Thor 2: The Dark World

What is it about movies nowadays that have us actually routing for the bad guy?

After watching the second movie with my friends, they both exclaimed that they had only watched the movie because of Loki. I turned to them in complete surprise. “But, Loki is the bad guy, and not the main character, and you can’t trust anything he does! Your goal when you watch the movie should be to pull for Thor, not for Loki!” Neither one of them could explain it, other then to say he was funny. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What is it about movies and shows nowadays that have us actually routing for the bad guy?

The bad guy is called an “anti-hero”. Lately, people love the anti-hero. Their characters are written in such a way that you not only identify with them, but you start to like them in spite of the bad they do. They are strong, competent characters who easily accomplish what they have set out to do. I’ve heard it said that they maintain their own personal sense of morals and justice, which makes them become almost envied in their power and rebellion. If they can get away with doing crazy things, being their true selves, and still be that cool and collected, then why can’t we? “They are simultaneously everything we know we are and everything we wish we could be.” (Acokiko blog)

In the age of photo-shop confusion, people like to identify with people who are similar to them- flawed, imperfect, and real. In the past, there was always a clear leading lady or man with perfect morals and goodness, but nowadays, many shows and movies feature a staggeringly flawed main character.

It all draws back to our cultural perception of morality at its root. Whereas many previously considered a clear right and wrong that were well defined and unchanging, many now question that, and that shows up in the art and movies we create. Some just say it means we are more realistic now- that we have come to understand who we truly are and embraced it. But I, on the other hand, fear we are largely forgetting how to dream.

Far too often, I meet families with children that are upset for various reasons. I will give advice and describe the treatment plan, but far too often, the response is no. They respond something like, “Well there’s no chance- we’re stuck with this problem. So who cares, let’s not even bother to try.”

What happened to the days of believing that life didn’t have to be like everyone says and wanting more? What happened to the days of dreaming to improve ourselves and our lives? What happened to the days of lifting up something more than just greed, selfishness vanity, and criminality? What happened to realizing that we are not perfect, but trying to fight for something greater than our own weaknesses?

Being “good” doesn’t have to mean that you are boring, unaccomplished, or incapable of living outside of the status quo. Obviously, it’s going to be the less dramatic way to get through the movie/reality show, but we need to make sure we are keeping in mind that the bad guy does not always win. And more than that, we don’t have to be jealous of him. We can have freedom in our own unique identity and not totally abandon all the rules to do so. And when we are able to be free in who we are, we find a leader truly worth emulating and looking up to.