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Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Difference between revisions

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Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad (view source)

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A common trait of [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]].
 
Sometimes it isn't enough for a villain to be [[Obviously Evil|evil]]. They [[Slave to PR|have to prove their evilness]] by [[Good Hurts Evil|eschewing all that is good]] and [[Evil Feels Good|embracing all that is bad]]. They'll eat [[Trademark Favorite Food|foods that disgust the good guys]] and [[The Fun in Funeral|laugh at funerals]]. They may also carry this over to their speech, making sure to only use negative phrases when most people would use a normal one, and correcting themselves if they "slip" ("Oh, goody! I mean, 'baddy.'") They'll [[Kick the Dog|kick puppies for sport]], and describe things as repulsive [[Insult Backfire|like it's a good thing]]. They may be plagued by a [[Minion Withwith an F In Evil]].
 
Makes [[Your Head Asplode]] if you think about it too much.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* Part of the Team Rocket trio's original motto from the ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'' anime mentions they want to "denounce the evils of truth and love".
 
 
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== Films -- Animated ==
* Mad Madam Mim in ''[[The Sword in Thethe Stone]]''. According to her [[Villain Song]], she "take(s) delight in the gruesome and grim", and she tries to kill Arthur because Merlin "sees something good in you...and in my book that's bad!" After she loses the Wizard's Duel and is laid up sick, Merlin recomends lots of rest and sunshine, and Mim complains, "I hate horrible, wholesome sunshine!"
* The Blue Meanies in ''[[Yellow Submarine (Animation)|Yellow Submarine]]''. They even say "no" instead of "yes". [[Fridge Logic|Try not to think too hard about that..]]
* The movie ''[[Igor]]'' is set in this kind of world.
{{quote| '''Igor:''' Oh, god, she's killing blind orphans! That's so...evil! I mean, which is great, but...blind orphans?!}}
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[Time Bandits (Film)|Time Bandits]]''
{{quote| '''Evil:''' Suddenly, I feel very, very good.<br />
'''Benson:''' Oh, I'm sorry, Master.<br />
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{{quote| '''Ms. Beezlebub:''' I'm so proud of you. You've done an ''awful'' job.}}
** Of course, the original definition of ''awful'' was "filling one with awe," so that it meant almost exactly the same thing as ''awesome''. A subversion, then?
* ''[[Batman (Filmfilm)|Batman]]'': [[The Joker]] joins Vicki Vale for a "date" in a museum café and looks over her portfolio of photographs. He dismissively flips through some shots of fashion models ("Crap, crap, crap...") before coming to a group of photos depicting mass graves in a war-torn foreign land. He reacts as if they are works of great beauty and genius.
* ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]'':
{{quote| '''Inigo:''' I'm sorry, Father. I tried. I tried.<br />
'''Count Rugen:''' You must be that little Spanish brat I taught a lesson to all those years ago. Simply incredible. Have you been chasing me all your life, only to fail now? I think that's the worst thing I've ever heard. How marvellous. }}
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== Literature ==
* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' series, ogres value being dumb and ugly.
* [[Satan]] in ''[[Paradise Lost]]'': "Evil be thou my Good."
* The Mahrkagir in ''[[KushielsKushiel's Legacy]]''. His motto is "Ill thoughts, ill words, ill deeds."
* Parodied in a story by [[James Thurber]]: "Bad bye!"
* The villains in Niel Hancock's ''Circle of Light'' series talk like this.
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** That said, they still think of "over" as lesser and "under" as greater. (Screwtape is an Undersecretary in the Lowerarchy, and they respect and serve Our Father Below)
** Another Lewis example is in ''Mere Christianity'' where he invites the reader to consider what a society like this actually would look like to show that different moral systems are really not as different as usually thought.
* [[The Bible (Literature)|Isaiah 5:20]] has "woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter", making this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
* There are hints of this in the vermin's behaviour in [[Redwall]], though it doesn't entirely define them and some of them have expressed good traits (though that really just throws their horrible behaviour into sharp relief). A [[Villain Song]] in ''Triss'' expresses the GIB&BIG view specifically:
{{quote| "Ho, 'tis nice to be a villain, wot all honest creatures fears,<br />
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Aye, us bad'uns loves to 'ear that mournful sound!" }}
* [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] describes those who consider pity good and power and success bad as slave moralists; he believes this to be an anti-human mentality.
** This is pretty much a summary of [[Ayn Rand (Creator)|Ayn Rand]]'s philosophies too.
* Demons in the [[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Eric|Eric]]''. On the first occurrence, a [[Footnote Fever|footnote]] notes that "Demons have a distorted sense of values."
* A variation occurs in the second ''Archives of Anthropos'' book, when Pan forces Eleanor to dance and sing in her sleep, "Lunacy, lunacy, madness is sanity, truth is profanity . . ."
* A one-off joke in ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]'', where the demon Crowley 'blesses' under his breath when frustrated.
 
