The Difference of Male and Female Anti-Hero Figures in TV Shows - Report Example

The difference of male and female anti-hero figures in TV shows (Essay) An anti-hero, as the word suggests, refers to a protagonist who does not conform to the conventional code of traditional heroes. An anti-hero in the Western genre is defined as “a flawed hero, or a righteous vigilante, acting out of necessity in a lawless frontier”. (Liddy-Judge, 2013, p. 6) The concept of an anti-hero caught popularity in the literature of romantic age with the advent of the Byronic heroes in novels. Gradually the concept moved into the arena of films through the portrayal of anti-heroes on the silver screen. Recently the anti-heroes have walked past their appearances merely in the pages of books and across the movie theaters. In the last few years the concept has also crept into the sphere of TV shows. There are a number of TV shows such as Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, The Sopranos, True Detective and Dexter broadcast on the television nowadays which feature extreme anti-heroes. An extreme anti-hero is “a character who exists in a moral grey area, committing heinous, criminal acts which directly, or indirectly, lead to bloodshed”. (Liddy-Judge, 2013, p. 6) The anti-heroes portrayed on the screen are either diehard criminals or characters leading a double-life, who apparently seem to be commonplace human beings but are soon revealed as personalities clouding the demarcations between good and evil. They show no regard for the societal laws and norms, and have no wish to integrate into the mainstream society. They follow some kind of a skewed code of conduct and a weird rationale for their immoral and antisocial activities, so as to convince the audience that they are honestly lack a choice and that whatever they do is for the good. A very good example to illustrate the case of male and female anti-heroes on TV shows can be the character of Dexter Morgan from ‘Dexter’ and Nancy Botwin from ‘Weeds’. The TV show Dexter is based on a series of books written by author Jeff Lindsay. The show is centered on an enigmatic and charming serial killer. This show was radically different from the other prime-time TV shows on the US television. Airing a show like Dexter featuring a morally questionable protagonist was a really risky endeavor at the time of its debut. The fact that makes the protagonist Dexter Morgan not a villain but an anti-hero is that he never does anything that is outright objectionable. It is true that he is a serial killer, but all his killings in the show are consistently justified by his reasons for the same. He follows a strict code and does not go around killing people indiscriminately. He kills only those people who deserve to be killed owing to their misdeeds and crimes. That is why he does not have to face any dilemma regarding the moral consequences of what he does. This is not to say that Dexter’s actions did not result in the death of any innocent person. But even when it did, Dexter never did the assassination. For instance, when Lila kills Doakes in season two and when Deb kills La Guerta in season seven, when they threaten to expose Dexter. No doubt some people lost their lives for the sake of Dexter’s safety, but Dexter himself remained clear of having to be involved in any activity causing harm to any innocent person. As a result he never suffers from any kind of moral dilemma and in keeping with the tradition of anti-heroes, he is inert and indifferent. But if we put aside his night-time ritual of killing Dexter is as normal and commonplace as any other ordinary man. He is a caring brother, a loving father, a good husband and a sincere employee. All these characteristics ironically provide a sharp contrast to the sociopathic creature hiding beneath the apparently commonplace appearance of Dexter. At some points, the audience is even compelled to believe that he is probably feigning human interaction so as to conceal his real heinous identity. But after watching a few seasons of the show, this duality in his personality ceases to appear as something striking or hard to believe. Dexter’s personality is eventually accepted by the viewers as that of a plain and insipid hero. As the concept of a protagonist serially executing a number of serial killers is a very novel one, the viewers may initially feel the discomfort of adjusting their minds to this ritual. But with time the newness of this concept fades away and the audience develops a sort of impassiveness towards the scene of Dexter following and executing his victims one by one. The same can be applied to the case of Nancy Botwin, the protagonist of ‘Weeds’. Nancy Botwin is not a traditional or conventional heroine. She is rather an anti-heroine or in other words a female anti-hero. She has transgressed all acceptable boundaries of the society in order to protect initially her family and later herself. But somehow she manages to rationalize and justify everything she did. She gets entangled with the gangsters in Mexico, gets involved in human trafficking, arms smuggling, drug dealing, and murder and ultimately lands up in the prison. But in spite of all this turmoil in her life she still refuses to give up and simply accept defeat. Amidst all her follies and vices, the quality that serves as her redeeming feature is her self-confidence and sheer optimism. No matter how hard life gets or