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What is it that always seems to make people perform crazy acts? Is it jealously? Greed? Revenge?  In the case of Jacobim Mugatu the answer is all three. As the obvious villain in the movie Zoolander, Mugatu is a once famous fashion designer who is about to become a washed up memory of the past. He believes that because he designed the piano key neck tie he should be revered and remembered forever, but it’s slowly becoming obvious that isn’t going to happen.

For years, Mugatu has been exploiting child labor in Malaysia in order to get his clothes made at such a cheap price with such a fast turnaround time. He has never felt any remorse for doing so. Though, with the creation of new laws that are cracking down on child labor, Mugatu is quickly starting to feel the pressure. He knows that with this sudden depletion of cheap sweat shops, he is unable to continue to create his clothes. So, instead of doing what any normal person would do which would be find an alternative way to make the clothes instead of cheaply exploiting the lives of innocent children, he concocts a plan to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia at his next fashion show and thus preventing the labor laws to be instigated.

Knowing Derek’s career is on the verge of collapse, Mugatu hires him as a model in his show. Having never been able to walk a runway show for Mugatu before, Derek quickly accepts, believing that it will jump start his career back into stardom. Though, unbeknownst to him, Mugatu is actually brainwashing Derek so when he hears a certain song walking down the runway, he will automatically be programmed to kill the Prime Minister who is sitting at the end of the runway.

Mugatu believes it’s a brilliant plan that is expected to work without a doubt. Though, he doesn’t take into account the people who are aware of his goal and of him brainwashing Derek. Matilda, a reporter, and Hansel, the “hot” model during that time, are trying to do everything in their power to prevent Derek from killing the Prime Minister. When the trigger song comes on when he’s walking down the runway, Derek turns into his brainwashed state and he comes extremely close to killing the Prime Minister of Malaysia if it wasn’t for Hansel who ends up changing the song at the last minute.

One can imagine that Mugatu was furious and rightfully so. He believed that by brainwashing Derek he would have created a fool proof plan of killing the prime minister and thus getting his cheap sweatshops back and Derek would end up being arrested, keeping Mugatu out of the matter entirely. It is obvious that none of that occurred.

Jacobim Mugatu is a true villain in the sense that he isn’t afraid to put the lives of other people in danger so he can achieve what he wants to. His greediness and narcissistic manner are strongly evident throughout the entire movie. It is safe to say that those villainous characteristics were an instrumental part of his decline.

Below is a clip of Mugatu brainwashing Derek Zoolander.