. In December, it was announced that Warner Bros. Discovery had retained sesame streetthe long-running children’s program. Understandably, the decision was not well received. On Bluesky, the social media app of the moment, @valhallabackgirl responded with a fury that many people had also experienced this year. “I guess this is my villain’s origin story,” he said. wrote.
