Villains break the rules and they don’t feel guilty about it. They also lack empathy & feel no remorse for the harm they cause. Villains are difficult and extremely dangerous to know and yet many times they’re incredibly fun to watch and often become my favourite characters.In the real world, most of these sociopaths would  make us run for our lives—so why do we end up empathizing with them so often and even rooting for them on screen? 

Fiction helps us mentally process conflict in the real world.When growing up we’re taught about good vs evil as a way to avoid discussing the true complexities of important issues. By the time we get older,we begin to realise that the world isn't as black and white as we were  taught to believe. To understand our love for fictional villains we first have to understand how we see ourselves.

In tragedies,our villains are heroes who couldn't overcome their central moral flaws and as result they met a pretty horrible fate.In essence our media today all have a similar message;if you are a villain either succumb to your flaws and be punished or overcome your evil and be rewarded for changing. In ancient philosophy the unseen force that moved people was fate or destiny. This force is what many villains and antagonists find themselves fighting against.However recently in storytelling we’ve moved away from the idea of fate and have pushed more of the narrative of man vs society .In some way as the audience we can see society as equal to fate. The shift from fate, a predestined force as enemy No.1 to society means that it’s easier to empathise and even relate with villains because we can blame their problems on society and how society treats them.A great example of this is the 2019 Joker movie.It’s easy to swallow the pill that you can’t fight fate because it’s out of your control. Meanwhile society isn’t out of our control and can change. So if this complex character is destroying a system you hate,they become a symbol of change you desire.There’s nothing praise worthy about someone who tried to fight fate and failed because there’s no beating fate.To commend someone ‘evil’ who fought an unjust system,even though their moral flaws were their downfall makes more sense. The tragic flaws for these villainous characters are the engine that allows them to overcome a broken world. Villains onscreen today are relatable because they act as self fulfilling wishes -are you tired of being mistreated,disrespected, the underdog and your surroundings being filled with stupidly happy people?

Generally as human beings we see ourselves as compassionate, smart and inherently ‘good’ people. It’s the reason  we assume that we’d always do what is right even if others wouldn’t. In psychology the need to see ourselves as good is called self positivity bias. This phenomenon  created by Pelham, Mirenberg, and Jones where we naturally gravitate towards things that resemble us in some way is called implicit egotism. When we encounter real life evil villains we share similarities with[eg:criminals who live in the same town as us/same name/same birthday etc…]we perceive them as self threat since they lead us to question our positive self image so we distance ourselves from  and dehumanise these people. If a local murderer with the same name as you is described as obnoxious and reckless ,it makes you wonder if you’re a little obnoxious too. However, fictional villains don’t seem to work this way. In a fictional world,we’re free to explore the darker sides of our personalities without having to question if we’re actually bad people because if the villain isn't real ,then in a way we can’t really be like them so similarities aren’t a threat to our self-positivity bias. We also ‘storify’ actual evil  people/villains in documentaries,true crime tv/movies and reality tv shows. This gives them a fake presence of fictionality that allows us to empathize with & support them without harming our self image. Many psychologists think the popularity of true crime shows/movies stems from the ability to let us explore the dark side of human nature at a safe distance. We can just dip our toes in it without fully confronting the dark side of ourselves and  our real lives.

So why don’t we sympathise with real life examples of  villainous characters ? The price of being genuinely good has to be a constant suspicion that one might be a monster – combined with a basic hesitation about labelling anyone else monstrous. A guilty conscience is the base of virtue. Only inherently bad people don’t lie awake at night worrying about their character flaws. It has generally never occurred to the most dangerous people on the planet that they might be lacking. Their sickness is to locate evil outside of themselves -they shift the blame from them to outside factors e.g the system, how others have treated them, their past etc .It's others who are to blame, others who are cruel, emotionless,lacking in judgement and mistaken. Many real life examples of evil villains believe their job is to take these impure people down and correct their evils in the fire of their own righteousness. 

It’s a sad inconsistency that the worst deeds that humans have ever been guilty of, have been carried out by people with an easy conscience, people who felt they were definitely on the side of angels, people who were entirely sure that they had justice in hand. What unites the people who report their neighbours to the secret police, the crowds who burn their victims at stakes, the government officials who set up purification camps and the nations that wipe out their ‘enemies’ with special brutality is their consistent and overwhelming sense that they are doing the right thing – in the eyes of God, history or Truth. When trying to understand why real life villains do evil things,we seem to forget that many don’t grasp that their acts are evil. A hero complex[particularly prominent in men ] of being the instrument of justice has been at the heart of humanity’s most appallingly unkind moments. 

In comparison the  traditional villains we view on screen take pleasure in their evil deeds.They enjoy the destruction,the mischief etc...and are aware of how their actions WILL negatively impact their surroundings.

“See, now you respect me because I'm a threat".

The difference between on screen villains and real life ones is that many are taking vengeance on figures of authority, people who have wronged them or hold power over them.Meanwhile real life villains often seek retaliation  that far exceeds the initial injustices that were committed upon them.

How much are we swayed by physical appearance when determining someone’s character?

Media villains tend to be good looking,intelligent and witty.If you ever see real villains on the news or on court tv,you may be surprised that they tend to not appear attractive or charming at all.In fact when a real villain is surprisingly good looking such as Jeremy Meeks and Ted Bundy,it’s almost always given a great deal of media attention because it’s rare.Also many times the villains in movies or books  targeted at women attract the females with their charm and dangerous persona,only to transform into faithful,loving husbands and dads by the end of the story.Hence,the woman gets both the excitement of the bad boy and the security of a loyal love interest.In other words,many pop culture villains are more like misunderstood,brooding good guys than calculated,self centered inattentive bad guys.  

‘There’s a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable’-Mark Twain.

So, to answer the question, how and why do we feel sympathy towards villains on screen? The answer comes through a complex combination of morality, identification and empathy. Sympathy is a "king of tender-heartedness" linked to moral goodness and goals. Morality plays a big part in the ability to sympathize with someone who we may view as unworthy of receiving any tender-heartedness. What research tells us, is that this sympathy is possible when morality is taken into consideration. When we see the victim being immoral and making foolish mistakes, we lose some of the sympathy we may have for them. Likewise, when we witness the villain being morally good or responsible in a number of ways, we praise them and our sympathy goes out to them. Whether that moral goodness stems from protecting morality of others or punishing immorality, we respond to this moral goodness with sympathy. As for empathy and identification, both stem from a shared experience between the villain on the screen and the audience in the seat. Sympathy can stem from shared experiences and an understanding of what someone is going through . The ability to empathize with something that the villain has gone through or is going through allows the audience to feel sympathy for them as well. Having an ingrained desire to be a part of a group identity also allows for the opportunity to sympathize with the villain.We either see what we could become or the aspects of our personality or self that we subconsciously suppress because of our fear of them.You could argue that  we could resemble real life villains. We feel sympathy for villains that are represented in the modern day film industry because of their painful backstory. Everyone loves a villain with a tragic backstory because no one wants to believe that a human being can be pure evil.Without backstory, we can't relate to the character, and it's therefore easier to mark real life villains as inherently evil.We often turn to the villain’s story to make us feel better -- by humanizing these monsters, letting us comprehend what made them this way, or perhaps helping us figure out how to avoid them. Yet at its best, this kind of story confronts us with how there may not be any good explanation, or asks what it says about us that we would ever want to empathize with this agent of evil.Perhaps we’re just drawn to stories that just might expose the monster in us.