It’s obvious that the audience of the 21st century is already
bored by the ordinary heroes that used to dominate in earlier Hollywood movies,
popular literature and TV-series. The children and older generations may still
enjoy their batmans, supermans and spider-mans, but the new generation of young
people needs something more entertaining, exciting and complicated. That’s why the pattern of the New Hero has born.
The (not
Really) Bad Guy
To put it shortly, who I call the (not really) bad guy is a character in
movie, TV-series or book who is a mysterious
and complicated badass, but also not completely evil at the same time. He
may be cruel, arrogant, sarcastic
and ignorant, but is also good looking and has some nice and attractive
features. This whole combination makes him a much more interesting and
intriguing character than the good guy who as a character is usually flat and
predictable.
Damon Salvatore
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Some of the popular TV series a few years ago still had a good guy as
the main male character, and the (not really) bad guy used to be less important.
For example, in The Vampire Diaries (TVD) the
boring good guy Stefan used to be the dominant male character and the great
love of Elena, the main female character, while his badass brother Damon was in Stefan’s shadow. But at the end of the 3rd
season the situation started to change. The fans of the series started to show more interest in Damon and demand that
Elena would fall in love with him. In the current (4th) season Elena
is finally with Damon, and the fans are just crazy about this new Delena
(Damon+Elena) couple. However, let’s not
be that sure that he is her new great love. What I predict is that little by
little they will turn the good guy Stefan into a (not really) bad guy, and
Elena finally comes back to him. Stefan has already started using some irony
and being selfish. In other words, he is becoming similar to Damon.
Chuck Bass
I have already mentioned in my previous post Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl as the good guy with a
bad vibe. At the very beginning of the series Chuck wasn’t the dominant male
character, however now he is definitely the
most important and interesting male character of the series. I believe the
same situation as in TVD the has happened here: the creators of the series
simply saw that their audience is much more intrigued by the (not really) bad
guy Chuck than by the boring good guy Nate or the boring good guy Dan. What is
more, now both Dan and Nate are becoming more and more bad and interesting: Dan
has betrayed all of his friends by exposing their secrets in his book, and Nate
gets involved in some dirty business and possibly ends up in prison.
Sherlock Holmes
Finally, let me introduce you the
king of all (not really) bad guys. The arrogant, sarcastic, unstable, eccentric,
dramatic, disturbing and handsome genius – Sherlock. Just to be clear, I’m
not talking about Sherlock Holmes in Doyle’s books or any movies or old TV
series that were based on them. I’m talking about Sherlock in the same titled TV
series that begun in 2010. This Sherlock is the best example of the (not really)
bad guy being the main character
while his colleague and friend Watson – quite a typical and boring good guy – plays
a less significant role. I strongly believe that this combination is one of the
main reasons why Sherlock is one of the most popular series worldwide and is among
the ten highest rated TV series in IMDB at the moment.
Playing Safe
There are, of course, some directors and writers who stick to the
old-fashioned good guy as the main character of the series. For example, the ex-sheriff Rick from The Walking Dead, who wears
a cowboy hat and always does the right thing. However, we have to admit that he is the dullest character of the series and we are much more
intrigued by complicated, unstable but not really bad Shane or Daryl.
