CHARACTERS in a STORY - The archetypes Part V

 

We finally arrived to the last, but not least, important character in a story. THE ANTAGONIST.

The ANTAGONIST is the character who has a completely opposite objective to the Protagonist. Is the one the protagonist had to fight to complete his own demand. In the majority of the times, the ANTAGONIST is a bad guy, or a competitor. (for instance they both fight for the same girl), but in other occasions like I mentioned before in the post of the Castaway (precisely the first one that I wrote about the archetypes), it can be something not human or even something that doesn't have life. A storm, a volcano, an earthquake... All of the catastrophe movies have an element that is not human or they are not a living thing. The protagonists in these movies have an important demand... TO STAY ALIVE. That doesn't mean that sometimes another character provokes the reaction for the disaster and the protagonist has two things to defeat, a catastrophe and a bad guy.

 

What is important here to retain is that only one is going to win this battle. Since the final objective of each one of them is the opposite of the other.

 

Good guy wants peace to the world, bad guy wants to conquer the world. Humble guy is too shy to get the girl, sports guy is arrogant and gets all the girls... plus the one the humble guy loves. The good scientist wants to use what he discovered to use in medicine, the bad scientist wants to use it to produce a biological weapon. 

 

More commonly we have the Police and the Criminal... Thousands of movies and TV series where the Detective tries to defeat the criminal or solve the crime.

 

Obviously when the anti-hero is the Protagonist we can have a good guy as Antagonist. And even sometimes the Protagonist and the Antagonist can be the same person. Someone who fights with himself to take the right decision between the good and the bad. Just remember Jekyll and Hyde, or the good conscience and the bad conscience.

 

A great example to easily find antagonists and protagonist is the super-hero's movies. They always fight against another powerful character. It's always very clear who is who in the story: Batman versus The Joker, Batman versus the Penguin, Batman versus The Riddler....

 

Danny DeVito as The Penguin in Batman Returns

 

When you watch a film or a series, try to spot who is the one who confronts the Protagonist. That's your exercise until the next post!

 

CYA