Freeza: The Unsympathetic Villain | The Anatomy of Anime

[Music] everyone loves a great villain however nowadays there seems to be this preconceived notion that in order for a villain in a TV show or movie to be interesting that villain must be sympathetic or hold a belief that what he or she is doing is morally just in other words no villain can think that they are the bad guy and if they did they wouldn't be very interested and to an extent I both agree and disagree with that statement so I put up a poll on my Twitter asking my followers who their favorite villain was the options were Frieza cell majin buu and zama suit with over 2,000 votes cast than almost half the votes Frieza won despite being in the running with the sympathetic zama suit however I don't think that really proves anything two of the most popular villains to emerge from Phil last year were sympathetic Black Panthers kill monger and infinity wars Thanos however in recent years I've seen far more sympathetic villains propagator screens and a significant decline in the number of pure evil ones which leads me to believe that there's a misunderstanding in her book creating character arcs kam Weiland writes about the flat character arc and how that character while he or she doesn't develop personally changes the world and characters around him or her Goku is a positive flat mark and so changes characters and the world around him for the better but in the case of Frieza he is a fantastic example of the negative flat one that doesn't change or develop but does change and manipulate the world and characters around him for the worse however to find out what makes a great flat arc villain like freeze a tick we must first discuss what makes the most popular villain arc in fiction so successful the sympathetic or negative arc villain the most common arc found in fiction nowadays surrounding a villain in a given story is the negative character arc negative our characters are those who through circumstance personal experience or intervention have become morally reprehensible individuals through their expressed motivations we the audience can clearly understand the path they took to arrive where they currently are this creates a more realistic world as well as a great sense of morality overall this can lead the audience to better respect that in some cases agree with the villains motivations creating a more relatable and as a result a more believable character overall characters like Light Yagami from Death Note and zama suit from Dragon Ball super demonstrate this arc perfectly since acai the same scriptwriting Trobe can be observed in positive character arms too only it happens in Reverse instead of overcoming a lie they believe the negative character arc oftentimes sees a villain develop a light to believe this usually works well acting as a foil or contrast to the main characters positive arc development and this is where the flat negative arc of Frieza differs from conventional negative our characters he doesn't develop from good to bad he's a maliciously consistent psychopath the hostile is a tamari bakunawa scribe Bharat Oaxaca is rocoto that they kill [Music] Vox a Vegeta which emits a 7 in Robert MCI's books story he writes a protagonist and his story can only be as intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism make them in the same way a character like Goku changes the world around him for the better while not changing himself Frieza is a negative flat-out character that changes the world around him for the worse he enslaves civilizations and enrolls soldiers to do his bidding across the universe where his presence is felt it's an established trope that Goku uses mercy and example to bring people to his way of thinking whereas Frieza utilizes fear and manipulation to change people for the worse because of who their characters are Goku can't influence Frieza to be good and Frieza can't influence Goku to be bad q anjaneyasana mushi do Kyoto Monica in John troubies book the anatomy of story he writes you must see your opponent's structural in terms of his function in the story a true opponent not only wants to prevent the hero from achieving his desires but is competing with the hero for that same goal find the deepest level of conflict between them ask yourself what is the most important thing they are fighting about Goku and the others travel dynamic to obtain the planets Dragon Balls so that they can wish Tien ciaossu Yamcha and piccolo back to life however freezes short-term motivation is to gather the Dragon Balls too and thus is in direct competition with the heroes to achieve the same scenario this is the organic reason both Goku and Frieza meet if we go even deeper Goku desires to fight Frieza because he wants to prove that he is stronger than him on the other side of the coin Frieza is fighting Goku because he needs to be the Emperor of the universe to show that he is the strongest we learn exactly what Frieza is about through his very first introductory scene discovered by Gohan and krillen Frieza flanked by his henchmen holding in their possession Dragon Balls begin what is a surprisingly civil dialogue with the namekians living there however the moment resistance is met Frieza politely asserts that if he plans to remain silent he will have to die again intimidation is how freezer gets his way here the entire conversation between the elder namekian and Frieza is conducted with a thick tension in the air it's as if the entire conversation is being carried out to amuse Frieza and for him to flex his cloud over the villagers you might notice while watching or reading this scene that it's not entirely dissimilar to the opening scene of inglorious basterds directed by Quentin Tarantino this scene depicts a French home being interrogated by the Nazis which the lead interrogator otherwise known as the Jew hunter is much like Frieza