When we think of the general stereotypes that are seen in children's literature, the first two that come to mind is that of the young, beautiful, princess-like female and the counterpart of the strong, young, handsome male. Yet, there is another stereotype that always finds its' way into a majority of children's stories and usually follows a very typical appearance and general behavior, the villain. No spell-binding story is complete without one. A villain is obviously a character that is supposed to embody that which is bad and wants to create misfortune for what are the good characters of the story. Generally, we all know that a villain can take the shape or form of just about anyone, but in children's literature the female villain is usually
old, mean, and greedy while the male villain is typically
old, fat, and ugly. It is quite rare to come across a villain that is youthful or attractive. The pattern is certainly set to create an unmistakeable image for young children exposed to these characters.
source: deviantart.com
What is the intrinsic message that is being sent? That bad people are born old and mean or is it that old and fat people become bad people? Regardless of the evolution of how a villain becomes a villain, one message that is clear is that children do not like to identify with the bad character. They know that they should root for the young attractive protagonists and hope for the demise of the mean, old, villain. This is certainly embedded in the child's mind so that when Halloween time comes and they have to decide who they want to dress as, chances are "Sleeping Beauty" will be the winner instead of "Maleficent."
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