As we began to discuss the topic of antihero in literature and in pop culture this week, there was only one man I could think of that tops that charts of guys you hate to love to root for, my little friend Tony Montana. In class, we identified antiheroes as people who are great sinners and are reckless and doomed. In 1983’s “Scarface”, Al Pacino plays Cuban immigrant Tony Montana as we get to see his bloody rags-to-riches story unfold. Montana starts out as a bum living in the slums and working at low-wage food joints. It isn’t until he becomes involved in the drug business that we get to see the real and menacing side of the character. The great sinner part is easy to check off the list, as Montana lies, cheats, and kills his way to the top of the drug trafficking world, not exactly the things that get you on Santa’s nice list. Perhaps the most visible antihero trait of Montana is his reckless attitude. He is the type of character to shoot first and ask questions later and is prone to cocaine induced tantrums. He dooms himself by not listening to the advice of reasonable people like his wife or business partner. He is left without any help when he is ambushed in his mansion while buzzing off of the nose candy he had just had. He is gunned down and left to a bloody demise in his own fountain. It’s amazing to see his descent from likable immigrant to power-hungry kingpin, as Montana shows just how far he will go to get to the top. No quote better displays his role as an antihero than when he says, “ordinary people need guys like me so they can point their fingers and say “‘that’s the bad guy.’”
