So it has been quite awhile since I've felt "the Muse upon me" as regards my writing. I have had little thoughts here and there, but nothing excellent and certainly nothing that I've turned into text on paper. Just thoughts. But one particular thought has been circling my brain for hours, days, weeks..
An archenemy. A nemesis.
Among many others, I was sucked into the craziness of seeing The Dark Knight on its opening at midnight. I was awestruck at the new interpretation of The Joker that was presented - an ancient, pre-existing enemy that has been deemed the "quintessential bad guy of all time", reimagined in such a brilliant way. The thing that drew my attention was the relationship between Joker and Batman. "Two sides of the same coin" it has been said. "You complete me," Joker says. "You need me," I believe he says in another situation. And for all the evil that Joker inflicts upon Batman and Gotham, our protaganist even saves his life once! Despite the fact that Joker "dies" several times, yet keeps coming... the concept of a hero having a necessary nemesis is huge here.
I need a nemesis. Not some evil character who directs hordes of minions and sits comfortably on a throne of evilness somewhere.... A rival who gets down and dirty in his evil. For all his peons, Joker gets personally involved with everything, in direct conflict with Batman. I mean, currently disregarding the fact that he's out of his mind (assumably) and has no rhyme or reason... he is a personal villain. The evil shadow of the good hero - and shadows follow you everywhere.
The villain who doesn't have "trusted minions" and does his own dirty work for himself. Uses the "tools" (aka people) necessary to do his will, and then drops them or kills them afterward. Think the whole intro scene to the movie. And think about the fact that it is Joker, personally, who is firing the rocket launcher during the chase. He needs no one, except the person he is anti-hero to. So I need a nemesis who is the personal rival of my hero... the thorn in his side... the other side of his coin.
And thinking of Alfred's quote, I think it sums up the kind of person I need to find in my imagination:
"Some men just want to watch the world burn."
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2 comments:
I like the idea that there's a slight difference between the archenemy and the nemesis. Your archenemy is the guy that you hate, and everyone can tell you hate - open conflict. Your nemesis might be more of a rival - you two hate each other's guts, but the rest of the world might thing you're friends. You might even cry at their funeral, even if you put them in the ground. The article I got this from labelled the Joker and Batman as archenemies, and Superman and Batman as nemesises (nemesi?). You want to beat your archenemy. You want to do better than your nemesis.
Ah, definitely a good distinction. That had not occurred to me, and it makes sense now that I actually think about it.
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