English poet John Milton once wrote, “…good and evil we know in the field of this world grow up together almost inseparably; and the knowledge of good is so involved and interwoven with the knowledge of evil.” With this interwoven information, modern audiences are usually able to differentiate the “good guys” from the “bad guys” in a movie or television show. A murderous meth kingpin, a rebellious teenage rapist, and a Los Angeles hit man who quotes Holy Scripture before killing his targets — not your typical group of likeable personalities. However, these individuals (Walter White, Alex DeLarge, and Jules Winnfield) are among film and television’s most beloved characters. Often, society shuns people who fall under these deviant categories. Why then do audiences support, sympathize with, and even root for these “bad” characters? Many factors come into play when audiences decide whom they like and why they like them. Through easily identifiable characters, viewers relate to and support the “bad guys” and find ways to justify their deviant behavior; this pattern can be seen in the soci...
In “The Thematic Paradigm,” University of Florida professor of film studies, Robert Ray, defines two types of heroes pervading American films, the outlaw hero and the official hero. Often the two types are merged in a reconciliatory pattern, he argues. In fact, this
On the surface, O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find appears innocent enough in its content. But as the reader becomes more and more involved in the symbolic underpinnings that embody the story, it is quite clear that there is a distinctive flavor of evil versus Christianity. In fact, it has been argued that the extent to which O'Connor utilizes the central theme of Christianity is as a subtle, symbolic plot to convert her readers, whom she had envisioned as nonbelievers. By demonstrating to her audience all the good that comes from faith, along with all the bad that merely begets more evil, it was her intention to enlighten her readership down the right path.
Movies distort reality by creating an ideal conflictual ambience, from which all the subtle human emotions and the characters arise. Humans might appear as consensus beings, seeking conformation and avoiding alienation by “society”. However, referring back to Aristotle’s saying, “human beings are by nature political animals” (1999), humans continually strive for power and control inasmuch as they strive for pure oxygen to breathe. Movies unleash these “socially unacceptable” political animals, exposing the hidden moral corruption embedded within most humans. Movies accomplish such a task by distorting reality, by reshaping the truth into a collection of video shots, taken from different angles, creating different meanings to content; the true meaning. The three genres of literature – narratives, poetry and drama – establish the key to revealing the distortion, thus providing humans with the ultimate method of deciphering our reality through the eyes of a glass lens. In the movie Do the Right Thing, these genres come together to paint a “picture” of us.
Throughout the physical research of this study I have found out a lot more about this show than could have ever crossed minds before, one example being that this show has be premiered and marketed so well to the point that the viewer have almost no resistance to not believe what the show is trying to instill into our minds. These shows also categorize the characters, some are “good” guys and others are bad guys, but who is actually decided these labels? Are the categories fair? Many would say yes based off the plot line of the show, but some wonder if the bad guys have an equal amount of air time to defend themselves. These factors bring up a conflict of narration weather or not every character is portrayed in a way that they could be like-able which not the case in The Blacklist is. This “good” guy, bad guy routine is commonly used in crime shows and movies, but is not a true example of real life that these shows depict to do. In a sense these real-life shows are the complete opposite not giving the audience a real conclusion o...
Bad versus good is a never-ending battle of civilization’s detrition from the evil in humans. In Lord of the Flies by William Goulding a plane crashes on an island filled with boys. On the island the boys tried to keep rescue in mind, but they begin to lose their minds to the pure human instincts. The boys illustrate a theme of civilization being deteriorated by savagery on the island.
But incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are predictable; they are not a random act of brutality because such violence is a learned behavior. Americans glorify violence and this attitude is illustrated through the tolerance of violence portrayed through the media. And although distinguishing between violence as pure entertainment and violence as social criticism is important, good intentions can still lead to terrible outcomes. The effect of viewing violent films has been insufficiently considered, yet plays a significant role in encouraging aggressive behavior.
