Antagonist(from ancient Greek ἀνταγωνιστής - “rival”, “opponent”) - in work of art: a character who opposes the main character (protagonist) on the way to achieving his goals. The antagonist-protagonist confrontation is one of the possible driving forces of the central conflict of the work. The actions of the antagonist not only create obstacles that the protagonist must overcome, but can also cause the development of the protagonist's character. It is also possible for a plot to exist without an antagonist.
The antagonist can be not a single character, but a group of characters (family, organization, etc.) or a non-personified force - a natural disaster, social order. A broad definition of antagonist is possible, including not only forces external to the protagonist, but also general moral principles or his own character traits. A narrower interpretation of the concept is also possible, when in the group of characters opposing the hero, only one, the “most important” villain of the work, is considered as an antagonist.
IN classical literature, especially in ancient Greek tragedy, usually main character(protagonist) acts as a positive character, a bearer of good, and the antagonist is negative character, a villain. However, the “negativity” of the antagonist can be smoothed out - for example, in Romeo and Juliet, the parents and family members who act as antagonists to the heroes are not so much villains as bullies and fools stubborn in their delusions; however, even in this case, the figure of the antagonist causes the author’s disapproval. The relationship “the protagonist is more virtuous than the antagonist” can be completely violated, for example, in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” the more virtuous Macduff opposes the main character. A plot is also possible in which the protagonist and antagonist are heroes of equal size to each other (Achilles and Hector in Homer’s Iliad).
Antagonist figure different genres carries his characteristics. Thus, in a comedy it is usually the antagonist who draws the hero into comic situations; in thrillers and horror, the most vivid and naturalistic scenes of fights, violence and death are associated with the antagonist; to some extent, it is the portrayal of the antagonist as the personification of the forces of evil that can be the main artistic task of the genre; The Western is characterized by some rapprochement between the protagonist and the antagonist, similarity in the mode of action and methods; in women's love story the antagonist, as a rule, is older and more experienced than the heroine, she provokes the heroine to break prohibitions and sets “difficult tasks” for her, promoting the heroine’s female initiation.
An antagonist should not be confused with an antihero - a protagonist endowed with negative qualities.
And here is what the source gives about such a confusing concept of antihero:
Antihero- conditional type literary hero, devoid of heroic features, but despite this occupying a central place in the literary work. Close to antihero concepts are the trickster and the Byronic hero.
An antihero should not be confused with a villain or an antagonist, an opponent of the protagonist (hero or antihero).
The “antihero” has become widespread in modern Western popular culture, for example in comics. Thanks to Pulp magazines and the noir detective stories of the mid-20th century, characters like Sam Spade became popular. Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns featured a traveling vigilante (the so-called "Man with No Name", played by Clint Eastwood) whose surly demeanor was at odds with others heroic characteristics. Typically, an "antihero" is positioned as a character who has the negative personality traits traditionally attributed to villains or unheroic people, but who nevertheless also has enough heroic qualities to win the sympathy of the audience. Other classic examples of antiheroes in 20th-century literature include Alex from Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange", Tyler Durden from Chuck Palahniuk's novel "Fight Club", etc.
The antihero is typical of a picaresque novel. In such works, the protagonist commits crimes that do not receive moral justification from the author. However, the hero himself acts as a trickster and arouses the reader’s sympathy not with his moral qualities, but with intelligence, dexterity and determination. Classic examples of this kind of antiheroes are Reineke the Fox from “The Novel about the Fox”, Chichikov from Gogol’s “Dead Souls”, Ostap Bender from the books of Ilf and Petrov, Arsene Lupin. Another type of criminal antihero is shown in the crime novel and crime films such as The Godfather, Scarface or Carlito's Way, where the authors do not seek to justify the crimes of the protagonist, nor to arouse sympathy for him, but only show him as a typical representative of the criminal world.
I want to end my thoughts here. I hope that this article will make someone think and understand who is who in his story.
The protagonist is an actor who has the right to play the first role in the tragedy. There are some related to this concept interesting points in theater and cinematography. Also, a protagonist is the main character in an ancient Greek tragedy or drama.
