Does being bad guy… make you bad guy? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Does being bad guy… make you bad guy?Slide2

Definition

In literature, an antagonist is a character or a group of characters which stand in opposition to the 

protagonist

 or the main character.

It is

common

to refer to an antagonist as a 

villain

 (the bad guy) against whom a 

hero

 (the good guy) fights in order to relieve himself or others.  In some cases, an antagonist may exist within the protagonist that causes an inner conflict or a moral conflict inside his mind. This inner conflict is a major theme of many literary works e.g. 

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 

and

 A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James

Joyce

etc

. Generally, an antagonist appears as a 

foil

 to the main character embodying qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of the main character.Slide3

Good or Evil?

What makes a villain a villain many times comes down to personal opinion on what defines "good" and "evil.“

Yet, there are a few acts that are

universally accepted

as villainous: betrayal, murder and deception as well as abuse. Genocide, child abuse, violence toward women and children, mass murder, torture, and crimes against humanity are almost always seen as "evil" acts. Slide4

“Well, in my opinion…”

Many villains do not see themselves as "evil." They only appear as such because they are in opposition to the 'good' guys

. Their "evilness" may come from the ways in which they achieve their goals, not the goals themselves.

THEY HAVE JUSTIFICATIONS:

What is important is the end goal… not the means.Slide5

Old Hat

It should be noted that the

stereotypical

“cackling maniac intent on destruction for the sake of destruction” is a character-type that, while still popular in fiction, is beginning to fade away in favor of villains that display the same varied depths of emotions as heroes do: making them more

three-dimensional characters

than they were originally. Slide6

As audiences matured, villains became less superficial in nature and the idea of villainy evolved. It became popular for a villain to share similar qualities as a hero.

This gave birth to the anti-hero and anti-villain as well as the tragic villainSlide7

The Point of No Return

Moral Event Horizon

, or "

MEH

" for short, refers to an action by a villain that is so evil that it eliminates the audience's sympathy for the villain and makes it clear that they are unrepentantly evil and will not be redeemed.Slide8

Examples:

Poison Ivy (Batman & Robin)

: Crosses it when she cut off Nora Fries' life support, leaving her for dead and then lying to Mr. Freeze about it.

Jafar

: Tries to kill Aladdin after he gave him the magic lamp, and later has him kidnapped and thrown into the ocean to drown.

Lots-o'-

Huggin

' Bear

: Despite how in the beginning he was depicted as an evil and sadistic governor, he crosses the Moral Event Horizon by abandoning Woody and friends to die in the incinerator after they save him by not pressing the emergency stop button, and yelling “

Where’s your kid now, Sheriff

?”.Slide9

Adulterers

: Villains who cheat upon and misuse there lovers.

Alien

: An extraterrestrial villain or a villain not from the planet on which the story takes place.

Amoral

: A villain that does not abide by the rules of "good" or "evil". A "neutral" villain.

Anarchist

: A villain who seeks to destroy order and install chaos.

Anti–Hero

: A character that is the hero of the story but does not possess the typical "heroic" qualities. Anti-heroes will murder, steal and can be generally immoral.

Anti-Villain

: A character who is in opposition to the protagonist or hero of the story but possesses hero qualities. Anti-villains generally have the sympathy of the audience.

Archenemy

: A villain who serves as the primary enemy to a specific hero.

Artificial Intelligence

: Artificially created villains that are not necessarily robots or

cyborgs

.

Assassin

: A warrior who is hired (generally by the main villain) to kill specific targets (generally the hero). Slide10

Barbarian

: A violent warrior who relies on physical force

Big Bad

: The most powerful and important villain of all in the story, for whom most or all of the other antagonists work for.

Bigger

Bads

: Villains considered to be more powerful than the Big Bad, but usually an antagonist that is unimportant to the main story. Often serves as an unseen character or is revealed at the very end of the story.

Blackmailers

: Villains that use threats in order to gain something.

Bombers

: Villains who use bombs as their primary weapon.

Bounty Hunter

: A villain that captures/kills certain people to make a living. Bounty hunters are often hired by other villains.

Brute

: A villain with exceptional and/or superhuman levels of physical strength.

Bullies

: Villains who pick on others (usually the good guy) for the sake of just being mean.