In this course we have tackled numerous topics in a short span of time. These topics have spanned from social sciences, the origins of man, the birth of personalities, and the concepts of marriage and family. Out of all these interesting topics though, the theme of deviance and criminality evolved my mindset the most. As an avid comic book/manga reader I believe that hero is only as interesting as the villains they face.This ideal shows throughout with popular examples such as Batman with Joker, Superman with Lex Luthor, Thor with Loki, and the X-Men with Magneto. With this mindset however, I never really dove into the process of why these villains are evil until we covered the deviance and criminality chapter of our course. This paper will
Rabison, Rebecca. “Representations of Crime in Disney Films: A Qualitative Analysis.” Wesleyan University Honors College. April 2008. Retrieved 18 Dec 2013 from .
Since ancient Greek times, the stories of heroes seemed to take the world by storm. Tales of these half-human half- gods intrigued many people and endured for centuries. This mythology has created one of the most successful movie genres in the world, making millions of dollars in box offices and sales in merchandise. The popularity of heroes did not go away over time, but rather it increased to a point where they are placed on a pedestal. Their stories and movies not only discuss important attributes people should have, but reflect the type of “savior” needed to fix the societal problems we face. The causes of their popularity are quite simple, people love entertainment and their ability to relate to the character. However, upon closer examination
Menace II Society, a film about a young Black man who has lived the “hustler” lifestyle and is struggling to leave it, is a perfect example of deviance as the main character, Caine Lawson, and the characters around him violate many of society’s norms. Throughout the film, the characters swear incessantly, carry around guns and drugs as most people would carry around cell phones, commit street crimes, especially burglary and mugging, on a regular basis, and beat and kill people unscrupulously. The following quote captures just how deviant Caine and the other characters in this film were, “[Caine] went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when” (Albert Hughes). Why would Caine consider these crimes “funny”, or rather, so insignificant? What caused Caine to become so deviant? The answers to such questions were woven into the plot of the film and will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
An analysis of the nature of evil reveals challenges. The challenges are posed in form of questions or statements such as; if God were good, He would destroy evil; an all-powerful God would destroy evil; Evil can never be destroyed; and thus, the possible existence of such a good and powerful Being is questionable. The lifestyle of a typical Christian revolves around doing what is right and avoiding evil. Believers are expected to give assistance to others without considering their background, race, or denomination. One is expected to be a role model and act as a good example to others in the society. Christians have a big task of ensuring that they win converts for Jesus Christ. This is significant in the war against evil, and ensuring that many nonbelievers are converted through moral teachings and evangelism.
This article also makes referral comparison to another genre of film “Unlike in other genres (detective, thriller), there is usually neither sympathy for the victims of Evil nor admiration for heroes opposing it.”(Kord, 2016) Violence is what triggers the guilt in the audience and what starts to make them speculate of their morality. “Violence may well be the horror film’s way of hacking away at its audience to engage with guilt. Admit who you are. Admit what you did.” (Kord, 2016) The author questions other theorists with an ample amount of valid research from validated
While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...
Following Morell’s definition of an anti-hero, or more precisely, of an unlikeable protagonist, we learn the benefits of using unlikely leads in our stories to make them more interesting, complex, unpredictable, and insightful (32). She explains how there is a ‘fine line’ in balancing traits that must be kept in order to make the reader feel captivated by the characters. Too much likeability, and the antihero becomes a hero. Too many negative traits, and they become too unlikeable to even relate to (43). Despite of this, there is an abundant number of combinations in character creation for unlikeable protagonists, since the traits we give them can be picked from two sets that are normally exclusive to villains and heroes, respectively. One of the most popular combos is of an antihero whose sense of duty guides all his or her actions. However, what is more interesting is seeing them betray (or adopt) this sense of duty. To understand why it works, this paper aims to explain the often misinterpreted definition of ‘a sense of duty’, and uses two ‘unlikeable’ protagonists as examples as they cycle in their use of moral duty throughout their respective stories: Dan Dunne, from the film Half Nelson, and Helen Farraley from Heathcock’s work Volt.
Reputation plays a blinding role in separating evil from good. Based on society’s depiction of ideals, the nature of man is looked past, constituting morality through the lens of societal construct. While civilization opposes savagery, each individual houses the duality of good and evil – evil being the domineering force. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, evil men masquerade behind their reputation in society, while self-perception allows ego to override moral bounds. Without societal input in configuring our moral compass, we lose the ability to navigate our two sides, turning to a primitive state; an innate evil.