Antagonist is same as Protagonist, just different morality

[Randall_Oelerich]

Reading My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, great read. Author goes into how antagonist/villain is often the same as the protagonist except each has a different take on morality. I just finished watching Law Abiding Citizen and what a great example of that principle. Not sure that principle holds for all good stories, but maybe it does, or not. Would be interested in seeing some examples of where the principle does hold true, and where it does not seem to hold true.

Law Abiding Citizen: P and A both will do whatever it takes to achieve justice, play whatever games are necessary to achieve their goal of justice. EDIT: And both justify their act of murder according to their code of morality.

 

[vcassel]

One word: Heat. DeNiro and Pacino are different sides of the same coin in that film. The ending is beautiful.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Reading My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, great read. Author goes into how antagonist/villain is often the same as the protagonist except each has a different take on morality. I just finished watching Law Abiding Citizen and what a great example of that principle. Not sure that principle holds for all good stories, but maybe it does, or not. Would be interested in seeing some examples of where the principle does hold true, and where it does not seem to hold true.

Law Abiding Citizen: P and A both will do whatever it takes to achieve justice, play whatever games are necessary to achieve their goal of justice. EDIT: And both justify their act of murder according to their code of morality.

Well, this is noted in a number of films... to the point where the Wife will start jammering about, "And now we have the bad guy, telling the good guy, that they are so much alike'... that and 'the bad guy spilling the beans on the Evil Plan'... and allowing the good guy to prevent the evil guy from effecting such plans...

Somehow I don't see an evil villain playing into a coincidence free rom com... but heck... the girl could just be the daughter of the pirate Blackbeard...

 

[Wilbur Eddings]

The OP thread title describes my Villain Fest movie

In the eyes of the Villain, all his actions are necessary.

If you can allow the viewer to see and feel the way the Antagonist does, he becomes and Antihero or an Antagonist we all root for.

 

[Randall_Oelerich]

Well, the antagonist believes that whatever he/she is doing is right. In his eyes, he is the protagonist of the story. And for this very reason, it's very important to completely develop the antagonist in a movie, which many writers don't. Most of the time, it's the villain who makes the movie. The Joker in The Dark Knight is the prime example of this.

Great example; I love The Dark Knight for analysis. Unity of Opposites, and you can look at the film with either the Joker or Batman as the protagonist, or the villain/antagonist, works both ways.

 

[bwwd]

There is something in it but Law Abiding Citizen had one of the worst and disastrous endings ever, whole planet was rooting for Clyde to bring down corrupted system to its knees and there you go lawyer got promoted at the end of the movie like he wanted to in beginning and Clyde died, wow... way to go script editors, im sure it wasnt like that in original but foxx wanted to swap roles with butler ( i guess he didnt wanted to play a killer but a lwayer and demanded good ending for himself).
Such a waste, it could of been so good movie if he would destroy corrupted law system.