Why Anti-Heroes are Important
When you were younger, the ideal character was the Knight in Shining Armor or Good Princess who was so true and pure, cleaning everything and being able to wait patiently for aforementioned Knight or Prince. Heroes with a codes of justice that meant they always saved the world like the angels they were, never putting a foot wrong. Goody twoshoes who did all their homework. We stuffed them into our faces, pinning our hopes and dreams as they musical bounced around greatness - telling us to be wholesome (becase we had no idea that our parents were controlling us in this way.)
How boring!
Glancing over my favourite films and their pivotal characters, not hard as they are clad against my phone. Bruce Robertson from Filth, Nathan Wallace from Repo! The Genetic Opera, Jack Gurney from The Ruling Class and Hannibal Lecter. With that last one being a bit of a stretch in definition (because, if you reject the back-story or even accept it in some way, he's a stone cold cannibal), I'd say that they were all Anti-Heroes.
Anti-heroes truly illuminate our screens. They are characters who serve as our protagonist but waver in moral code. Drug smoking cops who want to save the work, murders who love and many more. These roles serve as the gristle in cinema as long as they weren't hooked on stereotypes. These are characters were indicitive of good writing because otherwise they fester in tedium. I had this problem with Outlander and Jamie Fraser who was literally too pure to be true that his character pickled in the barrel of boredom until he was oversaturated with chiseled cliche. Yawn!
Characters who are so decent often falter on screen because similarly, in real life, our cynical nature kicks in and their grandiose loving nature highlights our own insecurities and faults. Sure, there are good people out there but they still make mistakes, upset people and ache because of this thing called humanity that always keeps us in check. We aren't robots, we are all messy and awful people who default into self-serving selfishness but rise above it. That's what proves our worth - how much we keep our Heck, I was sat in a talk with Stephen Beresford who struggled to flesh out the characters of Mark Ashton in Pride because no one would say anything bad against the late activist. And he was a real person!
The closest thing I have to a shining perfect fictional person is J.C in the first half of The Ruling Class and let me tell he doesn't last long as being the supposed reincarnation of Christ. That's what is do alluring about every one of these characters, they all started out - either on screen or off - has hopeful loving souls broken by the events in their lives to the point where they are seething, rage filled murderers. There is a part of them that beats with gold and goodness that it is more engaging when juxtaposed aganst the truly sordid and decadent spirit within them. There is splintering and their psyche takes them on a shadowed path without fault or help which I believe is something people can relate too.
It's not that I am attracted to the bad points and I abhor them just like you but Anti-Heroes present this definitive duality of man that encompass most of us. On a personal note, a lot of my favourite characters have helped encompass my own flaws and help work through them in an, admittedly over-embellished, way. Suffering from mental illness, my brain attacking each thought that rapidly comes with great and distressing imagery attached, I found escapism. In the twisting minds, I discovered solace. They reminded me, in this weird way, that I am not the darkness with in me but I could appreciate that vicariously through Nathan Wallace's split dynamics or Hannibal's manipulative ways. Bruce Robertson's decent into his psychological hell mirrors my own so evocatively that, whilst I never plunged into the dark depths as he did, I found a cathartic drug within film that made much more sense when dealing with issues.
Personal emotions aside, Anti-Heroes are more entertaining and vital to watch. They are enriched with these stories that unfold in dramatical ways - if written right. They have layers that heavily tinge the overall atmosphere with this excellent heavy undertone. There seems to be an brilliant switch lately to present anti-heroes in such this way that even our spandex clad supers have to deal with their own issues.
The point is is that characters can be problematic and awful but still matter in the grand scheme of things. It makes cinema visceral and important and utterly riveting.
