Smile, and smile, and be a villain

[Barry Arrowsmith]

We all love a villain.
Not all villains, it's true, and quite often it's a fictional 
villain rather than the real-life variety, but even so it 
says something about human nature. Partly it's because
of a deep-down envy I think, a not-so-subliminal wish 
that you too could do nasty things to those you despise
- and get away with it.

Oh yes we do, don't try to deny it. As a rough estimate 
about 90% of all folk heroes were villains cocking a snook
at the law and authority. Of course their excuse was that 
the law was unjust or the authority oppressive, which 
allowed many of them to claim some sort of moral 
superiority. And besides, it was fun, at least from this 
distance. Others just had fun and made no claim to the 
moral high ground at all.

One of my heroes is Jack Sheppard (or Shepeard - 18th 
Century spellings were a bit hit-and-miss) hanged at 
Tyburn in 1724 aged 21. Thief, house-breaker, highwayman
and serial escapee, he was enormously popular for decades
afterwards, his escapades forming the basis of Gaye's 'The 
Beggars Opera', numerous other stage presentations and 
scores of pamphlets and popular songs. Estimates of the 
crowd come to see him hang were put at up to 200,000. 
It was a solo performance, too - very unusual at a time 
when crims were turned off in batches. 
So why was he so popular? 
He had style, and it caught the popular imagination.

How does this relate to HP, you may ask. Well, there's Sevvy
for a start. Intended as a nasty nogoodnik he's arguably 
(on the fansites at least, and to the apparent chagrin of Jo) 
the most popular character of the series. Mind you, much 
of that is down to  Alan Rickman. As a female of my 
acquaintance put it "He causes terminal failure in my knicker
elastic." Jason Isaacs as Lucius is reported to cause similar 
effects in some as well. If the films hadn't been made, or if 
the casting had been otherwise fan perceptions might be 
a bit different. Some of us would still be cheering Sevvy on 
though - as W.C.Fields put it - anyone who hates children 
and animals can't be all bad.

Perception is all. Reality becomes largely irrelevant once 
our imagination/wishful thinking/fantasies get to work 
and perversely turn someone criminal (like Jack) or 
Potter-phobic (like Sevvy) into figures of approbation. 
Yes, Sevvy killed DD, but so what? Nobody's perfect.

What happens in one direction can also happen in reverse.
Just what do we really know about Salazar Slytherin? 
Not very much - he preferred purebloods, fought with the
other Founders, left, and has had a bad press ever since. 
Can't recall any tales of him bringing death and destruction
on medieval villages, or even zapping pubescent Gryffindor
students who'd happened to piss him off, but he's regarded
as the archetypal WW baddy for all that. Ron reckons that 
he was a twisted old loony, but what does Ron know?

Time heals all wounds, so they say and it may take time 
before an individual's talents come to be truly appreciated. 
A little snippet in a newspaper got me wondering about ole 
Sally. Is it time for a re-appraisal? Jo spent years in Portugal 
and many readers assume that Salazar is named for Antonio 
Oliveira Salazar, repressive right-wing dictator of Portugal for
over 30 years in the last century. 
Except....

"Former dictator Antonio  Oliveira Salazar was chosen as the
greatest Portuguese of all times by viewers of a TV show.

Salazar, prime minister of a repressive  right-wing regime
 also known as the New State from 1932 to 1968, received 
41 percent in Sunday evening's final of "Great Portuguese".

The late leader of the Portuguese Communist Party, Alvaro
Cunhal, came second with 19 percent of the vote."

Could be Jo would be a bit disappointed about that.

As for our Salazar, what we think of him would probably 
depend on who got cast in the role.

The 'wrong' actor and that might end up disappointing Jo, too. 
Fans. Doncha love 'em?

Kneasy


P.S.
Not that I think Sally is a sympathetic character - rephrase
that - a nice character.  'Sympathetic' depends on the in-built
quotient of sadism, blood-thirstyness and contrariness of 
the reader. And on that basis...

Hmm. A couple of years back I did make a start on "Salazar 
Slytherin - his journal' intended as an aid to enthusiasts of 
magical history. Might get round to finishing it one of these days.