The Meanies of Life: TV and film bullies we love to hate

Intimidation nation The hard, bruising fact is that bullies are necessary, to human narrative if not to third grade. Where would our stories be without them? The Bible would lose Goliath and Pharaoh, Homer wouldn't have Achilles, Tybalt would vanish from 'Romeo and Juliet.' A hero has to overcome something, and when that something is a musclebound jerk with a mean rabbit punch, revenge carries an extra kick. The movies, too, keep going to the thug well, the latest being 'Drillbit Taylor,' in which Owen Wilson plays a cut-rate bodyguard protecting school kids from hulking Alex Frost. Everyone has their own favorite pop culture bullies, but these are the ones who make us holler Uncle. —Ty Burr, Globe Staff

Intimidation nation

The hard, bruising fact is that bullies are necessary, to human narrative if not to third grade. Where would our stories be without them? The Bible would lose Goliath and Pharaoh, Homer wouldn't have Achilles, Tybalt would vanish from "Romeo and Juliet." A hero has to overcome something, and when that something is a musclebound jerk with a mean rabbit punch, revenge carries an extra kick. The movies, too, keep going to the thug well, the latest being "Drillbit Taylor," in which Owen Wilson plays a cut-rate bodyguard protecting school kids from hulking Alex Frost. Everyone has their own favorite pop culture bullies, but these are the ones who make us holler Uncle.

—Ty Burr, Globe Staff