I don't know about any of you, but as a screenwriter and even as an audience member, I enjoy antagonist whom I feel some form of empathy for or I understand where their flows come from. Am I alone? Bellow is a content share from Script, that reinforces my question. Hope it helps and please leave me your thoughts. http://www.scriptmag.com/features/understanding-antagonists?utm_source=n...
Screenwriting : Antagonists - Do we need to feel Empathy for them? by Jorge J Prieto
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Either way is good, as long as it's not contrived and unbelievable. Happy Labor Day, Jorge, and everyone else! I'm going to be enjoying some homemade prosciutto on Sunday....been aging it for 13 months....either it's going to be great.....or I'm going to die. Heh-heh.
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Someone said , "villains think they are Heroes."
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Well written antagonist-characters always elevate the story and enrich the protagonist-character as well. And if you have a love/hate relationship to the antagonist it means the plot is not black or white either and those grey areas are fantastic to explore.
Thanks guys! Bill: Enjoy your Labor day, buddy. Zlatan: Always grateful to hear from you.
Dan MaxXx: I love all my characters, villains I especially feel sorry for, most of all. They are always misunderstood little devils. Lol.
I've recently read some great articles and script examples where the main character / hero could be viewed as the antagonist or cases where the mentor / sidekick character takes the shape of antagonist. Matrix, Indiana Jones, and Romancing the Stone come to mind as blended examples. In those instances there is clearly room for empathy towards the antagonist. The definition leaves room for the antagonist to be any character. Indiana Jones, Neo & Morpheus, and Joan Wilder while these are the main characters typically viewed as the pro, are the ones that opposes the evil / jerk protagonist of Nazi's, Agent's, and Jack Colton. Def: An antagonist is a character, group of characters, institution, or concept that stands in or represents opposition against which the protagonist must contend. In other words, an antagonist is a person or a group of people who opposes a protagonist.
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You're not alone. Feeling empathy for antagonist strengths stories and is almost needed for survival. We don't have to defend allegations or anything about us but we do. Like storytellers want to divulge information that makes the bad guy appear normal/human. Okay they're bad people but people nonetheless and we all can relate which touches us as individuals. The Joker for example, forged by Batman had a troubled past. So while we don't approve of his actions, we say "oh that explains it." And hope the mouse gets away from the cat just once because we feel sorry for him.
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The antogonist is the protagonist in his own story. He needs a well developed backstory: even Satan knows love as he was cast down from the highest throne of angels in heaven.
Steven Morris: You know, I kinda of, for a brief moment, felt empathy for the Joker in The Dark Knight. When he was telling his story as to how his father cut his face as a child. So, yeah we as human beings feel sorry for even the most evil people, once we know what made them what they are. Thanks everyone for stopping by!! Keep writing.
"Here's the everlasting rub- neither am I good nor bad"- Ian Anderson (the Jethro Tull guy, not the Ian Anderson who posts on stage 32).