The British Film Institute will no longer finance movies featuring bad guys with facial scars
Scars have long been a cinematic shorthand for two things: Past trauma and, as is often the case with fearsome villains, one’s ability to withstand and rebound from extreme violence. In the latter instance, the argument can be extended to say that scarring represents a fundamental change of character, a shift from good to evil. While that can be effective or, in the case of The Dark Knight’s Joker, exploited for ambiguity, it also carries with it an outdated stigma, one the British Film Institute is hoping to help eradicate.
The BFI has linked up with the #IAmNotYourVillain campaign launched by Changing Faces, an organization that works to shatter preconceived beliefs around those with disfigurements. As such, the BFI will no longer provide funding to films that slap facial scars on their mustache-twirling baddies, a trend that, if we’re being honest, is tired as hell anyways.