Can you have a good story without villains?

I was reading a column about the upcoming movie "Sully," which depicts the amazing water landing of an airliner--the "Miracle on the Hudson." The article closed with the thought, "All good stories need a villain." I couldn't disagree more. Every story does require conflict, but not necessarily a villain. Think of the recent movies, "The Martian" and "Gravity." There's plenty of conflict, in the sense of surviving extraordinarily hazardous conditions, yet there are no mustache-twirling villains. The interest in these survival stories isn't how the hero is picked on, but how they lived or didn't--since these stories don't guarantee a happy ending.

 

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Audiences want interesting, entertaining, captivating stories. There are many tried and tested manners of delivering such stories; frameworks and patterns diagramed and understood for centuries. In reality, there just aren't all that many sorts of stories. Depending on who you ask, you could have as few as two. Yet, all stories contain conflict, because if there's nothing happening the story is a boring research paper with no excitement. Figure out where the conflict is, and then you'll know if you need a villain.

 

If you do need a villain, then keep in mind that "heroes are only as good as their villains." If the hero is too powerful, then the villain poses no challenge and thus no conflict. Oddly, the opposite isn't true, as frequently the villain is far greater than the hero, so in these cases the hero must grow to overcome the conflict. Villains don't even need to be seen constantly to be a true threat, yet their influence must be firmly intertwined with the story to keep the conflict ever present.

 

Yes, a good story doesn't require a villain, it only must have conflict.

 

- M