how difficult things are, she never gives up and continues to look for a solution to come out of the crisis. It is because of this redeeming quality that her audience cannot help loving her, understanding her and justifying her even if they actually hate what she does. She is not necessarily an evil person, but she strongly prefers to be in control of her own life and also that of others around her. This rigidity of her nature compels her to drag her family into odd situations along with her, most of the times against their will. The feminist viewpoint argues that Nancy Botwin is a character who has a very strong power of perception and a very high level of intelligence, unmatched by any of her rivals in the show. In order to get what she wants, she does not even hesitate to trade off her sexuality. Rather she makes full use of her beauty and her charms as a means to achieve what she needs. Though the audience knows that she has no qualities of a conventional and virtuous heroine, we can still not resist the temptation of wishing her good luck and looking forward to her success in whatever she does. It is true that Nancy, with her gamut of vices and fallibilities, is no doubt morally questionable. But that in no way undermines the fact that she is nevertheless extremely likable and charming. Nancy conforms to the ideals of radical feminism in the sense that she symbolizes the ideas of independence, dominance, courage and optimism in women, as upheld by the feminist movements. Though her character has a lot many darker shades, but the image of an independent, power-driven woman portrayed by Nancy was enough to extract the admiration of the audience. (Gardiner, 2005, p. 37) However, a major hurdle that impedes the audience’s acceptance of Nancy as a heroic figure was her motherhood. With time Nancy grew reckless, ceased to do things solely for her children and became occupied with the notion of her own self and desires. As Nancy’s illegal activities went on becoming less about her children and more about herself, the attitude of the audience towards her too took a sudden and wide shift. She begins to use her sexual charms to make her way and deliberately helps in establishing the supply chain of drugs from Mexico to the US. And in all these schemes she forcibly involves her own family, showing hardly any concern for the ultimate consequences of her actions. She was taking part in the illegal activities for herself and no more for her children, which is something unforgivable. This comes into serious conflict with the traditional notion of gender roles and the conventional expectations of the society regarding the way a mother should behave. From the masculine point of view, the onus of staying clear of immoral means to ensure the benefit of the children seems to be the sole responsibility of a mother, and so much of a father. This is evident from the fact that the audience admires the male characters such as Walter White (Breaking Bad) and Dexter Morgan (Dexter) overlooking the reality that they too are despicable characters who chose the morally unacceptable path despite the fact that they are fathers. The society holds that it is the mother who should be the embodiment of morality and virtue for the children. She is the one who is responsible for transmitting those virtues to the children. If she somehow fails to do so she does not deserve any forgiveness, but only contempt. If a father does the same he is careless or probably unconcerned. But if a mother does it she is seen as a morally fallen creature that is doomed and can never seek redemption. The audience admires the qualities like ambition and courage in the male characters, even if it is at the cost of their moral values. But the same audience can accept ambition in a mother figure only up to a certain permissible limit. As soon as a mother’s ambitious plans come into conflict with her parenting duties, we cease to admire her and withdraw our compassions. (Gardiner, 2005, p. 41) There is no doubt that the feminine traits and the parenting duties of a mother are of utmost importance to a child and the same idea should be upheld and propagated by the fictional TV shows. But it would be more judicious to maintain the same benchmarks for the male anti-heroes too, instead of burdening only their female counterparts with the onus of parental responsibilities. The same standards and parameters should be kept in mind while judging the male anti-heroes like Dexter or Walter White. We should not overlook the extent of danger in which they put their children and their entire family by getting involved in their series of dangerous perils and adventurous endeavours. Their role as a father should also be taken into account before adoring them or showering our sympathy over them. If we cannot detach our female protagonists from their tag of motherhood, we should see our anti-hero fathers also through the same critical lens. Reference: Gardiner, Judith Kegan. "Men, masculinities, and feminist theory." Handbook of studies on men & masculinities (2005): 35-47. Retrieved from: http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/5177_Kimmel_Chapter_3.pdf Liddy-Judge, Chloe. “The Television Anti-Hero”. Dissertation, Mary Immaculate College (September 2013). Retrieved from: http://dspace.mic.ul.ie/bitstream/10395/1987/2/Liddy-Judge,%20Chloe.%20(2013)%20The%20Television%20Anti-Hero(Masters%20Thesis).pdf Read More