Understanding Anti-Heroes in Film

Hollywood has popularized anti-heroes, morally ambiguous characters, widely present in iconic movies and TV shows.

### Crafting Complex and Compelling Anti-Heroes in Film
* 🦸 Anti-heroes are main characters who lack traditional heroic qualities, such as **courage, moral compass, or optimism about the world**.
* 🎥 The term "anti-hero" dates back to philosophers like Denis Diderot in 1714, but it gained popularity in film after World War II, particularly in the **noir genre**.
* 🌟 Anti-heroes are prevalent in many iconic films and TV series, often blurring the line between **hero and villain**.
* 🌈 Anti-heroes exist on a spectrum based on how much the audience **understands and approves of their actions**.
* 📜 Techniques like **backstory**, **internal monologue**, and **motivations** help build understanding for **anti-heroes**.
* 🔄 Anti-heroes often undergo character arcs, starting as moral characters and gradually becoming more **morally ambiguous or corrupt**.
* 🎬 A film's tone, character charisma, and thematic relevance can influence how the audience perceives an **anti-hero**.
* 📝 To create a memorable anti-hero like Jordan Belfort from "The Wolf of Wall Street," writers must make them **complex, relatable, and reflective of real-world themes**.

Throughout its history, Hollywood
has created unforgettable characters, which exist somewhere
in between good and evil. One of the most common character
types, which falls in this gray area, is... - Where is my daughter! - The anti-hero. A character who
doesn't always do the right thing, but who the
audience is drawn to. This is What is an Anti-Hero. Before we get started, don't
forget to subscribe to StudioBinder and click the bell to stay up to
date on all our filmmaking videos. Anti-heroes can
get pretty violent, so consider this a
graphic content warning. We'll be spoiling
the following movies. Now, let's jump in. An anti-hero is
the main character in a story who lacks the conventional
principles that we associate with a 'hero'. This might mean
a lack of courage, a cynicism for the
world around them, or a weak moral compass. The term anti-hero predates
film by more than a century.

used by philosophers like Denis Diderot as early as 1714. In film, however, the anti-hero became immensely popular after World War II when returning soldiers struggled with reintegrating to their normal lives. - People lose teeth talking like that. You want to hang around, you'll be polite. - Nowhere was the anti-hero more prevalent in the noir genre, which proliferated the 40s and 50s. Noirs often followed grizzled detectives who rebuked traditional heroics instead of operating in a moral gray area, reflecting the pessimistic (inaudible) in American society after the World War. - Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money. And for a woman. - Today, anti-heroes are everywhere, populating some of the most iconic films and TV series of the past few decades. - It's all good man. Anti-heroes are sometimes categorized as villain protagonists and vice versa.

A villain protagonist's actions are usually more evil than an antihero's. Therefore, it's a blurry line, and the distinction depends on a viewer's own moral code. So, what do you think? Are these antiheroes or villain protagonists? Because antiheroes are so common, they come in many shapes and sizes. Let's take a look at the anti-hero spectrum. - Hi. I'm Shellie's new boyfriend, and I'm out of my mind. - The different forms of anti-hero are defined by two elements: understanding and approval. Screenwriting scholar John Truby explains, ' If you show the audience why the character chooses to do what they do, then the audience understands the cause of the action without necessarily approving of the action itself'. For a character to be an anti-hero, the audience understands why they're doing what they're doing but don't have to think it's the right thing to do. - I'm on my f*cking last bite, okay!?

- Where a character falls on the anti-hero spectrum is largely dependent on how much the audience approves of their actions. - Jesus Christ! Can you maybe keep it together for just 10 minutes? Robin Hood, for example, falls on the most approving end of the spectrum. We understand why he's stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, but we also have a certain level of approval of his actions. - Praise the Lord and pass the tax rebate! - Some may argue that even though he's breaking the law, he's doing the right thing. This means Robin Hood is just barely an anti-hero. - Everybody this way! - Breaking the rules - Yes. But doing so in a way that would garner most people's approval. Fleabag, meanwhile, falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. She's selfish, judgmental, and impulsive. So for much of the series, we don't approve of her actions.

even though some of
them may be relatable. - Time to throw the net out. We understand why Fleabag
is the way she is. However, when we see the emotional
distance she has from her family. - You close with your family? - We get on with it. - Do you talk?
- God, no. - Aileen from Monster is in the least
approving side of the anti-hero spectrum. She is a serial killer. So the audience doesn't
approve of her actions at all. The audience has sympathy for her. However,
because we see she was a victim of abuse. We don't condone her actions, but we
know why she's doing what she's doing. So Aileen ends up with high
understanding but low approval. Sometimes a character can shift on the
antihero spectrum as their story progresses. Perhaps the most famous
example of this is in Breaking Bad. - I am the one who knocks.