Etymology of the word
This concept comes from Greek roots meaning “first”, “compete”, “fighter”. If you add up all these clues, it would be easier to assume that the meaning of the word "protagonist" is the word "winner." After all, the first in a wrestling competition is the one who manages to win. However, this word has a different meaning. And its appearance was connected precisely with the ancient tragedy of Thespis, played in Athens in 534 BC.
Who is the protagonist in contemporary art?
Today the meaning of this concept has expanded. The protagonist is already the main character not only of the tragedy, but also of the film, literary work and even a computer game. Moreover, sometimes false protagonists appear in the work - heroes who at the beginning give the impression of being the main ones, and then disappear altogether. This happened in 1960. It was then that the sensational films “Adventure” and “Psycho” were shown on cinema screens.
The difference between the concepts of the protagonist in classic and modern art
Typically, works feature a protagonist and an antagonist or a group of antagonists. In classical works, the positive hero is opposed by the negative one - the villain. They, the antagonists, prevent the protagonist from achieving his goals. Or the positive hero himself fights them - this is what the classic plot was based on. IN contemporary art everything is much more complicated. Often the protagonist is the one whom the positive heroes are trying to capture and neutralize. However, as, for example, in the film “Fantômas”, positive antagonists evoke laughter and irony, but the viewer sympathizes with the main character himself, despite his position in society. The same thing is observed in modern crime action films, for example in the series of works by Evgeny Sukhov about the thief in law Varyag.
You cannot identify the author with the main character!
An interesting fact: the majority of readers believe that the writer necessarily puts a piece of his soul into the image of the hero. And the viewer often identifies the actor with the role he played. However, this is not always the case. Or rather, it’s almost always not the case. The protagonist is a person whom the author observes as if from the outside. Good writer will not be able to clearly explain his attitude towards the heroes. It is enough to recall the wonderful phrase characterizing Leo Tolstoy, that he is a mirror of Russian life. That is, the author is not a protagonist, he is not even a sympathizer. He is a reflector, a magnifying glass, if you will.
An author can raise a topic that worries him in his work, but cover it in such a way as to attract the attention of the public to it, even going against his moral principles. To make people talk about something, to stir up still water - this is the main purpose of creativity. And how good the protagonist is, how moral his actions are, does not guarantee that the writer himself is a deeply decent, spiritually perfect person. Like the person who describes the life of prostitutes, their experiences and difficulties, he is not at all the same person who advocates for “moths.”
The film "RoboCop" clearly demonstrates this position. The protagonist here betrays himself for some time, turning from positive hero into a villain. And the author does not position himself at all as a “cop,” or a robot, or a villain. He is simply fantasizing, simultaneously planting in the minds of the public the idea that one should not joke with nature, that man is unique, that any experiments on the brain are fraught with dire consequences.
The only broad designation for a key character in the art world is the protagonist. Everyone already knows this very well. In literature, when writing most stories and characterizations of characters from fairy tales, children call the central character the main character. There is nothing wrong with this, excellent terminology, which allows you not to remind in your story, which is due tomorrow, a boring name. Over time, the essay is written, but there is no zest in it either. Everything is simple and according to the template. Then you start searching on Google for new ones. interesting words and you end up on the protagonist. At first glance, quite strange word, which is unlikely to mean anything important or interesting.
Then he decides to write more specifically “synonyms for the main character” in the address bar. What a surprise: the word protagonist appears again. It turns out that such a noun has direct relation to the "main character".
On Wikipedia the protagonist is called key character in the story, the plot driver in cinema, the owner of his destiny in the real world. Indirectly speaking, this word can be called any creature, object, phenomenon or person on which the skeleton of a narrative story rests.
The meaning of the word protagonist can be easily found out by searching in a search engine, at information resources, in the video of film reviewers. This word was first spoken in 534 BC. e. at one of the performances of the playwright Thespis. From ancient Greek, the protagonist is literally translated as “the first active fighter.” Thanks to this poet, the world gradually began to call all the people about whom the story is told as protagonists.
Protagonist in literature
It is quite strange that such a term is not included in the compulsory school curriculum. Most often people become acquainted with him in the first year of art and similar institutes and colleges. But generalized acquaintance occurs almost in kindergarten with the question: “Who did we just listen to the fairy tale about?”
