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I would say this especially true of children's films. The lines between hero and villain are well drawn, the baddies are irredeemably evil, and the goodies almost cloyingly goodie-two shoes. Okay, things have probably changed, there are some sympathetic villains and heroes/protagonists who are flawed but in the main, it's good vs bad, good wins, bad guy dies or gets his or her come-uppance. This applies also to a lot of mainstream adult films designed not to make us think about human behaviour but to simply entertain. Movies are designed to make us hate the bad guy...I'm wondering if this makes us see people in real life as villains, and to divide people as good and bad, depending if they're for or against us?
I know many films have challenged this (particularly in art-house circles) with more ambiguous characters, but I've noticed there's still a dearth of examples of true bad guys who have a cathartic charge of heart, repent and join the 'good side.' In that sense Darth Vader in Star Wars is one of the few exceptions I can think of. While one might argue in real life people don't truly change, I think we've all got a villain and a hero inside us, and films are designed to personify this in a way, by simplifying things, and embodying good as a person. It's much easier to loathe evil when you put a face or a name to it.
For the most part, yes, you're right. It isn't because children are unsophisticated. It's because screenwriters think children are unsophisticated. There are some great examples of more nuanced villains:
THE INCREDIBLES. Yes, the villain is Bad with a capital B. But he didn't start out that way. His villainy was born out of the selfishness of the hero, and the main conflict of the movie isn't so much Good Guy vs. Bad Guy, but the Good Guy learning to be truly heroic and unselfish.
THE IRON GIANT. Here you have a classic misunderstood hero. The villain is nasty and bad, but he was McCarthyism personified. He was a seemingly good face on a monster, while the supposed "monster" turned out to be the hero.
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