Month: February 2018

For the past few weeks my choice of show to binge watch has been Game of Thrones. It has been a wild ride with many characters becoming beloved heroes and then promptly dying in some cruel and unexpected way. Today, I looked at what is remaining of the protagonists and realized that each of them are not a normal Lord or Lady, they all have something different or wrong about them. This fits in heavily with the theme of anti-heroes and outcasts. First, there is Daenarys Targaryen who is the queen of most of the eastern empires. She is an outcast because of her gender. People do not respect her as much as they would a man and she makes them pay for it dearly. She shows everyone that through kindness and stern ruling, the wrongs in their world can be made right. Other outcasts of the realm include Tyrian Lannister, a dwarf, and Jon Snow, a bastard of Ned Stark. Tyrion is always being looked down upon and put aside by everyone when in fact he is smarter, kinder, and a better ruler than anyone in his family. He qualifies as an antihero because he is also a drunkard born to a family who will do anything for the Iron throne. Jon Snow is an outcast because he has no right to his home at Winterfell and he has to earn everything he has in life. He commands respect from his comrades through his kindness, mercy, and bravery in the face of grave odds. These heroes are an odd bunch but are the best rulers that a kingdom could have.

 

Jon Snow being an absolute badass like usual.

The great theme of power cannot be missed in The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and the characters in the story use their different traits to do their best to obtain this one thing that almost everyone craves. The most blatant example of this is in the character and dictator, Trujillo. He has the power on the island and uses fear and intimidation to keep his subjects in line. His power immediately affects the characters in the novel through beatings and censorship which keeps the others fearing for their lives. Through Trujillo we see power through strength and control. In Beli, we see power through another lens. She uses her sexuality to achieve what she wants. She wants to get out of the lower class and this is seen when she tries to date the hottest guy in the school, Jack Pujols, as well as the ‘Gangster’. She continually dates men that she think will give her the most in terms of power and social stature. She uses what she has to gain an advantage over the others. Finally, in the case of Oscar Wao, power is created in a totally different sense. Oscar’s nerdiness and looks leave him ousted out of both the Dominican culture as well as the white culture on the island. He does not fit in anywhere well. However, this is what gives him the most power because he does not follow in the footsteps of the other men of the book who cheat, lie, steal and murder their way through life. Oscar has the power over himself to choose the man HE wants to be, not the man that his society wants him to be.

 

 

^The dictator Rafael Trujillo.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of an anti-hero is a central character in a story, movie or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes. From Walter White in Breaking Bad, Frank Castle in The Punisher, or even Tyrian Lannister in Game of Thrones, modern day pop culture has made this new form of character a fan favorite whose on screen thrills captivate the audiences. However, before all this newfangled technology and even before the invention of sliced bread (1928), an author named John Milton wrote a book with the original antihero. His protagonist was Satan, probably one of the most hated characters in the world. Milton allows the reader to step in Satan’s shoes for once allowing them to empathize with Satan and see things from his point of view. Satan is sometimes depicted as remorseful in Paradise Lost and feels bad committing treacherous acts against God who he paints as a tyrant. In book IV, Milton writes,

“Now conscience wakes despair
That slumbered, wakes the bitter memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.
Sometimes towards Eden which now in his view”

This shows Satan’s remorseful side in which he despises what he has to do to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden but he must continue if he wants to win his war. This compassion shown from the Devil towards our own kind makes us feel a little bad for him and the battle that he knows he must win in order to survive. This feeling of empathy is what keeps audiences interested in antiheroes because they see a little bit of themselves in a sometimes evil character.

Antiheroes have become a mainstay in modern television and movies. They are people who do bad things but for a right and noble reason. Recently I have watched Marvel’s antihero TV show entitled, “The Punisher”. Frank Castle, the main character and an ex special forces vigilante, is the quintessential antihero. He has no problem with killing, torturing, or maiming others as long as they are bad people. He hunts down the people who intend to do bad as well as those who plot against him. His morals are in the right place and it shows in the way he treats those who he loves and those who show loyalty to him. Throughout the TV show he tries to bring justice through violence to those who are above the law. Even though Frank was part of the death squad that killed an innocent Afghan police officer, his guilt and the loss of his family guide him to find the men who were giving them orders. Frank’s morality is juxtaposed by his eagerness to kill those who who have done wrong. This new version of a hero has become loved by fans all around and they are drawn to the bravery and courage that these antiheroes show but they also see the overall goal and the good in seemingly evil characters. Antiheroes are also looked up to because they justify our flaws and all the wrongs we commit. We admire them because they live outside the social norms and most of the time, even outside of the law. They are who we see ourselves being if we decided to follow a different road.

The Punisher logo^.