Why do we love villains?

Parsifal

Parsifal

Parsifal

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What is so attractive about villains in art such as Darth Vader or Vito Corleone, etc.

Now not all villains are attractive; a paedophile character could never be liked for example.

What makes us like these epic villain characters?

THanks.
 
I think the epic villain appeals to our nihilistic and egocentric tendencies. That these people can do absolutely anything they want. And enjoy doing it to. How many other people want to ride around in a death star taking out planets every once in a while? I know I do.
 
It's their personality more than anything that draws us in despite their moral standing.

The villains in question are normally ones that lead many others, which requires a great deal of confidence and charisma. They are normally very passionate people, something which we can empathise with easily.

A weasel like villain does not appeal, as they do not have these qualities. Being a villain has next to nothing to do with our fondness for these types of characters, it's merely that these characters tend to be - by design - powerful and persuasive.
 
I think villains have more interesting characters in terms of their mannerisms, their logic to things and sometimes, their history i.e. how they turned to evil or how they came to be metally ill/psychotic.
 
One of the things about liking villainous characters is that often we feel it is safe to like them because we know that in a film/book they're going to get their comeuppance eventually - it's relatively rare for a villian to win out in the end.

Some of it may be that a villian can do the things we'd quite like to do, not all of them of course but as Henry Louis Mencken said "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats". There's something appealing about the idea of disregarding moral and legal codes and just doing what you feel like - effectively being a law unto yourself.

As Zefan mentions the power is another factor - these are often strong and charismatic characters we are talking about, natural leaders who might inspire fear, perhaps respect but usually captivating personalities.
 
A great example is The Joker from Batman.

Joker is suppose to be the villain but his personality is the opposite, he jokes around and doesn't take things that seriously and I find him really funny. Whereas Batman the good guy is really dark and just gets down to business kind of makes him lame in some terms.

Basically the Villain is more interesting.
 
Michael Ironside, one of my favourite villain actors, once said that he liked playing villains as the good guys got beaten up several times in a film where as the main villain only got beaten up once. At the end.

I think we root/like villains in films as it allows us to live vicariously through them knowing we wouldn't do what the likes of Tony Montana did or what Frank Booth did.
 
A likeable villain is usually a flawed genius. A hero usally has no flaws, or at the very least overcomes them to achieve greatness. We have flaws, therefore we can identify more with the less pristine characters and the incidents which led them to choose their particular path, than the perfect persona of a hero.
 
Not sure but my favourite film for a villain is Arlington Road. It's not the best film overall but the ending more than makes up for any dullness :)

If you like villains, watch this film.
 
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