In Nightcrawler, Jake Gayllenhaal plays a character named Lou Bloom, who stumbles upon the world of local TV news. He becomes a stringer, someone who films breaking stories, often tragic and violent, and sells the footage to TV stations. Lou is motivated, clever, and a sociopath, “what if my problem wasn’t that I don’t understand people but that I don’t like them” (Nightcawler). Throughout the film, Lou’s lack of empathy and drive to succeed leads him to take increasingly unforgivable actions. Yet, he remains the hero of the story while the audience is engaged. Why? How necessary is it to have a likeable protagonist? And wat do antiheroes offer more than other heroes? Screenwriter Dan Gilroy creates sympathy for Lou in some situations. First
Humanity has created this “universal story” of what a hero is, or at least the myth of it, time and again. Different tasks and encounters with a variety of villains all lead the hero to the prize, to a new life (Seger). This person deemed the hero is as ordinary as the next but what makes them different is the drastic test that they must face. Individuals admire this character because the hero stands for something, something bigger than themselves. Whether it be the compassionate act of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games or the death of the oldest brother in Brother Bear, as an outsider, an individual sees the human side of these heroes and relates. Connor Lassiter from Unwind by Neal Shusterman is an ideal example of the myth due to the
As a society we value and admire heroes who represent the idealized version of ourselves whom we stride every day to become. This is why they are sometimes scrutinized, unless they are an anti-hero, of course. The anti-hero is also admired by some even if he utilizes unlawful methods to achieve his goal, because he represents the good in a corrupt world. But this is not always the case as it is seen in some Noir stories. In Noir stories, the anti-hero is supposed to be a modern knight. Transgressing society's corrupt rules in order to reaffirm for its male audience the need to act justly do rightly; however, the anti-hero through this false nobility and sexism reinforces the social problems that plague contemporary society.
We see the modern hero as actor and sufferer, rebel and victim rough and saint. We see him in the glass of fiction darkly, paradoxically as man both typical and uncommon, the outsider in the street. (Five Faces of Hero 28)
The American culture has many weak spots in society’s heroes. The Disney movie Megamind serves as a great example. The main character Megamind believes that the world is simple. He has faith that there will always be a good and an evil, but when he takes out the town’s hero Metroman, he learns that there is no point in being bad if there is no evil to stop him. “I’m so tired of running rampant through the streets. What’s the point of being bad when there’s no good to try and stop you?” (“Megamind”). It becomes a reoccurring idea for Megamind that it does not matter how much chaos he creates in Metrocity, he can never go back to the way things used to work. “I’m a villain without a hero. A yin with no yang! A bull fighter with no bull to fight. In other words, I have no purpose!” (“Megamind”). Therefore, Megamind decides to fix what he has done.
The first reason that readers like characters such as Liv so much is that they portray the unappealing and intrinsic selfishness that all people somewhere have. The antihero’s actions reflect what any morally average person would do, and this makes readers feel very uncomfortable knowing that they would more than likely do the same. This discomfort is what makes characters such as these so oddly compelling. In the fourth chapter of the novel while Julia is having a “daymare” of the incident, we first see how Liv exemplifies these
However, Eddie is still a pitiable character. Despite his failure to understand his own love for his niece, he is a normal working man who doesn?t really see why it is wrong to love her so much, and deludes himself, trying to convince himself that what he is doing is right. He may not be the typical ?hero? type of many other writers? playscripts ? unlike a hero, he is not perfect, and has many faults, being unable to see or correct them ? but we can still identify with him and his feelings as a normal working man.
English poet John Milton once wrote, “…good and evil we know in the field of this world grow up together almost inseparably; and the knowledge of good is so involved and interwoven with the knowledge of evil.” With this interwoven information, modern audiences are usually able to differentiate the “good guys” from the “bad guys” in a movie or television show. A murderous meth kingpin, a rebellious teenage rapist, and a Los Angeles hit man who quotes Holy Scripture before killing his targets — not your typical group of likeable personalities. However, these individuals (Walter White, Alex DeLarge, and Jules Winnfield) are among film and television’s most beloved characters. Often, society shuns people who fall under these deviant categories. Why then do audiences support, sympathize with, and even root for these “bad” characters? Many factors come into play when audiences decide whom they like and why they like them. Through easily identifiable characters, viewers relate to and support the “bad guys” and find ways to justify their deviant behavior; this pattern can be seen in the soci...
In the second world war, the Nazi and Jewish populations went through a great deal of things. One of these things being relentless dehumanization; for the Jews it was by the Nazis and for the Nazis it was more so mentally, being brainwashed and forced to believe the Jews were enemies. The differences between these two was dire in the sense of how it happened. These two are very relevant in the book Night by Elie Wiesel and in Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg.