- Walter White begins as a highly sympathetic anti-hero. He's selling drugs to pay for his cancer treatment. - Maybe you and I could partner up. - But as the series continues, we approve of White's actions less and less, since he eventually becomes a ruthless drug kingpin. But we understand why he's doing what he's doing. He's garnering more respect than he ever did as a high school science teacher. - Say my name. - Heisenberg. - You're godd*mn right. - Now that we know the different forms they can take, let's look at how to write an anti-hero. - What do you think you are for Christ's sake? Crazy or something? - As we've made clear, establishing understanding is crucial when writing an anti-hero. But how does a writer show an audience why an anti-hero is behaving the way that they are? - He thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does!

Well, I didn't ask to get made! - One of the most tried
and true techniques to build understanding for a
character is through backstory. What happened to them in the
past that made them this way. - Someday I'm gonna
make great machines that fly. And me and my friends
are gonna go flying together into the forever
and beautiful sky. - In Watchmen, we are introduced to
Rorschach as a brutal vigilante anti-hero. He is cold and unforgiving showing
no mercy as he kills criminals. His actions are explained
later when he is interrogated revealing the hardships
he experienced growing up. And a pivotal moment from his past
where he was a witness to a gruesome crime. - I confess. I kidnapped her. I killed her. Arrest me. - The experience hardened him and led him
to believe some criminals can't be redeemed. - Take me in. Don't! No! - Men get arrested.

Dogs get put down. - With this backstory, we may still not approve of Rorschach's actions, but we understand the circumstances which drove him to have the outlook that he does. - None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. - All right, that's it! You're locked in here with me. - Internal monologue is another way to understand a character's actions. - I went over everything that was said. What should have been said. What could have been said differently. What could have been said better. - This is a favorite technique of anti-hero maestro Paul Schrader, who writes characters disillusioned with society and explains their actions through voiceover. - In the last year, I'd come to believe in such things as spirits leaving the body and not wanting to be put back. In Taxi Driver, we follow Travis Bickle, and we slowly learn of his mindset through his increasingly dark narration.

- Someday a real rain'll come and wash all this scum off the streets. - His voiceover shows us two sides of him. A lonely man looking for human connection. - All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. - And a bitter obsessive headed towards a mental break. The idea has been growing my brain for some time. So by the time Bickle turns violent, we understand how he got to this point. - Suck on this. - Building understanding also means giving depth to your anti-heroes' motivations. In Chronicle, Andrew's actions are rooted in his difficult home life and struggles at school. So we understand why he uses his newfound ability to finally have agency over his life. - Hey, Wayne. But this power slowly corrupts him. - See this one here. This one I got really clean because I did this little like lasso thing around the root, you know.

While his motivations are complex, by the end of the film, he is a true anti-hero. Co-pay on that is $750.83. Well, I don't have all that. Andrew's trajectory is a great example of a common anti-hero character arc. I'm an apex predator. Starting as a moral person slowly getting worse as the film goes on. This type of art can also create compelling internal conflict. Your anti-hero may not want to do what they're doing but they feel like they have no other option. Go on this quest for me and I'll give you your swamp back. In Trainspotting, Renton continuously tries to get clean so that he can pursue a normal life. But again and again, he's unable to. No more. I'm finished with that sh*te. It's up to you. I'm going do it right this time. Gonna get it sort it out. Get off it for good.

- I sure have heard
that one before. - Renton, therefore,
is a reluctant anti-hero. And this push and pull acts as
the fundamental conflict of the film. An audience's opinion of an anti-hero
is also affected by a film's tone. - May I have a glass
of water, please? - In Kill Bill, the audience understands
why the bride is on a murderous rampage. She was left for dead, but the amount of people
she kills strains this justification. Quentin Tarantino keeps
us on her side through tone, making the violence
campy and cartoonish. The Bride's actions,
therefore, aren't too horrific. Contrast this with Robert
Eggers's Northman, which also follows a
character exacting revenge. But the tone of this
film is much darker. Each time Amleth
commits an act of violence, he seems to lose
more of his humanity. By the end of the film, the
audience may be less sure

they want him to achieve his goal. While Amleth and The Bride have similar motivations, the tone of their respective films makes us feel differently about their actions. A writer can also keep an audience on an anti-hero side through charisma and complexity. Tony Soprano does bad things, but because he's such a vividly realized character with relatable quirks, audiences kept rooting for him. As George R.R. Martin noted, 'HBO has proven that we will follow for years and years some pretty reprehensible characters as long as they're fascinating.' - Are you kidding me? Oh, my God. This is awful. I'm not even joking. - Who made that? - Us. - You made it? Give me my money back. - No. - I want my dollar back. - To write an anti-hero with true staying power, it's useful to think about their thematic relevance. What does this character say about our society?

About other people like them? In Fight Club, the narrator's anti-hero
qualities like cynicism, aimlessness, and lack of self-worth held
a mirror to 90s America. - I'd flip through
catalogs and wonder what kind of dining set
defines me as a person. - Consumer culture
wasn't leading to happiness. - I felt sorry for guys packed
into gyms trying to look like how Calvin Klein or Tommy
Hilfiger said they should. - That what a man looks like? - And disaffected men were turning to
self-destructive practices to vent their anger. - What? - I want you to hit me
as hard as you can. - As a result, the narrator and his
alter ego resonated with audiences and still do to this day. Now, let's look at all
these techniques in action. The Wolf of Wall Street,
written by Terrence Winter, boasts an iconic
anti-hero, Jordan Belfort.

