As you may very well be aware, if you follow me here on Steemit, I've always been a sucker for the bad guy. Only goes to show that most of my characters are evil, or at least anti-heroes (careful there, huge difference).
It's a fascination of mine, one that I would like to understand. All my life, I've sided with the bad guy, the evil character. It was just the one that drew me in the story, far more than the hero. When watching a TV show or reading a book, I always find myself going 'who are you rooting for? I love the bad guy'.
It's just in my nature, the bad side of humans is fascinating, I think.
And I'm not the only one. While a lot of people seem to identify and root for the good guy, the hero of the story, the bad boys aren't without their fan base. And for good reason.
Often enough, the bad guy of the story is way more complex and overall interesting than the main guy.
Let's take a look at the classic hero- bad guy duo:
Batman & The Joker
Frankly, I've never been a Batman kinda gal. Mainly because he's too good – he wants to save the town and keep the girl safe and all that and everyone regards him as a hero. And that's cute, the good guy's cute, but that's about it.
The Joker, on the other hand, has way more appeal. Precisely because he's so flawed. While he is evil and does bad things that you'd normally condemn, he is also incredibly intelligent (a characteristic of most good antagonists), which makes him more likeable to the public. If you go online, you're more likely to find a Facebook profile (or hey, a Steemit profile) with a Joker image/quote/reference on it rather than a Batman one.
Because people identify with the Joker. The regular Joe identifies with the Joker, deep down, although maybe he'd like to be Batman. But let's face it, being Batman is very hard and less fun. People are essentially evil (more or less, but it's only a matter of degree) and so the dark side of the Joker appeals to us more than the whole Batman thing. Besides, Batman is high society, filthy rich, good looking, one of the elite and while many people would like to be like that, they're much closer to the Joker.
The Joker has been disappointed, he's seen the evil in humanity. And let's face it, how many of us paint a smile on our faces, so to speak?
See, he's closer to home.
I mean sure, being super strong and able to do all the stuff Batman does and being hailed a hero is a typical fantasy, but the Joker has that spark. Honestly, not being a huge Batman fan, I couldn't tell you that much about Batman – a dude who saves people and protects the town. Now the Joker, on the other hand, everyone knows. Well, maybe that's because of all the fantastic actors who've played him.
But this is just an example, I realize I may be stepping on your toes, particularly if you're a Batman guy. There are many other examples, though, such as ~
Hannibal Lecter
By no means a hero of the story, a man who stands out through his incredibly sharp intellect. Hannibal is clearly not the good guy, and yet most people who've watched the films (or read the books) root for him. They like him. Why? Because like the Joker, he's smart, he understands humanity, he's more likely to fall, to do something bad. So are we. Not with the same class as Anthony Hopkins, but still.
Darth Vader
I admit I've never been a Star Wars fan, but from what I've seen, there are a lot of people who root for Darth Vader, rather than “the good guys” of the series. And even if you don't root for him, you gotta admit there is something awfully charming about his persona. Who doesn't love a lord of evil?
Many bad guys are ruthless, clever, scheming and have very complex background stories – let's remember most of them were once good. Whereas, most good guys are just that. I'm not saying it's easy to be good, on the contrary, just that it's less interesting. What are you more likely to watch, a movie about a guy who sees the good in people and decides to do even more good deeds or a story where something horrible happens to him and he turns evil and begins to wreak havoc on the town? I mean come on.
The Antagonist and the Antihero
As I was saying, there's a difference between antagonists and antiheroes. The antagonists are those who oppose the protagonist of the story and are usually plain evil, such as the examples above (granted Hannibal is sort of the protagonist, but he also opposes Clarice's principles, so kinda the antagonist). The antagonists are usually the villains of the story and are usually badder than the antihero. The word itself “antagonist” assumes that somewhere there is also a “protagonist”, which means that although you may like the Joker, he's still essentially the bad guy.
Whereas the term “antihero” refers to a different type of hero. Different, but still the hero of the story.
I've heard it said that Batman in his own way is also an antihero, but I think that subject would be better left for a bigger fan than I. So, I will name some of the antiheroes I do know.
But first, let's define the idea of antihero – what does this mean? Well, according to Wikipedia, the antihero is the central character of the story who lacks traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism, courage or morality. He is, in other terms, flawed. A flawed man who sets out to do good, but might end up failing or doing evil. Although, unlike the antagonist, he doesn't set out to do evil.
So, let's take a look at some famous antiheroes -
Jay Gatsby
I know, I know, ever since Leo played him, he's just adorable. But if you think about the character himself, Jay Gatsby is not a good man – he has a wonderful story, I know, and understandable motivation, but still. Jay Gatsby is a man who comes by his wealth through bootlegging and other shady, dubious connections with mobsters and other such outlaws. And his motivations are selfish. While many see Gatsby as the eternal romantic, who does everything to win back his beloved Daisy, that's not his only motivation.
Although far more endearing to think so, Jay Gatsby is the archetypal second chance of the 20th century. Born in poverty, he is ruthless in his ambition to become one of the wealthy, although acquiring money is not enough. He seeks to reinvent himself and he tells many lies about his ancestry to the book's narrator Nick Caraway, claiming to have always been rich and high class.
And while that's in no way a crime, it contradicts the typical values of the typical hero – a hero doesn't lie and does not covet money or status.
Prince Hamlet
Although he's not the only one of Shakespeare's characters to be an antihero (see Macbeth and Othello), he is perhaps the most well known.
Again, another understandable story – I think everyone can relate to Hamlet's suffering. But he is not the traditional good guy, either. He is driven by murderous thoughts, such as hatred and revenge, while although understandable in the story, not the traits of a hero. Throughout the play, he causes the death of many characters, not only the ones responsible for his father's death.
While you can like him, you can't really argue he's the good guy. There is no good guy in Hamlet.
George Costanza
Bet you didn't see that one coming after Hamlet. But George is an excellent example of the modern antihero. The characters of Seinfeld are in no way good people, as the ending shows. This is perhaps something established very early in the series, that these people, although hugely relatable, are not good. In no way, your traditional heroes. (that was the point, I know)
And George is perhaps the most exaggerated one of them all. He is the biggest liar, most selfish and the sneakiest of them and he completely lacks any morals, something often played upon by the other characters. But he is one of the main characters – he plays a huge part in the series and while definitely a protagonist, he is clearly not a hero.
And yet again, he is someone people relate to. A lot. Perhaps more than Prince Hamlet, as you rarely hear someone quote Hamlet in a day-to day situation.
There are dozens of other antihero examples I could give, such as Don Draper (Mad Men), Ragnar Lodbrok (Vikings), Hank Moody (Californication), Jax Teller (Sons of Anarchy), Walter White (Breaking Bad) as well as many others. I focused on TV series here, because they're sadly way more popular than books and it just goes to show that since there are so many shows about antiheros, maybe there's some truth to that bad boy charm after all?
People like a flawed character.
But I can give you literature examples as well. Tyrion Lannister (A song of Ice and Fire) is hugely popular, although by no means a good guy; Severus Snape (Harry Potter), Roland Deschain (the Dark Tower series) and a lot more.
