Despicable Me Character Analysis

Register to read the introduction… On one hand, he aspires to prove he is the most evil supervillain in the world by stealing the moon. On the other hand, in the process of stealing the moon, he becomes a caring, compassionate person through adopting three orphaned girls. Gru was driven to express his villainous side to prove himself worthy of getting a loan to steal the moon. This caused him to hide his sensitive side from the public, and possibly even from himself. When he adopted the three orphaned girls, he was forced to face his caring side but still felt pressure to hide it from the villain world. In the end of the movie, however, his kind side won his internal battle and he became a great father and a virtuous man. In Despicable Me, Gru represents two clashing ideologies: villainous versus virtuous. He has to be villainous to be accepted into the supervillain world and become the worst villain in the world, but he has to be virtuous to be a good father to his girls. He struggles with the two clashing sides, but eventually learns that being a good father to the girls is more important that having prestige in the supervillain world. In this way, he had to mask certain qualities within himself to fit in with different societal norms. As seen in Despicable Me, social
Hayman 1 constructions have led people to mask their true personality from the general …show more content…
Ray. In “The Thematic Paradigm” he wrote, “stories modified the outlaw hero’s most potentially damaging quality, the tendency to selfish isolationism, by demonstrating, that however reluctantly, he would act for causes beyond himself,” (383). As seen in many social situations, people isolate themselves when they feel they don’t truly fit in with a group. Furthermore, for some of those people it is more comfortable to be alone than to deal with the pressure of social situations. In these circumstances, the drive to fit in with a certain group of people doesn't come from their own desire to fit in. Rather, it comes from the individual’s desire to impress someone else. In Despicable Me, Gru had isolated himself within the competitive villain world. He had no friends other than Dr. Nefario, and he despised most other villains. It wasn’t until he adopted the three girls that he became part of something bigger than himself; he became a father. This made his mother proud and satisfied a deeply repressed longing in