The Villian's Call-Sign: A Peculiar Similarity in Today's Movie Villians

An inquisitive reader sent me a message about a cinematic trend where action-movie villains are characterized by a mouth wound.

Citing the Joker of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and the fascist military leader from Pan's Labyrinth, as well as Robin Hood's nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham, in Ridley Scott"s version of the film, the reader presented several questions focusing on the meaning of this gruesome symbol.

Why the trend, he asked, of villains with mouth wounds? And what does it mean?

Facial scars are, of course, a long-standing Hollywood tradition. The "tough guy", the "hard case" and the generally criminal have often been presented with disfigurements that demonstrate two things: a history of violence and an internal weakness.

The scar is proof that the tough exterior is a mask worn over a broken spirit, a wounded soul.

More simply, the scar can be read as the outward sign of corruption.

However, the reader poses a very specific question. He asks about one kind of scar that does not have a long cinematic history and which certainly does seem to be proliferating in the good-vs.-evil, allegorical films of today.¹

These characters have mouth wounds that serve to extend the line of their mouth, rendering the men monstrous and gruesome. The bloody mouth gapes at the audience. But what does it mean?

One thing is clear beyond a doubt - the villain is a monster. He has lost touch with the foundations of his humanity. No longer does he subscribe to the codes of morality and ethical conduct that are the fabric of our society. Frightening in his mutation, the villain once was a man but is now something of another order.

Corruption and disease of the spirit have led the villain to crave power and control with disregard for rules, laws, and basic ethical principles. The villain's appetite for dominance is unnatural. It is perverse.

In this way the mouth wound becomes a Freudian symbol of a perverse appetite. The man's desires are unnatural. They are, inevitably, psychotic.

What better way to physically demonstrate a gorged and evil appetite than by scarring the character's mouth?

Perhaps the meaning of the villain's mouth wound is as simple as this. The mouth wound represents a monstrous perversion of appetite, a maniacal will to power.

Other interpretations are available to us, such as the wound acting as indication that these figures are unable to deal with reality, they cannot "swallow" or accept the world as it is. The villain's ability to cope is permanently and obviously damaged beyond repair.

In any event, the path of action taken by the villain is one of attempted dominance. The mechanisms of the villain's insanity are less important than the fact that the insanity has matured into full flower and we see this in the mouth wound. The villain is crazy with a lust for power and control.

The other question, however, remains unanswered. Why is this particular symbol for the psychotic criminal appetite proliferating in today's cinema?

Here we might ask another question: If we say that the mouth wound represents the perversion of appetite in the villain, what or who does the villain represent?

What powers of evil in our world are being characterized by the Joker, the fascist, by the Sheriff of Nottingham?

Greed. This term commonly describes the gorged and evil appetite. And it is a term that has been cast at the feet of many corporations from Enron to Goldman Sachs.

Nations have been accused of damaging the world order - the natural order - for purposes of greed and avarice.

The perversion of appetite has been pegged as a corporate virtue, it would seem, within the boardroom, yet outside those corporate chambers the individuals of the world descry the disparity between the rich and the poor, the irresponsible, distant wealthy mansions and the labor-ridden, neighborhoods of the poor.

Again, there are plenty of interpretations available to us when we try to read the "meaning" of today's villain. Some stories are just stories and their characters are just characters.

The Joker was created a long time ago as was Robin Hood's enemy of Nottingham.

The thing is, they didn't always have gaping wounds on their mouths.

¹We can argue the extent to which Batman and Robin Hood are intended as allegory, but it is clear that social values are being fought out, fought over, and decided very literally in these films. As ambiguous as both of these films stand as to the criminality of the hero, they clearly maintain the idea that the hero represents the forces of good pitted against the forces of corruption and evil.

Reference:
http://www.skinema.com/Evil1Scars.html