POV you’re a radical leftist freedom fighter that the narrative has chosen to turn into a terrorist so the protagonist can learn the horrors of radicalism and choose moderate reform instead
I think some people are misinterpreting the point of this in the comments. There are a lot of notes saying things along the lines of “but these people are murderers - they deserved to be villainized!” But that isthe point. These characters are a form of propaganda, and a very effective one. Let me explain.
If you take the core stance of each of these characters you get this (I’m leaving out Karli, because I haven’t seen TFATWS):
-Erik “Killmonger” Stevens: Wakanda had the ability to stop so much evil in the world (slavery, oppression), but chose to remain secretive and isolated instead, and I am opposed to this.
-Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) and Raven Darkholme (Mystique): Mutants are being othered and oppressed and we need to stop this.
-Saw Gerrera: The Galactic Empire is evil and oppressive and needs to be stopped.
-Daenerys Targaryen: Slavery is wrong and should be stopped.
-Jet: The Fire Nation is evil and oppressive and needs to be stopped.
-Zaheer: Everyone deserves freedom and equal treatment.
Now, taken are their own, none of these positions are inherently evil. There all a lot of similarities among them, as well. All of these characters want to end oppression through radical change and bring about a more egalitarian society. Great.
Then we get to their methods. Killmonger was a violent war criminal, Magneto and Mystique are willing to kill anyone to achieve their goals, Saw was an extremist and is considered too violent for the Rebel Alliance, Daenerys is a monarchist tyrant and a mass murderer, Jet is willing to sacrifice an entire village to hurt his enemies, and Zaheer is also a violent murderer. These are all bad things.
So what is the issue? Where does the propaganda come in?
Well, these are all fictional characters. They were created in a very intentional way. They all have stances against oppression and a desire for radical change, but they all do this through brutal and violent destruction. This creates the association between the core stance and the violent methods. The intention of the propaganda is to make the audience think of the fight against oppressive systems as something that must be violent and cruel. If someone has ideas like Killmonger or Magneto or Saw, then they must also be a villain, because Killmonger and Magneto and Saw were all villainous.
And this does not only exist in the world of fiction. Read up on COINTELPRO to see how very similar tactics were used to discredit the Black Panther party and paint them as nothing more than violent extremists.
The point is that propaganda is very real and very insidious and we are all susceptible to it. But it is important to recognize why characters like this exist. There are many people in the real world who are working to dismantle oppressive systems and create change in their societies, and propaganda like this wants you to immediately write them off as violent extremists. But they’re not. Of course violent extremists exists in the real world, but not everyone fighting for change is a violent extremist. There are many many good people trying to end oppressive systems.
You do not need to like these characters or the things that they do, and you don’t need to hate the heroes they fight against. But at least think about why the character exists, why they are written that way, and what the writers want you to think.
