Anti-Heroes: What Makes Them Different? - Troped!

get ready for some brooding and bad attitudes Wow I may be super but I am no hero welcome to watchmojo.com in this episode we're taking a look at anti-heroes protagonists who lack many of the common characteristics associated with heroism before we begin we publish new videos every day so be sure to subscribe for more great content some of the key characteristics of traditional heroes are bravery mercy selflessness intellect and strength anti-heroes tend to have some but not all of these features they might be brave but not selfless we're strong but not merciful they do heroic stuff because said heroic stuff is in keeping with their own interests or self-preservation and not because it's the right thing to do or because they feel a sense of great responsibility as a result of their great power hear me out I don't care about the people of Earth but I promise I will destroy self while anti heroes are more popular and common now than they've ever been this archetype comes from a long tradition stretching as far back as ancient Greece from Odysseus in the Odyssey and Don Quixote to Hamlet Macbeth there's always been an appreciation for heroes whose flaws prevent them from fitting the traditional mold Odysseus struggles and makes mistakes where classical heroes would have triumphed he's not the best fighter he's arrogant and he's really really bad at keeping his men alive the anti heroes of old were all about defeating the obstacles within themselves in spite of their flawed nature the history of cinema is filled with compelling and dramatically different kinds of anti heroes from the film noir detectives of the 40s and 50s to Clint Eastwood's man with no name from Sergio Leone's dollars trilogy who stands as the prototypical spaghetti western antihero stand up because of the rise of nerd culture and its collision with the mainstream a lot of people's mental image of an antihero today probably comes from comic book characters The Punisher is an example that recently re-entered the public consciousness in a big way with the release of season 2 of Netflix's daredevil this interpretation of the character cleverly deconstructs and challenges the notion of the to here as Jon Bernthal Frank Castle presents both a physical and moral obstacle for the devil of Hell's Kitchen you know what I think you hero I think you're a half-measure I think you're a man who can't finish the job and then there's Deadpool oh hello the Merc with the mouth is as fast talking and woody as he is sadistic and cruel luckily his victims tend to be pretty bad people what distinguishes Deadpool in this tradition is the pure joy and Glee with which he disposes of the bad guys oh I'm touching myself tonight outside of comics and the superhero genre the next haven for anti-heroes these days is prestige television think of the big TV dramas of the last two decades consider that for almost all of them the main characters tend to be pretty bad people you know who I am you know what I do from a cold and calculated school teacher turned drug lord to a pill-popping nurse to a family man slash mob boss to a womanizing alcoholic who doesn't say thank you to a nihilistic undercover cop to an actual serial killer the best shows that the last decade have been centered around broken individuals motivated by their own self-interest who have little issue breaking the rules to get what they want you probably wouldn't want to be friends with these people but man are they fun to root for god damn right who wants to watch stories about perfect people what does the 21st century version of a classical hero even look like heck even Superman is all dark and gloomy these days the rapid rise in the number and variety of characters who fit the definition of antihero is a reflection of a culture that's board with knights in shining armor if they aren't presented with some kind of ironic wink they just end up feeling dishonest and old hat but the other guys the lovable losers and the criminals with hearts of gold these characters feel real their internal conflict feels real they're interesting because they're both believable and unpredictable while the line between hero and antihero is thin in most cases the hero always does the right thing so it's pretty easy to predict their next move but an antihero they keep you guessing so what do you think is there room in pop culture for more traditional heroes or have anti-heroes taken over for good wished it was me in there giving the beating or taking it want more from WatchMojo check out other great clips on our youtube channel and be sure to take a look at our special feature of the top 100 movie moments of the 90s

Channel: WatchMojo.com

Views: 246,120

Keywords: anti-hero, film, movies, tropes, video essay, the odyssey, don quixote, hamlet, macbeth, ulysses, homer, film noir, maltese falcon, the good the bad and the ugly, clint eastwood, daredevil, punisher, deadpool, the sopranos, breaking bad, dexter, mad men, nurse jackie, true detective, watchmojo, troped

Id: YbYD6AQ6e60

Length: 4min 44sec (284 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 16 2017