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."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."
Huh? Which Ripley? I can only think of Sigourney in the Alien films, and she's bad-ass but not bad.
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.
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.