Session 5: Darkness Within

3rd Global Conference

Saturday 10th September – Monday 12th September 2011

Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

The Genesis creation narrative is a portrait of the creation of the world. At the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, the earth was without form and darkness dominated on it. Then, the voice of God was heard: Let there be light, and there was light, dominion of darkness came to an end. Light was good, and God named the light Day, and He named the darkness Night, thus, He divided the light from the darkness. In Iris Murdoch’s novel The time of Angels, darkness is used to bring about a greater understanding of the villian, Peder Carel. The opening pages reflecting the dark, cold and gloomy rectory have overtones of villainy. Peder Carel wants to keep his throne, his territory and his mysterious image of being others’ God, which can be achieved only under the circumstance that he could freely manipulate everybody’s will, takes up their entire thought and penetrates into the core of their life. He imprisons Elizabeth by an act of will and neither he nor Elizabeth goes outside the doors and no one is allowed in; when others from inside Muriel, Pattie, Leo go out, they are enveloped in fog, when outsiders wish to come in, rectory is concealed in dark. This fog and darkness are lifted after Carel’s death. Darkness is ulitimately is inescapable, and it leads the invisible demonic empire of Peder Carel. The only visible and captive indicators of this demonic realm, are the insiders. This study will outline the process of darkness and argue the theme of villainy belonging to the realm of the night and darkness alongside the depressing, dark, shadowed and evil character of Peder Carel.

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The Sympathetic Hero is an Inside Man
Susan Meindl
National College, Roanoke, Virginia, USA (Dayton, Ohio Campus)

A character who is both villain and hero, who gains our sympathy over time, and is on the side of right can be found in Spike Lee’s INSIDE MAN (2006). The lead bank robber, Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), first appears to be menacing and abusive. He hits one of the bank workers who has not produced a cell phone when ordered. Soon, however, Russell comments on a youngster’s attachment to a violent video game, which features major points for killing cops. He is amazed that the child is playing such a violent game and that the child likes the game and has no problem “killing” cops. The audience snickers at the seemingly oxymoronic nature of the exchange when Russell tells the boy he wants to discuss this with the child’s father.

Eventually, the audience finds out that the bank “robbery” is just a ruse to expose a real crime. As the audience discovers that the original villain is actually the hero, the earlier exchange about the video game makes sense. Russell orchestrates the action and the police investigation to protect his innocent hostages and colleagues. Russell remains hidden, enabling Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) to discover the greater crime and the identity of the true villain. Frazier is indebted to his anonymous vigilante and pursues the cause of social righteousness.

The original villain of INSIDE MAN gains audience sympathy by careful manipulation. The revelation of his true nature and of the greater crime convinces viewers that his villainy is justified, but that he is a hero. In the process, the audience’s expectations are fulfilled—the true hero gets away unpunished for his “crime,” the detective is allowed to fulfill his role as societal protector by pursuing the true villain, and justice is served.

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Dangers of the Foreign Other: Villains in Sherlock Holmes
Erica Foss
Boston College, USA

Arguably one of the most widely read collections of popular literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Sherlock Holmes stories provide vital insight into the ideas of villainy and British identity. Focusing on what Edward Said refers to as “the Other,” this paper examines images of villains in the Holmes oeuvre, and their depictions as dangerous and savage influences from the East. Throughout this particular collection of works, the villain and the foreigner are synonymous, and the danger that they pose is entirely related to the idea of British purity. The villains of the Holmes stories are not simple criminals. They have by and large been influenced by the evils of the foreign. From prominent and intelligent Englishmen who have spend time in India, to the twisted and depraved foreign men who come to England to corrupt, the villains in these stories pose a double threat. Not only are they a threat to an ordered society by the nature of their criminality, but they threaten the very fabric of British identity. These criminals represent villainy at its worst, for the real threat is not the crimes being committed, but the influence of “the other.” Conan Doyle’s description and characterization of his fears and the dangers of these foreigners is reinforced using his main character, Sherlock Holmes. A hero to the English people, Sherlock Holmes epitomizes what it means to be the quintessential Englishman. His scientific views of this villainous “Other,” backed up by pseudoscientific reasoning, help to galvanize the insidious nature of the foreign and provide a compelling reason for using the purity of the British Empire to keep this danger in check.

Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)