TV Trope – The Anti – Hero
There are several types of hero you see on tv. Usually a pretty decent human being, or even someone who is at least trying to be “good”, if not completely avoiding evil. But sometimes they lose faith…
Supernatural
But then there is the anti-hero. Someone who makes no claim to good behaviour, or even attempting it. They are happy misbehaving. Like the kind drug pusher or hooker. The errant cop or doctor. The ones who mostly follow the rules, but then they have this fatal flaw. Like sleeping with all their co-workers, or being an “Angel of Mercy”. Or being so messed up, it’s really hard to completely like them, and arrogant too.
House
They either think they’re doing the right thing, or they feel they’re entitled to doing hella whatevs they want! God-complex? Maaay-beeee! Or lack of moral code? I wouldn’t say complete lack, no. They just think differently! Right?
Cuzz when push comes to shove and the fate of the world rests on them, they step up. And fight demons, vampires, were beasts. From Dusk Till Dawn
Or instead of killing innocent people when they murder, they pick pedophiles or wife-beaters etc to protect the innocent.
Dexter
At the beginning of these shows, if you knew the end, you might not like these characters. Or you might love them more. Especially if they find the road to redemption in their heroic journey.
But that’s not the way it works, is it? And in the story, you get a version of their life that leads you to fall in love with them a bit. Or at least feel sorry for them. Maybe they lost their parents young, or were an abused child. Maybe they were misunderstood profoundly.
The Good Doctor
Or maybe they had a life issue you can relate to, in a really meaningful way? As in you have the teeshirt, the club membership you never asked for? And you kind of like following how this character deals with it. You like seeing yourself mirrored on TV.
Ultimately though, people are complex creatures. And if you knew the soul full of light and shadow, you’d find it hard to weigh them as Osiris does.
But it’s only on TV that you ever really get that degree of knowledge, isn’t it?
mspeachierocks 