[three characters looking awfully bland] The protagonists:
- Annoying goody two shoes leader who’s a paragon of virtue
- Nerdy scientist with no backstory who keeps doing poor puns
- Super bland dude who’s an obvious self insert for the writer
- People die because they’re “good” and refuse to break the rules
- They win battles through plot armor and the power of friendship
[a cool looking grizzled character smokes a cigar in a spaceship interior, a foot up on the controls, while a spaceship blasts a mega laser outside in space] The super evil antagonist:
- Played by the most charismatic actor available on the market
- Keeps doing the coolest looking things (but you must hate it)
- Has the coolest secret lair and his henchmen love him
- Is named Adolf McMurder and genocides with a smile
- Says an awesome one liner before murdering an orphan
[a nerdy dude in flannel points at a storyboard of the two previous images] The naive screenwriter:
- At least this time he’s not writing women, phew
- Has too much trust in his audience’s media literacy - About to give the super evil antagonist yet another zingy one liner
- Surely if we show him killing an orphan the audience will hate him
- Right, guys?… Right??…
I’m so tired of “we keep losing because we refuse to break the rules” copaganda
The worst ones are when they slaughter scores of henchmen without a single qualm then get all prissy when it comes to the big bad.
Realized I was guilty of this trope while drawing illustrations for a game I’m working on.
So anyway, here’s the entrance to Adolf McMurder’s secret lair (you’re meant to think this is not cool at all):
Looks very secret and well hidden;)
If no one survives seeing it then it’s still secret!
you’re meant to think this is not cool at all
Then sorry to say, but you failed miserably.
Wow that guy definitely isn’t living in the baddest motherfucking lair that I ever did see that I wanted all myself. Not at all.
This villain played Mega Man games as a kid.
By the power of murderskull!
YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO HAVING YOUR MORALITY SHIFTED BY BASIC AESTHETIC CHOICES 🤖
I feel like the new Superman hit the perfect pitch with Lex Luthor: he’s charismatic and powerful, but such a shitty person that you can’t help hating his guts. He’s just so lame, and insecure, and terrible; he’s hoarded all this power and just uses it to glorify his own ego and accumulate more.
Honestly this is where good Trek shines. Picard is the rebel bad boy who understands the weight of his responsibility and agrees with the mission and foundational rules of the Federation. He understands that the rules are there for a reason and weighs breaking them against that. Meanwhile the villains are less cool at their coolest.
I’m begging writers to have more heroes who are good because it’s ultimately to their and everyone else’s benefits for the world to be better, for their complexity to be between their instincts and emotions and their knowledge of consequences and costs. For heroes who are neither fascist propaganda by being big strong hero who breaks the rules nor by being the weenie standing next to the big strong villain who breaks the rules. More Picard, more Aang, more Tiffany Aching [or any other Pratchett hero]
I’m reading The Farseer Trilogy right now and this fits the mc painfully well. It’s really heartbreaking seeing him do what he believes is right despite everything else going on in his life
You also have different kinds of stories being shown. 90’s Trek typically tells stories from the point of view of various governments trying to interact to get what they want. It isn’t just the heroes who have power structures, but also the villains.
Sisko is totally fine with terrorism if it’s used for good.
As defined by Sisko
One thing that annoys me is when the “bad” guy not only has all the style and charisma, but also starts making too much sense and ends up completely in the right, but they can’t let them win because that would change the sacred status quo. So they gotta make them do something really fucked up so everyone can see that they’re supposed to be the bad guy, even if the thing they do is random, out of character, and/or has nothing to do with the entirely valid point they’re making. Like what they want is basic civil rights, but they also murder orphans. So the good guys gotta stop their nefarious plan to give everyone basic civil rights.
Something something Legend of Korra’s first villain?
The exact one that came to my mind. It’s wild that the totally legitimate movement just died overnight because their leader was revealed to be a bender. I know they mentioned the government reforms to appease non benders, and realistically the show just wanted to move on, but it definitely still sticks out to me over a decade later
Warhammer 40k effect.
Games Workshop Writers: “Hey let’s make a universe where it’s extremely clear that all factions are representations of the worst aspects of human society at their most extreme and how they each contribute to creating a world of unending war that justifies itself by feeding into the cycle of violence.”
Warhammer Fandom: “For the Emperor! The Imperium are the good guys! Space Marines are so cool!”
(I say this after beating Space Marines 2, having absolutely reveled in the power fantasy of stomping out xenos scum)
The fact that being a human in 40k is, no matter what who or where, a fucking nightmare does help illustrate their angle though
I mean, it’s a fucking nightmare no matter what race you are. That’s kinda the whole schtick.
I am firm believer that many people don’t have media literacy skills. People assume protagonist = hero. What does GW do? Humans and Space Marines are the protagonist of the story; look at all the cool shit they do. Pew! Pew Pew! Bam! Boom!
In reality, the Protagonist is just the main character of the story. The Protagonist can be the hero or the villain of the story.
Fair assumption. Generally, most people never engage with the world around them on anything more than a superficial level because they have no need or immediately beneficial incentive to do so.
You honestly give them too much credit. Most don’t even bother to even think in terms of “protagonist/antagonist”.
Terms like “protagonist/antagonist” aren’t even part of the equation and, if they are, they actually do understand that “protagonist=main character” but that thought is then followed by the assumption that “main character=good guy”.
To them, stories are just entertainment, nothing more. There are no allegories or themes or political commentary. Just Michael Bay explosions and spectacle. Any messaging presented are just assumed to align with their internal worldview and, if it can’t be reconciled even with leaps of logic, then they just write off the piece as being bad or poorly executed.
Killmonger, we miss you so much…
I don’t. His arguments sucked.
I feel like they made Thanos’ argument completely nonsensical as well just so the audience would hate him.
That’s why I prefer Ultron. He just wanted to destroy humanity cuz we’re stupid. No bullshit, just hatred. GOATED.
