The anti-hero’s acceptance into mainstream media is a relatively recent happening. Within the past ten years, it seems that we’re saturated with anti-heroes; comics, books, television, video games. The white armored knight is cliché to the jaded Gen-Xers, and down right hokey to me-centric Millenials. Maybe the Millenials can easier identify with a character that takes what he wants, and doesn’t have to go through the hoops to get it. It’s closer to their instant gratification culture. Easier to identify with, perhaps, than the stodgy moralist heroes like Captain America. Regardless of the cultural consequences of a generation raised on Grand Theft Auto, the Punisher and Hellboy, anti-heroes are in.
Posts Tagged ‘characters’
Researching the Anti-hero in popular culture
Posted: 21st February 2009 by Eric in characters, writingTags: anti-hero, characters, pop-culture
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Creating memorable characters
Posted: 26th December 2008 by Eric in writingTags: characters, science fiction
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Let’s assume you’re writing a science-fiction action epic about a cyber-soldier in the year 2144. The plot is irrelevant for this discussion – let’s just assume there’s plenty of action on earth in some of the most hostile environments available, culminating in a climactic battle scene in near orbit.
Remember, we as humans, have taken every [...]
The Chosen One: fresh tropes for fantasy fiction
Posted: 24th December 2008 by Eric in writingTags: characters, fantasy, Fiction, writing
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Seems like every fantasy book begins with a youth, who is typically a loner, outsider, or adopted or some other form of pariah. After a troublesome childhood, they tend to be forced out into the world on a whirlwind adventure, where they not only grow up some, but discover a power or ability, as well [...]
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I was once on the set of a short film, working as Production Designer, when I had a revelation about authors. The Writer/Director had pulled from his not-so-deep-well of character archetypes a gun-toting thug, played by an actor with a gravelly voice, and very little understanding of anything outside his immediate location.
In the scene we [...]
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There’s no end to the books and guides, manuals even, written about writing. Set to that body of work with a ginsu knife and you can carve out probably a dozen or more sub-categories of study within the world of writing.
I know my shelves are lined with books about writing. One topic that’s never well [...]