The Rise Of The Anti-hero

Our generation specifically seems to find itself attaching to the villains that our depicted in our media. If you were to think of your favourite TV show's/movie's and within them who your favourite character is, its more than likely to be someone who's not exactly morally just. Often the person who we are designed to like is made out to be a typical villain. We root for the man cooking the meth rather than the person trying to stop them. Why is it that when given a character who in real life we would probably cross the street to avoid, we instead find ourselves latching on to?

We are said to be in a golden age of television, and so within this is the formation of new lead characters. And instead of the funny, family man who tries his best, that our parents are most likely used to loving, we are given the cheating, lying man and the manipulative women- the anti-heroes. As mentioned previously, one of the most popular and well nominted TV shows is about a drug lord who is trying to escape the law. Perhaps when you take each step alongside that person you find yourself accommodating yourself to fit into that character. You understand their decisions to cheat on their wife and break up their family and sell multiple pounds of life ruining drugs wholeheartedly. Wrongdoings are a part of human nature, and maybe watching others take this to the extreme is quite gratifying, despite them being undesirable No.1. 

The reason why we love these characters is most likely a commentary on society, as most things are these days. We are a realistic, depressive generation. The news is filled with terror and celebrity meltdowns, and so how else are we supposed to gain this type of escapism without filling the shoes of the most ridiculously bad humans. 

These characters are flawed, such as the world we live in, as well as ourselves. In the past pretending that everything was perfect, down to perfect hair a perfect house and a perfect husband was what you were designated to do. Now, mixed morals and immensely flawed people are who we find ourselves identifying with, in a cathartic manner. It probably is just a generation thing. TV is popular amongst young adults for a reason. A stage of life filled with tough decisions that is still run by those of an older generation results in wanting to watch people make mistakes and 'go against the system.'

Complex characters, ones with a deep dark background and serious issues, are ultimately just interesting. We can no longer relate to the housewife, soccer mom, business man living in New York, unless they happen to be a bit of a psychopath. They tend to be strong and they tend to have good intentions, and that seems to make up for all the mass murder and drug abuse.

At the moment we live in a bizarre world where strict political correctness seems to merging with bigotry. Its difficult to comprehend and immensely frustrating and upsetting. The anti-hero personifies our feelings while still maintaining more interest than the goody-two-shoes we used to see filling our screens every night.