Sometimes hating the bad guy is a knee-jerk reaction, and at other times it’s because they’ve been built up as nothing more than a villain and for good reason. But some characters in the movies take on some serious hatred from the fans for reasons that are usually pretty sound, but end up being kind of shallow as well. While some villains do in fact deserve all the hate that a person can throw at them, some deserve at least a little bit of understanding since their lives kind of led them to the moment that saw them become the villain, usually without their help, but definitely through the choices they made afterward. While some of those that have earned their hate in the movies did do an about-face and managed to turn things around in a big way, some of them didn’t really get the chance to change, and others just didn’t take it when that chance was offered. To be fair though it’s likely that some of them wouldn’t have changed while others might have been a little more productive in their lives if they’d been given the chance earlier on, or even near the end.
5. Roy Batty – Blade Runner
Unless Rutger Hauer is playing a good guy it’s usually pretty hard to root for him since the characters he plays are so inherently creepy. But Roy Batty was a creation that didn’t have much fault in what he’d done and what he was, as he was bred to fight and to kill. But turning on his creators and running amok among the humans was something that he did have a choice in, though it’s still kind of hard to say that he’s completely to blame since his creators didn’t really take into account what having a designated lifespan might do to a sentient being. Turning psychotic kind of sounds like it would be par for the course in a way.
4. Lotso – Toy Story 3
None of the toys in the Toy Story movie really have it easy since they are in a literal sense playthings that are there for the enjoyment of kids and are then tossed away or given up when they’re no longer of use. Lotso did take his sorrow to a very unhealthy level but at the same time he felt abandoned, replaceable, and betrayed in a way since the nature of kids is to move from one toy to the next unless they build a special rapport with the toy in question. It would undoubtedly be a hard and very unforgiving life, no matter if one took the idea that they’re supposed to be there for the kid, not vice versa. In his defense, Lotso really needed a lot of tlc to come back to his lovable old self.
3. Jenny Curran – Forrest Gump
Jenny isn’t really a villain since honestly she’s the love interest from a young age considering the Forrest becomes smitten with her when they’re kids. But she does treat Forrest pretty badly at some points as he’s there for her, but she’s unable to be there emotionally for anyone. Being completely fair, Jenny’s dad messed her up in a big way, and it took a lot of years for her to move past that, if she ever did. But Forrest was always there, and that was her saving grace, the love that he had for her that was simple and didn’t tarnish no matter what she did or said. That kind of love is hard to find, and it’s not always going to be redemptive, but it’s always bound to be there.
2. Bruce the shark – Jaws
It might sound odd to put the mechanical shark on this list but the idea is that Bruce was meant to represent a predator in its natural habitat and what it would do if it was feeling threatened or if its hunting grounds were being disturbed. It’s true that the shark went and killed a few people for no better reason than it could and that it needed to eat. But predators in the wild aren’t much different than human beings when defending themselves and their territory, they’re bound to get violent eventually and start tearing stuff up. But yes, the shark is kind of a pain in the backside since it brought the heat down on itself for doing what doing what came naturally, kind of.
1. Jar Jar Binks – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Even Emperor Palpatine might have choked on this level of hatred since people were quick to call Jar Jar a racist character and harangued poor Ahmed Best so much that the guy actually considered suicide. For one reason or another his accent, his appearance, and his goofy antics were thought to be a caricature of black people, heck his ear flaps were even thought to be an attempt at dreadlocks. Sometimes fanboys really need to lower their caffeine levels before deciding to post online, or have an opinion.
Hating a character isn’t always that easy obviously.Ahmed Best
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