coy playful with a murderous streak what's more is that both scenes seem to end in the same way the Nazis haven't gotten what they came for and one Jew escaping the clutches of the invading Nazis the parallels between Hitler and Frieza are quite apparent Frieza is quite literally a racist he believes that Saiyans are insignificant nothing's that couldn't possibly measure up to someone as sophisticated as he neither mentally nor physically however at the same time he is plagued by the legend of the super saiyan which led him to destroy an entire race of valuable assets to his cause while this took place goku was were the only Saiyans that survived the attempted extinction a Saiyan that happens to firmly hold the belief that anyone can be better than they are if they try hard enough directly flying in the face of freezes firmly held ideology similarly power levels were introduced into the series to reinforce this false narrative that your power level is your value your ranking in the world that you can never change and during the story time and time again those that believe that narrative were proven wrong time and time again [Music] for a villain to be a force in your story he or she needs to have more power than the hero but that isn't limited to traditional power like strength or resources for example zammis who was more sly and cunning than those around him and thus got as far as he did Frieza was ruthless and smart you get the picture but the villain can't just have power he needs to have personality a sort of charisma we find ourselves rooting for Frieza not because we agree with his motivations or goals but because we respect his ethic in attaining them Frieza is incredibly tenacious he's also very pragmatic and cunning these are traits which create incredible character moments also many of which were on display during freezes brief antihero run in determined to power where Frieza assumed a position Vegeta was enduring his fight with the ginyu force fighting against a common enemy however unlike Vegeta because of who Frieza is a flat negative character he reverted back to his mantra immediately after through sadistic arrogant and playful into the mix and you have yourself a very entertaining character this is why Frieza is on a fundamental level perfect for a story like Dragonball that has a main character like coke Frieza punishes those who stand up to him who fight him and juxtapose to this Goku celebrates those that are strong freezes villainous motivation fundamentally reflects but disagrees with the hero's motivation Goku and this is what makes their eventual clash all the more satisfying and boy do they clash now makes a Minato Mirai I need get on in it in the book story Robert McKee writes true character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure the greater the pressure the deeper the revelation the truer the choice to the characters essential nature what this means is if a character is put under pressure then the choices he or she makes are closer and more honest to what their true nature is Frieza is a tremendous pressure in this scene in which because of the pressure only Frieza can apply Goku does possibly one of the most selfless things he does in the entire series the kaio-ken times 20 putting his entire life at risk for a chance to take Frieza out additionally when Frieza is revived and forced to train to be competitive in resurrection death Goku is directly bringing out the best in Freeza Freeza does some of his best work when interacting with Goku and Goku to some of his best work while interacting with Frieza because of the nature of their respective arcs they elevate and magnify each other's personalities one last but important thing I want to touch on regarding freezes characterization is his ability to exploit Goku's greatest weakness he does this three times throughout the story once on Namek Frieza begs for mercy and Goku obliges ones in resurrection F Frieza exploits go whose guard being put down and once in the afterlife when he bargains with Goku to get his life back in exchange for a chance to fight him once again no character in the entire series has manipulated Goku like Frieza has done Frieza could have been written like a tragic character one that through horrid circumstance became a monster in unbelievable and relatable ways however in a series like Dragon Ball with a protagonist like Goku Frieza has found himself with a character arc that works as a perfect counterbalance to that of Goku making his negative flat mark the perfect complement to Goku's positive flat arc Frieza has and wishes to change the world and characters around him for the worse and keep your eye out when Dragon Ball super returns to our screens because I bet he still intends to manipulate Broly for the worse Dragon Ball is a fantastic series full of incredible diverse and extreme personalities with a world surrounding the characters that is just as colorful and extreme my what this video was to outline why purely despicable characters have a place in fiction alongside their more popular sympathetic and relatable counterparts these wicked characters captivate us disgust us and make us cheer with their defeats so who knows perhaps now you'll respect see the merited and above all appreciate when a character is written to be the unsympathetic villain thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Totally Not Mark

Views: 921,645

Keywords: freeza, the unsympathetic villain, how to write, villain, great villain, best villains, dragon ball, dbz, dbs, dragon ball super, sympathetic villain, relatable villain, villains, frieza, broly, goku, vegeta, misunderstood character, totally not mark, totallynotmark, analysis, antihero, breakdown, video essay, villain writing, bad guys, writing evil, The Anatomy of Anime

Id: t-MhMo-gL6A

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 28 2019