"Who cares if a *FEW* trees are dying?!" *proceeds to chop down ALL the trees*

"Just look at my petting this puppy" *rubs teeth of a small bear*

The Onceler will always be one of the greatest Dr. Seuss villains ever

Love how he gets into no legal issues with everything he just did.

"What's the difference between a Villain and a Super Villain?" " *P R E S E N T A T I O N* "

He may be bad but he’s stylish as hell

Evolution of the meaning behind each "How bad can I be" 0:34 - 0:51 "How bad can I be?" -->basically how can i be bad, rhetorical to self, truly believes himself to be good . 0:52 "How bad can I possibly be?" --> decides to push the boundaries of what "good" is. 1:19 - 1:38 "How bad can I be?" --> "good" and "bad" start to blur, believes he is just doing "what comes naturally"/"(he) is just following his destiny", redirects blame to (human)nature. The lorax protects nature, so he's using this argument against the lorax saying that what he is doing is natural/meant to be, still somewhat cares about persuading the lorax, although this sentiment quickly fades. 2:13 -2:22 "Come on how bad can I possibly be?" --> Now he claims that all he's doing is following the "principles of business," tries to strengthen his argument supporting his destructive business even more, nature/the lorax's will is irrelevant to him now. He also starts to develop a bit of a superiority complex and is shown to have become very greedy. 2:23 - 2:31 "How bad can I be?" --> rhetorical to the public who don't perceive him as bad and he knows it. 2:32 "How bad could I possibly be, let's s ee," --> has begun to question how much he could potentially get away with, acknowledges that he is "bad" 2:37 - 2:46 "How bad can he be?" --> public echoing his question to them, he sees how his "money is multiplying" and is excited to earn more, decides to protect himself from the repercussions of his actions so he can go further and earn more money. 2:48 - 3:05 "How bad can he be?" --> He is protected from the repercussions of his actions, he knows there are no consequences whatsoever, feels very powerful, fully embraces being "bad". 3:08 "How bad, how bad can this possibly be?" -->basically how bad can I get, a challenge to self, and the song ends right there. After the song ends, we see that the last tree is chopped down, implying that he never got to see "how bad it could possibly be" as his business was shut down immediately as a result. All his power was stripped away not long after he acquired it.

The scene gives me chills bc it’s literally a real world problem personified into one person and one song and the way his tone changes in the end really makes him Dr. Seuss most powerful villain

I personally blamed the Once-ler's family for tempting and pressuring him, but ultimately it was the Once-ler's decision

When you enslave Minecraft villagers for trading

What I love about this final concentration is that the Lorax isn't mad at the Once-ler. Never once does he call him an evil person, nor do the animals he's protecting try to attack him. No, they aren't mad, they're disappointed. Disappointed that they're friend went down this path, sad that he's only now realizing the damage he's done. We've all heard that disappointment often hits harder than anger, and here, that is the truth. There is nothing that the Lorax or the animals could say or do to the Once-ler, that could equal what he's saying and doing to himself in this moment, and every moment since. Furthermore, if they truly had given up on the Once-ler, the Lorax wouldn't have left him that one sliver of hope: _Unless_

I love the gradual changing of meaning in the phrase “ how ban can I be?” And it becoming messed up as The Onceler does worse and worse things. It goes from “ Am I actually bad?” To “ I kinda know I’m bad” to “ just how much worse should I make things?”

Everyone hates capitalism until this banger starts playing

"How bad can i be?" *proceeds to demolish the entire forest*

4:49 Somehow, they managed to make a tree falling so dramatic. Like, that literally made me gasp

No matter how old this movie gets this song will never die

"and a portion of proceeds goes to charity" *gives a whopping 25 cents to a guy that just so happens to be his dad*

admit it, yall came here bc the comments on the originals are turned off-

Landlords after they evict a single mother because they're 1 cent short:

I've never watched this movie but I am already rooting for this guy

The guitar went from being kinda worn down and minimalistic to being an unplayable instrument with more features than is needed.

