The bad guys

The Bad Guys

There are many movies about heroes and villains.  There are also heroes and villains in the real world, just a little different.  In the real world, the villains are gang members and cops are the heroes. Gang members are people that are part of a group that do very illegal things.  Gang members are bad people and do bad things.  Cops try to stop gang members and take them away to jail so that no innocent people are harmed.  

In The Lion King  Scar is the villain leading a group of other villains (shown in figure 1).  Scar kills his brother in order to take over the thrown.  He also wants to kill his nephew, Simba, so that he can keep the thrown.  Scar does horrible things and leads a harmful group, doing anything to get what he wants. 

Scar from the Lion King(Figure 1)

In this situation, scar is the gang member.  He does bad things in order to get what he wants.  The cop in the situation is Simba because Simba is the good one and the hero of the movie.  Simba is against Scar and tries to keep everyone else out of danger.  Another group of villains in The Lion King are the hyenas.  The hyenas try to kill Simba multiple times.  The hyenas in this movie can be considered the gang.  They are harmful to others and are seen as a threat.  A threat is when you say something to try to scare and worry someone else, whether you are lying are not.  Gangs threaten many people because they want everyone to be scared of them.  Scar and the hyenas both say things to scare others even though they are not always telling them the truth.  Scar and the hyenas want everyone to fear them so that they have more control.  Many villains and gang members do this because it gives them more power.  

Villains are people that you want to stay away from.  If you were in a dark alley and see a villain you would be scared and wanting to run away.  It is the same as if you saw a gang member in a dark valley.  Gang members are bad people and not the ones you want to be around.  Gang members are very violent and do evil things like villains.

In Snow White, her evil stepmother is a villain.  She gives Snow White the poisonous apple because she was jealous of her.  Another villain in Snow white is the evil queen.  The evil queen wants Snow White dead, so she tells her huntsman to bring her into the forest to kill her and bring back her liver and lungs to prove she is dead. A huntsman is someone who hunts.  The huntsman in this movie are also evil and similar to a gang.  The evil queen and her huntsman do harmful things, making them similar to gang members.  A gang member will do things without thinking , only to get what they want just like these villains have done.  Jealousy and power sparks dangerous actions from villains and gang members. (Both villains shown in figure 2).

Evil step mother and Evil Queen (fig

                                                                        
 The characteristics of a gang member and a villain are very much alike.  Characteristics are things that describe a person.  Some of their common characteristics are evil, violent, and scary.  Gang members and villains are both people that you want to stay away from.  To understand how to stay away from gang members, you may have to know how they recruit people.  Recruit means to welcome someone new into your group or team.  In fact, gangs normally start recruiting kids in middle school, so it may even happen to you.  Just be sure to stick around a good crowd!  Gangs may even try to recruit you during school or on the internet, not just in dark alleys.  Gangs usually go for the manipulative kids, which are the kids that are easily convinced. Not everyone you talk to will always be telling the truth!   If there is someone trying to scare you or telling you things like "you can make money!" or "you will be cool!" then they are probably lying and trying to get you to do something that is bad.  Another thing gangs do to recruit younger kids is to peer pressure them.  The main way gangs recruit younger kids like you is by peer pressuring them, or trying to get them to do something they are not comfortable with doing.  

Alcohol and cigarettes may seem like the cool thing to do just because older kids use them, but they are actually very harmful and someone offering you these things is probably either from a bad group of friends or in a gang, trying to recruit you. The people you want to be like and look up to should be the heroes and cops, not the villains and gang members.  These people are there to help you and keep you safe.  Like many villains in movies, you never know the bad guy is the bad guy.  


Resources

https://www.choosepeacestopviolence.org/how-do-gangs-recruit-their-members
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Scar
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/The_Evil_Queen
https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/jjbulletin/9808/youth.html