If you’re a writer, notably a screenwriter, you’ve heard time and time again about the hero’s journey. When I studied screenwriting at Act One: Writing for Hollywood, required reading included Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero’s Journey, published in 1990. As presented by mythologist Campbell, the journey concept or narrative pattern can be found in any culture from the inception of storytelling, whether oral or written. And any written story, whether a novel or screenplay, employs the journey structure as the protagonist, or hero, undergoes a transformation via the character arc. The elemental steps are: Departure, Initiation, and Return with facing obstacles or conflicts and returning, full circle, somehow changed or altered. If there’s no different outcome, the story remains stagnant and the hero is anything but a hero and the journey anything but a journey.
In 1992, Kurt Vogler published his analysis of the hero’s journey partly based on Campbell’s representation. The book, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, borrows from Campbell’s concept and adapts it for character archetypes. Vogler’s book started with a studio memo called, “A Practical Guide to the Hero with a Thousand Faces.” In July 2020, Vogler published a 25th Anniversary edition of his book. According to the Amazon site blurb, “…this book has changed the face of the screenwriting worldwide over the last 25 years, and continues to do so.” But, there’s much more to the hero’s journey, actually 12 stages. I urge novelists and screenwriters to read the books by Campbell and Vogler as a contemplation on the process of creating characters with extraordinary stories.
Now, I turn my attention to another type: the anti-hero. How is this character different from the hero? Or are they flip sides of the same coin? As a youth, already obsessed with movies, I ordered a book from a summer reading catalog that focused on movie anti-heroes. Cool photos included movie stills. I’m scratching my head to conjure up some of those images, but I do remember Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, and Jim Brown. Sondra Locke was a bit of a mystery to me, but I liked that a female anti-hero was included. (Most likely due to her partnering with Clint Eastwood in a few movies when the book was first published.)
I’d venture to say that the anti-hero has always been at the same level of interest, if not more, than the hero, especially in the film world! Gangster movies, part and parcel of Hollywood’s Golden Era of the 1930s, didn’t hold back on showing the seamier side of criminal life. I’m not sure these characters played by the likes of James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft, would be considered anti-heroes by modern definitions. But with leading roles, they were more than one-dimensional villains. Typically, audience members would get a glimpse of their undesirable childhood experiences that led to crime.
By the 1950s through the 1970s, the anti-hero gained nuance. Look at Michael Corleone through his evolution from war hero to Mafia Godfather. His character is a far departure from The Public Enemy portrayed by James Cagney, although both kill with little or no conscience at the height of their careers. For Cagney’s character, crime is a way out of poverty; for Pacino’s character, it’s family business. Either way, an ambiguity exists regarding morals, even though Michael Corleone’s character is multi-dimensional and initially conflicted.
But there is a similarity between the hero’s journey and the anti-hero’s journey. They face obstacles in pursuit of a goal. And, in most cases, their greatest obstacles are their own character defects or adverse experiences that damage their psyche. Hmm, sounds very human, if you ask me! That’s probably why I’ve always been drawn to the anti-hero. They seem more interesting, and I don’t mean in the cardboard villain way. I think of Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, my absolute favorite anti-hero. I never tire of watching Newman’s character tagged as the hero who transforms into the anti-hero as Luke navigates his way through the confines of a chain gang that fall into hero worship. When he yells out, “…stop feedin’ off me…” the characters and the audience back off and fell his frustration in a visceral way.
A poll taken on IMDb resulted in votes for the “Greatest Movie Anti-Heroes of All Time.” There were 8,454 votes cast and the top three winners are:
- Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in Fight Club (1999) – 1,132 votes
- Harrison Ford as Hans Solo in Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) – 1,104 votes
- Clint Eastwood as Blond in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – 632 votes
Also, Vogler has video presentations on “The Anti-Hero’s Journey” that I’ll check out. No doubt, as a screenwriter and/or cinephile, you have your own favorite anti-hero. And, if you’re writing one in your story, whether a novel or screenplay, give your anti-hero a reason to be bad, even if not defendable in a court of law, as long as your audience understands why. Happy watching, reading, and writing!