Name: What is an Antihero — And Why Are They So Compelling?
Uploaded: 2023-10-06T04:43:53.000Z
Duration: 19 min 1 s
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Throughout its history, Hollywood has created unforgettable characters

which exist somewhere in between good and evil.

One of the most common character types which falls in this gray area is...

- The anti-hero. A character who doesn't always do the right thing

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in a story who lacks the conventional principles that we associate with a 'hero'.

The term anti-hero predates film by more than a century

used by philosophers like Denis Diderot as early as 1714.

In film, however, the anti-hero became immensely popular after World War II

when returning soldiers struggled with reintegrating to their normal lives.

You want to hang around, you'll be polite."

- Nowhere was the anti-hero more prevalent

in the noir genre which proliferated the 40s and 50s.

reflecting the pessimistic (inaudible) in American society after the World War.

Anti-heroes are sometimes categorized as villain protagonists and vice versa.

A villain protagonist's actions are usually more evil than an antihero's.

and the distinction depends on a viewer's own moral code.

Are these antiheroes or villain protagonists?

Because antiheroes are so common they come in many shapes and sizes.

Let's take a look at the anti-hero spectrum.

I'm Shellie's new boyfriend and I'm out of my mind."

- The different forms of anti-hero are defined by two elements

Screenwriting scholar John Truby explains, '

If you show the audience why the character chooses to do what they do

then the audience understands the cause of the action

without necessarily approving of the action itself'.

the audience understands why they're doing what they're doing

but don't have to think it's the right thing to do.

- Where a character falls on the anti-hero spectrum

is largely dependent on how much the audience approves of their actions.

"- Jesus Christ! Can you maybe keep it together for just 10 minutes?"

Robin Hood, for example, falls on the most approving end of the spectrum.

We understand why he's stealing from the rich and giving to the poor

but we also have a certain level of approval of his actions.

"- Praise the Lord and pass the tax rebate!"

- Some may argue that even though he's breaking the law,

This means Robin Hood is just barely an anti-hero.

But doing so in a way that would garner most people's approval.

Fleabag meanwhile falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

So for much of the series, we don't approve of her actions

even though some of them may be relatable.

We understand why Fleabag is the way she is however

when we see the emotional distance she has from her family.

- Aileen from "Monster" is in the least approving side of the anti-hero spectrum.

So the audience doesn't approve of her actions at all.

The audience has sympathy for her however because we see she was a victim of abuse.

We don't condone her actions but we know why she's doing what she's doing.

So Aileen ends up with high understanding but low approval.

Sometimes a character can shift on the antihero spectrum as their story progresses.

Perhaps, the most famous example of this is in "Breaking Bad".

- Walter White begins as a highly sympathetic anti-hero.

He's selling drugs to pay for his cancer treatment.

- But as the series continues, we approve of White's actions less and less.

Since he eventually becomes a ruthless drug kingpin.

But we understand why he's doing what he's doing.

He's garnering more respect than he ever did as a high school science teacher.

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What is an Antihero — And Why Are They So Compelling?

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