How do you feel about the 'classic' villain monologue about their plans?

[Naruzeldamaster]

That one scene from the Incredibles movie always pops into my head -- "You sly dog! You've got me monologuing!"

The fact that it isn't just a silly joke for the audience, but also a canon problem for the super villains is hilarious.
Lore wise, they imply that the villains are actually aware of the nonsense, but they can't help themselves. It's not treated as a 'joke' in universe, but an actual thing.

 

[xena]

Yes, it works great (at least sometimes) on the stage where a character is explaining his inner thoughts not to another character but to the audience. We can use the interior monologue for that but stories these days rarely do an omniscient peek inside the villain's head.

That's true. I don't think I can remember the last time I read a book where they did

 

[xena]

Done right the laura croft example can work.
But if it's just 'randomly' thrown in, yeah, it's blatantly obvious the information isn't intended for the character in question (In this case Laura)
That seems to happen quite a bit throughout the Toomb Raider series, though the most egregious ones are the reboot series. Where she just literally happens to arrive as the enemy big bad is explaining plans. (And somehow gets away with it by hiding behind some crates or shit, I mean plot armor gonna plot armor but still, yikes.) Often, she hears just enough of the guy's plan to go 'ok they're crazy' lol

Agreed! Done right, it can work really well. But most times it's clearly not meant for the characters, rather the audience

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Agreed! Done right, it can work really well. But most times it's clearly not meant for the characters, rather the audience

The few things that bug me is the scene tends to go one of two ways.
Protagonist gets 'caught' so they can escape later (Because plot armor)
Protagonist gets away with it in the dumbest way possible (Being well within ear shot of bad guys but hiding behind dumb crate or something)
Some protagonists do both! Which, honestly is the only one that makes sense to me.
In real life if someone snoopin on a Gang leader plotting shit, they're not going to ignore someone skulking around the room lol

 

[rareruin]

In some cases, it certainly has a place, superhero shows and whatnot.
But some movies/stories it just doesn't make sense.
My favorite instances are in some Laura Croft games where the villain is talking about their evil plan and Laura just 'happens' to be within earshot.
It makes sense lore wise, because of how Laura Croft runs into her silly adventures.
But as an audience member/game player, I wheeze. It's clear to me that this is happening to inform the player/the audience and not for any real reason otherwise.

I've seen plenty of times when it's done well, and I have seen it done poorly too.

Monologues are interesting but i do feel it destroys the narrative process as well. Perhaps there is a better way around it. Good monologues i feel should provide that character's development.
A few examples to replace or support the villain's case:
A Diary or big revealing clue.
The witness, bring in a character that knows the whole story.
Eaves dropping can be a great way to do it.
Create a situation where they know each other but surrounded by innocent people for subtle monologue where only the person it's directed at can decipher his true meaning.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Monologues are interesting but i do feel it destroys the narrative process as well. Perhaps there is a better way around it. Good monologues i feel should provide that character's development.
A few examples to replace or support the villain's case:
A Diary or big revealing clue.
The witness, bring in a character that knows the whole story.
Eaves dropping can be a great way to do it.
Create a situation where they know each other but surrounded by innocent people for subtle monologue where only the person it's directed at can decipher his true meaning.

From what I've seen in movies (And especially games)

Bad guy...generally shouldn't have a reason to explain his/her whole plan. (again, unless they're a super villain)
Granted most of the time they're high on their own stuff when they DO do these monologues. Or their minions are dimwits, which is a valid but paper thin excuse.

But a lot of the time the info is for the audience / player.

What I would LOVE to see (Outside of Incredibles) is a legitimate reason for these scenes to happen.
There are some shows where they make sense (Detective series) but others, not so much.

'Ah , protagonist, you have reached my quarters, allow me to honor you with my glorious plan, because I know you can't stop me muahaaha' don't get me started on the number of RPG where the villain does this, wipes the party, and just...allows them to live lol I mean I don't typically want the bad guy to win or nothing but come on.

One of the few series to take a Jab at this is The Kingsmen. The Jokes and Gaffs aren't always family friendly, but a lot of them do mock particular scenes that happen in spy films. The only one people didn't like was the (constant) reminder that the protagonist isn't James Bond.