The Modern Lesson of the Twist Villain

Of necessity this article includes spoilers. While not all the movies discussed have twist villains, there are details here about the plots of Frozen, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Big Hero Six, Treasure Planet, Coco, Toy Story 3, Zootopia, Monsters, Inc., Encanto, Moana, Up, Brother Bear, and Incredibles 2.

I wouldn’t call myself a historian, though one of my most beloved teachers, who is, referred to me as such once and delighted me. Still, I’m a student of history at the very least. So there I was, watching Frozen in the theatre when my partner and I were still able to see movies in theatres, and Prince Hans mentioned having twelve brothers. Twelve older brothers. And in the theatre, I winced, because that’s so far down the ranking that there isn’t even a traditional job for that brother. Especially if they’re all still alive at that age. (I also winced for his poor mother.) So no, I never trusted that guy. But he’s a valuable lesson for people with less knowledge of historical intrigue than I have.

Fairy tales are not just about entertaining, after all. They serve as cautionary tales. Don’t stray from the path. Don’t mistreat people for no good reason. Don’t go where you’re not supposed to. And the lessons children needed to learn a few hundred years ago were different, because the situations they were in were different. My children don’t need a Jenny Greenteeth to keep them away from water covered in duckweed; we have vanishingly little duckweed in the neighbourhood. So in theory, these villains are teaching them to be careful of their trust.

Now, this is when they’re done well. And sometimes they are. What’s interesting with Hans is that they kind of telegraph the twist by having Kristoff distrust the whole thing right away, but of course it’s also potentially “maybe get to know a person and find out how you mesh, especially if you’ve been locked away from everyone since you were five.” Because he’s literally the first person she meets of her own social class. She’s likely been primed by the stories just like everyone else. Princess Meets Prince; They Fall In Love And Get Married. We know that story. Anna knows that story. But should we trust that story?

I will say that no one can agree on whether twist villains have been done well or not. I’ve seen Rourke from Atlantis listed as both one of the best and one of the worst. It’s generally agreed that Callaghan’s twist in Big Hero Six is handled badly, but the character had such great potential that I think it’s frustration at how little work went into showing his dark side before the fire. One of the lists I found had Long John Silver on it, and while I agree Disney movies tend to be aimed at audiences who might be too young to have read or be aware of the plot of Treasure Island, it’s hard to call a reveal nearly 120 years old much of a twist.

Still, done well, a twist villain is valuable. Ernesto de la Cruz reminds us that meeting our heroes can go very badly indeed, though if your hero was Frida Kahlo you kind of already know what you’re getting into and she seems to be a sweetheart in the realm of the movie at least—one hopes that the kind of physical pain she was in doesn’t carry over to the afterlife. Lotso from Toy Story 3 and Dawn Bellwether from Zootopia remind us that a benevolent face doesn’t mean benevolent leadership. Waternoose from Monsters, Inc. and Rourke are faces of greed. These are people kids should actually be aware of.

Really, the recurring theme to these movies is that people are multifaceted and you can’t trust someone just because they’re nice to you at first. A theme of the last few decades of Disney movies really is “get to know what’s underneath the surface.” That’s the whole plot of Encanto, when you think about it—a movie without a villain unless you count Unhealthy Family Dynamics as a villain. Which, you know, you do you. You can trust Luisa, but she’s under pressure you don’t know about. And in fact you can talk about Bruno, because he’s trying and it’s not his fault he’s kind of spooky.

One of the lists I found says Te-Ka is a twist villain because she turns out to be Te-Fiti but twisted, and I suppose so, but I think one of the lessons of the more recent Disney films is that life doesn’t always have a villain, just people screwing up for reasons of their own. Maui tried to help, after all, and I consider him more of a villain in that movie than anyone else. Everything that’s wrong is his fault, like it or not.

In the “meet your heroes” vein like Coco is Up. Leaving aside the delight of the Old Man Battle after the most gut-wrenching opening sequence in Pixar history, possibly film history generally, it is true that Charles Muntz is consumed by his obsession. He’s founded a screwy kingdom of dogs in the wilderness, and that’s a whole thing. He’s so determined to prove his idea that he doesn’t care about the consequences, and never mind that, like, the technology to let dogs communicate would make him a hero to a lot of people regardless of the truth or falsehood of his other ideas.

Kenai from Brother Bear and Evelyn Deavor from Incredibles 2 are both determined to get revenge for the loss of someone they love. The twist in Brother Bear is that the hero is the villain from a different perspective, and that’s interesting to consider even if I’m not a huge fan of the movie. Evelyn’s plan does not entirely make sense, which is a shame, because I think there’s a lot to like about that movie. Supers are already discredited and illegal, and she brings them back to destroy them again I guess because she really wants to be the one to do it; see also Charles Muntz and his obsession.

The twist villain teaches modern lessons. Okay, so one of the lessons I for one think these movies prove is that more people need therapy. So it wasn’t much of an option for Lotso (the image of toy therapy brings up the villain support group from the Wreck-It Ralph movies, but anyway) or Muntz or Kenai, for one reason or another. And even if Hans could’ve gotten therapy, it wouldn’t have fixed the “thirteenth in line for the throne” issue. But you still need to be aware that there are people out there who are going to take out their need for therapy on you instead of getting it, and they don’t have the excuse of living in Ice Age Alaska.

I don’t believe most people are flat-out evil. I adore Maleficent and loathe the movie that made her a sympathetic character with a back story (that didn’t make sense, but anyway), but I’m also aware that most people are just shades of grey. Even Scar was able to put on something of a decent face, and technically Maleficent had a point that King Stefan had violated the rules of courtesy. The twist villain is closer to the truth of how the world works.

I would be greatly displeased if one of my kids informed me they were going to marry someone they’d just met, for long-term compatibility reasons if nothing else. The recent Disney movies have suggested that you shouldn’t do that—the heroines may fall in love pretty quickly, but the movie doesn’t always end in a wedding and emphasizes that, if there is one, time passes. And Frozen reminds us that there’s a reason for that. Getting to know your husband before you marry him helps you consider why he wants to marry you in the first place, and if it doesn’t stop him from killing your sister to steal the throne, well, maybe it’ll help you avoid abuse.