In elementary school, the concept is expanded a little, under the pretext of the main character, children are introduced to a brief description of the character, which consists of:
Seems like a pretty complicated system, doesn't it? But in practice everything happens much more simply. After processing the work, using leading questions, the teacher evaluates the quality of comprehension of what was read. And as many have already guessed, all this happens through the prism of the main character, that is, the protagonist. Primary School teaches you to identify the key character in the story. Then gradually the volume art material increases, but the above system does not change.
One has only to remember how they met Kolobok in the first grade and the Little Prince in the sixth. Initially, it is difficult to see the difference between them. However, if you look closely at the key issues, it immediately becomes clear that there is no difference. Getting to know the protagonist is present in any work of fiction..
At school, the most memorable protagonists are Robinson Crusoe, Sherlock Holmes, and so on. That is, those who are easiest to remember and compare themselves with.
Protagonist in films
When cinema appeared, there was a smooth movement of most artistic literary terms. Now cinema sets the rhythms, and most people first time hearing the protagonist in a movie. In this case, a similar comparison of the term with the current hero of the film occurs. That is, main character of the film is the protagonist. But you shouldn’t close the article here, thinking that you won’t read anything else interesting. With the advent of a new round of art, like cinema, the protagonist has expanded a little in his understanding.
Characters who are not up to the level of the protagonist often began to appear on screens, and they act as the main characters. A slight contradiction arises. New heroes have vices in their souls, sometimes behave disgustingly, causing negativity in a person. All these criteria are more suitable for the antagonist (there will also be a little talk about him below). But then we learn that the main character had good intentions and was able to achieve his goal by such means. Thanks to such a sharp change in concepts, a new word emerges - antihero. This is a person who is considered an active person, but has open negative sides. In modern cinema, their popularity is only increasing, since the protagonists are too predictable, compared to these guys.
Unfortunately, female protagonists rarely gain popularity in the world of cinema.. They are assigned the role of helpers, reasons for actions, or “damsels in distress.” The fashion for female protagonists began to appear only in 2001, with the release of the gorgeous film “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.” In the series, the heroine Vika Prudkovskaya gained fame in the CIS countries, showing a well-written character.
Antihero is the main character of the work, because it also appeared in literature over time, which is not without its shortcomings.
Every story involves a problem, a contradiction, or a confrontation. If there good hero or not so much (let’s not forget the anti-hero), there must also be someone who does not try to interfere, create opposition, catch the opposite thought. Such characters are called antagonists. Most often, they are shown in a negative light and clearly prevent the main character from achieving his goal.
The main features of the antagonist:
- obvious conflict with the main character;
- egoistic intentions;
- tendency to sacrifice.
As is easy to notice, all art world consists of from confrontations between protagonist and antagonist(rarely an antihero is an antagonist). This is necessary to create possible situations, which will either bring a person closer to real life, or they will be able to reveal the full potential of their imagination, like that rosebud in the neighbor’s garden.
There is another specific name for the protagonist - false protagonist. This non-standard method is rarely used in cinema, so many people do not know about its existence. The bottom line is that initially the viewer is shown the main character, his story and goals are told. Everything seems to be going smoothly. But then he disappears for a good half of the film and appears at the end. Wow, a turnaround - you say. This technique is most often used for trailers.
Protagonist in games
It was impossible not to say a few words about games. All terms are present in this area. Only everything is much simpler. The protagonist is called acting character, controlled by the player, the antagonist is his enemy, the opposite side. And an anti-hero is a character that players control but commits bad actions.
The easiest way to consider these concepts is through the example of the world famous game from Blizzard, I think you guessed which one.
An ICQ discussion about one local villain has gotten so hot Dedicated to all fans of villains
25 Things You Need to Know About the Antagonist
1. A real man with real problems
The antagonists are just people, well, until they become crazed sex robots, killer dinosaurs, or super-advanced Windows processes. But even then, we need to lead them as people. People with desires, needs, fears, motivations. People with families and friends and their own enemies. This full of life flesh and blood characters. Blood and milk, energy, passion! These are not know-it-all, seed-husking rednecks.
2. They are used not only to develop the plot
A character is a motor, an engine. The plot is a car racing into the sunset. The character moves the plot, the plot does not move the character. The antagonist is not just a pitfall in the protagonist's path; he does not serve the sequence of events. He exists in order to change it, swing it, turn it into the sequence that he wants, into a sequence that stands in opposition, opposes the protagonist. Into confrontation.
