Reverend Conehead
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(Some minor spoilers about Breaking Bad and You ahead)
I've enjoyed shows like Breaking Bad and You. Both have major anti-heros as their protagonists. In BB Walter White becomes a really bad guy, a meth kingpin, but I found myself rooting for him, especially at first. When a bunch of bullies mock and harass his handicapped son and Walter stands up to them, I was like, "Yeah! Go, Walter." Then there was this obnoxious and arrogant rich dude, some stock broker who talks down to everyone and thinks he's super great. Walter sabotaged his BMW, and a cheered when it blew up into flames. But later in the series when Walter stands by and allows a heroin-addicted woman to choke to death on her own vomit, I started to feel sick that I had rooted for him.
It's similar with You. This series is about a guy who works in a bookstore and meets an attractive woman whom he has a lot in common with, namely the same taste in literature and books. At first, it looks like a normal boy meets girl story, but we soon see that Joe is not normal at all. With the little information he has about her, he follows her around, spying on her to find out where she goes to school and who her friends are. That was already bad enough, but then he breaks into her apartment to go through her things, including her computer, to learn more about her. Yeah ... a real sicko. It turns out she does have a half-assed dirtbag boyfriend, and Joe ends up abducting him and murdering him. Okay, it's gotten seriously unethical and illegal here, but you still kind of root for the guy. How many times did some great girl have a goonie boyfriend that you felt like clobbering? But it gets worse. He gets together with her, but she has some kind of obnoxious friends. Instead of sitting down with her for a talk and saying, "You know I think this friend is a bad influence," he stalks her friend down and kills her!
So, yeah, extremely bad dude! But you see the show from his POV, so you kind of root for him. Then you're like, "NO! He's a stalker and a murderer -- I don't want to root for him!"
Well, at least these shows aren't boring. But I do feel kind of sick to the stomach. I feel like I've been duped into rooting for some really crappy human beings. I think I'm burning out on the whole anti-hero kind of show and would rather root for a straight-up, old-fashioned real hero.
Have any of you experienced the same thing?
I've enjoyed shows like Breaking Bad and You. Both have major anti-heros as their protagonists. In BB Walter White becomes a really bad guy, a meth kingpin, but I found myself rooting for him, especially at first. When a bunch of bullies mock and harass his handicapped son and Walter stands up to them, I was like, "Yeah! Go, Walter." Then there was this obnoxious and arrogant rich dude, some stock broker who talks down to everyone and thinks he's super great. Walter sabotaged his BMW, and a cheered when it blew up into flames. But later in the series when Walter stands by and allows a heroin-addicted woman to choke to death on her own vomit, I started to feel sick that I had rooted for him.
It's similar with You. This series is about a guy who works in a bookstore and meets an attractive woman whom he has a lot in common with, namely the same taste in literature and books. At first, it looks like a normal boy meets girl story, but we soon see that Joe is not normal at all. With the little information he has about her, he follows her around, spying on her to find out where she goes to school and who her friends are. That was already bad enough, but then he breaks into her apartment to go through her things, including her computer, to learn more about her. Yeah ... a real sicko. It turns out she does have a half-assed dirtbag boyfriend, and Joe ends up abducting him and murdering him. Okay, it's gotten seriously unethical and illegal here, but you still kind of root for the guy. How many times did some great girl have a goonie boyfriend that you felt like clobbering? But it gets worse. He gets together with her, but she has some kind of obnoxious friends. Instead of sitting down with her for a talk and saying, "You know I think this friend is a bad influence," he stalks her friend down and kills her!
So, yeah, extremely bad dude! But you see the show from his POV, so you kind of root for him. Then you're like, "NO! He's a stalker and a murderer -- I don't want to root for him!"
Well, at least these shows aren't boring. But I do feel kind of sick to the stomach. I feel like I've been duped into rooting for some really crappy human beings. I think I'm burning out on the whole anti-hero kind of show and would rather root for a straight-up, old-fashioned real hero.
Have any of you experienced the same thing?