Nobody: The British when they find some new land: 1:59

Prince zuko justifying burning down towns to find a child:

This is random, but in the L.A. version of "how bad can I be" there's such a good line. Instead of "Who cares if a few trees are dying" they say "Que importa la muerte de un arbol" which I can't do justice by just translating it but it is essentially questioning if anything would change by the death of a single insignificant tree. This line is trying to downplay everything that's happening because a single tree's death does not matter. This sentiment is meant to be repeated over and over for every tree that falls, but at that point it's not a single tree, its a whole forest, but you don't need to acknowledge that if you don't lump them together. I'm such a nerd analyzing the meaning of words, but it's such a powerful line.

Lorax: "Stop making your Thneed! Trees are dying!" Onceler: "I miss the part where that's my problem."

This is a bop and it has no right to be

I love how he goes from saying " how bad can i be " in a way to say that hes not bad and hes a good guy, to saying " how bad can THIS be " to try to justify his horrible actions

0:52 rule 34 artists ruining your childhood be like

The moment he realizes he just fucked himself over when the last tree goes down is absolutely magical, i struggle to decide if he puts that face because he feels bad he killed them all... or just because he doomed his empire

COPPA after turning off Movieclip's comments on their 'How Bad Can I Be' scene. Edit: I meant comments, not moments. Thank you. Edit 2: Replaced Movieclips with COPPA.

The soundtrack for this film had NO BUSINESS being this awesome.

I literally can listen to this all day

I like how his level of evil is indicated by his guitar

I love how he goes from innocent wannabe to psychotic overlord in like 3 minutes

“ how bad can i be?” *proceeds to chase the lorax with an tree cutting machine*

This book was published 1971. One can hope this new generation takes its message to heart, but those that are now in their 50s didn't, so there's no reason to hope.

It's crazy how the entire problem could've been avoided if he planted the seeds while cutting down the trees.

Ok but this actually deserves the “when you’re a kid you listen to the song, when you’re older you understand the lyrics” badge

0:41 GYATT(PLS DON'T ASK)

I love how smooth the transition between the "How bad can this be?" as in, that he's good, to "How bad could I be?", as in a excuse, to "How bad CAN I be?", where he's challenging himself. Also, this song is just SO iconic. (I just noticed each time the meaning of "How ba-a-a-ad can i be?" changes, the Once-ler's guitar changes, from a acoustic guitar, to an electric guitar, to a 2 electric guitars bound together)

The villager after wanting to trade 69 emeralds for one poisonous potato:

"PR people are lying, and the lawyers are denying" is a line that can not be more accurate in today's world...

I like how he goes from “How bad can I be? 🤔” to “HOW BAD CAN I BE! 😈”

2:23 Look at him petting this bear

Say whatever you want about Illumination’s take on The Lorax, but you can’t deny the songs are catchy as heck, especially this one.

whats better then a normal villain is a villain who has regret for what they've done in their past

2:01 this part actuallu made me cry so hard, it was actually so emotional. the deep meaning it had made me break down into tears. enough for me to not be able to recover from it. that line changes my mood everytime i hear it or even think about it. anytime I hear it, a tear of sadness rolls down my cheek. I am actually so serious. the $ sign on his back had a deep meaning behind it that I was able to realize. It's like there's a minor great depression happening right now. Illuminations, you have successfully made me depressed for the rest of my life and I hav e realized this world cannot be changed back anymore. I have realized the sad yet horrible truth from that scene and I will never recover in my life again.

When the villain song is the catchiest song of the movie, there's a problem 😂😂😂love it though

I LOVE his outfit

“A portion of proceeds go to charity” and them actually giving the money back to themselves is just so realistic

2:06 THERE IS A OIL 🦅

"Who cares if the trees are dying?" -The guy who's entire business relies on the survival of trees

Say what you want about this movie, but some of the songs were way better than they should've been

I listen to this while I’m deforesting the Minecraft world

Welp the end of this movie made me cry when I was younger especially the quote at the end. I always thought I was a baby for that but after revisiting this & seeing this I can see why. Definitely some powerful messages and portrayals.

This is the most capitalist song I have ever seen Edit: stop posting comments of songs that are "more capitalist" Edit 2: I'm not a socialist.

The theme song of Disney destroying the Star Wars franchise .

