Why the bad boys?

[Deleted]

Some of my favorite musicals(Phantom, Elisabeth, Dracula, even Tanz der Vampire) all have bad guys(Phantom himself, Der Tod, Counts Dracula and Krolock) as a character that the audience tend to love more than the good boys(Raoul, Franz Joseph, Jonathan, Alfred). Certainly for the Phantom, he has a huge group of supporters who don't care the slightest about Raoul and think Christine should stay with the Phantom.
What are your thougts on this? Why always the bad boys as the more... attractive character? Because we can dream ourselves into the arms of that kind of man without the actual danger of it? Does it make better drama?

[Havanah]

I have put much thought into this and come up with various possibilities.

They're generally the most romantic. The phantom sends her roses and writes songs and stuff, Raoul just wants to kill the competition; Franz is a right mummies boy and seems unable to think about doing something of his own back only doing it when forced whereas der Tod offers some really beautiful things like utter freedom; Dracula and Krolock are both offering a sensual running off into the sunset type romance etc etc...

They're more mysterious. Do I even need to go into this?

The point you made about it being safe to like them. Goodness knows that in real life we would run an utter mile.

Empathy - you can't help but feel sorry for all these characters at some point.

They tend to be played by the best looking actors. I'm sorry but that's just fact

Erm, yeah, I think I've run out of ideas now XD

Edit: and I'll just steal Tybalt and Mercutio right now please ^^

[Deleted]

Sept 24, 2011 19:13:36 GMT Havanah said:

The point you made about it being safe to like them. Goodness knows that in real life we would run an utter mile.

So true! You would get a restraining order on the guy if you met one in real life.


And some of these bad boys are also the villain in the story, which just doesn't work for me. You need a villain that isn't confused with a romantic lead, which a lot of people do. Personally I would NEVER chose the Phantom, the two counts or Der Tod because they are so egotistical and cruel and do some really horrible things to the woman they supposedly love. So that's why it bugs me that people, especially/mostly women, go "OMG, the Phantom is so this and so that!". I think they may miss out on the fact of what he does and how he really is. But that's just me ranting, I guess

[Havanah]

Yeah, I always think that the bad boy characters are way more interesting and I often prefer them as characters but it just makes me laugh when people say Christine was 'stupid' for choosing Raoul (etc)... no, I think she had quite a good self preservation instinct there. Mind you, I do think Raoul is a bit of a wet so I think Christine should have gone it solo but that's something totally different.

The other idea that I missed out is the idea that we can change them into something nice and fluffy... I think a lot of people (probably mainly women) suffer from this in real life too.

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2011 15:45:42 GMT Havanah said:

The other idea that I missed out is the idea that we can change them into something nice and fluffy... I think a lot of people (probably mainly women) suffer from this in real life too.

True, so true. Some women see something they can cuddle and mother and reform into something good, but it's not gonna happen.

I will always defend Raoul. He did go to save her and wanted her to get the hell out of there, never mind what happened to himself. The Phantom is just putting her into a damn tricky position and is ready to kill someone she loves to make her stay.
It's really the same for all the other bad boys. Most of them hurt/kill someone their lady loves(Der Tod kills two of Sisi's children, Dracula kills Lucy). Oh yeah, there's nothing like killing someone to show you care!

[rachel]

I would also mention what they represent and offer the heroine. Der Tod represents freedom to Sisi which is what she wants more than anything. The Phantom allows Christine the chance to devote her life to music. Both Dracula and Von Krolock offer Mina and Sarah eternal life.

[Deleted]

I think my main problem is that people seem to condone these quite abusive relationships. If you look at all of them, they are all relationship that are very abusive, and I really don't understand why people condone it. Some say it's romantic. Sorry, but my idea of romance is not having someone kill others because he loves me. That's really only marking your property, which again supports the idea of a possesive relationship. A guy who is willing to die for me like Raoul, that's a whole other story. Sacrifice, that's shows actual love for me.
And I know I sound like such a feminist here, but please bear with me. It's also very demeaning to women, isn't it? I mean, are women really so weak that they just give into that kind of relationship and don't see what's really going on? And it's for very superficial reasons. Eternal life, dedicating your life to music. Sisi is sort of excused because her life sucked, but that's not really reason enough in my mind. Eternal life is not really that great when you think about it. Living life, seing people die around you? Sounds more like hell to me. And Christine could easily go somewhere else to sing. It could easily be somewhere else, away from the Phantom. He didn't necesarily have to be part of it.