Harlan (Videodrome)

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Pure Evil
Full Name	Harlan (last name unknown)
Alias	None
Origin	Videodrome
Allies	Barry Convex
Powers / Skills	Charisma Knowledge of video machinery Brainwashing via cassette tapes
Goals	Broadcast Videodrome across North America to induce tumours into millions of people he sees as "lowlives." Brainwash Max Renn to take over CIVIC-TV and kill Bianca O'Blivion (both failed).
Moral Event Horizon	Willingly assisting Convex in his plans. Attempting to kill millions of Americans by inducing tumours in them.
Kill Count	Millions (attempted)
Worst Crimes	Attempted genocide Snuff filming Unethical experimentation Incrimination Conspiracy Attempted brainwashing
Type of Villain	Fanatical Spy

“	North America's getting soft, patrón, and the rest of the world is getting tough. Very, very tough. We're entering savage new times, and we're going to have to be pure and direct and strong, if we're going to survive them. Now, you and this cesspool you call a television station and your people who wallow around in it, your viewers who watch you do it, they're rotting us away from the inside. We intend to stop that rot.	„
	~ Harlan's motive rant to Max.

Harlan is the secondary antagonist of David Cronenberg's 1983 science fiction body horror film Videodrome. Initially appearing to be a close friend and colleague of CIVIC-TV's president Max Penn, he is actually a spy working for the Videodrome producer Barry Convex, sharing the same fanatical beliefs with him that enjoyers of sex and violence should be eradicated for the sake of creating a pure North American society.

He was portrayed by the late Peter Dvorsky.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?

• Like Convex, he intends to kill millions of Americans whom he deems "lowlives" for being obsessed with sex, violence and torture by broadcasting Videodrome continent-wide.
• He played prerecorded tapes of Videodrome to Max to subject him to its influence in order for him to broadcast it on CIVIC-TV, which results in him hallucinating throughout the movie and getting a tumour.
• Upon learning he paid Bianca a visit and realising that she undid their brainwashing on him, he attempts to brainwash Max again with a grotesque cassette tape, intending to keep using him until "he's all gone".
• Despite his cruel and unusual death in which his hand transforms into a stielhandgranate and blows him up, its played for satisfaction for everything he's done.
• While Convex does worse, Harlan has less resources than him and is proven, with his long rant and the fact that he worked as a mole in CIVIC-TV for two whole years and that he kicks off the film's events by getting Max to hallucinate from seeing Videodrome, that he's fully dedicated to aiding him in his twisted cause, meaning some of Convex's villainy can be attributed to him too, allowing him to stand out.
• Much like Convex, he is a huge hypocrite who willingly films and carries out murder and torture despite despising and viewing the people he seeks to eliminate as "rotten" for being obsessed with these acts.
• Although he works closely with Convex and never betrays him, its more out of their shared fanaticism than of genuine care, with their relationship being professional.

External Links

• Harlan on the Villains Wiki