Disability and Deformity ≠ Evil
Disabled and “deformed” characters are often the villains in popular stories and it is past time to dismantle the archetype.
BY BEATRICE HANDLIN WITH ART BY ALEX KOZAK
What do Leatherface, Darth Vader, and Captain Hook have in common? Besides being iconic antagonists in pop culture, they are all characters with disabilities and/or physical differences that inspire or influence their evil-doing in some way. As Halloween has come and gone, and we have consumed spine-chilling horror stories over the season, it is time to reflect on a few of the traditions of villainy, especially in the horror genre. Associating disability and difference with evil is far too common in our culture and it is something that needs to change because it is lazy, boring, and dehumanizing.
In research from Changing Faces, an organization dedicated to ending appearance-related discrimination and advocating for those with visible differences, they found that 20% people with visible differences have seen a character that looks like them portrayed as the hero of a story, while 39% had seen someone with a visible difference as a villain. 19% more of characters with visible differences were evil in media portrayals. These characters are also rarely portrayed by people with disabilities, which on top of villainizing disabled people, steals economic and performance opportunities from disabled actors.
This trope has several formats, but always the same outcome; characters are “disfigured” or disabled in some way and are portrayed as evil or scary. This creates an association that disability is inherently bad or is something to fear. To best explain the ways these characters are portrayed, I have created 3 categories in which villains and disability often correlate in the media.
Characters are resentful and/or jealous of others because of their disability or physical difference. These feelings cause them to lash out or seek revenge in some way.
Captain Hook lost his hand in a battle against Peter Pan and now wears a hook prosthesis. He seeks revenge against Peter Pan for causing his disability and the crocodile who bit his hand off throughout the story.
Characters are born evil or become evil and their evil is manifested through disability and physical differences and vice versa.
Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars spirals to the dark side and completes his transformation into evil when he is covered in burns and his arms and legs are chopped off by Obi Wan Kenobi. He does not fully become his evil persona of Darth Vader until he becomes physically disabled and “deformed.”
Characters are disabled and become evil because of their treatment by society.
Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Franchise has a facial difference and is mentally disabled which results in him being bullied and shunned by society. This lack of support from society leads to him being isolated with his murderous family and he becomes afraid and violent towards outsiders. His physical appearance is supposed to horrify and his mental disability is supposed to make him seem violent and scary to the audience.
Author’s Note: Leatherface’s disabilities are often unexplained in canon, and instead implied through rather offensive portrayals and language. This contributes to misinformation about disability along with villainizing those with disabilities.
Overall, this trope and its variations sends one overarching message to society: difference and disability = evil. This message feeds into the stigma that disability is bad, and goes as far as to imply that disability should horrify abled people. This is not to say that having disabled characters be evil is inherently problematic—the problem is twofold: their villainy is inherent in their disability and that there are not enough well-written characters with disabilities that are neutral or good to balance out the existing evil characters.
By connecting fictional characters with mental disabilities, physical disabilities, and physical differences to evil and horror we connect these attributes to the very real people in our world. This attribution is dangerous, because when our society associates certain groups of people with evil - we are less likely to create and maintain necessary support systems for these people.
Citations:
I am not your villain: Representing disfigurements in film. Changing Faces. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/i-am-not-your-villian/
Davison, E. (2022, February 19). Disabled villains. Fashioneyesta. Retrieved from https://fashioneyesta.com/disabled-villains/
Article Idea:
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