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  • TIME

    Is it time to retire the villain origin story?

    May 28, 2021 4 minutes
    By Stephanie Zacharek
    ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE URRA FOR TIME

    VEN IF THE SLOGAN “FAIR AND BALANCED” HAS been retired by the conservative news network that used it for years, the damage caused by its shifty logic endures: There are two equally valid sides to every story. Every warped viewpoint must be weighed seriously for any grain of truth it might contain. If you shout loudly enough, down is actually up. We’re now stuck with this legacy, and it’s so ingrained that it shows up even in the most unlikely places. In particular, you’ll find it in the villain origin story, a long-simmering trend that exploded with Todd Phillips’ 2019 Batman-nemesis apologia This month, Craig Gillespie’s hops on the backstory

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