The Rise of the Anti-Hero: Why Flawed Characters Dominate Modern Films

William Walker

It’s a well known fact that the characters like the Joker, Walter White, and Deadpool are loved by many. Back in the old days the main characters in most of the movies did not have any flaws. They always did everything right. But they were just too good to be true. But in today’s time the main characters come with flaws. 

Let’s see a few examples of modern anti-heroes that are loved by many:

Tony Stark(Iron man)

 He is an egoistic, arrogant, narcissistic billionaire who in the end sacrifices himself for the sake of humanity. 

Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty)

He is irresponsible, alcoholic, self-destructive and selfish who does not give much of a thought to the consequences of his actions. 

The Punisher

He is brutal and vengeful who is in rage because of the murder of his family who disobeys laws to punish the criminals.

Dexter Morgan (Dexter)

He is a sociopath and a serial killer with principles that only kill murderers.

 Walter White (Breaking Bad)

He is intelligent who starts the path of crime for his family but later starts liking it and goes completely out of track to the point that it is no more about his family but himself.

There are many other movies that have anti-heroes as the main characters and even glorifies them. For example Fight club, Oldboy, The wolf of Wall Street, V for Vendetta, Trainspotting, Joker, The Godfather, Taxi Driver and more.

Now a question arises. Why? And there are some reasons:

Real and relatable

No human is perfect. We make mistakes. We have flaws. And anti-heroes are just that.

The human condition

The desire for power and dominance in humans and the struggle with issues like pride, greed, vengeance make anti-heroes more engaging.

 

Moral Complexity

Anti heroes work in the blurry line that separates good and bad. They make us admire and appall them at the same and even question our own morality and ethics.

Character depth

The character of the anti-heroes change over time and with events causing them tragedy or guilt that changes their character from good to bad or vice-versa.

Breaking the rules

The way anti heroes-operate outside the rules gives many viewers a sense of freedom and rebelliousness. 

While they are cool and realistic, over glorifying them can lead to bad consequences. There are many cases of people committing wrong deeds after being inspired from the movies and the characters. It is important to show the audience what happens when one takes the path of the villain.