The Present

The short film "The Present" begins with a young boy sitting on the couch playing video games and hardly taking the time to look up when his mother enters the room. She sets a box on the table in front of him and informs him that she got him a present. When the boy opens the box he sees a small puppy and is instantly excited. However, he soon sees that the dog only has three legs and throws it on the ground--thus the making of the villain. As the story progresses, the dog begins to play and the boy grows increasingly irritated and seems to keep pushing the dog away only to have it keep coming back. His anger grows as he keeps trying to ignore the small, adorable gift.
Suddenly, the boy becomes interested in the dog and begins to kick the ball around and wait for the dog to bring it back. The boy stands and begins to go outside when we see that he too, is missing one of his legs. This short, I think, so accurately describes the ordinary villain. Oftentimes the villain of the story sees something of himself in the opposite character. Either something they once had and hope to have again, or something that they never possessed and hope to gain. This young boy is seen as the villain of the story until we understand his frustration is out of his own anger at the mirroring of himself and the dog. But like the puppy, the boy stands, and continues in search of joy.