evil laughter
Why are villains often shown laughing, while heroes are shown serious? The trope of the villainous laugh used often in movies today is actually not new. The earliest evidence of the phrase “Evil laugh” dates back to the 1860s. Though the phrase “wicked laugh” can be seen as early as 1784. And the term “sardonic laugh” appears in 1714 and may have been used earlier.
So humans have for quite a while viewed laughter as somewhat evil. But why? - especially when a child’s laugh or Santa’s Ho Ho Ho brings us such joy?
Keeping in line with Ramachandran’s theory, laughter’s role is to communicate that those things which had been considered consequential are in fact inconsequential.
Laughing villains
Cruella de Vil, for instance, does not laugh maniacally simply because she finds joy in the prospect of skinning her assistant’s pups; humans find intense joy in many things that do not trigger laughter. More than simply enjoying, Cruela finds the exchange humorous exactly because she’s aware that her assistant finds this to be extremely unpleasant. But in Cruella’s demonic, psychopathic mind, there is nothing wrong with killing pups. And in an attempt to communicate her believed inconsequentiality of the dog’s death, she laughs.
Of course, Cruella de Vil is not the only villain depicted as laughing. Here are some Villains with Maniacal Laughter:
Jabba the Hutt
The end of Thriller music video
Mr. Burns
the Witch in Snow white
Jack in The Shining
Freddy Kruger
Serious heroes
Heroes, on the other hand, recognize the consequences of their actions. In fact, one key to the hero’s journey, it could be argued, is taking responsibility for your actions so you can overcome your limitations.
East and west divide
But there actually appears to be an east/west divide on this issue. Western gods and heroes are often seen as quite serious. But deities in the east, The Buddha, for instance, are often depicted as laughing. Perhaps this is an indication of a difference between eastern and western mentalities - the west valuing seriousness and the east valuing acceptance and play, recognizing that everything is, in the end, inconsequential
