Heroes, masterminds, elite henchmen/henchwomen and sidekicks are the players in adventure fiction. The damsels in distress endure among them but have since become marginalized. There are also the ubiquitous foot soldiers of villainy.
A conscientious effort has been made to replace the damsel in distress with the heroine. It is assumed that any female protagonist incapable of thrashing baddies in her own right is a misogynistic stereotype. Men who want to be spanked endorse this effort but for their own reasons.
The Scream Queen is the damsel in distress in horror movies. She is beautiful and virtuous and in peril. For all her helplessness and screaming we are hopeful that she shall survive. That said: we do enjoy all the cringing and screaming.
The foot soldiers of villainy are hopelessly outmatched nonentities. Pathetic by design they are disinteresting by default. They are unworthy of notice unless there is something about them worth noticing. Mind you, it is simpleminded to divorce them from their niche.
The foot soldiers of villainy are not unlike the teenagers in horror movies. They are hopelessly witless and easily caught unawares for our grim amusement. They scream, grunt and groan and we are thrilled by the violence.
Sexy girls are the favorite teenagers in horror movies. For the foot soldiers of villainy to be comely females is just as appealing. No, nameless baddies need not be sexy girls to garner attention… but why not? The Amazons of Classical Mythology lost every battle and were slaughtered in droves. They were baddies, lest we forget.
The damsels in distress and foot soldiers of villainy are the hardest characters in adventure fiction to get right. Heroines are heroes. Turning a damsel in distress into a heroine is to bastardize both archetypes. The foot soldiers of villainy should never prove formidable against heroes. To be heroic in the classical sense is to be a warrior beyond mortal prowess.
A damsel need not fawn over a hero to love him. She need not be a warrior to have more than youth and beauty to offer. She can be a character without being a caricature.
The foot soldiers of villainy are what they are but can be so much more without even changing. They can have a name and remain anonymous. They can have a sleek or sexy look without being elite. They can be slaughtered in droves and still taken seriously. So long as they are a character in their own right they can be loved even as nonentities.
A conscientious effort has been made to replace the damsel in distress with the heroine. It is assumed that any female protagonist incapable of thrashing baddies in her own right is a misogynistic stereotype. Men who want to be spanked endorse this effort but for their own reasons.
The Scream Queen is the damsel in distress in horror movies. She is beautiful and virtuous and in peril. For all her helplessness and screaming we are hopeful that she shall survive. That said: we do enjoy all the cringing and screaming.
The foot soldiers of villainy are hopelessly outmatched nonentities. Pathetic by design they are disinteresting by default. They are unworthy of notice unless there is something about them worth noticing. Mind you, it is simpleminded to divorce them from their niche.
The foot soldiers of villainy are not unlike the teenagers in horror movies. They are hopelessly witless and easily caught unawares for our grim amusement. They scream, grunt and groan and we are thrilled by the violence.
Sexy girls are the favorite teenagers in horror movies. For the foot soldiers of villainy to be comely females is just as appealing. No, nameless baddies need not be sexy girls to garner attention… but why not? The Amazons of Classical Mythology lost every battle and were slaughtered in droves. They were baddies, lest we forget.
The damsels in distress and foot soldiers of villainy are the hardest characters in adventure fiction to get right. Heroines are heroes. Turning a damsel in distress into a heroine is to bastardize both archetypes. The foot soldiers of villainy should never prove formidable against heroes. To be heroic in the classical sense is to be a warrior beyond mortal prowess.
A damsel need not fawn over a hero to love him. She need not be a warrior to have more than youth and beauty to offer. She can be a character without being a caricature.
The foot soldiers of villainy are what they are but can be so much more without even changing. They can have a name and remain anonymous. They can have a sleek or sexy look without being elite. They can be slaughtered in droves and still taken seriously. So long as they are a character in their own right they can be loved even as nonentities.
