A Profile of Evil: Why All Disney Villains Look the Same

A new round of images of Disney villains/villainesses is making the rounds this week. This one asks the question "what if Disney villains were beautiful?" Here are a few of the artist's new renditions.

These images and that question bring up many topics:

• Who's standard of beauty?
• Art Style
• The profile of a villain
• The profile of a hero

Who's Says I'm Not Beautiful?

By asking the question "what if Disney villains were beautiful," the artist is implicitly saying that Disney villains are not beautiful. But I think most people would disagree with this (including Walt himself), and with good reason.

Maleficent is simply stunning, no other words needed.

The Evil Queen from Snow White is known for being "fair,"
which alludes to her looks and qualities as a ruler. In fact, Walt Disney
specifically said the queen should be "beautiful."

Gaston is the most eligible bachelor in town,
largely because of his good looks.

Disney villains are good-looking. It's partly what makes them evil. Their good looks inspire love and trust. Their evil is insidious because you would not think that someone so beautiful could also be out to kill you. You want to think the best of them. 

So why does the artist of the "beautiful" villains think that Disney villains are not already beautiful? That is something the artist would have to answer, but his/her (I don't know who the artist is; if anyone does, please link me in the comments) ideal of beauty is even more narrow than Disney's. At least Disney has full-figured villainesses, while the "beautiful" interpretations don't.

In fact, Disney even did a photo-shoot last year with Queen Latifah as Ursula which did an amazing job of showing a woman who was evil, full-figured, and beautiful all in one.

(If you haven't seen Annie Leibovitz' entire series of Dream Portraits, I highly encourage you to check them out. Whoopi Goldberg as Genie is pretty fabulous.)

Art Style

What the artist of the "beautiful" series fails to take into account, and is just as guilty of, is artistic style.  Disney villains follow a prescribed artistic style that began with Snow White's Evil Queen and has continued on into the face of every villain and villainess ever since (which I will break down later on).  This artist does the exact same thing.

Every single "beautiful" face is the same. The artist thinks that low brows, small eyes, a pointed nose, thin lips, and a narrow chin makes a face beautiful. It's common for an artist to have a specific style, and there is nothing wrong with that. But to stay one style is more beautiful than another is completely subjective.

Disney does something similar, but uses facial features as a representation of evil, not beauty.

The Profile of Evil

The Original Evil One

The Imitators

So what does evil look like? Regardless of gender, race, or even species, all Disney villains have the same face. Each feature holds a specific meaning.

• Those high, arching brows. 

The high, arching brow signifies thinking. But Disney would never say that thinking is wrong, right Belle?

This thinking is more like scheming, planing, plotting, and even anger. Vivien Leigh was famous for her arching brow when she would portray silent anger.

Similarly, Disney villains are usually angry and out to get some sort of revenge. The high, arching brow signifies that the villain can't be trusted because they are only thinking evil thoughts and are always plotting the downfall of their perceived enemies.

• Those beady little eyes.
  
  
  
  

In spite of the high brow and elongated eyelids, Disney villains have very small eyes. This is because the eyes are the window to the soul, and Disney villains don't have very large souls. They only have one thing on their mind: evil. That evil may come in many forms (they desire power, lust, money, fame, etc.), but whatever the villain desires, it is all they can think about. Their tiny eyes show that they have a one-track mind and are singly devoted to achieving their goals.

• Huge mouths.

While many villains may have small, pursing lips when their mouths are closed...

when they open their mouths to speak, the mouths are disproportionately large.

The mouths are huge because this is the part of the villain's face you need to pay the most attention to; it is the most dangerous. For Disney villains, their weapon of choice is usually their words. Their mouths are filled with vile lies that they spew like poison, but tastes like honey. They say things like...

'mother knows best,'

'I'm just here to give the princess a birthday gift, too,'

'I swear not to lay a finger or a hook on Peter Pan,'

'I only want to help those poor, unfortunate souls,'

...and so on. They are liars, they are monsters, and they are villains. The mouth is how we know this.

• The pronounced chin.

The long chin indicates that these villains are people of power and prestige. They are privileged. You have royal advisers like Jafar and Yzma; princes like John and Scar; Hades, the king of the underworld; queens like the Queen of Hearts and the Evil Queen; Frollo is some kind of city judge; Ratcliffe is the new governor of the Virginia colony; and even Ursula once lived in the palace, but her role there was unclear (possibly another adviser character?). All of these people wield power and influence over others. These are people who could use their gifts for good, but instead use them for evil. They are villains because they have been blessed with authority but use it to squash the innocent people below them.

Heroes are doppelgangers to the villains. 

The facial features of heroes and heroines of Disney films are almost completely opposite, both physically and symbolically.

Disney heroes and heroines have low brows because even though they are smart and clever (they often have to outwit the villain) their thoughts are pure. They are often selfless and are looking for ways to help others. They do not have elongated brows because there is nothing sinister about their thoughts. Their mouths are proportionate to their face. This is because they are honest and speak truth. Their words are golden. They practically have no chins to speak of. This is because most of them are from low birth and hold no power, influence, money, or rank. Most are orphans and do not even have family to speak of. They have nothing so they have no chins.

The feature that stands out on a Disney hero or heroine's face is the eyes. The eyes are the most important feature. While the eyes are the smallest feature on a Disney villain, they are the largest feature in a hero/heroine. This is because their eyes are wide open to the world. They want to see everything and take it all in. Their open eyes symbolize their open hearts and open minds.

Whether or not Disney villains are beautiful or not on the outside is subjective and pointless to debate, but the facial features of Disney villains illustrate the evil of their insides. Now you know what to look for if you need to know if someone is evil or not.

~Love,
the Lost Princess