Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-366087-20170208004459/@comment-961279-20170210161626

To be a villain requires time. It isn't that you occasionally do something bad. You work towards your goals. Maybe you think you've got some higher purpose or wrong to set to what you think is right. Maybe you just like the way it feels when you commit those crimes. Whatever your reasons and however you personally feel about your efforts, other people view you as a villain.

What makes you a villain in their mind is that your actions over a period of time go above and beyond the everyday people they see: jerks, spoiled brats, people demanding entitlement, bigots, et cetera.

Sitcoms are not really structured to have villains because most antagonists are there to be a temporary obstacle, either as a plot point or to be a punchline. Any time they spend beyond the initial "here's an antagonist" is time they can't use for the rest of the story, and most sitcoms have 22 minutes, minus however long the theme segment/theme song is. We don't get to see what the character's grand plan or reasons why they behave like they do.

In contrast, a drama series, soap opera or action show could have villains because their storylines are directly related to the passage of time. One plot point builds on another, over the course of several episodes or an entire season. Their reasons, their goals, their plans are revealed across several episodes.

With a show like Seinfeld, there's a tempation to try and make an antagonist be a villain. The examples given above by other people don't account for the passage of time that would make an antagonist a villain.


 * For the bald convict, is not giving other people magazines something this person does on a regular basis and he deliberately enjoys treating them this way?
 * Does Lt. Martel regularly try to frame people for crimes they don't commit?
 * Does D.A. Hoyt often push for speedy trials because of petty dislikes towards others?
 * The Soup Nazi wants efficiency, doesn't want people wasting his time, makes arbitrary decisions and has low tolerance when the first two aren't followed. But do we know why he behaves this way?

Without the context of time, we don't have the proof that someone who's being a jerk is making the extra effort to be a villain.