3. Confrontation is the key
The antagonist opposes the protagonist. They have a clash of motivations. Their needs and desires are polar in relation to each other. The protagonist wants to free the slaves, the antagonist wants to keep the slaves. The protagonist wants to save the hostages, the antagonist wants to hold the hostages, or worse yet, kill them all. The antagonist wants a lollipop, the protagonist has stolen all the candy. The antagonist can confront the protagonist directly, nullifying all his efforts. Or indirectly, appearing in the story in the guise of an angel (but continuing to oppose the interests of the protagonist). The meaning is the same - no matter how you present it: the antagonist stands in the way of achieving the protagonist's goals.
4. I like hamsters, and you flush them down the toilet. So, the battle!
The antagonist is a reflection of the protagonist, literally a mirror image. They are contrasting. It's simply heroism versus villainy, but it can (and should) go deeper. The protagonist is a drunkard, the antagonist is a preacher healthy image life. Protagonist - modern woman atheist, antagonist - religious fanatic. The protagonist likes Smeshariki, +100500, TNT, The antagonist Luntik, This is good and STS. Characters who exist in disharmony. Thesis, antithesis.
5. Like the Dalai Lama, only a complete bastard
The antagonist is the embodiment of the conflict, its cause. His character contains conflict. The antagonist arranges the sequence of events the way he likes. He creates problems for the protagonist. He ups the ante. It changes the game and makes it more difficult.
6. The antagonist believes that he is the protagonist.
The antagonist is the hero of his own story. In fact, the protagonist of your story is the antagonist of the antagonist. Cool, yeah? People who do bad things often justify them with something positive. Hitler was more than just an international bastard. He thought that he was the deliverer of humanity from evil. This is not to say that the antagonist's desires must be noble ("I killed the hostages to save Orphanage"), only such as he considers noble. The antagonist reads that he is right, that he is doing the right thing, even if it is terrible.
7. Evil for evil's sake breeds boredom
The antagonist who does evil for the sake of evil is often a regular cartoon. He is Professor Nimnul, Dr. Evil, Shredder or in other words boring, unreliable and completely untenable. Give him motivation beyond "Be the biggest asshole I can be." Yes, in certain moments and stories you can get by with this (see “Joker”), but it’s difficult and it’s a burden an unbearable burden on the shoulders of the protagonist.
8. Motivating Terrible People
The antagonist must have credible motivations. And motivations are things we tell ourselves, right? A racist doesn't do his racist things because he thinks people of color should feel pain. Racism has much deeper roots, often rooted in a system of justification. Motivations don't have to be good or good, they have to be credible so that people can believe in them. Or at least so that we believe that the antagonist believes in them. Ask yourself, what is the antagonist telling himself? How does he sleep at night?
9. Harmful black and white
All villains are antagonists. But not all antagonists are villains. A "villain" is a type of character that fits perfectly into many stories: serial killer, diabolical magician, powerful vampire, it doesn't matter. But real life doesn't always have bad guys. The antagonist can (and often should) be in the gray area against this black-and-white dichotomy of the structure of evil and good. Want an example? In "Rimbaud" First Blood" John Rimbaud is the protagonist and Sheriff Teasle is the antagonist, but Teasle is not the "bad guy". He is wrong in many ways, but he is not a villain.
10. Worst enemy, retribution
Previously, an example was given of direct confrontation between the antagonist and the protagonist, when the antagonist literally gets a hard-on at the opportunity to jam the protagonist’s ass. (“I pissed your bed, kicked your cat, threw all your ficus trees off the windowsill and drank all your beer. A-ha-ha-ha, suck the rail, Bruce Wayne, I beat you again!”) An antagonist of this nature is, Certainly, worst enemy protagonist.
11. Dissecting your favorite antagonist
Want to know what goes on inside a good antagonist? Then look deeper, beyond the history and pop culture that you love so much? Why is Hannibal Lector a great antagonist? Is he really great? What about Darth Vader, Voldemort, Gollum, Prince Zuko or Rob Schneider?
