Fealdad y belleza en las representaciones del villano en el cine mudo europeo y estadounidense

Abstract

This paper proposes a brief anthological review of the main representations of the villain in European and American silent films, from 1910, covering their most characteristic faces, scenes and keys, under the aesthetic notions of beauty and ugliness. The text addresses evil from different perspectives as a construction element of antagonistic images, differentiating when it proceeds between representations based on reality, or totally fictional, teratological or non-teratological, in addition to abounding in the aspects of the characterization and aesthetic construction of the evil one, with some notes on the subsequent influence of specific characters. The face as a frontal or opaque mirror of evil, plus a review of the female villains at this stage, finally find their own space throughout the compilation.