There has been a new term for ...
Question: There has been a new term for a character on TV called the "anti-hero." I am a bit confused on this term, in that it has had such characters as Tony Soprano, Dr. House, Tommy Gavin and the cops on
The Shield (haven't watched the last). Anyway, what I am confused with is that how are some of these considered 'heroes?" They don't really give anything positive back to the community, where some do. I see that they all have personality flaws which we all have, but the heroes thing is what irks me.
Answer: This isn't so much a new term — anti-heroes have been around in literature and movies, etc., for a long while — as it has become a significant TV trend in recent years, especially in the wake of
The Sopranos, and later
The Shield, which pushed basic-cable envelopes, with the oversexed
Nip/Tuck doctors and the self-destructive Tommy Gavin of
Rescue Me to follow. Anticipating all of these was Dennis Franz's unforgettable Sipowicz on
NYPD Blue, who was heroic beyond doubt in his pursuit of justice but in many ways a lost soul whose redemption became the backbone of that terrific series. Why this is all so notable is that TV protagonists, for most of TV's history, were supposed to be first and foremost "likable," and this new breed of lead character asks us to sympathize or least empathize with people who act horribly and often do reprehensible things, up to and including (in the case of Tony Soprano, Vic Mackey and Dexter) murder. Anti-heroes are a window into morally ambiguous worlds that TV used to pretend didn't exist. I'm sure many viewers wish TV didn't go to these dark places so frequently, but it can make for fascinating viewing.
