![]() It is vanishingly rare for these characters to be a Complete Monster, as regardless of how much a bad dude a protagonist may be, the audience will generally still desire to have at least a degree of relatability and sympathy for them, although it has happened in very rare circumstances, often in stand-alone and experimental works. If you get to see how a heroic protagonist gradually becomes evil over the course of the story, this is Protagonist Journey to Villain. ![]() If a heroic protagonist is revealed to be Evil All Along towards the end, this is The Killer in Me. If the main character is the villain to themselves in their own story, they are His Own Worst Enemy. Many Byronic Heroes tend to zone in and out of Villain Protagonist territory, though. Also not to be confused with Byronic Hero, who is simply a deeply flawed person, heroic or not. Do not confuse with the Anti-Hero, who lacks traditional heroic qualities and may have some unheroic ones, and may be more morally ambiguous, but is still ultimately on the side of good (although an Anti-Hero can end up becoming a Villain Protagonist if they end up crossing one too many lines). If this is a comedy where empathy isn't important, however, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can still easily result in Too Bleak, Stopped Caring if handled poorly, or if the Protagonist is too Villainous. ![]() In fact, it is rather rare for a Villain Protagonist to be the villain of a story, presumably because audiences still want to root for the protagonist. Actually, authors may find that it is easier to write a story where the antagonist makes the plot rather than the villain, which means that a villainous protagonist is often just as passive and reactive to other characters' actions as a more traditional heroic protagonist. Note that they do not necessarily have to be the Big Bad - a Villain Protagonist can, and often does, deal with cases where they are the victim of some other villain rather than the aggressor and try to survive like anyone else would, but in order to be considered a Sociopathic Hero or a Heroic Comedic Sociopath as well, their struggle has to protect other victims of their enemy it doesn't matter if they care at all about them or if any good that comes out of it is purely coincidental. This trope very often overlaps with a Nominal Hero and/or Sociopathic Hero, and sometimes with the more extreme cases of an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist. When this is done for one episode, it's a Villain Episode. In fact, their status as a main character just makes it more likely that the story will end with the villain winning than any other story would. This doesn't necessarily mean they will lose or perform a Heel–Face Turn. They may also do a Heel–Face Turn and become a Hero Protagonist (or at least an Anti-Villain). Whether this counts as a Downer Ending or not generally depends on how many dogs they kick along the way, how entertaining their Humiliation Conga or Karmic Death is or both. Evil stories, where their nemesis is a Villain Antagonist.Ī Villain Protagonist (especially in a comedy) is quite likely to go down in flames at the end. Villain Protagonists are also common in Evil vs. We are seeing the story from a villain's point of view. They simply need to be a villain whose morally reprehensible actions (however well-intentioned) are in no way glossed over or justified within the context of the story. On the other hand, it is not necessary for a villain to be sympathetic for them to be this trope. Sometimes (but not always), this villainous main character will even get the Sympathetic P.O.V. Martin talking about The SopranosĪn interesting twist on conventional storytelling: make the bad guy, or a bad guy, the main character. Let’s crack open the bank vault and look around – because in these films, crime does pay.- George R. You’ll find all kinds on our definitive list of the best gangster movies of all-time. Some are romantic, others funny and a few just plain weird. Many are loud and violent, sure, but plenty others are smart, pensive and icily cool. Over the last century-plus, the mythos has spread from hard-boiled mobsters spraying Tommy gun fire to yakuza enforcers turning pistol-play into art, larger-than-life mafioso in three-piece suits and street-level bosses whose empire only extends to the end of the block.Ĭlearly, gangsterism is a diverse profession, and so are gangster movies. Almost since the movies began, filmmakers have been fascinated by people living outside the law. In truth, the closest most of us have gotten to a life of crime is spending a few hours in the loafers of cinema’s smoothest criminals. ![]()
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