Cobra Kai and the Importance of Perspective
The moral case for shifting your perspective to understand people you disagree with.
Every villain is the hero of their own story.
This is a common trope when looking at the villain in a movie or TV show. You don't treat the villain like a bad person with bad motivations. When writing them, you write them as if what they want is going to make things better. That the world they're creating will be better for them and everyone around them. Or at least they think that's what will happen. Naturally, this would make the person trying to stop them the villain of the story. Even if when the story gets put on screen the main character is in fact the hero, from the perspective of the character you're writing, the person getting in the way is the villain.
It's all about your perspective. More recently, there's been a concerted attempt to reverse that perspective with various heroes and villains from stories past. Particularly with Disney villains through stories like Cruella, Maleficent and many others. To make those who are traditionally seen as evil, destructive forces with no redeeming qualities into more sympathetic figures worthy of the title of hero. Not all of them end up working out, with Maleficent being of note in this regard. You can't always make someone irredeemable into a hero.
There are instances where this does in fact happen however. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is Cobra Kai. While the original series of movies followed the sympathetic character of Daniel LaRusso, making him into a hero in the process. The sequel series focuses on Johnny Lawrence who Daniel defeated in the first movie. He's no longer the irredeemable one dimensional villain from the past and has transformed through the suffering he went through as a result of Daniel's actions into the hero of the story.
In flipping the perspective of the characters, you see how Daniel's success harmed Johnny. How seeing Daniel succeed has haunted Johnny's life and created nothing but misery. He never achieved the success of his youth, being pretty much the classic example of someone who peaked in high school. It's only when he tries to recapture his youth and revive his old dojo that he manages to find any kind of success. And of course this enrages Daniel himself, given his history with Johnny and the dojo. Creating in essence the perfect villain for Johnny to overcome.
But it doesn't just end there. As the story goes along, both Johnny and Daniel realize that the simplistic moral narrative which existed in their youth wasn't as obvious as they think. Daniel wasn't the perfect moral hero he thought he was, and Johnny wasn't the evil villain with no redeeming qualities he fought against. Neither of them were entirely perfect and both have reason to realize their faults.
Along the way, other villains from the film series come along and are shown to be much more thoughtful than they used to be. They either show more nuance or become sympathetic through their redemption story.
It's fascinating to watch and I highly recommend you learn to shift your perspective with the show.
Find it on Netflix, the first three seasons are available now and season four is being released December 31, 2021.
Or like Neegan in the Walking Dead.