It's probably safe to say that we've all encountered bullies. Whatever side of the argument you fall on, there's lots of strong emotion at play. My feelings is that we all have some kind of notion about fairness, and what it means and how to go about it. Within a story, bullies generate a ton of powerful emotions. I don't deny that I'm in the camp that dislikes bullies, so when I find a bully in a story it raises the hair on the back of my neck when they get away with things. Our society frowns on such behavior, but it remains a part of life and probably always will.
There's another segment of this though, and it's often the driving force behind literary/movie villains. For whatever reason, they just love making other people suffer. I'm reminded of the beginning of Despicable Me, where the title character gives a little boy a balloon animal just so he can pop it and cause the little boy to cry. Villains love seeing the hero cry, and, since the audience is rooting for the hero, they shares the hurt and pain. It's a wonderful motivator for the conflict, and gets the audience involved.
However things turn out in stories, though, it goes without saying that in reality bullies rarely get their payback. Maybe that's why we like seeing the villain go down, get crushed, and pounded back into the darkness they came from. But, there are those villains that don't get punished, and they are some of the most legendary villains ever--such as Darth Vader. Whatever the method, bullies are a key feature in stories.
- M
ps. Why are mad babies so unbelievably cute?
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