We were listening to Tosca and after Te Deum my husband asked; “Why is evil sexy?”

[Pause for listening to Te Deum. Please do that, even if you don’t listen to opera. You don’t have to watch, just listen.]


In case you don’t know the plot, the head of the police, Scarpia sings of his obsession with the beautiful Tosca and how he plan to kill her lover and possess her. That he does so in a church and then joins in with the praying makes it even nastier. Eventually he will give Tosca what is often called just a Scarpia ultimatum; I have you lover in my clutches and if you don’t get hot and bothered with me, you can wave s/he bye bye. The thing is, you don’t have to understand the words of Te Deum, by just listening to that deep, sinister voice and you get that this isn’t a person with good intent. Personally the combination of voice and the church bells makes me shiver.

Still, I think that question is wrong, because real evil isn’t sexy, it’s just scary. I think the question should be; why is evil as a fantasy sexy?

And I think that there isn’t just one reason for that, but one part is that it is just a fantasy and both as creators and consumers we have the real power. I can write a villain exactly as evil as I want, but it is I who decide what s/he should do and say and it’s my right to do so only in a way I enjoy. And if I watch or read, I can quit and walk away if I feel uncomfortable or scared.

Then I think a big reason is because evil very often is depicted as sexy in media. The villain has the cool outfits, the best hair, the sensuality and very often really nice voices. There is a long tradition to view sex as evil in Western media, which makes sexiness the province of the really bad boys and girls. When the Master was introduced in Doctor Who his seductive and sensuous qualities were very much planned and even if Jon Pertwee was a handsome man, he doesn’t ooze sexiness as Roger Delgado does. I suspect that Old Who deliberately underplayed the Doctors sexuality as he do pick up young and attractive persons all the time and travel around with them. It was aired as a show for kids after all, though it certainly didn’t stop people from having theories. As a contrast the Master actually uses his sex appeal to get his way at times. He chose to seduce Queen Galleia instead of using hypnosis to get power over her, so one can assume he enjoyed doing it more hands on.

Evil as sexy is of course, enhanced when actors like Alan Rickman and Jason Isaacs do villains. They are sexy when they play heroes, so no wonder that the fangirls swoon when they play baddies. Or look at Patrick Troughton who was a very handsome man and managed to hide that very well as the Second Doctor. Then look at him being evil as Ramon Salamander...

Perhaps that is why so many villains get white-washed in fanfiction. Readers and viewers are attracted to them, but don’t like the evil-part, they are re-made as good guys. There is a trope for that called Draco in Leather Pants, which makes me giggle. (And if you want more giggles, the whole TV tropes page is good fun.) Personally I don’t care for that, I prefer my villain’s evil. And if they have to redeem themselves, then they would have to have a very good reason.

So, what do you think? Why is the fantasy of evil sexy (if you think it is, that is)?



(I just found this. Yep, that's me...)