User blog:X9 The Android/PE Proposal: Barkis Bittern

Hello guys! Today, here's my twelfth PE proposal, and it's about Barkis Bittern, the main antagonist of the 2005 stop-motion feature Corpse Bride.

WHO IS HE / WHAT HAS HE DONE?
Barkis Bittern is a wealthy newcomer who comes to visit the village where Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot live. He attends the wedding rehearsal of Victor and Victoria, which ends badly, leading Barkis to humiliate Victor. When Victor runs away and gets abducted by Emily to the underworld, Barkis takes advantage and proposes the Everglots to let them marry Victoria. The Everglots, as greedy as Barkis, accept his proposal, unaware that Barkis secretly plans to kill Victoria once married so he can get the fortune for himself (yet he doesn't know that the Everglots are penniless, who are just marrying Victoria so they can get Barkis' fortune, not knowing he is penniless too).

When Victor resolves to marry Emily instead of Victoria, the undead invade the town and terrorized Barkis and the Everglots during dinner, with the undead children scaring Barkis. However, when trying to escape, Barkis realizes that Victoria is penniless and that he has married her for naught. In spite of that, when Victor and Emily are to marry until Emily realizes that Victor loves Victoria, Barkis appears during the wedding and tries to get Victoria with him, claiming that she's still his wife and still desires her. However, Emily reveals that Barkis was her past love and that he killed her to get all her fortune for himself. Horrified when all the undead stand up, Barkis takes the sword of General Bonesapart and threatens to kill Victoria.

No wanting to let Victoria die at the hands of Barkis, Victor stands up and takes a fork, engaging on a duel against Barkis, leading Emily to intervene when Barkis comes close to kill Victor. Not wanting anymore to do, Barkis drinks the poisoned wine which Victor had to drink to die to marry Emily and gloats on himself while insulting Emily. However, Barkis dies as a result and becomes undead, leaving the undead to take care of Barkis and they drag him to an unknown fate, likely completely murdering him so he can't go to the underworld or just severely punishing him while Emily goes to Heaven due her actions.

MITIGATING FACTORS?
Although Barkis Bittern just reveals his true colors during the film's climax, he stands up as one of the most evil villains in stop-motion films. If you compare him to Oogie Boogie and Mr. Whiskers, the main antagonist of Tim Burton's other stop-motion films, it's easy to deduce that Barkis is far worse than them (especially if it's considered by many that all those stop-motion films take place in the same universe). While initially depicted as an snobbish nobleman who enjoys humiliating Victor at his wedding rehearsal, it's later when he proposes the Everglots to marry Victoria that he reveals his treacherous and murderous nature, revealing that he wants to dispose of Victoria by killing her just to get all her fortune for himself. Not only that, but as the film later shows, Barkis did the same thing to Emily years ago just to become rich, which demonstrates how selfish he can be just for money, not caring on who he has to kill to accomplish so (and it's possible he did the same thing to other innocent young women before Emily).

While Barkis gets just one comical moment when Victor prickles his butt with a fork, he is still evil enough to qualify, as he is generally portrayed throughout the film as a serious, cold and heartless villain who doesn't respect the nature of life and death, as seen when he mocks on Emily due her status as an undead. His arrogancy is immense too, as shown when he gets his Villainous Breakdown just becase Victor rips off his fine tuxedo, which means that he cares more for material things. The fact that Emily's parents rejected him to marry his daughter means that he was already a despicable person to begin with, but Barkis is far worse than just a sophisticated gold-digger.

And last, despite that he only truly cares for money and material things, other disturbing side of Barkis' personality is when he still tries to claim Victoria as his wife even though it's clear she wants to marry Victor and that he doesn't need her because she is penniless, which implies that he is a pervert also who possibly wants women too to satisfy his carnal desires. He also likes to have authority above others, as when he mocks the undead because they can't do anything against the living, but when he dies, the undead make him pay for his actions and we can see how the incredible evil man Barkis was trembles in fear as his fate gets sealed, demonstrating his extreme cowardice.

VERDICT
Taking all of this into account, I would say yes about considering Barkis Bittern to be approved as PE.