Have you ever watched or read a story where the protagonist was a villain? Or, if not a villain, at least morally ambiguous?
I've seen a few of them, and I always admire it when the writers can make me sympathize with both sides, understanding where both parties are coming from even if I prefer one or the other.
Some villains you love to hate. Others, you find yourself just staring at, either wondering if they're actually on the right track, or disagreeing with their methods while agreeing with their goals, or realizing with a start that if you were in their position, you might actually do the same thing.
I've actually been watching two series recently that inspired some of those reactions.
ne of them is Death Note, a really brilliant anime in which a high-school genius acquires a supernatural ability to kill, and uses it to try to rid the world of crime. In the course of his mental war against an eccentric and highly intelligent detective, he inspired a wide debate among fans regarding whether his goals, his motives, or both were evil, good, or somewhere in between.
I've seen a few of them, and I always admire it when the writers can make me sympathize with both sides, understanding where both parties are coming from even if I prefer one or the other.
Some villains you love to hate. Others, you find yourself just staring at, either wondering if they're actually on the right track, or disagreeing with their methods while agreeing with their goals, or realizing with a start that if you were in their position, you might actually do the same thing.
I've actually been watching two series recently that inspired some of those reactions.
ne of them is Death Note, a really brilliant anime in which a high-school genius acquires a supernatural ability to kill, and uses it to try to rid the world of crime. In the course of his mental war against an eccentric and highly intelligent detective, he inspired a wide debate among fans regarding whether his goals, his motives, or both were evil, good, or somewhere in between.
The other is Farscape, in which an astronaut from Earth is flung through a wormhole and gets caught up in a jailbreak, ultimately ending up fleeing from the law on a ship full of escaped prisoners.
To his friends, John Crichton one of the most reliable people you could hope to meet. To his enemies, he becomes increasingly dangerous and treacherous, and from some perspectives he could even be classified as a terrorist.
And I love both series for the fact that there are good and bad motives, and sincerely likeable characters, on both sides of the confrontation, and plenty of room for discussion as to which side is better or worse.
I actually ended up exploring that in my latest music video. In some ways, Farscape's John and his archnemesis Scorpius are surprisingly similar, in ways that you don't necessarily notice on the first watch-through.
In this video, I paint a picture of their unexpected similarities, their different backgrounds and shared quest, and the ways in which each of them could be seen as a villain in the other's eyes.
To his friends, John Crichton one of the most reliable people you could hope to meet. To his enemies, he becomes increasingly dangerous and treacherous, and from some perspectives he could even be classified as a terrorist.
And I love both series for the fact that there are good and bad motives, and sincerely likeable characters, on both sides of the confrontation, and plenty of room for discussion as to which side is better or worse.
I actually ended up exploring that in my latest music video. In some ways, Farscape's John and his archnemesis Scorpius are surprisingly similar, in ways that you don't necessarily notice on the first watch-through.
In this video, I paint a picture of their unexpected similarities, their different backgrounds and shared quest, and the ways in which each of them could be seen as a villain in the other's eyes.
Have you ever seen a really good villain protagonist, or a story that made you wonder who the villain was?
Which story was your favorite, and what reaction did it get from you?
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