Steven Hale
Jul 5, 2024

There are movies in which the protagonist is a bad person ("bad" = socially, morally, or ethically undesirable to the audience) in some way (e.g. "American Psycho," "Bronson," "Peeping Tom"), but these protagonists often have their own quest and an external nemesis. "Breaking Bad" and "The Americans" would be two of the clearest examples There are also stories in which the protagonist is self-limiting in some way. Charles Foster Kane could be seen as his own nemesis (keeping himself from finding his youthful authentic self, and although Leland opposes Kane, his honesty would have helped rather than hindered Kane. Other movies with self-limiting protagonists are "Naked" and "Henry Poole Is Here" (neither of which was intended for a mainstream audience.

Steven Hale
Steven Hale

Written by Steven Hale

Music: Discovering the lost and forgotten. Politics: Exposing injustice. Screenwriting: Emotional storytelling.

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