How Reframing Villains as Heroes Reflects Shifting Cultural Narratives About Power and Morality

Jananie K. Velu, host of the PBS series Plotlines on the Storied channel, examined the long-standing literary and cinematic tradition of reframing classic villains as heroes, noting that perspectives on villainy reflect shifting social values, political climates, and cultural narratives about power and morality. Examples include Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Wicked, the Joker, and Cobra Kai.

If stories are an expression of a culture’s value system, what do these role reversals say about us?… Whom we call hero and who we call villain says a lot about us. And when those designations start to shift, it can be a sign of social change, like the rejection of monarchy in Milton’s England, the gay rights movement of the 1990s, or today’s global lean towards authoritarianism. Stories are how we make sense of the world.