# Examples from fiction where some people see the villains as heroes due to their political leanings. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 4, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048 "2020-06-04T15:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/1 "2020-06-04T15:27:33Z")
> [@Trump threatens to move GOP convention from NC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-threatens-to-move-gop-convention-from-nc/854440/111): > > Given the pandemic backdrop I’d recommend Las Vegas, NV and Boulder, CO as the locations for the respective party conventions. Inspired by the thread on the Republican convention, and in particular by Driver8’s post that alludes to Stephen King’s _The Stand_. Do you all know anyone, either groups or individuals, who view the villains in a work of fiction as the heroes or the heroes as the villains, due to their political leanings? It wouldn’t surprise me, for example, if there are some extremists who upon reading _The Stand_ could end up viewing the main villain of the book as some sort of hero, or maybe viewing the heroes as being naive or in some other way wrong in their views. I don’t know any such people personally, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they exist. Let’s not limit this to _The Stand_, though. What works of fiction do you know of where people might have a warped view of who the good guys and bad guys are based on their own political leanings? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/2 "2020-06-04T16:58:01Z")
I came away from watching Star Ship Troopers with a strong feeling of sympathy for the bugs. I’m pretty sure that others didn’t feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/3 "2020-06-04T17:44:25Z")
In The Big Bang Theory: > **[Star Wars](https://bigbangtheory.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars)** > > Star Wars is a vast science fiction franchise which started when film maker George Lucas released the film "Star Wars" in 1977. It is one of the most commercially successful films of all time (by number of tickets sold, i.e. after ticket price... > [@](#): > > In “The Zazzy Substitution” (S04E03), Leonard refers to their group of friends as the Rebel Alliance, but Sheldon prefers the Galactic Empire. IIRC, it was because he likes the uniform order of the Empire, not any political leanings. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/4 "2020-06-04T18:39:49Z")
I don’t think it’s a common phenomena. Fictional political leaders exist in a world that their authors create for them. In a world created by Aaron Sorkin, the Democrats will always have the correct answers for the problems they face. In a Tom Clancy world, the Republicans will be the ones who always have the correct answers. Most people are going to agree with the protagonist because that’s where the author is steering them and the protagonist is right in his world. If your own views are too much at odds with the author’s to follow their lead, you’re going to reject the entire work as unrealistic rather than simply disagree with the protagonist’s views. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/5 "2020-06-04T19:17:16Z")
Back in grad school, I had a friend who was teaching Eugene Ionesco’s [Rhinoceros](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_(play)) in her Intro to Drama class. (If you don’t feel like reading the whole Wikipedia entry, basically, it’s an absurdist play where everyone in town starts turning into rhinoceroses. At first the people who haven’t turned into rhinos yet are like, “WTF, this is weird, _I_ would certainly never become a rhinoceros!” and then they’re like, “Well, everyone ELSE is doing it, so why don’t we?” and at the end of it the protagonist, the lone guy who refuses to become a rhinoceros, is doubting his own sanity.) Ionesco meant this as a metaphor for what it’s like when your whole country decides to go fascist. My friend’s entire class of undergraduates decided that the protagonist was the bad guy because he was so rigid, and he just needed to become less prejudiced against rhinoceroses :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/6 "2020-06-04T19:33:20Z")
There is also this tweet from our dear leader who apparently saw Bligh as the hero. > [@the Dodderng Dotard](#): > > Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/7 "2020-06-04T19:54:50Z")
1984 Atlas Shrugged ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/8 "2020-06-04T20:22:58Z")
_Inherit the Wind_ - it seems clear to me that Drummond is the intended hero and Brady (or possible Rev. Brown) is the intended villain. I would be shocked if a substantial part of the population would consider the Creationist side as the heroes. Likewise I would not be surprised if a significant part of the population would consider Bob Ewell as defender of the natural order in _To Kill A Mockingbird_ and were cheered by the happy ending of Tom Robinson being shot while “escaping”… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/9 "2020-06-04T20:49:01Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I came away from watching Star Ship Troopers with a strong feeling of sympathy for the bugs. I’m pretty sure that others didn’t feel the same way. I think Verhoeven did (although I’m not convinced he remembered all the way through what he was satirizing). The movie is a vicious satire of the novel, which is a big part of why a lot of Heinlein fans hate it so much. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/10 "2020-06-04T23:43:50Z")
Matt Ruff’s _Bad Monkeys_. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/11 "2020-06-05T00:08:45Z")
Stormfront. I once googled the lyrics to \*Tomorrow Belongs To Me \*from Cabaret. One of the links took me to their filthy website, where they were praising the song as a heroic anthem. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/12 "2020-06-05T01:09:45Z")
For the musical rent, who is the good guy and who is the bad guy can depend on your age and your political views. I’ve always considered the humans in X men to more or less be the good guys. Even the ‘good’ mutants like wolverine are mass murderers and lifelong felons. The bad mutants are even worse mass murderers and felons. However I don’t know if there is any political breakdown based on that, I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/13 "2020-06-05T05:40:19Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Atlas Shrugged That’s a good example. I certainly felt that Rand’s intended heroes were actually villains. In the opposite direction is _Easy Rider_. I’m sure a lot of people think those drug-smuggling lowlifes got exactly what they deserved. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/14 "2020-06-05T08:41:49Z")
After _Black Panther_, “Killmonger was Right” became a [popular meme.](https://digitalpimponline.com/store/196/killmonger-was-right-shirt.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/15 "2020-06-05T12:42:24Z")
_A Few Good Men_. I think a good percentage of the audience came away thinking that Colonel Jessup made a pretty good argument. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/16 "2020-06-05T13:00:57Z")
> [@Smitty](#): > > _A Few Good Men_. I think a good percentage of the audience came away thinking that Colonel Jessup made a pretty good argument. His argument was that questionable training methods should be used, even though they were explicitly forbidden by his commander, order his subordinates to break laws and regulations, hang those subordinates out to dry, lie to official investigators and forge documents simply because somehow, somewhere, it might “save lives” I don’t think anyone thought he made a good argument. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/17 "2020-06-05T15:12:48Z")
Well, Magneto. He has been a comic-book villain for half a century, and he has real-world “Magneto was right” T-shirts. And current events in the US is not exactly weakening his argument… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/18 "2020-06-05T15:26:40Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > _Inherit the Wind_ - it seems clear to me that Drummond is the intended hero and Brady (or possible Rev. Brown) is the intended villain. I would be shocked if a substantial part of the population would consider the Creationist side as the heroes. What? It’s clear that the creationists were always the depicted villains in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/19 "2020-06-05T18:39:43Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > What? It’s clear that the creationists were always the depicted villains in the movie. Sorry, typo in the quoted post. Meant to say, “I would _not_ be shocked if a substantial part of the population would consider the Creationist side as the heroes.” Based on the number of people who still believe in Creationism. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048/20 "2020-06-05T19:52:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > 1984 > Atlas Shrugged Yep, quite a few people look upon John Galt as the hero, sadly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-from-fiction-where-some-people-see-the-villains-as-heroes-due-to-their-political-leanings/855048.md?page=2)