In general, most people sometimes think about what is the morality and humanity. Also, they would think about how they can struggle to keep their humanity when someone or something torment them. If people are faced with that kind of situation, they should decide to struggle for keeping their humanity or not such as the main characters of movies. The short stories, “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders and “The Sloan Men” by David Nickle, talk about how characters respond to their situation for their humanity. While both Jeff of “Escape from Spiderhead” and Mrs. Sloan of “The Sloan Men” are victimized by monsters that torment them, but they both struggle to keep their humanity.
Jordan who portrays Oscar Grant, is demonstrated as a hero in a way. Heroes in films usually have a goal or want something, but have a challenging time obtaining it, due to obstacles getting in their way. Also, someone we can connect with or feel sympathetic towards. Additionally, the character has to be brave and act like it, in order for the audience to want to cheer him or her own their struggles. Also, how far the character is willing to go to get it. Therefore,Oscar Grant is a hero in the film, he’s a young man who is struggling to do right by his family, with some success where it really matters. He wanted to change for his loved ones and he was trying even with the obstacles that were thrown at him and even when they were hard to overcome. Moreover, he was a good father to his four year old daughter Tatiana, a good friend, and wanted to be a better man for his mother and girlfriend, as well. Oscar, struggled with money, there’s a scene in the movie where his sister calls him to ask him to lend her a hand with rent. He had lost his job, he was jobless and rent was due for him, as well, but he never said no to his sister. Oscar, did the opposite and said he would help her. Additionally, there was another scene where it demonstrates how Oscar never stopped trying, where he begs the police officers to let him go and not do anything to him, that he had a four year old daughter at home waiting for him to come home. A four
They are characters that the audience can empathize with because a single human is born with nothing but as they walk life they will be neither purely evil nor good but a mix of both. These characters are timeless for if you want to label them as purely evil or purely good it’s impossible because they aren’t. These characters touch upon issues that society are conflicted about and allow the audience to work out these issues for their self throughout the story or play letting us decided the truth within these stories. Like how Mary Shelley had force the reader to see within the heart of the creature and the society viewpoint for us to decide for their self who we thought were the real monsters within the story of Frankenstein. These characters are also seen as more realistic because even if they are the most pure characters the audience may had read about with the purest intentions they may still fallen to their darkness in the end showing that the world isn’t filled with demons or angels that like humans these characters can feel, they can wary and fall to their temptation, that they can still hope, get hurt, cry, feel guilt, depression, happiness, and paranoia. Because like in reality the audiences are living in a morally ambiguous world where most of the world 's solutions to their problem aren’t clear and may be difficulties in choosing what the right thing to do. This makes the story more engaging, realist, and makes it easier
Heroes and villains are seen differently through the eyes of each individual person, not all heroes and villains are recognized because of their actions. A hero can be someone like your mom, who has done everything they possibly could to make you happy and inspire you to be someone important in life. And a villain can be someone like President Donald Trump America great again by taking back all immigrants back to Mexico. Though people might disagree with President Trump being a villain and see him as a hero, because a lot of people think these immigrants should go back to their home town.
Commonly, a hero is considered as a representative of morality, justice and power. Also, people have various ways to evaluate their own heroes. Especially children, as they grow up, are more likely to create their heroes who are usually brave, strong, righteous and indestructible. However, villains are the opposite side of heroes, and they are evil, demoniacal and cruel. Some of those heroes would easily turn into villains when they are trying to get revenge because their hearts are filled with hatred. The play Hamlet by Shakespeare tells the tragic story of a prince avenging the death of his father. In the play, the main character Hamlet changes from a hero into a villain through his immoral and repellant actions.
Movies have evolved a great deal since the days when a couple fighting scenes and a small love story satisfied audiences. Today movie plots are much more complicated and have much more action, thanks to modern day technologies. Although these new technologies seem to make movies increasingly complicated, some crucial roles in movies will never change. One thing that has remained constant in the film industry is the role of the hero. No matter what the genera of the film and or when the film was made the hero’s always share similar characteristics and are put through similar series of tests to prove their heroism. When these tests are completed it seems to pull everything together in their films. Although the hero Shane in the movie Shane and the hero Ripley in the movie Aliens are from two separate generas and are also from separate time periods, the hero’s in each movie share characteristics and are put through similar tests that make them, in theory, one in the same. Heroic characteristics start to become evident right from the start of each of the movies.
Some people might disagree like the antagonists from these stories or people from the real world because they aren't paying attention on what they're doing or what are they reading even people hate the stories, or the people in the story, but if they know the character better they might be surprised on the good character and understand on what they are sacrificing!!!