The Idolization of Anti-Heroes (Brainpicking Article)

(Spoilers Ahead)

“Could somebody tell me where I can find Anna Gunn so I can kill her?”

Anna Gunn gained national acclaim for her portrayal of Skyler White, wife to the mistakenly beloved Walter White. Her character held the unenviable position of opposing him, defending her children from a culture of violence and corruption.

And fans hated her. Not just the character. The actress.

Because she stood in his way.

I can argue she was right. I can yell at a message boards to watch objectively, to see the blatant immorality, to look past the montages and camera tricks and guns and cars and drugs and death and badassery and banter and most importantly, the characters.

The characters. The Walter Whites, the Tyler Durdens the James Bonds. We idolize these characters. We buy pink bars of soap, film posters, and Brad Pitt’s red leather jacket, fully ignoring the irony of buying vertically integrated products for a movie spends the majority of its run time on rallying against consumerism. We memorize quotes, positions, and costumes. We put on a suit and point a gun at an imaginary camera. We aren’t our f*cking khakis. We are the one who knocks.

And we are ignorant.

An all out acceptance of this specific archetype, the antihero, glosses over the actions they took to garner their cultural fame.

This is not say that they are not worth of appreciation, some of these example are born out of spectacular examples of film and television. Walter White’s writing as a character is a masterclass in how to create a believable character arc that can captivate an audience for five seasons. One can enjoy watching a decent into immorality, as long as one does not sympathize with the immorality itself.

Take the Heisenberg persona from Breaking Bad, an emasculated mans outlet to taste freedom before death, finally unhinged enough to release the clever mayhem that he was capable of his entire life. However, in fan idolization of pork pie hats, we forget Walter’s ever growing body count.

If a fan can take an objective look at a piece of media as a whole, acknowledging it as the work of fiction that it is, reverence is more acceptable. Not every character needs, or even should be, to be written as a morally perfect saviour. Media should cover the range of humanity’s kindness, or lack thereof. Sometimes, film and television that delves into the mind of those shallowly called ‘evil’ can give its audience a unique perspective that broadens their horizons. This can be seen as far back as Macbeth, the original anti hero.

The problem comes when emulation starts. By all means, costume and humour can come from these characters. Check any pop-up Halloween store and 50% of outfits are ‘villains’, see the aisles of Darth Vaders, Jokers, and sexy nurses with scarily large needles. But when people go as far as to justify, or see this characters as a guideline for escaping a dull reality, there is concern. They can not see the character’s own writer’s attempt to make them unlikable; often they just see the actions of epic rebellion or violence taken.

It is this attitude that led to the death threats lobbied against Anna Gunn, making her fear for her safety.

We need to consume media with the whole in mind. The thrill a character’s “badassery” gives you, should not convince you to mimic them. Love their writing, their arc, their design, but remain objective.

Claire is in space

but her feet are still chained to the ground

The Idolization of Anti-Heroes (Brainpicking Article)

0 comments

Cancel