12. Take a closer look at your own life
Take a closer look at yourself, try to identify your own antagonists. Now imagine that they are much more complex and attractive than the ones you can find in most fiction. Our parents are often our antagonists when we are teenagers, but they do not start this confrontation and they do not end it. Now try to dig deeper - try to understand, have you ever been someone's antagonist? Certainly. Your parents may have viewed you as such. A teacher, maybe. Forgotten friend. The dude you were teasing. Brother or sister. Transfer what you saw into your story. Find difficulties with the antagonist, you don’t necessarily need sympathy for him, but you need to experience empathy, understand his feelings. If we cannot understand him, we will not believe him.
13. Write from the enemy camp
Write from the antagonist's point of view. Maybe it's something that happens in the story, or maybe it's just an exercise between you and your inner voice. We need to get to its insides. We need to get into the shoes of the antagonist and use his mind like an aluminum cap. Unpleasant, of course, but necessary.
14. Shake hands with the monster
We need to sit down, sorry, have a shit with the antagonist on the same field, spend time with him. To fully understand how this monster lives and how it breathes. Give yourself time to spend with the antagonist away from the protagonist, somewhere in Turkey or Egypt. To understand who they are, what they want, why they do what they do. Become the monster's nanny.
15. Hyper-powerful - uninteresting
The god-like super-antagonist who has never been defeated and who knows everything a few steps ahead is just a dumb joke, as is the protagonist who is endowed with the same super-powerful properties. This should be a game of cat and mouse, not a game of mouse versus an orbital laser system built by Jesus.
16. Malevolent too
The antagonist must pose a real challenge to the protagonist. A narrow-minded and blind nerd with senile tendencies will not succeed in the role of an antagonist. We need to let the protagonist fight with someone. A credible opponent must pass big way, especially one that has an advantage over our main character. We want to worry that the antagonist cannot be defeated. Not because he's a super-powerful genius, but because he's simply smarter, stronger, and more capable than our hero. A lack of power in the antagonist means a lack of tension in the story.
17. Follow the rules of the story world
The protagonist must exist in the world of the story - the antagonist, therefore, too. All characters are bound by the world you created. The antagonist can exploit, use the created story world, can bend the rules in certain ways, but not ignore them.
18. No more explanations
Strong advice to seriously get involved with chatty “tell-but-don’t-show” antagonists. No more villains who give excessive amounts of exposition in the finale. Well, the ones that tell you “how it happened” and “why” before you pull the trigger. They're pissing me off.
19. Excite me through emotional connection
Just once, just once, let me understand how the antagonist feels. He can be any kind of freak, he can kick cats, scare children, drive slowly in the left lane and cum on toilet paper in a public toilet, but. Just give me an emotional connection with him, show me something he's done, something he believes in, something I can believe in. Or show me his past. Help me understand why he jerks off to pay phones or chops Barbie dolls to pieces with an ax. Empathy is a very powerful thing. Give me an emotional connection with the protagonist and I will connect with his struggle. Give me the same connection to an antagonist and I will delve, even if only fleetingly, into his atrocities.
20. Balance
Valuable note - just as you can increase the number of main characters, you can also increase the antagonists. So that everyone gets their share of the confrontation. We need balance. And you need to be sure that the timing is enough.
21. Villain Arc
The antagonist can have his own arc. Actually, there should be one. The antagonist does not begin and end at the same point. He changes and grows (sometimes shrinks) just like the protagonist. Don't think that the antagonist should be unshakable and static. A sort of stone face of conflict. The way he will be influenced by circumstances, let his madness grow, his pain or illness progress, his evil grow by leaps and bounds!
22. Idea, organization, element as an antagonist
The antagonist doesn't have to be a character, it can be an idea (racism), an organization (CIA), or an element (rainbow). Zombies, by the way, also fit into this type of antagonist - they are depersonalized and more reminiscent disaster. It is desirable that these antagonists be represented by someone, some character, either serving the idea, or working in an organization, or understanding the elements.
23. Moment of villainy
Blake Snyder's books tell us to give the hero a "Save the Cat" moment, which means not just showing him saving the cat, but also making it clear to us that he is capable of saving her in order for us to believe in him. The antagonist needs the same moment and the same belief in it, only in a mirror image. We have to believe that he can kick a cat, is capable of it, and will do it. We need to understand and see why the antagonist is an antagonist. We need to show the full depth of his problem, his disgust, his unwillingness to live according to earthly laws, his hatred of the ethical laws of humanity and all that.
