Animation Source Forums

I love how people with 5 stars make such thorough and philosophical statements on the forums.

However, Cat, you did make a valid point. When I was young and dumb, I would always say, "Steele is evil, he is the definition of evil, I hope he dies!" I even put him as number 1 on my top 3 most evil movie chars list (you don't even want to know who I put as number 3!)

I mean, he does cheat in races, he lies, he steals and frames others, he picked on Balto, he kept stalking Jenna, he made the team get lost, attacked Balto mercilessly, is mean to his teammates, and nearly got the kids killed, but that last thing, maybe he just wasn't thinking. Egomaniacs can get pretty thoughtless sometimes. And none of the other stuff (except attacking Balto) is really valid to make him evil. As for attacking Balto, he did seem to be trying to kill him, but again, maybe he wasn't thinking.

Oh, man, now I'm even being philosophical about it! And I don't even have five stars yet!

Anyway, in my opinion, Steele isn't evil, he's just an egomaniac, thoughtless, a glory hound, a control freak, and a bully. But none of that is the same thing as evil.

You agree with me and yet you basically countered everything with what you said xD "Attacking Balto" still doesn't constitute as evil. He wasn't "stalking Jenna". Getting the team lost and/or being "mean to them" doesn't make him evil. And also most of what you said was just speculation. "Maybe he wasn't thinking" well maybe Balto saved the town on accident. You're not helping xD

In my opinion, he's not necessarily evil. He's just an egotistical bully, and then he got his comeuppance in the end. x3

I don't tend to think too much about it. The movie needed an antagonist, and that's what his role was. xD

Well, those of us with 5 stars have been around a while. XD



Personally, I find the term "villain" to imply the idea of evil much more strongly than "bad guy", which I think simply refers to the antagonistic group/character in a scenario. Aha! There's a word that just might work! "Antagonist". It doesn't necessarily imply much evil at all; it's simply the character working against the protagonist--in this case, Balto--in some way, shape, or form.



Well said!



Exactly. Yes. XD Like I mentioned earlier, regardless of your opinion on Steele's attitude, he does in fact play the role of the antagonist/bad guy/villain. Does that make him evil? No. It just means he's the character created to oppose Balto--our protagonist/good guy/hero--in the story. As simple or complex as the characters' behaviors and supposed reasoning may be, they still easily fall into the basic roles of a typical story.

That word actually crossed my mind as well, and I agree it fits.

I don't think Steele is quote, "Evil". He was just mean. He is just a self-centered bully who wants to get all the attention of everyone around him by any means necessary. It just so happens that Balto is getting in the way of his stardom. Steele always wants to show off and he won't allow anyone, especially Balto, to out-stage him.

He's more of a bully used to getting his way I think, I doubt he's every really harmed any other dog (beside's Balto) but he does seem to have a temper when it comes to his ego.

I agree, he is only a bully, a bully to only balto.

Steele wasn't "evil", he just acted like he did against Balto to protect his ego and everyone's attention being focused on him; I'm with Cat and all who say he isn't, after all, he just was mean to Balto because he felt Balto posed a threat to his reputation, and most films have "a bad guy", Balto's was Steele, and he hit on Jenna simply because she was meant to be the prettiest girl in town.

Therefore, no he isn't evil. I'd just say he's an attention obsessed jerk who cares only for himself rather than for anyone else, one who does anything to protect his superior reputation and hits on the pretty girls in town.

I personally don't really think Steele was intentionally evil. I think he was more arrogant/cocky and self-centered more than anything.
Theres a difference between pure evil and arrogance.

Steele, just thought very highly of himself, and because Balto wasn't a pure bred dog like all the others he was cast out; the black sheep/ugly duckling etc.

It also could have been Steele being inwardly threatened by Balto. You know how we can be if we feel threatened by someone else (And I don't mean that in a physical sense). But he could have realized the potential Balto possessed (Spelling?) and was afraid of people finding out about it, or whatever. Hope that makes sense.

It could have been a bunch of different things, or it could have been a little of all of them.

So to sum it up. I don't exactly think Steele was evil....more on the lines of cocky and self absorbed LOL.

^
The most exact statement that needed to be pointed out right there.