Belford is consumed with greed, and throughout the film, he behaves immorally. Belford falls on the less approving end of the anti-hero spectrum. Most of the actions he commits are unjustifiable. From cheating on his wife to cheating on assuming clients out of their own money. At the same time, Winter makes Belford a character the audience can understand. After showing him on top of the world, Winter shows Belford's backstory. He comes from a modest background and had to claw his way up into the wealthy echelon he ends up in. - You're not going to work at that place? - Yeah, but, you know, you start off... - Jordan, you're gonna be miserable at that place if you go there. - It's sales. You work your way up, you'll be a general manager. - You're not gonna be a stock boy. - Why not?

'Cause you're a stockbroker. - Winter also highlights that Belford
becomes a product of his environment. All of the immoral tools that he
uses for his own personal gains were taught to
him by Wall Street. This scene
encapsulates this idea. What the investor
center is doing is wrong. Jordan simply does what they're
already doing to a much larger extent. - $4,000? That'd be
40,000 shares, John. - By using setting as
a corrupting influence, Winter can also create a
conventional anti-hero character arc. When Belford first arrives on Wall Street,
he is riding the bus with his loving wife. As time goes on, he
gets worse and worse, further poisoning the
culture of high finance. By the end of the film, he is
driving his car into his mansion. An addict chased by his
new wife who hates him. - Get the hell out of here.

Throughout the film, Winter employs voice-over to give the viewer a look inside Jordan's mind. His opening lines sum up exactly why he's continuing to run scams. They made him something out of nothing. I'm a former member of the middle class raised by two accountants in a tiny apartment in Bayside Queens. The year I turned 26 as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made 49 million dollars. By the end of the film, Jordan Belfort's thematic relevance is abundantly clear. The movie was released soon after the financial collapse of the great recession. And the true story of Jordan Belfort is a reflection of the greed which plagues Wall Street. I gave up everyone. And in return, I got three years in some hell hole in Nevada I'd never even heard of. No amount of money or success is enough for him. Just as it was never enough for the financial sector at large.

- Word about us spread
throughout Wall Street. - Terence Winter's
expert anti-hero writing, combined with Martin
Scorsese's direction, resulted in one of the most
scathing satires of the 21st century. One which continues to
have an impact on us today. - I want you to deal with your
problems by becoming rich. A good anti-hero is just
like any other good character: complex, evolving, and real. The real world doesn't
operate in moral absolutes, so why should your protagonist? - We just killed
my best friend. - What are some of
your favorite anti-heroes? Let us know below. - I can bring you in warm. Or I can bring you in cold. - Start writing the next great anti-hero
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our new filmmaking videos. And remember, nobody's perfect.

What is an Antihero — And Why Are They So Compelling?

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Anti-heroes are main characters who lack conventional heroic principles, often seen in noir films of the 40s and 50s.

They became popular after World War II, reflecting the struggles of returning soldiers.

Today, they populate many iconic films and series, blurring the line between hero and villain.

The approval of an anti-hero's actions determines their position on the spectrum.

Robin Hood is at the most approving end, as his actions are widely supported.

Fleabag falls in the middle, with some relatable actions but overall disapproval from the audience.

Aileen from Monster is at the least approving side, with the audience having high understanding but low approval of her actions.

The Power of Backstory in Understanding Anti-Heroes

Backstory is crucial in understanding the actions of anti-heroes, as seen in the case of Rorschach in Watchmen.

Internal monologue, like in Taxi Driver, helps to reveal the mindset of the character and explain their actions.

In Chronicle, the main character's actions are driven by his difficult life, providing insight into his motivations.

Anti-heroes often have complex motivations and internal conflicts, leading them to reluctantly engage in questionable actions.

The tone of a film and the charisma of the character can greatly influence the audience's perception of the anti-hero's behavior.

Additionally, a well-crafted anti-hero can offer insight into the thematic relevance and values of our society.

The Impact of Anti-Heroes in Fight Club and The Wolf of Wall Street

The narrator in Fight Club reflects the disillusionment with consumer culture and the struggle for identity in 90s America.

Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street is portrayed as an anti-hero consumed by greed, whose immoral actions are influenced by his environment.

The character arcs of these anti-heroes resonate with audiences, reflecting societal issues and the corrupting influence of power.

The Impact of Jordan Belfort as an Anti-Hero

Jordan Belfort's inner motivations and thematic relevance are driven by greed and the relentless pursuit of wealth.

The portrayal of Belfort reflects the larger culture of greed in the financial sector, serving as a scathing satire of the 21st century.

The film's enduring impact lies in its portrayal of Belfort as a complex and evolving anti-hero, challenging moral absolutes and leaving a lasting impression on the audience.