Film General : Do audiences prefer Arc-less villains in movies?

Do audiences prefer Arc-less villains in movies?

A lot of times when you ask people who they thought the best movie villains are, usually the choices that come up are Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs version), The Joker (The Dark Knight version), Hans Gruber, HAL-9000, T-1000, etc.

But those are villains that do not go through character arcs and learn lessons and grow as the story goes along, and since Arc-less villains are often picked, I wonder if perhaps audiences prefer them more?

Re: Do audiences prefer Arc-less villains in movies?

I think a lot of the time it's a combination of the actor's performance and the fact that likeable villains often represent a side of ourselves that we'd like to let out, but we know it's best not to.

Seeing a villain's character come around and be "good" again can take that experience away from the viewer because the point of the movie is then that what the villain was doing is clearly wrong. Some people don't want to be reminded that their more sinister hidden thoughts are reprehensible.

But that said, there's plenty of likable villains that do redeem themselves. Vader, for example. And that's sometimes cathartic because it shows that even at our lowest points, we can do the "right thing" and be "good" again.

It just depends on the viewer and what they hope to see in a villain.
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