First Evil Protagonist

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Interesting thread. I liked BB but found it a bit of a drag towards the 5th series just because of how unremittingly bleak it got (getting that way about Game of Thrones a little, to be honest). But Anna feels the same way Liza does, and I suppose I did a bit too. However, even as Walt descends into irredeemable evil I felt myself nonetheless rooting for him in a completely amoral way, simply out of respect for his ingenuity, determination and sheer Wille zur Macht, as well as a desire to see the other (equally shitty) characters get their comeuppance."
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I could say a lot about Breaking Bad (guess there is a dedicated thread) but I'm particularly interested in the way that for some people his becoming more and more evil makes them lose interest whereas for some people it doesn't. I guess those first people would never watch/read something with a truly evil protagonist and if you set out to create something like that then you're instantly halving your potential audience. Maybe that's why there are relatively few - and maybe why with things like Maldoror which are so out there already it wasn't a concern.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
Huh? Which Ripley? I can only think of Sigourney in the Alien films, and she's bad-ass but not bad.
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Highsmith wrote about 5 Ripley books. He doesn't start off evil, more a bit pathetic, and even when he is 'the bad guy' you're still expected to root for him. I always sense that Highsmith feels most of his misdeeds are offset by his being so damn cultured.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
In Poe's short story 'The Casque of Amontillado' the protagonist assures us that his victim has committed some appalling outrage against him and that he therefore deserves everything he gets, but this crime is never specified so we just have to take it on trust. I guess it's a pretty classic case of an unreliable narrator.
 
you

you

Well-known member
crackerjack said:
Highsmith wrote about 5 Ripley books. He doesn't start off evil, more a bit pathetic, and even when he is 'the bad guy' you're still expected to root for him. I always sense that Highsmith feels most of his misdeeds are offset by his being so damn cultured.
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I've just read the first 3. For me, right from the start he is amoral and selfish and the reader is oddly and deeply sympathetic with his woes of want and greed. I don't read Highsmith's intentions that way, rather being so cultured is a further aspect of his utter greed and driven by insecurity.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
mistersloane said:
Is Glamorama the only book ever written where the protagonist is a total dick, but you still end up rooting for him, or following him or something.
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I never even managed to get through Glamorama, and I'm a BEE fan - but generally he does quite well in the getting-the-reader-to-root-for-psychopathic-assholes stakes.

Good call on Martin Amis - I think he intends his characters to be likeable.
 
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