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I got this idea for something to write last week and I've been just seriously, um, thinking about it, trying to work out every single thing in it plot wise and all that. Don't know if it will ever go anywhere, of course, but here's what it got me thinking about.
See, there's got to be a villain in it. And as it happens given the story the villainess I'm using naturally appeared in my brain. She needs something to be after, of course, and given the story obviously this villainess is after eternal life--and eternal youth.
I remember reading some quote with JK Rowling where she said that she completely understood the desire for eternal life and if she could she'd want to conquer death or something like that. That struck me because I have *never* had any attraction for eternal life. It seems like a curse to me rather than something one would want. Sit around watching everything die and change around me? No thanks.
Though after taking that Goddess class and writing that final essay on it I found myself more able to understand the eternal life thing a bit more, because while I wouldn't want eternal life I do definitely understand being upset by everything changing. I can remember even when I was very young staring at things very intensely to try to take a mind picture, knowing that that moment would go away and be gone forever. I wrote a lot about that subject in grad school too, about photography "embalming a moment" and "saving it from its proper corruption" and reading a lot of Modernists, who were very into that whole idea.
Anyway, I think I may finally be able to play with some of those ideas in this story if I ever write it. But naturally I couldn't also help but think hmm...eternal life. Sort of like Voldemort wants. And Sauron. And the White Queen. And Anakin Skywalker. How original! But then I realized...exactly how many roads lead to that kind of evil villain after all? Certainly it's an impulse everyone can relate to in some way. I remember![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
go_back_chief and I were recently talking about Narnia and I said I thought it was a little ironic that Lewis has one of his characters sneer about Susan's desire to get to a certain age and spend the rest of her life there, when his own characters seem to have done exactly that by going to Narnia. They're all described as basically at the same time of life, because naturally you're going to spend eternity at the age you prefer, right? And the characters all happen to even look the way *we* like them best. At least Polly still seemed to be older than Lucy in The Last Battle. It's just (And I'm sure he would say eternal life is a good thing if you get it through Christ--not through those evil nylons and lipsticks!)
So anyway...what are the different "life needs" (as an acting/directing teacher of mine called them) of the supervillain? I believe in Dr. No when James Bond faces the doctor he dismisses his scheme with, "World domination...same old dream." So I guess that's another one--domination, power. The desire to control everything.
Though perhaps that too would be seen as another face of "wanting eternal life" since if you're controlling everything you'd control time and death? Perhaps supervillains are always about the control of something forever and you just have to figure out what it is. My villainess is definitely about the youth and stopping time for herself, not power, though she is dominating others to get what she wants. With all the Horcrux chapters in HBP I'm still unclear as to what Voldemort wants, exactly. Eternal life, yes, but I'm not really sure what he fears about death. Perhaps that's where it's a problem that JKR identifies with the desire so much. She may think it's just obvious why someone would want to do this so hasn't been able to describe it to those of us who consider eternal life a curse. Anakin's problems with death were not, imo, very well presented in the SW prequels. (But then, what was?)
Anyway...is there anything else? What are the classic goals of the supervillain? World domination a la Dr. No and Dr. Evil. Eternal life a la Voldemort. I feel woefully ignorant about my supervillains. Love? Would that be one? You can do a lot with a big ego who demands to be adored, destroying cities until the people who reject you regret it? Revenge? It seems like somebody should have done a list somewhere of the ten basic types of villain the way they do the different archetypal heroes or heroines. Has anyone else ever thought about it?
See, there's got to be a villain in it. And as it happens given the story the villainess I'm using naturally appeared in my brain. She needs something to be after, of course, and given the story obviously this villainess is after eternal life--and eternal youth.
I remember reading some quote with JK Rowling where she said that she completely understood the desire for eternal life and if she could she'd want to conquer death or something like that. That struck me because I have *never* had any attraction for eternal life. It seems like a curse to me rather than something one would want. Sit around watching everything die and change around me? No thanks.
Though after taking that Goddess class and writing that final essay on it I found myself more able to understand the eternal life thing a bit more, because while I wouldn't want eternal life I do definitely understand being upset by everything changing. I can remember even when I was very young staring at things very intensely to try to take a mind picture, knowing that that moment would go away and be gone forever. I wrote a lot about that subject in grad school too, about photography "embalming a moment" and "saving it from its proper corruption" and reading a lot of Modernists, who were very into that whole idea.
Anyway, I think I may finally be able to play with some of those ideas in this story if I ever write it. But naturally I couldn't also help but think hmm...eternal life. Sort of like Voldemort wants. And Sauron. And the White Queen. And Anakin Skywalker. How original! But then I realized...exactly how many roads lead to that kind of evil villain after all? Certainly it's an impulse everyone can relate to in some way. I remember
go_back_chief and I were recently talking about Narnia and I said I thought it was a little ironic that Lewis has one of his characters sneer about Susan's desire to get to a certain age and spend the rest of her life there, when his own characters seem to have done exactly that by going to Narnia. They're all described as basically at the same time of life, because naturally you're going to spend eternity at the age you prefer, right? And the characters all happen to even look the way *we* like them best. At least Polly still seemed to be older than Lucy in The Last Battle. It's just (And I'm sure he would say eternal life is a good thing if you get it through Christ--not through those evil nylons and lipsticks!)So anyway...what are the different "life needs" (as an acting/directing teacher of mine called them) of the supervillain? I believe in Dr. No when James Bond faces the doctor he dismisses his scheme with, "World domination...same old dream." So I guess that's another one--domination, power. The desire to control everything.
Though perhaps that too would be seen as another face of "wanting eternal life" since if you're controlling everything you'd control time and death? Perhaps supervillains are always about the control of something forever and you just have to figure out what it is. My villainess is definitely about the youth and stopping time for herself, not power, though she is dominating others to get what she wants. With all the Horcrux chapters in HBP I'm still unclear as to what Voldemort wants, exactly. Eternal life, yes, but I'm not really sure what he fears about death. Perhaps that's where it's a problem that JKR identifies with the desire so much. She may think it's just obvious why someone would want to do this so hasn't been able to describe it to those of us who consider eternal life a curse. Anakin's problems with death were not, imo, very well presented in the SW prequels. (But then, what was?)
Anyway...is there anything else? What are the classic goals of the supervillain? World domination a la Dr. No and Dr. Evil. Eternal life a la Voldemort. I feel woefully ignorant about my supervillains. Love? Would that be one? You can do a lot with a big ego who demands to be adored, destroying cities until the people who reject you regret it? Revenge? It seems like somebody should have done a list somewhere of the ten basic types of villain the way they do the different archetypal heroes or heroines. Has anyone else ever thought about it?
