Onus of Villainy

I teach Advanced Screenwriting at a local college.  It's a great way to give back.  I love it.  One of my favorite lectures revolves around "building a convincing nemesis."  My main focus in this lecture aims at inspiring my students to write believable characters, especially when it comes to their antagonist.  The main key to a powerful nemesis lay in the truth that nobody believes themselves to be the bad guy.  Even the worst of the worst of antagonists believes in the righteousness of their own actions.  Darth Vader was the hero in his own story, as Lord Voldemort was in his.  Not even Adolf Hitler viewed himself a monster, rather the savior of his motherland.  Every good villain becomes a master of "shifting the onus of villainy" which refers to the passive aggressive manner of blaming others for their problems.  And guess what ... we've all done it. 

At the height of my disease, a certain poor soul named Raymond had the express misfortune of becoming my roommate.  During our 6 months of co-occupancy, I drank all night and slept all day.  Due to my unemployable state, I rarely paid my rent on time.  Instead, I expected Ray to cover my half until I could come up with the funds.  Finally, Ray reached his breaking point.  Instead of throwing me out, he made up some horribly weak story about an eviction notice, claiming we had two weeks to vacate the premises.  I packed my stuff up and left.  We both knew he was lying. 

I harbored a deep resentment against Ray for many years, "Eviction?  Such a liar!  Did he think I was stupid?  If he didn't want me there, he should have just said so.  What a yellow-bellied coward!" I spent many an evening plotting ultimate revenge on my cowardly ex-roommate, convinced I had been wronged by his actions.  

In reality, Ray did nothing wrong.  Sure, perhaps he should have handled the situation better, but my selfish actions gave birth to the situation that needed handling in the first place.  Not once did I put myself in his shoes.  I never once looked at my part and examined the horrible position I put Raymond in.  I was hurt by someone I considered a friend (though I never treated him like one) and transferred the onus of villainy on him, rather than the true nemesis... me.

When I worked for the nonprofit children’s theater, we had a large number of parent volunteers, some of whom worked their way up to important positions in the company.  One married couple, in particular, worked their way onto the board of directors.  The wife was eventually given control of the finances, which she managed for several years.  For me, handing the books over to this woman sent red flags flying.  Not because they were bad people, but because they were completely delusional.  They were the type of people who would take any situation and twist it around until it fit into whatever mold worked best for them. I always thought it strange that this couple donated much of their time even after their children grew up, left the theater, and moved away.  It also struck me odd that this couple did not seem to have any visible means of income, yet had enough money to buy new cars, pay their children’s rent, and put a down payment on a new home.

Sure enough, large sums of embezzled money were eventually uncovered.  They were also suspected of taking money from other nonprofits along the way.  What kind of people do this?  How can someone steal from a charity and still sleep at night?

I later discovered the wife had been a victim of molestation as a child.  She coped with the trauma by stuffing the pain and denying the horrific reality of her past.  Anytime something went wrong, she crushed the reality of it down and twisted it around until it came out right.  The rest of the world saw the insanity while she consistently convinced herself, and her family, of her unstable rationale. She expanded denial to every aspect of her life and passed it on to her husband and children.

When money became a problem, this couple had to find a way to support their family.  They had access to a check book that was attached to a loaded bank account.  If you were to ask her if she was a thief, she would confidently explain, “We put in a lot of hard work for no pay.  That money was ours.  We earned it.” 

     
Her problem was not that she was a White Collar Criminal.  Theft was but a symptom of a bigger problem – she was a survivor of molestation who never sought help, which eventually manifested in criminal behavior.

In much the same way, addiction is a smaller symptom of a bigger problem.  Human beings get so screwed up in the head that they will search for anything to lessen the pain of life.  Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling, pornography, and money are just a few solutions we turn to in order to silence the constant noise that plaques our minds in the quiet hours of the night.  We must first deal with the crutch of addiction, only then may we begin the healing process.

The people that surround us are not our problem, WE are our problem. It's so much easier to shift the onus of villainy to others, rather than face the true nemesis: our past hurts and failures.