 
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'', "Pyramids of Mars":
{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' But you use your powers for evil!<br />
'''Sutekh:''' Evil? Your evil is my good. I am Sutekh the Destroyer. Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness...I find that good! }}
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'''Kathy Nightingale''': What's good about sad?<br />
'''Sally Sparrow''': It's happy for deep people. }}
* In ''[[Lazy TownLazyTown]]'', one of Robbie Rotten's songs is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4CTC_01mAQ "Good to be Bad"].
{{quote| They tell me I should change and wear a perky smile<br />
But smiling makes my face hurt and happiness is vile. }}
* ''[[The Addams Family (TV)|The Addams Family]]'' are a lesser version of this. Specifically, they find disgusting things lovely, and torture as good family fun. But they are very polite and try not to comment on those weirdos with the sickening love of flowers.
* Oscar the Grouch from ''[[Sesame Street (TV)|Sesame Street]]'' is like this at times. He once got into [[Logic Bomb|a bit of a logical conundrum]] when he realized being mad made him happy, and being happy made him mad, "Which makes me happy, which makes me mad, which makes me happy, which makes me mad..."
** He even had a song about this:
{{quote| Oh I'm sad because I'm happy<br />
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** Then there's her brother, Rito Revolto, and their dad, Master Vile. [[Obviously Evil|Just in case you forgot what side they're on.]] Villains were even addressed as "Your Evilness" for the first several seasons.
* In the ''[[Series/Wizards Of Waverly Place|Wizards Of Waverly Place]]'' episode "Don't Rain on Justin's Parade--Earth," [[Heroic Sociopath|Alex Russo]] becomes increasingly distressed at the realization that she is becoming good under the tutelage of Mr. Laritate. She is pleased and relieved at the end of the episode when he calls her an evil genius.
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', bad guys often celebrate evil as though it were a religion. Spike once makes a reference to helping Giles "out of the evilness of his heart".
* Lexi from ''[[ANT Farm]]''
{{quote| '''Lexi:''' Paisley, you ''really'' need to work on your bad sportsmanship. }}
* Villains in ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' can harbor this attitude at times. For example, during one of Cole's attempts to get Phoebe back in his mad downfall period Piper once asked him how he could be so evil. His reply?
{{quote| '''Cole:''' "It's a gift."}}
* Gittle the [[Cute Witch]] on the 1970s educational show ''Curiosity Shop'' would sometimes exclaim, "Oh my badness!" (She was actually about as evil as [[Winnie the Pooh]]).
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* The witches in ''[[Macbeth]]'': "Fair is foul and foul is fair."
* The musical ''Dracula, Baby'' has the song "It's Good to be Bad".
* In the concept album of the [[Jekyll and Hyde (Theatretheatre)|Jekyll and Hyde]] musical, Hyde invokes this, nearly verbatim, in "The World Has Gone Insane".
** ''"Bad is good and good is bad! Sacred is profane, and it's wiser to be mad - in a world that's gone insane!"''
 
