Our Love Affair with Villains: Daniel Plainview

A Character Studies Series, Part 1

Humans love villains. Our stories need them because they would be nothing without them.  

In this series, we will examine fictional characters as only literature and Hollywood provide. To begin, we’ve chosen Daniel Plainview from the 1927 novel Oil!, by Upton Sinclair, and the 2007 film "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage, Miramax Films), as written for the screen and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.  

Daniel Plainview is a fictional character I came across in early 2008. Those old enough will tell you, Earth was very different then. Russia and China were playing nice enough. Democracy made sense to the majority of Americans and human rights were—well actually, nope… not going there.  

Similar to the time in which Daniel Plainview was invented, there had been rush for gold. Apparently, the profits of betting the market’s futures on variable interest loans with almost predatory characteristics outweighed the enormous risk. Eventually, and I shall paraphrase as best I can, the proverbial poop hit the fan.  

The rest is history. Look it up. 

Without leaning too far left or right of the historically nonsensical, the year 2008 provided many the time they needed to reexamine and/or reinvent themselves. It just so happened to be the year that I discovered Daniel Plainview, and thereby rediscovered film. 

“Why?” you might ask. “I mean, hasn’t everyone who’s anyone already done that character study?”  

Well, yeah but I just explained the circumstance. Reasons, just like villainy and observation, take many forms and are always the spawn of the state of affairs. My opinion of Daniel Plainview found me during the aforementioned free-for-all of unchecked capitalism—Go Red, White and Blue but that’s what it was. I had been through and was then suffering several interpersonal breakdowns, resulting from financial hardship. So, at the time of my encounter with the character under discussion, I had no choice but to associate the darkening of my inner self to that of the man I found myself watching on a rented DVD.  

As if to provide a villain’s backstory for myself, I had already, to that point, watched several movies just to bolster what remained of all my hopes. Others I watched to see the villains die. I found myself at a pivotal point in my personal development. To rebound, I had to choose how best to dig myself out of a hole, which is where we find one Daniel Plainview at the beginning of his story. 

Personality 

The movie "There Will Be Blood" starts in a mine. It’s gold-rush times, according to the year that flashes briefly on the screen. Pickaxe in hand, a then unnamed dramatic persona ropes us directly into a “pit of despair” metaphor.  

The reasons he is in the mine are inherent in the scene itself. Clearly he means to dig for riches, so there’s no question yet of his motivations. The thing that makes you wonder about the man abounds from the focused anger with which he strikes the stony walls around him.  

He’s not even trapped inside of the hole. There’s a ladder and there’s an exit. We find outside the mine that he has dynamite and tools. So, we know, while he is roughing it, he isn’t destitute. He’s there by choice, alone in a wilderness so big that he has no choice or shelter but his mine. Anderson was even mindful enough to place the almost bloody detail of a double-barreled shotgun in every frame with his main character, so as to illustrate the lengths to which the man will go to protect that pit he daily occupies. 

To the point of injury and beyond, Plainview is driven. Though, what he truly seeks in life is only about as obvious as the mine. After the dynamite works and gold is found, we’re forced to watch as Daniel drags himself out of his hole. And that is only the beginning of his tale to becoming an oil man. As we are left with the belief that Daniel has to crawl across an unknown span of desert to the nearest town, we’re left behind to do some digging of our own.  

Motivations 

Gold and all of its metaphoric equals are often the incentives of every villain. However, at the end of the day, that is the truth of us all. So, the writer of a villain has to illustrate, in front of us, the underlying cause of the villain’s negative behavior.  

The character study of Daniel Plainview is amazing because the creative process doesn’t roll just one or two essential events of causation into a series of counter-effects or solutions. Rather, it builds the villain over time as though he is the hero, and tricks the audience into believing his intentions well and good.  

Gold becomes a means to an end, a way of getting Daniel Plainview farther down his path. Instead of coveting money and revolting pious rubes (viewership included), he uses his gains to acquire everything he needs to dig for oil.  

Among all other necessities are people. Daniel’s story only progresses after the audience is shown how strongly the cornerstone of loneliness has been affixed to his persona. We’re given a glimpse into Daniel’s soul and we’re provided the belief that he craves companionship the same way we do.  

