Being Evil Sucks: Difference between revisions

== Film ==

* ''[[American History X]]'' has Derek turning away from his neo-Nazi lifestyle as he realizes how unhappy and basically crappy it has made his life:

* This is the lesson Cady learns at the end of ''[[Mean Girls]].''

* In ''[[Battle Beyond the Stars]]'', Roger Corman's ''[[The Magnificent Seven Samurai|Magnificent 7]]'' [[Recycled in Space|In Space]], one of the recruits is the galaxy's greatest assassin. He's amassed great wealth, but he muses that he lives alone and bored because he's feared everywhere he goes. The kid promises a home on his planet where no one knows him and where he can be happy if he helps them fight off the slaver.

* [[Super Villain|Lucy Diamond]] in ''[[D.E.B.S.]]''. After she falls in love with Amy and realizes that she'll have to give up her life of crime to be with her, she says "Being bad doesn't feel good anymore."

* Subverted (somewhat) with ''[[Goodfellas]]''. Henry Hill's life of crime ultimately leaves him in the witness protection program, divorced and living his life as (in his own words) a "schmuck". And he knows very well the alternative was death. But the final monologue of the movie is Hill pining for the old days of crime, wealth and excitement.

* The eponymous character in ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James]]'' qualifies for this. The myth around him has developed to the point where he finds it impossible to escape it and he is constantly reminded of the consequences of what he has done. While he is an unstable bully, he feels genuine remorse for all the lives he has taken and wants nothing more than death. Beautifully summed up by his line:

* Lord Shen in ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]'' is haunted by the perception that his parents hated him, and now is out to conquer Gongman City and then China to have something worthwhile in his life. However when pressed, even he can't say whether his dream is worth anything other than an excuse to kill anyone in his path.

 

*** Also [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] himself who is completely uncapable of feeling love. he is driven solely on ambition and greed, and does everything he can to ensure that he'll live forever, {{spoiler|even going so far as to split his soul into horcruxes which take away more and more of his humanity and cause him to gradually develop a very pale, snake-like appearance, and he becomes very paranoid and frantic as Harry and his friends destroy more of them. By the end of the series he suffers [[A Fate Worse Than Death]].}} Its also shown that [[Being Evil Sucks]] for his followers as well who are under the constant threat of being murdered by him if they try his patience in any way. [[Resignations Not Accepted|And once they're in, they're in for life]].

* In ''[[Death Star]]'', the gunner who fired the superlaser that destroyed Alderaan, who had always wanted to fire the biggest gun, finds that [[Punch Clock Villain|following orders]] and actually getting what he'd wished for led to misery beyond his wildest dreams, a personal [[Moral Event Horizon]]. He can't justify it, can't either make it less of a crime or blame someone else, and is unable to sleep for guilt and horrible dreams. When the Death Star is in range of Yavin he stalls desperately, hoping that something would happen and he wouldn't have to pull that trigger again. [[Foregone Conclusion|He got that wish]].

[[My God, What Have I Done?|How could a man live with that]]? }}

* While the Dark Ones in ''[[Night Watch (novel)|Night Watch]]'' use every opportunity to brag about all that freedom, independence and strength The Darkness had given them and to make some lenient remarks on the poor deluded Light Ones who are so very constricted by their rules and who fuss over humans so much... It turns out that vampires are haunted by persistent insatiable [[Horror Hunger]], werewolves have to deal with feats of feral uncontrollable rage once in a while and all the Dark Ones in general live in a world of constant paranoia and distrust towards their own brethren and superiors. ''Especially'' superiors who wouldn't even bother notifying that [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]] before they set up and sacrifice you as a part of their [[Evil Plan]].

* This is the overarching meta-theme in [[The Lord of the Rings|Middle-Earth]]. Evil consumes all it touches, leading them to waste their lives before their miserable deaths. This is true from the first [[Dark Lord]] [[Satan|Morgoth]] to mortals to [[Big Bad|Sauron]] to [[Fallen Hero|Saruman]]. Everyone who gives in to darkness ends up bitterly regretting it, and that's if they're lucky. If they're not, it's [[And I Must Scream]] time.

* You also see this in Shakespeare's ''[[Richard III]]'', where at the beginning Richard says, "I am determined to prove a villain / And hate the idle pleasures of these days." At the end of the play, {{spoiler|after, amongst other ill deeds, having his brother and nephews murdered,}} he remarks to himself:

For hateful deeds committed by myself! }}

* In the book version of ''[[The Talented Mr. Ripley]]'', Ripley gets away with everything. On the other hand, Ripley spends the rest of his life in paranoid fear of the police, wondering if the next cop he sees has figured out what Ripley has done.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' - "Selfless". The whole point of that episode was to show how damaged Anya was following her return to vengeance.

** Even soulless vampires are sometimes subject to this--if, like Harmony or [[Badass Decay|chipped Spike]], they're [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Ineffectual]] enough to be aware that they're Ineffectual. Harmony flat out says it in season four:

** When Faith returns in Season Four it's clear that her hostility is accompanied by deep self-loathing of what she's become. She seemed to be happier with it prior to her awakening, but this is likely because her slide into darkness went in hand with her relationship with her [[Affably Evil|father figure]]. With him dead all she had left was the knowledge of how badly she'd fallen. Immediately after she leaves the season, she shows up in the first season of ''Angel'' attempting [[Suicide by Cop]], but thankfully ends up with a [[Heel Face Turn]] instead.

* The fact that ex-demon Cole in ''[[Charmed]]'' managed to [[Power Copying|amass enough demonic power]] to become [[Nigh Invulnerable]] is the main reason that Phoebe divorced him (as he had become a threat to her and her sisters); particularly tragic as he'd only done all of that so he could [[Like a Badass Out of Hell|escape hell]] to return to her. [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|He couldn't even kill himself]] from the resulting grief.

* Mentioned by Mitchell in one episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' after they've captured a Mook and promised him protection from the bad guys. Sam points out that "protection" will mean locking him up:

* Tony's psychiatrist on ''[[The Sopranos]]'' frequently hints that Tony's (and certain people around him) mental problems are due to this.

* Walt in ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', because of his meth-cooking, his wife wants to divorce him and he has been racked with guilt over the the results of his actions.

== Music ==

* Subverted in [[Voltaire (band)|Voltaire]]'s song "When You're Evil". The last verse sounds almost like the singer is bothered by his villainous ways and longs for some human happiness... 'Almost' being the key word here:

''I'm lying through my teeth! Your tears are all the company I need.'' }}

** Huh. I always figured it was played straight, and that the last two lines refer to the rest of the song.

* ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]''.

* ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'' has this gem: