THE ANTI-HERO
We all have characters in tv and movies who we love to hate, but recently a rise in antiheroes as main characters in tv and movies have created a new kind of character who we hate to love. Joe Goldberg, The Joker, Dexter, Cruella, Loki, and Maleficent are just a few examples of those we can’t help but to like.
Joe Goldberg from Netflix’s “You” is a shining example of this. Joe is a stalker and ultimately has killed a lot of people, but you can’t help but be on his side (although I’ll admit he makes it hard at times… VERY hard). The man literally has a soundproof cage in his basement. He justifies stuff in a way that makes you question your own moral compass. Throughout the show he has his inner monologue that explains all his thoughts and actions and you can’t help but to think, “yeah THAT makes sense” when it definitely should not! At times he has killed people who are doing bad things and characters you don’t like so it becomes justifiable.
Obviously if you heard Joe Goldberg’s story as a true story in the real world you would be terrified, so what makes Joe so likable and interesting to watch on tv? It’s not just the fact he’s hot, although twitter may disagree.
I know “You” is about the bad things he does, but most of the time when Joe is talking on screen I laugh. I think he is so funny which is unusual for someone who stalks and kills. On Top of that he does have reason no matter how twisted it may be. Sometimes it makes sense when he is hurting bad people. Without giving any spoilers, he gives an inner monologue in season one and I said to my friend who I was watching with, “that was actually really romantic,” (it was not (he’s a stalker (and a killer)))
Because despite all the horrible things Joe continues to do he has layers as a character. He is an interesting lead. You have to watch to see what he’s going to do next because he’s unpredictable. Although he does bad things a lot of the time he does good things. He helps children, sometimes stops bad people even if he does it the wrong way, and he’s even a feminist (kind of (in his own unique way)).
Then there’s the Joker. A villain so much more interesting than the hero that he has his own movie. In the movie “The Joker” you start to sympathize with the villain. People already enjoyed the Joker in Batman’s movies, he is entertaining to watch and has a personality that you don’t get from Batman, but when he has his own movie you actually start to feel bad for him.
“The Joker” film talks about his past and how he came to be known as the notorious Batman villain. The film highlights his struggles with mental illness throughout. While it doesn’t make up for the people he hurts, you see a different side of him. The viewer realizes he wasn’t always that way. His story is not changed, it is just more in depth and gives us all a better understanding about how he came to be. You almost cannot help but to sympathize with him.
I won’t go as far to say Joe Goldberg or the Joker are misunderstood, they hurt people and do bad things, but maybe their flaws (huge flaws) are why people like them.
Often main characters and heroes in tv and movies are conveyed as those who can do no wrong, which is not relatable to any of us, although neither is killing, stalking, etc yet we still like them.
It’s almost impossible to understand why we like these people despite the wrong they do because as Penn Badgley, the biggest critic of his character Joe, so eloquently put, “he’s a murderer.”
Then there is the recent surge of films Disney has put out about their villains leading us to believe they’re just… misunderstood?
Recently the “Cruella” movie was released and it gave a different look at the former villain. While she’s not the perfect friend who sings to animals like a Disney princess, she also is not the evil woman who kills dogs she was once portrayed as. She has goals and does bad things to meet those goals, but is nothing compared to the villain she is seen as in “101 Dalmatians.”
Vox has a theory on the reason we love these villain stories so much. Maybe we just relate more to the villains than the society that wants them to change. I think we like to see the good in people while also knowing people aren’t perfect.
The reason the villain is more interesting to side with is we know they aren’t perfect, but usually it’s not because of their lack of effort. Villains who are pure evil are rarely sided with. For example Thanos in Infinity War and Endgame. Maybe Thanos has a secret fanclub I don’t know about, but most people don’t find themselves sticking up for the villain in Infinity War. There may be slight amounts of backstory for him but nothing that makes you think he might just be misunderstood.
Before Cruella had her own movie and backstory I think most people can agree that she did not have any redeeming qualities, no one sides with the woman who is killing dogs for her coats. However when she has her own movie and the story changes we see her in a different light as a more human character. The same way we would all hate Joe Goldberg if he didn’t have some soul, we see the way he wants to help kids and the backstory of how he got to be who he is. He also tends to show regret when he does bad things, making us as the viewers almost feel bad for him even if it’s not right.
We all know these antiheroes aren’t always good, in fact a lot of the time they do really unforgivable things like killing, but when their intentions are good we can almost forgive it although we know it doesn’t make it okay.
Aside from that they are just more interesting to watch. Cruella and the Joker both have big personalities they’re impossible to miss on screen not just because of their looks, but because of their attitude. Joe Goldberg may not have a big sense of style but something about his dry sense of humor is entertaining. They’re so entertaining that even though you know they’re doing bad things you don’t want them to get caught because we want more movies and more seasons of our favorite villain’s shows. They have qualities that their “hero” counterparts just don’t have.
It seems the trend of antiheroes will not be stopping anytime soon. People are interested in them, especially right now.
The world is a messed up place at the moment with a pandemic and people doing bad things all the time. We all see the flaws, but we also see the good things. The antihero showing their positive qualities along with the bad is like a beautiful and extreme metaphor for our world.
