Breaking Bad Why Are Audiences Attracted to Anti Heros?
Literature review
Kerri Dock BA TV
Why current TV audience are attracted to antiheroes?
Looking in to this topic I have found a lot of useful sources that explain why television audiences love antiheroes, looking at the programme braking bad I have found evidence of what makes the viewers attracted to Walter White the anti-hero and why all the way through the programme the audience route for Walter.
Reading an article from suite 101 on the rise of television antiheroes it suggests that “As audience, we might not share his vices, but we share his virtues and sympathise with him because he is still the character we fell for in the beginning.” I agree with this, as the creators of programmes build such a strong first impression the first time we meet the character that it’s hard for us to let go and dislike them for the bad they have done. As an audience we don’t want to see anything bad happen to them or for them to be punished for their actions, what makes us keep watching is the thrill of our antihero getting away with it each time, as an audience watching that’s the hook that keep us watching and wanting more.
Another article from writing the antihero and making your audience love him suggests that “We want this bad guy to succeed because we are secretly angry too, but we can’t do anything about it the antihero makes us feel like something right is being done to equalize things, even if it is wrong.”
A lot of modern day audiences can relate to this with today economy being the way it is everyone has money struggles so when watching Walter on our screens we see him doing bad to gain money for himself and his family and the audience relate, they know that if they had to they would do the same. While researching this topic I have come across an interesting fact that braking bad was never picked up in the UK but was so popular in the US. Why is this? It has been argued that the US audience can relate more to the characters form braking bad as the story
Kerri Dock BA TV
Why current TV audience are attracted to antiheroes?
Looking in to this topic I have found a lot of useful sources that explain why television audiences love antiheroes, looking at the programme braking bad I have found evidence of what makes the viewers attracted to Walter White the anti-hero and why all the way through the programme the audience route for Walter.
Reading an article from suite 101 on the rise of television antiheroes it suggests that “As audience, we might not share his vices, but we share his virtues and sympathise with him because he is still the character we fell for in the beginning.” I agree with this, as the creators of programmes build such a strong first impression the first time we meet the character that it’s hard for us to let go and dislike them for the bad they have done. As an audience we don’t want to see anything bad happen to them or for them to be punished for their actions, what makes us keep watching is the thrill of our antihero getting away with it each time, as an audience watching that’s the hook that keep us watching and wanting more.
Another article from writing the antihero and making your audience love him suggests that “We want this bad guy to succeed because we are secretly angry too, but we can’t do anything about it the antihero makes us feel like something right is being done to equalize things, even if it is wrong.”
A lot of modern day audiences can relate to this with today economy being the way it is everyone has money struggles so when watching Walter on our screens we see him doing bad to gain money for himself and his family and the audience relate, they know that if they had to they would do the same. While researching this topic I have come across an interesting fact that braking bad was never picked up in the UK but was so popular in the US. Why is this? It has been argued that the US audience can relate more to the characters form braking bad as the story