Relationships 

The sincerity of Daniel’s craving is illustrated in his adoptions of various relations, associates, and enemies. After striking oil, the life of a business partner is lost in a brutal accident. That unnamed man had with him an infant son and Daniel is forced to adopt the orphaned child as his own. Daniel takes and names him H.W. Plainview, and from the point of his infancy, H.W. goes everywhere with Daniel. He even helps his father to win the confidence of poverty-stricken landowners, who will either lease or sell their land to Plainview.  

The act, as it were, is something everyone discovers. As Daniel’s wealth increases privately, so do his power and influence. A host of other characters, a few of whom ostensibly attempt to replace young H.W., begin to gravitate from everywhere. There is only the Fletcher Hamilton character, whom anyone can trust. Still, without exception everyone tries to draw from Daniel’s proverbial well.  

Both pun and villainy are emphasized, moreover, by men in suits from rival companies, real estate brokers, holdouts, and a man named Paul. At night, Paul visits Daniel, H.W., and Fletcher, trying to sell them information about a place called Little Boston. In the process he tells them about a family by the name of Sunday and gives the audience the impression that he is doing so with the intention of ruining them. 

Backstory 

The story of Daniel Plainview’s past is purposely obscured, I believe, because the writer wants us to see it appears in Daniel’s every interaction. It’s below the surface of every facial expression, around the bend of every sentence and, in a strange way, the cause of every tense situation. On occasion, a practiced and deliberate rage explosively erupts from the deep recesses veiled by Daniel’s visible emotional scars. 

Any victim of abuse as well as any vaguely observant critic could attest that, aside from rage, Daniel Plainview has a drinking problem. He’s also something of a workaholic, which lends even more to the speculation that he is hiding something. The mention of a troubled childhood, involving tumultuous exchanges with and between his parents, is one of two breadcrumbs left by Anderson for everyone to conclude that Daniel is damaged. 

Physical Appearance 

Daniel Plainview is not a comic book’s depiction of evil. Instead, he cuts the picture of his time. His physique is one that any laborer might have. He eats to live and do his job, not just for pleasure. The clothes he wears are never shabby. They’re always new; they suit a purpose just as well as they suit him. As does his haircut, which is never overgrown and hardly changes, providing him the look of constancy and directness he prefers.  

I’ve heard it said that Daniel Plainview is a sociopath. I’m no therapist and Daniel Plainview does not exist, so I can’t speak to that. What I can say, as someone who grew up around serious people, is that everything about Daniel Plainview is on brand with everyone who has ever grown up being abused in some way. He is a serious man, who exudes the intensity of a killer. He does not bend unless it suits him first. He does not rest unless he’d had a drink or twenty. He does not love or trust, and can never be seen as vulnerable or trustworthy, as these are signs of weakness. And will not abide even the smallest obstacle, because he can and will do everything possible. 

Dialogue 

Daniel is short and to the point. Everything goes according to the formulated scripts, which he and we are reading. If he knows something, he knows it and he will tell you. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. He will either say or he won’t, depending on the stakes of being honest. 

When Daniel lies, it is to gain the confidence of those around him. Though, I’d suspected lying isn’t something he enjoys only because he has to later remember that he’s done so. It’s always the script, even with those closest to him. 

Actions 

Daniel is an oil man, and he makes no qualms admitting that. In the film, the weight of his profession is well-known. Wherever he goes there exists an assumption that vast intelligence has been coupled with his ruthlessness and power. Daniel Plainview has only to address those he intends to swindle with a modicum of respect, and they eat it up. 

Daniel prefers cunning over intimidation, plain speaking over jargon. Whenever the grandeur of his profession is challenged, underappreciated, or undermined, Daniel takes not only personal offense but every necessary step to remove the issue. However, there are only two acts of human-on-human violence in the film. As that is regarded as bad for business, said heinous acts are thankfully mostly avoided. 

Symbolism 

Sorry folks, there aren’t any illuminati eyes or Solomon circles in this one—just a good ol’ fashioned plot with ruthless land grabs, spewing oil, and the occasional murder. All the good bits we can easily relate to the American Dream, capitalism, and the resulting exploitations of natural resources and people, are what you’ll find. The “greed is good” ("Wallstreet" 20th Century Fox, 1987) mindset is nothing that shouts too loudly at the audience. It only underlies the plot’s entirety and ties into the result of Daniel’s labors: power.  

