The Antihero

[Jess]

So,
(First of all, I’m back! 😀 )
The antihero.
I don’t know if there’s already been a discussion on this, but the antihero has always been an interesting character type to me. (I’m planning on using an antihero in my next story.)

I was just thinking, what makes an antihero so interesting? What keeps the reader compelled to read his story? How do you balance the heroic with the not-so-heroic? And what really makes an antihero, an antihero? How do you approach an antihero in Christian fiction? (I mean, I have ideas, I just find this topic fascinating. 🙂 )

Thoughts and ramblings appreciated, as always. Let me tag some peoples: @kate-flournoy, @daeus, @dragon-snapper, @hope, @northerner, @everyone and anyone

[Emma Flournoy]

Hey @Jess!! Welcome back. Hope you had a blast. 🙂

[Snapper]

@jess Yay, you’re back! How was vacation?
Okay, so first off, before I give you my five cents ( 😛 ) please tell me what the antihero is.

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

[Anonymous]

@jess Hey!!!!! Your back!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
(I am currently devoid of Antihero thoughts and opinions. Give me a bit.)

[Northerner]

I found a good post on antiheroes here: http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com/2017/02/explaining-anti-heroes-and-how-to-write-them.html.

@Dragon-snapper, this might be helpful.

[Jess]

@dragon-snapper, An antihero is a hero that lacks heroic tendencies. They have (larger) flaws and are more of a mix of good and evil rather than sticking to one or the other.

@winter-rose *waves excitedly to you* 😀

Long story short about the vacation: It ended up being split into two because someone had to have emergency surgery… (Long story, but everyone’s healthy and happy now.) The second vacation, which was a vacation from the vacation, was awesome! 😀

[Adry_Grace]

@Jess

I am going to be completely honest here. Antiheroes are my favorite. I think it all started when I watched Teen Titans when I was 10 and one of my favorite characters was Red X.

I think what makes antiheroes so fascinating is that they challenge the line between right and wrong. They look for the shades of grey between the black and white, and make their home there. They make you think.

I remember way back when (last year sometime) I had to write a paper on the definition of a hero, and that was a huge factor for me. If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, are you still a hero? (I said no, though I’d welcome another opinion.) If you do the wrong thing for the right end result, are you a hero? If you killed 10 people to save 20, did you do the right thing?

I think antiheroes are actually super effective, especially as a Christian, because in our sin cursed world there’s no such thing as the perfect hero. There is black and there is white, but on earth we tend to reside somewhere in the shades of grey. Selfish motives and the like are always a factor. And antiheroes kind of make you question, how far can you go before you aren’t a hero anymore?

[Northerner]

@Adry-Grace, as your paper pointed out, antiheroes often go by situational ethics, which I’m convinced are wrong

[R. J. Wordsmith]

I guess an antihero would be someone who does the right things for the wrong reasons. In christian fiction you could show the difficulties with this by contrasting them with a true hero, or just a person of good character.

[Mark Kamibaya]

@jess So my idea of an antihero is someone who does the “right” thing for the wrong reasons OR does the right thing for the right reasons but in the wrong way.

Ideas about why the antihero is so compelling: Nowadays there is a trend where people crave the “realistic.” They desire lifelike situations and lifelike characters (this can work even in fantasy and sci-fi). In order to imitate life, morality within stories have been getting grayer. That’s what makes the antihero so compelling. We empathize with someone who wants to do right, but is in between a rock and a hard place when doing it. We understand the basest desires (it’s called sin), and it delights us when something good can come from such a bad thing (because we crave the good instead of the bad). To put it simply, the antihero imitates life more than the hero (because a perfect person doesn’t really exist, save Jesus Christ).

Ideas about the antihero: So is the antihero good? Methinks maybe. The attraction of the hero is admiration for doing the right thing. The attraction of the antihero is empathizing with who the character is. I believe that the antihero is importa

I blog on story and spiritual things at mkami.weebly.com

[Mark Kamibaya]

@jess Sorry, I got cut off.

You know what? I’ll write a blog post on antiheroes. I’ll be back in about a week with the link 🙂

I blog on story and spiritual things at mkami.weebly.com

[Rachelle]

I find antiheroes intriguing because of how much they can change your average story into something different and thought provoking, but it also seems like a difficult balance to find. =P For example, the main guy in the series Poldark is an antihero, I think, and I find it incredibly difficult to root for him or even want him to succeed. In fact, I often wish he’d lose and feel more of the consequences of his actions so he’ll finally learn. (that sounds terrible, but I can’t help it. =P)

There’s a balance between the character receiving the realistic justice/consequences of their actions and actually succeeding at their goal. The guy on Poldark never seems to gain any ground because he’s always self-destructing and it’s frustrating to watch. =P
Balance seems key to me.

[Anonymous]

@jess oh no a trip to the hospital? Sounds like your vacation was really interesting. I’m glad the second half was good though and that everyone’s well.:)
I agree with @Mark-Kamibaya well as @rachelle. An Antihero builds sympathy for himself because we can relate to him, but at the same time its hard for me to root for an antihero because of his morality. Would you all agree that Tony Stark is an antihero? What about Cassian Andor from Rogue one?

[Adry_Grace]

@winter-rose I would agree with Tony Stark being an antihero for sure. Though he’s come a long way from the first movie, I find that self-interest always seems to be hiding somewhere in his motivations.

Cassian Andor I had never thought about, in spite of him being the only character I liked in the whole movie. I’ve spent the last 15 minutes debating whether he was an antihero. I’ve concluded that he was an antihero with one beauty of a character (I might even go so far as to say redemption) arc. He grew up devoted to this cause, an arguably good cause, til his devotion to it where anything that could be said to be in favor of this cause could be said to be right. If that sentence made sense. And then about halfway through the movie, during the epic scene (if you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about): he hesitates. Now I credit about 95% of his character developement to Jyn, including that precious moment right there. Sooooooooooooo….

All that rambling to be summarized in one sentence: I think that a part of any antihero should be some sort of redemption arc. Especially if it’s an antihero. I mean if a hero goes through an entire story with no arc we call him “shallow” “unrealistic” and “mary sue” so what does that say about an antihero? Who (arguably) has the MOST room for developement?

[Anonymous]

@adry_grace Oooh good points. The epic part was great and I agree that he sort of did have a redemptive character arc. I thought Cassian was an antihero too, though a little less so, if you get my meaning. I think what made him a good antihero and character was his selflessness, his willing to sacrifice himself as well as his own conscience for the rebellion; It still didn’t make it right, but I think the selfless part made him less of an antihero, while still leaving him in that category. It made the viewer root for him as well ( and love him, unfortunately *tears*).
I think that Antiheros can have any arc, as long as the consequences to their actions are shown and the potential for them to change was there all along, but they still refused to accept it.

[Author]

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