Talk:Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2/@comment-26918266-20170205151600/@comment-24353761-20170224001245

I don't have any problem with stealth villains, just as I don't have any problem with card-carrying villains. Both of them have their places, and each one helps keep the other fresh as long as they're both employed in equal measure. I'm one of those people who liked that Frozen dumped that traditional Disney rote by making Prince Charming (Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, rather) the villain for a change, and a sneaky, deceitful, political, manipulative and heartless scoundrel of a Prince Charming at that.

If anything, I find that hating stealth villains is easier and more involving than hating card-carrying villains. The very moment a card-carrying Disney villain like Maleficent, Queen Grimhilde, Maximilian or Gaston makes a first appearance, you expect them to do people wrong and you expect it from the very beginning, so their acts of villainy aren't so surprising and aren't as wounding. But stealthy Disney villains like Prince Hans, Turbo and CLU have a way of deceiving and manipulating us -- the audience -- just as they deceive and manipulate the protagonists, and when the stealth villain's act of betrayal inevitably comes, we despise the villain not only for breaking our hero's confidence but for breaking our confidence as well. Where we might react to an obvious villain with appreciation ("Well played, Doctor Facilier.  Well played."), we're more likely to react to a stealth villain with revulsion ("Go to Hell, Turbo!"). And a villain who convinces the audience to hate him has done his job as an antagonist. How much of this public rancor and criticism for Prince Hans stems from viewers who find fault with his character, and how much of it stems from viewers who felt genuinely heartbroken after he so cruelly crushed poor, sweet Anna's hopes and told her that he not only didn't love her but that he had also plotted to let her die?

(Bonus props to Frozen for also throwing our suspicions off of Prince Hans by diverting our suspicions with a "red herring villain" in the Duke of Wesselton.  And thank you, Frozen, for also jumping off the Disney rails by finally recognizing that familial love can be True Love too.  Considering how we can keep on loving our parents, our siblings and our children no matter how many times they disappoint us, insult us, turn on us and spit in our faces, familial love is probably a truer True Love than romantic love is!)