Disney villains have one surprising thing in common

Hugh Armitage

Updated 21 July 2017 at 0:14 pm

There's something that A LOT of Disney animated villains have in common.

There's the English accents and the not-so-subtle gay coding – but today we're occupied by one other thing…

Their tendency to plummet to their deaths at the end of their respective movies.

Snow White's Evil Queen. Gaston. Scar. Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And that's just off the top of our heads.

Don't believe us? It's so prevalent that it has its own TV Tropes entry and a YouTube supercut.

But what is it with these villains taking a tumble?

First, it allows Disney to kill off its antagonists while absolving its heroes of any responsibility for their deaths. Usually the fall happens by accident, or because the villain can't help but try to kill their rival one more time. They only have themselves to blame.

Take Gaston. The Beast has beaten him. He tries a last-minute act of treachery, but – oh no! – he slips and falls to his death. If only we could have saved him. Justice is served, and Belle doesn't have to be one of those women engaged to a man serving time for murder.

Second, it allows an easy way for the villains to die off-camera (and therefore bloodlessly) without leaving any doubt that they are dead. Seemingly bottomless pits and unreasonably thick fog are the perfect accompaniments to a death by falling. Or they can just lie there on the ground. You know they aren't just taking a nap.

Disney is known to play with the formula. Scar's final betrayal leads to his fall, and, although he survives it, it puts him at the mercy of the decidedly unmerciful hyenas. The Emperor's New Groove lampshades Disney's trope by putting in a conspicuously unnecessary trampoline to break Yzma's fall.

But even as recently as Tangled, the bad guys have been taking a fatal dive. Why mess with a perfect, grisly formula?

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.

You Might Also Like