Over the last couple of decades, American television has capitalised on the allure of the ‘antihero’, an immoral yet strangely likeable character.
Are you drawn to American dramas with memorable good-bad guys and seeking a classic to binge watch in lockdown? Dr Margrethe Bruun Vaage, Senior Lecturer in Film and Media at the School of Arts has compiled her favourite good-bad characters from this thought-provoking trend.
Tony Soprano in The Sopranos
There is no way around Tony, mobster and the godfather of the television antihero. This series has proud roots in gangster film yet also inheriting the family complications of soap opera. Tony becomes so familiar to us, and so humanly recognisable, that you may find yourself embracing his criminal conspiracies.
Patty Hewes in Damages
Although the trend of American antiheroes is male dominated, there are some fabulous female ones. Patty, brilliantly played by Glenn Close, is one of the most enjoyable. We are warned at the beginning that Patty is evil. This high-profile litigator is leaning towards pure villainy, but by the end of the series you too may be rooting for this unconventional woman not to change her ways at all.
Omar Little in The Wire
Omar is a stick-up man, yet he only robs drug dealers. In the morally complex universe of The Wire he is one of the good guys. Indeed, this character is celebrated, partly through a plethora of references to film and other types of fiction whenever Omar takes centre stage. Omar is pure entertainment.
Skyler White in Breaking Bad
Now this might be surprising. Skyler is the male antihero Walter’s tortured wife. Her efforts to put an end to his criminal trajectory should make us favour her. Yet many hated Skyler, and she might be the most controversial character in this trend. The draw of her antihero husband is too strong, and Skyler unfairly becomes an obstacle to the enjoyable moral transgression at the heart of the antihero series.
Dr Margrethe Bruun Vaage’s main area of research is cognitive film theory. She explores the spectator’s engagement with fictional films and television series, and more specifically the imagination, the emotions and the moral psychology of fiction. Her latest book is entitled The Antihero in American Television.
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