Heath Sommer's Blog - Posts Tagged "protagonist"

So it seems to me that people, maybe all of us don’t really get what a protagonist is. The protagonists that I meet in fiction, contemporary or classic are usually, for instance, one-dimensional, bland, predictable. We don’t think of the protagonist as someone who is also a villain. Some stories, such as the hero of Shmayalan’s Unbreakable, have supposed flaws and weaknesses, but really not so. It is clear from beginning to end that the hero will emerge, that the audience will fall in love with the dedication of the hero, and that some form of resolution will occur.

For me, that is not how protagonists really function. For me, protagonists are also villains—people with mean, deep prejudices. People who cheat the government in taxes while spanking their kids for being dishonest. Who argue for purity while subtly evading it.

I don’t know, for me that is more interesting in storytelling and in life. To have a relatable, meaningfully genuine protagonist rather than the president of the boy scout association. But then again I’ve always been about the real. The tangibly intangible. The knowing the limitations of our own selves, and not using such axioms as an escape but also not over expecting our own repertoire.