Loving the Villain

The Dark Knight is breaking records. It's making money. And it's still in my head. I kind of want to see it again. It didn't change Brody's life. He says, what movie does? I think movies can change your perspective...if not your life.

Everyone's talking about Heath. About what an incredible job he did portraying the Joker as a complete psychopath. Without remorse. Without conscience. Without purpose. At the Pushing Daisies panel at Comic Con, Lee Pace talked about how much he loves playing Ned. Then he said to the person asking the question(I can't remember what the question was), "I see you have Heath Ledger on your t-shirt and everyone's talking about whether or not his role as the Joker played a part in what happened to him, and I think yes absolutely it did because you can't play that kind of role without it hurting your soul." (not an exact quote, just the best I remember it)

I saw lots of Jokers this weekend. Little kids dressed up as jokers. The Joker on t-shirts. At the Heroes panel, a young boy got up and said to Zachary Quinto, "I just have to say Silo (yeah, Silo) you are the most awesome hero ever!" Sylar is a psychopath, too.

Why do people love villains? I agree that for a good story, you need a good villain. I love a well written villain as much as the next person. (Ben on LOST anyone?) But I love cheering for the good guy, and I don't so much understand cheering for the bad guy. Even when he's really sympathetic. So...
If you love villains, please enlighten me. Tell me why people want to dress up as someone as clearly evil as the Joker was in Dark Knight. I want to understand. :)