Foil 

The film, "There Will Be Blood", explores the Plainview character as he relates to the world and those around him. A common exploration, yes, I know. But to explore him properly, we have to look at the characters who serve as a balance to Daniel’s personality. 

That isn’t difficult but by the end of the story it isn’t altogether easy, as Daniel is just one of those characters. He tells you who he is and never changes. If there was a push to Daniel’s pull, it would not be his son, H.W., because he is a little boy. While Daniel feels for him, H.W. is merely ornamental and when the shine of him wears off, so does his hold on Daniel’s softer feelings. That’s not to say at all, that Daniel on some level does not love him. 

The closest thing to a rival for Daniel Plainview is Eli Sunday, who as it turns out is a preacher in Little Boston. He’s also the twin brother of the information peddler, Paul. The story of the film is driven mostly by the differences and similarities between Daniel and Eli. They are both liars. However, Eli is a showman and Daniel is not. They both have power and are both driven to acquire more. It just turns out Daniel is a meaner, more patient and more experienced tyrant than Eli wants to be.  

Spoiler alert! Plainview wins. 

Arc 

As said before, the fictional story of Daniel Plainview (I’ve only watched the film) follows somewhat the pattern of a hero’s tale. Withal, it slowly builds a villain’s backstory and by the end, you’re like “My God, is this really who he is?” But—and this is a very big but—at the same time you’ve been drawn into Daniel’s all-corrupting orbit.  

You’re the one who’s been with him. You’re the one who’s walked his path and ultimately, you’re the one who learns his secrets. So, you’re the one who cares the most because you learn along the way that his truths were always there and his lies were, some of them, just as necessary as they were rooted deeply in his desire to destroy his competition. By the end of the film, you feel like he’s the devil you know. You almost love him and that’s because he’s never lied once to the audience. 

Cultural Context 

Earlier I hinted at the accidental correlation between the financial collapse of 2008 and the relevance of the character, Daniel Plainview. His story is one of many to have occurred at the turn of the twentieth century. “Times were hard and different then,” Great-great Granny might have said before she bypassed Florida for the pearly gates above. Turns out they didn’t feel so different to the time in which the film, "There Will Be Blood" released. Some things had changed but a couple things remained exactly as they used to be. 

Was it the age-old struggle between Man and his morality? You decide. As smart and skillful writers, we can only discern a portion of a character’s choices and motivations based on when and where we place them. Hopefully their troubles and their triumphs are relatable. Hopefully those struggles and accomplishments never die, because there is no looking at the present without looking back to make comparisons; no looking forward without remembering what not to do.  

These days we’re often given a choice between two evils. And that’s something of a theme in "There Will Be Blood", because the villain, Daniel Plainview, doesn’t die but, to our great pleasure, eats (not literally) all lesser villains. So doing, he becomes almost an anti-hero but that’s if you forget he is an oil baron. 

Point of View 

Anderson told an amazing story in an artfully honest way. By adapting the script of "There Will Be Blood" he brought a bit of history back to life. And he did that in such way (and such a time) that resonated profoundly. Somehow he made a movie about an awful human being and made us love him anyway. His tasteful casting choice aside, that is the truth. 

We are locked in for a ride the moment the moving pictures hit the screen. If we’re lucky, we’re shown new things, taken to new places and entertained as we explore. "There Will Be Blood" was nothing like that. It was, instead, an unforeseen excursion into the psychology of everything and everyone. And everyone who loved that film went back in time, to find, explore and know that place within themselves, where all of our inherited demons propagate and whisper to our higher selves.  

It is as much a cautionary tale as a love story to those abused and othered to the point they abandon hope for evil. It is just one of many reasons I had chosen to become a writer. It is the reason this series will continue. And that is due entirely to how wonderfully the film displays the hidden parts of me and my fellow humans through Daniel Plainview. 

written by J.P.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of any company, organization, or individual referenced. Any images used in this blog post are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to infringe on any copyrights or trademarks.