24. Let the antagonist win
Let the antagonist win. Perhaps not in the finale, but periodically, during the course of history. Let him ruin Batman's return, or kill the hostages, or unwind all the toilet paper.
25. Love to hate, hate to love
If you don’t care about everything that is written here, which, in fact, I’m personally sure of, then at least absorb the main key point - the simplest test for the quality of an antagonist is the state of a) loving your hatred of the antagonist, b) hating your love to the antagonist. Do this and you win. If you make me like an asshole and feel bad about it, you win. If you make me hate the bastard and be over the moon about it, you're back on top. For God's sake, let me feel something!
Protagonist is a term that not many people are familiar with. If you explain in simple words, then this is the main character or central character. He is present in every story, fairy tale and essay, film and cartoon. Who is the protagonist? What is the role assigned to this figure?
Wikipedia names the protagonist the main character, the engine of the plot in cinema, the master of his own destiny in the real world. Conventionally, this definition includes any creatures, animals, objects, people and phenomena that make up the backbone of a narrative story.
The word was first spoken in 534 BC at a speech by Thespis, a Greek orator. Exactly translated it means “first fighter.” Since then, all the people about whom we're talking about in history, are called protagonists.
The meaning of the term is not required to be taught in schools, which is quite strange. They encounter it for the first time in the first years of college artistic direction. But indirect acquaintance occurs much earlier, in distant childhood, when educators or parents ask the child: “Who did we just listen to a fairy tale about?”
From the first grade in schools there is a slight expansion of the concept.
This is observed during the study brief description main character:
- hero's name;
- his background;
- character traits;
- the motives for his actions;
- plot development.
At first glance, the system is complex, but in practice everything is simplified. After analyzing the story through leading questions, the teacher assesses the quality of how the children comprehended the story they read. At the center of the whole process, of course, is the protagonist. Students are taught to identify the main character. Over time the amount artistic stories grows, the volume increases, but the system of definition and analysis remains the same.
From school, the most famous and memorable protagonists remain Sherlock Holmes, Robinson Crusoe, and others.
Robinson Crusoe
Protagonists in cinema, literature
With the advent of cinema, many literary terms moved to the cinema. Nowadays, most people learn about protagonists from television screens, where they are compared with the main character of the film.
In cinema the concept is somewhat broader than in literature. IN feature film characters appear who are not absolute protagonists, but nevertheless appear active heroes. Against this background, a contradiction arises. These individuals may have negative character, do things that discredit them, cause negativity in the viewer. This is more typical.
But as the plot develops, it becomes clear that the character had good intentions, that through bad deeds he was able to achieve his goal. Such images are called antiheroes, which are central figures with negative sides. Antiheroes are becoming more popular now because the behavior of the protagonists is too predictable, and because of this, the plot loses suspense.
Most often, men are endowed with protagonists. Women are assigned the role of helpers, provocateurs of actions, girls who need to be saved. A striking example Lara Croft from the Tomb Raid movie became the female protagonist. Among domestic representatives, nanny Vika Prudkovskaya became famous.
Important! In literature and cinema, there are often false main characters - heroes who first participate in the development of the plot as protagonists, but then disappear from the story in an unexpected way.
The most memorable false protagonist is Marion, the heroine of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. She suddenly disappears from the story at the beginning of the film.
Literature contains many narratives consisting of several stories. They have several main characters at once. For example, “War and Peace” is a novel by Leo Tolstoy. This work contains as many as fifteen characters who are involved in the war or are in any way affected by it.
Main features
The protagonist, like the antagonist, in the plot mainly demonstrates traits that distinguish them from other characters:
- loyal to his cause, like-minded people, allies, family;
- has super strength;
- gains diverse experience;
- has an individual character flaw;
- brave and decisive;
- driven by a goal;
- evokes sympathy and trust in the viewer or reader.
Useful video: Evgeny Bazarov - protagonist or antagonist?
Conclusion
Protagonist in modern world found not only in cinema and literature. It is used in theater, video games and other forms of art. For example, in the movies it’s James Bond, in the books it’s Julien Sorel (Stendhal). Protagonism in computer games inherent in characters controlled by the player himself.
