Ever since my son was very small, he's always gravitated toward the "bad guy" in any given character universe. He liked Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh, Swiper in Dora, etc. He is 5 now, and he is very into Star Wars, although primarily the Lego figures. But his favorite characters have been, in succession: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Emperor Palpatine. If you are not familiar with these characters, they are all bad guys. He does like a lot of the good guys, like Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker, but he's not as fascinated by them as he is with the bad guys.
Is this something I should be at all concerned about? When I ask my son why he likes certain characters, he is rarely very specific. "I don't know," "Because he's cool," "Because he has a lot of weapons" are common answers. On the one hand, I'm hoping that liking these characters is just some sort of acceptable outlet for impulses that he knows he shouldn't act on. And I know that a lot of times, the villains are the most interesting characters in any given story. My son is not at all a mean, sneaky, or violent child, so I don't necessarily think he is learning bad values from these characters. On the other hand, I would personally feel more comfortable if he more openly admired the good guys, as kind of reassurance that I'm raising a good kid.
Thoughts?
Completely normal. The 'evil' characters are almost always much more complex and interesting than the 'good' characters.
My daughter loves the villains. Totally normal. Her favorite thing to yell as she runs down the hall is, "CURSES! TIN-FOILED AGAIN!"
(she thinks when a bad guy is foiled, the hero wraps him up in tin foil like mommy does to fish in the kitchen...)
Among theater- or movie-minded people, everybody knows that the part of the bad guy (or bad girl) is the most interesting! Heroes are great, but villain parts are the more "meaty" parts. Somehow they're more adventuresome, more "fun." They're forceful. They do more outrageous things. They don't behave the way their moms and dads probably want them to behave! Perhaps your son is attracted for those reasons, among others. Five-year-olds don't have reality and imagination all sorted out.
Just give him a balance with "good" examples from REAL life. In make-believe, the bad guy may be more interesting, but in the real world, the good guy is the cool one.
I did a lot of theatre as a kid and I was always cast as the villian. It was my forte. Way more fun. He is totally normal. And just out of curiosity, Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh is the villian? He seems like the most reasonable one among a group on nincompoops!
The bad guys are always more dynamic, interesting, and deeper then the good guys. It's VERY normal to be drawn more to the bad guys. I would not worried, AT ALL. Totally normal!!
Keep in mind he's drawn to pretend bad guys. Not bad guys who do things, in actual life.
Well, I know as a kid when we played 'cops and robbers', I always wanted to be the robber! It was sooo much more fun! And I turned out pretty normal...
Well... kinda normal...
Ok, maybe not normal... But I'm a good kind of weird!!! :D
http://www.scholastic.com/resources/article/when-good-kid...
Please read this article. It will explain a lot. It is a good article from Scholastic. About, kids and how DEVELOPMENTALLY, play like this, is normal.
I have a son too. But this is not only to do with boys.
My personal opinion, the bad guys are almost always WAY cooler. :) Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) is probably my favorite villain.
I doubt it's anything to be concerned about. Let's face it, bad guys make the stories interesting. They are the antagonist. They do the silly and outrageous things in the stories and shows. And in Star Wars, many of the bad guys just look "cooler". My son is perfectly normal and he is completely obsessed with Boba Fett. To him, he is the awesome tough guy with a cool helmet and uniform, who also tools around in a jet pack. Until just recently, he didn't understand what a bounty hunter really did. I wouldn't stress about it too much. You can use these characters as an opportunity to talk about good choices and behaviors.
I think he sounds normal. Those characters are very popular characters for a reason. They are doing things that are a little more interesting than the "good" guys. They also have interesting looks about them. Luke is just a guy but Darth Maul and Vader have cloaks, painted faces or a mask with weird breathing sounds LOL
It could be that those characters have more extra stuff (like weapons, which he told you), or the fact that the bad guy has cooler makeup and outfits (I mean seriously, look at the Sith characters...that's some crazy awesome makeup there!)
I wouldn't be worried that this means he has some sort of issue or that he could wind up being a serial killer, or even a bad person (like constant liar, etc.) I wouldn't be worried mama.
Totally normal, J.... here's a great article for you...
http://www.scholastic.com/resources/article/when-good-kid...
Sounds familiar.
My sweet little 3 year-old daughter does the same thing - only with her, it's Ursula from the Little Mermaid, and the Daleks from Dr. Who. She thinks Daleks are "cute." (And, in her defense - they look like trash cans turned upside-down, with sort-of toilet plungers instead of hands, a laser that looks suspiciously like an egg-beater, and little antennae. Now paint the whole thing gold. As villains go, they actually ARE kind of cute.)
On the flip side, she is also Tinkerbell.
It's all good.