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* Played perfectly straight in ''[[Overlord]]'' series. The main voice of this is Gnarl.
{{quote| It's good to be bad. It's better to be evil.}}
* [[Super Mario Bros.|Bowser Koopa]] has some minor traits of this, with at least one example present in the spin-off ''Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time'', where he loves Thwomp Volcano for being "hot, stinky, dangerous, and one humongous fire hazard". [[Super Mario Bros Super Show|King Koopa]] (his cartoon alter-ego) invoked this trope a lot more often, however.
** Liking Thwomp Volcano could just be a case of narcissism though.
* You can attempt to logic-bomb the [[Always Chaotic Evil]] Ilwrath in ''[[Star Control]] II'' by invoking this trope. {{spoiler|It doesn't work. It does make them very angry, though.}}
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{{quote| '''God of Evil:''' I hate you, daughter.<br />
'''Daughter:''' ''with cheery smile'' I hate you, too, daddy! }}
* Castle Heterodyne of ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'', having the [[Genius Loci|personality]] of evil, bloodthirsty, and megalomaniacal Faustus Heterodyne, acts in this manner.
{{quote| '''Agatha:''' Nah, you did '''good'''. <br />
'''Castle Heterodyne:''' "Good." ...Hrm, perhaps...You could phrase it some '''other way'''? }}
* In ''[[Dinosaur Comics (Webcomic)|Dinosaur Comics]]'', [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=35 Evil T-Rex] from the [[Mirror Universe]] describes his glee thus:
{{quote| '''Evil T-Rex''': I love being bad--I mean, I love being good! Because "bad" is "good" to us! And by "us," I mean the entire universe.}}
* Khrima of ''[[Adventurers (Webcomic)|Adventurers]]'' challenges when his henchman plays "Nice" in a game of Scrabble, attempting to pronounce the word as "nee-kay".
* ''[[Dan and MabsMab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]]'': Kria is dissapointed that her daughter [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_341.php doesn't go on rampages] and [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1045.php break the furniture]:
{{quote| '''Lorenda''': I hate you! I'm going to my room!<br />
'''Kria''': Lorenda! You get back down here and throw a tantrum in this room full of rare fragile vases or else! }}
* ''[[Blip]]'': An [[Horny Devil|incubus]] nearly dies of a purifying infection, and his heart transplant needs to corrupted before it starts functioning.
* ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]'': A mom is called to school by the worried schoolteacher; her son does his homework, is nice to his classmates and cleans up after himself. The woman (a gnoll, btw) is really worried until he snarls at her that he hates her and wishes she was dead. Then she realises that there is some hope for her son!
* ''[[Evil Diva (Webcomicwebcomic)|Evil Diva]]'': The title character's parents sometimes slip up and tell her to be good -- that is, obedient to their directions to be bad.
* Sabine and Nale in [http://www.GiantITP.com/comics/oots0794.html this] strip of ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' have the standard [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]] vs. [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]] conversation, but entirely flipped. ("Sure, women like me swoon for a hero, but that's only because deep down, we think we can change them.")
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1471 Li'l Evil ]
** [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3133 And when he strays from the path by throwing a beggar a coin, he repents]
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== Western Animation ==
* Saddam Hussein, as depicted on ''[[South Park]]''. He loves Hell so much that when [[Even Evil Has Standards|Satan finally decides that he's had all he can stand of Saddam]], he banishes the dictator to Heaven (which in the ''South Park'' universe is populated only by Mormons). Saddam is immediately shanghaied by a troupe of actors who are just about to stage a play about how lying hurts people, and he is dragged off [[Big No|screaming in despair]].
* Evil Jim, [[Earthworm Jim (Animationanimation)|Earthworm Jim]]'s [[Evil Twin|evil clone]] claims to love the taste of orange juice after you've brushed your teeth, which Jim hates.
** Not played completely straight, since when Jim tells him that since Jim hates losing, Evil Jim must revel in it, but Evil Jim says that he shouldn't be so literal.
* In ''[[Barbie and Thethe Diamond Castle]]'', the extended version of Lydia's [[Villain Song]] is like this.
{{quote| ''"Dreary is cheery and gloomy is good for me." "I loathe smiling babies, I love dogs with rabies."''}}
** Also, one of her first lines is "The world is really a very small and dark place. Just how I like it!"
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* Fenella from ''[[Chorlton and The Wheelies]]''
* Murky from ''[[Rainbow Brite]]'', who hates colorful things and wants the world to be gray.
* ''[[The Tick]]'': [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight]] tries to play it off to the cops like he's just an electrician, but he can't help himself, following it up with: "bad is good, baby! Down with government!" [http://www.thetick.ws/embquotes.htm He's full of that sort of thing.]
* Prince Phobos in ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'' despises bright, happy things, and so naturally commissions artists to make the bleakest, dreariest pictures they can. It is mentioned, however, that the ''reason'' he hates bright, happy things is because he thinks it will inspire his followers to have hope, and consequently rebel against him- so he has a ''reason'' for going in for dreariness and misery, albeit a despicable one.
* Almost every ''[[Care Bears]]'' villain. (Which is why the [[Care Bear Stare]] is so effective.)
* Bramble, [[The Big Bad]] of the ''[[Bitsy Bears]]'' pilot cartoon not only cuts the heads off a bouquet of flowers and declares it a marked improvement, but hates the "happy sounds" of the Honey Bear Fair amusement park and plots to put a stop to it for good. In fact, the Bitsy Bears describe her as a bear that "forgot how to be happy."
* The villains for the ''[[PJP.J. Sparkles]]'' pilot cartoon are probably the most distilled version of this trope. The Cloak and his wife Betty revel in the dreary Twinkle Town, enjoy spreading filth, and get a headache and indigestion, respectively, when exposed to sunlight. So they're not pleased to find that PJ has suddenly made Twinkle Town match its name.
{{quote| '''The Cloak''': This place is dark, cold, in horrible disrepair, and it smells like a rotten egg sandwich made with moldy limberger cheese rolled in used kitty litter. * sniffs* Ah, it doesn't get any better than this!}}
* Lucius Heinous VII from ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''.
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'''Natasha:''' You mean good idea?<br />
'''Boris:''' You know me, I got nothing good! }}
* The Shushu of ''[[Wakfu (Animation)|Wakfu]]'' run on this being an [[Always Chaotic Evil]] demonic race that lives for destruction. Words like "despicable" are considered compliments and cute things are abhorred.
* Hydia, the big bad of ''[[My Little Pony]] the Movie'' was a wicked witch who was always berating her daughters Reeka and Draggle for not being wicked enough. At one point, she threatened to force-feed them banana splits if they didn't tell her what had gone wrong with the Smooze.
 
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