ANTI HEROES: VOCABULARY

They would do anything to ACHIEVE/REACH THEIR GOAL.

they play by their  own rules

They have a SPLIT PERSONALITY

They COMMIT EVIL DEEDS – They are EVIL-DOERS 

They are RUTHLESS

They TAKE THE LAW INTO THEIR OWN HANDS

They are willing to PLAY DIRTY 

They are FLAWED

They use UNETHICA/QUESTIONABLE methods to ACHIEVE their goal 

HOWEVER, they also have REDEEMING QUALITIES:

 Many of them are loving – caring

 They will do  what it takes to support  their  family,   help their friends in need – 

They are  willing to sacrifice themselves to keep their /family, friends, country/ safe.

 

 They are smarter than most people -

VIDEO: Top Ten TV Anti Heores

VIDEO: 1. TOP 10 TV ANTI HEROES - watch the video


http://watchmojo.com/video/id/11790/

ANTI HERO DEFINITIONS + KEY QUESTION

 Defintion of the OXFORD DCITIONARY

A central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

‘with the age of the anti-hero, baddies and goodies are less distinguishable from one another’

• ‘Most of the heroes in our mainstream books, films and comics are anti-heroes who stand apart from the crowd.’
•  ‘- protagonists who accomplish important things without the qualities of traditional heroes.’

KEY QUESTION: What makes anti-heroes so popular? (so attractive)

ARTICLE: Banksy Captivates NY

Banksy captivates New York with guerrilla graffiti art blitz

theguardian.com, Saturday 19 October 2013

Famously jaded New Yorkers are getting swept up in the hype over Banksy, the renegade graffiti artist who is leaving his mark across the city this month.

Known for his anti-authoritarian black-and-white stencilled images, which have sold at auction for upwards of $2m (£1.2m), the British street artist is treating New Yorkers to a daily dose of spray-painted art – while eluding the police and incurring the wrath of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"Graffiti does ruin people's property," Bloomberg said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Reactions from other New Yorkers to the pieces – which appear overnight, usually on side streets in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn – have ranged from the defacing of images to offers of huge sums for walls Banksy has painted.

"Somebody offered me a million dollars if I took down the bricks," said Jose Goya, the manager of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, building that Banksy spray-painted on Wednesday night.

Goya turned the buyer down and had Plexiglas placed over the Japanese-themed image of a man and a woman crossing an arched bridge. The art has a black squiggle spray-painted over it, the work of an apparent Banksy hater.

The mysterious Banksy is calling his month in New York his "Better Out Than In" residency.

Every morning, he announces the location of each piece on his website and invites people to call a hotline for droll descriptions of the artwork's inspiration.

The art is defined in part by the artist's mystique. It is still uncertain whether Banksy, who remains unidentified since emerging in England in 1993, is one artist or a group. In the 2010 documentary about Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop, which received widespread critical praise, the artist is always shrouded in a head covering or his face is hidden in shadows.

"He's sort of like Batman," Matt Adams, a Williamsburg resident, said as he photographed the Japanese-themed stencil. "No one knows who he is, he does his work under cloak of darkness and everyone in New York is looking for him."

New Yorkers have flocked to Banksy's art, eager to view pieces before they are defaced or removed, possibly by rival artists or those who think Banksy's work is shallow and his fame undeserved.

An image of the Twin Towers destroyed in the 11 September 2001 attacks that had been spray-painted by the artist on a wall in Brooklyn Heights was removed on Thursday night after less than a week in place. It is unclear who was responsible.

Among the hundreds who arrived to see Banksy's art on the Williamsburg wall was Evan Mannell, an Australian musician visiting New York who has rushed to three Banksy images. "Think of it like a jazz solo," he said. "Unless someone records it, it's all finished and it's over. I want to see Banksy's pieces before they're gone."

ARTICLE: VILLAINS DO IT BETTER + NOTES DE COURS

Villains Do It Better: Why This Generation Is Obsessed With The Anti-Hero

Dec 23, 2013 – Elite Daily

Think about your favorite television shows. Think about your favorite character. Is he a power-hungry politician? Is he maybe a motorcycle gang member, or is he a narcissistic philanderer in ad sales? Do you root for the man cooking the meth or the DEA agent trying to stop him? Do you root for the savior or the criminal?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The anti-hero is the protagonist who does not have the traditional qualities of the admirable leading man or woman. He or she lacks courage, kindness and nobility, but most notably, moral goodness. It’s a character wrought with flaws and demons, disregarding the normal societal processes for his or her own agenda. It’s become a compelling phenomenon based on the concept that we are rooting for someone who is violating everything we’ve ever known as right.

The best example of the anti-hero archetype is “Breaking Bad.” The AMC series was the first national celebration of the anti-hero since “The Sopranos.” An entire nation was found rooting for a meth lord who turned to murder and betrayal to keep his empire functioning. We watch the dissolution of his marriage, friendships and career in an attempt to gain power and wealth.

We watched him turn from an acquiescent chemistry teacher to a power-hungry drug dealer and still never faltered in our allegiance and devotion to him. It’s a strange thing when you step away from the man you’ve been idolizing and look at him as who he really is: a criminal, a madman and villain.

As a whole, we have come to celebrate the reign of the flawed men and women who stand in the spotlight. From “Breaking Bad,” “American Horror Story,” “The Sopranos,” “Girls,” “Boardwalk Empire,” almost every show we love is led by a flawed character — a man or woman with questionable actions and motives — always self-serving and determined to succeed at any cost.

We follow these characters throughout their journeys: their quests for redemption, fame, fortune and love — the same common goals we find ourselves longing after. And like ourselves, we see the selfishness that comes with attaining goals and dreams. We watch other people commit betrayal and wrongdoing that comes with human nature.

Unlike the shows of our parents’ generation, when the main characters were examples of the ideal American citizen, housewife, husband or child, these main characters are the undesirables, the flawed and the evil that encompasses the true American culture, not just projections of what we want it to be.

But why do we love them? Why do we find ourselves rooting for the ones who steal, lie and cheat? Why do we support the ones who sell meth and murder innocents? The ones who betray their lovers, alienate their friends and get even at any cost. What does this say about us?

It says we’re realistic; we understand the true fabric of what makes this country great, the flaws of the people and their selfish motives. We live in an age of divorce, corruption and celebrity meltdowns, realizing at a young age that no one is perfect and watching someone perfect isn’t what we want to see. We want to see the people like us, the people with flaws and mixed morals. We want to watch the people who don’t know how to behave correctly all the time and don’t always make the morally correct decision.

We love them because it’s cathartic to love them. They make us feel better about those lies we told and those acts of betrayal. We don’t feel so bad about our own mistakes and flaws when we see others doing the same.


NOTES DE COURS:

. We root for Walter White although / even though he is a drug lord who doesn’t think twice about betraying and murdering people. He becomes greedy and power-hungry although at first he was a harmless teacher, a devoted husband and father whose only concern was the well-being of his family.  This mix of good and evil makes him the epitome of the anti-hero, someone we find compelling/ fascinating against our better judgment. (en dépit du bon sens, bien malgré nous)

So in spite  of all his flaws, we can’t help rooting for him.

harmless = inoffensif - harmful = nuisible, néfaste 

4. why are anti-heroes so attractive and popular?

First, they are flawed, just like us. We share the same goals in life: the quest of love, success and redemption. We can’t help identifying with them because they are as imperfect as we are.

People want fictional heroes to be realistic, not perfect individuals. We can relate to them because of their flaws, unethical choices, questionable  behaviour. 

To relate to = to identify with