Our favorite fiction has always been horror and action-adventure. They are quite often both. The stories are usually about people killing people. If the victims are sympathetic, the genre is horror. If they are the antagonists, it is action-adventure. If both, it is both.
When children are the heroes and or the villains it is typically in something meant for children. Even if meant to be taken seriously, it is only by the targeted demographic. Adults are expected to find it silly. It is not taken seriously by the adults who make it.
Sometimes, though rarely, children are the heroes and or villains in fiction written for adults. These children kill. As heroes, they slay monsters or monstrous humans. As villains, they murder people.
There are popular examples of children as heroes…
Anakin Skywalker (The Phantom Menace 1999), Harry Potter (Harry Potter books and movies), Atreyu (The NeverEnding Story 1984) and Charlie McGee (Firestarter 1984).
There are popular examples of children as villains…
Damien Thorn (The Omen 1976), Rhoda Kenneth (The Bad Seed 1956), Henry Evans (The Good Son 1993), Brandon Bryer (Brightburn 2019) and the Gatlin children (Children of the Corn 1984).
I write fiction, action-adventure and horror specifically. My heroes and villains are usually adults… but not always.
It is easy to make a child the hero. He is “good” and we are comfortable with good children. His victims are “bad” and we dislike bad people. If they are monsters, we are entirely comfortable with them being slain.
It is difficult to make a child the villain. We are uncomfortable
with the idea of a child being evil. We rationalize that he is ignorant of his
crimes, thus, innocent. If we are denied this rationalization, if we are forced
to acknowledge that he knows what he is doing… and enjoys doing it… we are
especially horrified. It is as if innocence itself has turned against us.
https://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Self-Shawn-OToole-ebook/dp/B07C4KT8VZ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Interesting, it is comfortable to have child as a hero; but when a child proves their heart is impure we see mourn the loss. The abomination becomes pure horror.
ReplyDeleteMuch scarier than when the threat is an adult, even though smaller and weaker.
DeleteAh, this was well researched. Good job. You laid it all out well.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think deeply about things, to develop understandings I can use as a writer of fiction.
DeleteEvil is bound up in the heart of a child, so it is not surprising that some would give into it. However, it is the parents who are responsible for how their children turn out. If we raise them well, then they will mature accordingly.
ReplyDeleteYes, a child must be raised in the way that is right... but the evil is already out there.
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