Burglar

: A villain who commits burglary.

Business Villain

: A villain who uses immoral or criminal methods to further their own business. Slide11

Cataclysm

: A villain who causes an apocalyptic event that destroys most of the world; and usually seeks to destroy the entire world. (Not to be confused with a Planet Destroyer.)

Charismatic Villain

: A villain that pretends to be allied with the hero in order to further his/her own goals.

Comedic Villain

: A villain who commits funny misdeeds or is otherwise played for laughs. Generally not a serious threat to the hero.

Communists

: Villains that are members of the Communist Party or believe in the ideology of Communism.

Complete Monster

: The worst kind of villain. Beings of pure evil without the slightest of redeeming qualities.

Conspirators

: Characters who have been heavily involved in conspiracies - (which for the sake of this wiki shall be defined as an agreement between two or more people to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of their legal rights, or to gain an unfair advantage.

Copycats

: These are the villains that have copied their powers, theme, life, or ideals after a another character, including other villains.

Corrupt Official

: Villains that are evil teachers, politicians, professors, or business men or in another position of authority.

Cosmic Entity

: Cosmic Entities are extremely powerful beings that can be classed as aliens of exceptional strength, godlike beings or superhuman characters who surpass the usual levels of power found in superhero fiction. They are generally omnipotent and have great influence over the events of the entire universe. Slide12

Rules for Our Antagonists

Real people with real problems

Give your antagonist real issues that he/she needs to deal with. This will give them real motivations for what they do. Slide13

RULE 2

They are NOT just fuel for the plot…

“Character

is the driver. Plot is the getaway car. Character drives plot; plot does not drive character. The antagonist isn’t just here as a rock in the stream diverting the plot-churned waters — he does not exist in service to a sequence of events but rather, he exists to change them, sway them, turn them to a sequence

he

wants — a sequence that stands in opposition to the protagonist. For opposition is key

.”

– Terrible MindsSlide14

RULE 3

Opposition

Is

Key

As often as possible, come up with reasons your protagonist can’t get what they want. Put PEOPLE in the way.Slide15

RULE 4

I

Like Kittens, You Punch Kittens, Now We Fight

!

While this can be part of the conflict, try to make it run deeper than that.

In some ways, parallel traits between protagonists and antagonists can make the conflict even more compelling. Slide16

RULE 5

Evil

For The Sake Of Evil Is

Yawntastic

,

Snoretacular

Even

Voldemort

isn’t doing it JUST to be evil. His fear? Death. His motivation? Live at all costsSlide17

Rule 6

Over-Powered can be Under-Interesting

God-like

uber

-antagonists who never lose and who know everything there is to know and who are forever one step ahead of the game are just as dull as a protagonist who features the same over-powered qualities. (Worse, an antagonist of this particular caliber must often be trumped on a technicality.)Slide18

Rule 7

Freak

Me Out By Forcing Me To Emotionally Connect

Try to give us ONE moment where we can connect or identify with the antagonist

Example—show us a scene from the antagonist’s back story, or have him like sushi, show us fighting with his mom, etc. Slide19

Rule #8

Arctagonist

“The

antagonist can have an arc.

Should

have an arc, actually. An antagonist doesn’t start at Point A and end at Point A. He changes and grows (or sometimes shrinks), same as the protagonist. Don’t assume the antagonist needs to be a static, unswerving face of conflict — have his character shift with changing conditions, have his madness deepen, his hatred or pain worsen, his zealotry catch like a grease-fire

.”Slide20

RULE 9

Let

The Antagonist Win

Let the antagonist win. Maybe not at the end, but periodically, throughout. Let him break Batman’s back, or kill a hostage, or take all the toilet paper off the roll and *crash of thunder* fail to replace it.Slide21

Assignment

Considering your protagonist from the other day, create an antagonist that could stand in his/her way.

Examine

the Villains Wiki for possible traits/motivations to use:

http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

What

do they look like? (What is the one signature detail that reader’s should remember?)

One

way that your antagonist could stand in the way of your protagonist.

Make

us connect—what is one thing that your audience could relate to about your antagonist?

What

are your character's motivations? What does your antagonist want?

Choose

one other method from the notes and explain it!