Villain In The Film Strangers On A Train

Shakespeare once said, “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.” Eventhough the the typical villains in movies are easy to pick out due to wearing black and wreaking havoc (bring/cause destruction). A good villain is considered to be intimidating, cause entertainment, antisocial, and mischievous. In Strangers on a Train, Bruno is depicted as the villain. Based on the description/ traits of what an actual villain is, Bruno does not meet the criteria. Bruno is considered more of a misguided hero, who starts doing evil things out of the belief that they are acting in a greater good. In this case by murdering Guys wife so he could be happy with the true love of his life. Hitchcock, producer of the movie, intended for the antagonist Bruno to be gay by leaving traits throughout the movie behind. A good villain is considered masculine, in other words not like Bruno. Robin Wood states, “according to heterosexist mythology one is gay if one shows traces of effeminacy, had close relationship with one’s mother, or hates and murders women.” The homosexual occurrence in Bruno’s close relationship with Guy was a little weird for what is considered villain to portray. At the beginning of the movie, Guy and Bruno have a meeting on the train. During
So ask yourself again, “ Is he considered a good villain?” Guy becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Bruno’s weird behavior, when Bruno suggests they should spend a couple days together. This once again showing traits a villain wouldn’t portray. Another key that makes very clear that Bruno is not considered a villain is how Guy knows that he wants to involve him by putting the blame on him. This is due to Guy leaving his lighter behind with had his name engraved. Bruno saw this as the opportunity to strike and kill his wife and get Guy to kill his father or blame would be on