Word: villainness
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...case anybody cares, yes, Draco Malfoy is still a cardboard villain who talks as if he's twiddling his mustachio. Yes, the Sorting Hat sings another embarrassingly lame song (Rowling, who has learned so much from Tolkien, should have learned to stay away from poetry). But Rowling does so much right that it's churlish to dwell on her minor missteps. (O.K., one more: Dobby still talks like Jar Jar Binks.) She has shed the clumsy devices--the impostors and the secret identities--that marred the shape of some of the earlier books. Her prose, always a serviceable, unshowy instrument...
Good example: Cape Fear, with Peck as the head of a family menaced by all-time cunning sicko Robert Mitchum. At the climax, Peck trains a gun on the villain. Shoot 'im, Greg! But no. This time the good guy is not going to kill the bad guy; the rotter will be tried, convicted and imprisoned. A less confident actor might have let this verdict sound like weakness, but Peck sells the notion that life in jail is as unpleasant as a bullet...
With all the talent and resources devoted to health care--almost 15% of the U.S. economy--why can't somebody just use common sense and fix things? The villain, I believe, is our legal system, which has become a free-for-all, lacking the reliability and consistency that are essential to everyone, especially doctors and patients. Most victims of error get nothing, while others win lottery-like jury awards even when the doctor did nothing wrong. Because of the resulting fear and distrust, doctors and other health-care providers no longer feel comfortable making sensible judgments...
...Martha took a step in that direction on Wednesday, giving in to the disgrace of the moment, looking distraught and wounded and disheveled for the first time ever on camera. Like that other distressed damsel Hillary, who had Ken Starr, Martha has a villain: James Comey, the U.S. Attorney for New York. He may protest too much when insisting he's indicting Stewart not for "who she is, but because of what she did." Other federal prosecutors readily admit that going after a celebrity is a cost-effective way to deter all the potential lawbreakers out there. But note there...
There is another notable area in which contemporary society intrudes. Agent Smith and his cohorts wear dark suits and ties: they're very neat, one undistinguishable from another. These characters were made to look like "the Everyman, anonymous," says Barrett. They also look like that very 21st century villain, the corporate criminal. --By Michele Orecklin