" WHO CARES IF A FEW TREES ARE DYING" he says that like a menace

As a person from the future I have come to announce that the song is still a banger🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

i really like how the name of the song has a double meaning; at the start it means “i don’t see how my actions will cause harm” and then it develops into “let’s see how much harm i can cause”

I like how the song flows from the meaning of "How can I be bad?" to "How bad can I be?"

WE'RE DESTROYING THE ECOSYSTEM WITH THIS ONE 🔥🔥🔥

“Who cares if a few trees are dying” I don’t know why but that line always hits hard

He just keeps getting more insane throughout the video

I like how in the song they show how much trees he’s cutting down by showing his guitar getting more and more expensive.

Damn i gotta rewatch the lorax

Me destroying the villagers house:

This song really hits different when you're an adult.

This song is a great representation of the psychological concept of self-justification

Caine after kidnapping multiple people in a circus and literally holding them hostage until they go insane just to be stored away:

Why does this song slap so hard?

I love how the instrumentals start off cheery and innocent-like, but slowly starts getting more and more corrupt until the end where it just devolves into just evil.

We love u whoever enjoys movies like this

i just wanted to give a big thanks for all the comments that mentioned Biggering. I eventually got curious and went to go check it out and wow i'm glad I did, without those comments I would never have known about it. I now understand what they meant when they say this doesn't even compare. So to everyone who brought it up I understand the frustration now.

One of the things that I always liked about this as a villain song was that at the beginning of the song, Onceler genuinely doesn't see what he's doing as being a bad thing and the question of "How bad can I be?" Is more of a, "it's no big deal" dismissal, but by the end of the song, it's more of a challenge to himself to see what he can get away with.

“A portion of proceeds goes to charity” “Just look at me petting this puppy” I love how this show-even though it’s a children’s show-expresses the fact that marketers try to appeal to their audiences and the public in order to boost sales and increase buyers and in such a subtle way- bravo the Lorax 👏

Listening to this masterpiece of a villain song after getting disappointed from the "supposed" villain song from Wish. This is how you do it, Disney. Take some notes.

1:18 oncler jumpscare

The way the question “How bad can I be?” changes from an excuse to a challenge is sinister and ingenious.

why tf is this actually a bop why am i unironically listening to this

This is certainly the song ever

“Just remember if there’s a tree u can always see me” - Lorax 2012

One thing I love about this song is how it goes from being an innocent question to the demand of a challenge.

I love how they transitioned from innocent to evil and power hungry so smoothly

2:52. ONCE-LER: "And the lawyers are denying!" 2:57. ONCE-LER: "Who cares if a few trees are dying!"

0:01 him: "Bad, im not bad im the good guy here" Also him 3 minutes later: Cuts down a whole forest and enslaves the fricking animal kingdom without giving a single shit about what he's doing"

When I get an extra McNugget, but I don’t tell the cashier:

The fact that this song can be applied to every single big company nowadays is both hilarious and horrifying

2:35 they all came for this absolute D major💀

I think the Once-Ler was throwing gang signs as he cut the trees. 1:32

It went from "How bad am I?" to a challenge like "How much worse can I get?"

2:13 the boy who sold goku drawings in elementary be like:

After Watching the Film Theory video about the Lorax it changed my perspective on this song for you who did not watch it he is Not the Bad guy as The Film sets out to be it is us We are the Bad Guys because we are Forcing him to Cut Down the Trees because of Consumer Demand he even says “all the Customers are paying” so he and mr O Hare are Not the Bad guys We Are

Think about it if he didn’t invite his family after the Thneed became popular and he promised the Lorax he wouldn’t cut down trees ,the trees would’ve still been there.

I like how his guitar becomes slowly more and more badass.

Not only does this song become more relevant every single year, it's also still catchy as hell

This is so funny how he goes from how bad can I be(all fine and in like 2 minutes becomes the most BAD person out there

Some people have to realize that this guy is 23 YEARS OLD and literally 90% of his Fangirls are like 13 💀

You can’t escape from listening to this song over and over again

The Crimes the Onceler committed in this scene: 1. Reckless Endangerment (1:31) 2. OSHA Violations (1:48) 3. Environmental Law Violations (2:07) 4. Charity Fraud (2:30) 5. Slander (2:50) 6. Illegal Logging (3:00) Sentence: $10,550,000 Fine + Factory Shutdown + 13 Years in Prison