#sorry for this rant
TW: Topics of abuse
I feel like it’s high time that someone pointed out that abuse shouldn’t be used to excusea terrible character’s/villain’s actions. It should be used to explainit.
Many authors and media developers try to down play heinous displays that their characters exhibit by giving them dark, gritty, abusive, and bloody backstories to rouse pity in the audience, effectively erasing anything they’d hold he/she accountable for.
Dark backstories shouldn’t be given to characters for the audience to pity them and justify everything they do. It should be used to understand them and their motivations and what shaped their identity that we’re shown on screen.
It shouldn’t be expected that victims of abusive backgrounds will automatically become evil or spawns of satan or a brutal antagonist to the protagonist.
Does it happen in the real world? Of course it does. Many individuals who grew up like this end up directing their anger at the world and do terrible things. Does it always happen? No, it does not. There are people out there who rise above their abusive pasts and are motivated to be good people.
Like, it’s so tiring to see people of abusive backgrounds being condensed into this stereotype. There are books, movies, and shows that manage to stray away from this misguided idea, but that doesn’t stop the audience from taking it out of context.
So, the next time you see someone murder a person for absolute no reason other to further their goals, destroy a planet, take over the world, and/or steal candy from babies, it shouldn’t be excused because they were abused. It should understood,explained, and notjustified.
TL;DR I’ve seen this trope way too many times and I think what made it worse are fans defending awful people or label abused people as potential serial killers. If you want to write a villain/criminal/character tat has an abusive background, go right ahead. But don’t use it to defend and coddle them because of their unfortunate background.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
