Heroes vs. Antiheroes: Are Traditional Good Guys Old Hat?

Back in June, I read an aspiring novelist’s blog post about heroes vs. antiheroes.

Stereotypical heroes would be Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America), the all-American good boy who stands up for justice time and time again, even when it hurts like crazy.

Stereotypical anti-heroes? How about we go with Roxie Hart from Chicago, the narcissist who cheats on her doting husband, murders her lover, and then successfully scams the legal system to go on to fame and fortune.

Personally, I’d watch Captain America over Chicago any day. Overall, I prefer my protagonists to fight on the good side.

Not so much with the AN (aspiring novelist) in question. His premise was that antiheroes are more realistic, intriguing and even desirable in a protagonist… that society is bored of the “Dudley Do-Rights,” hence the massive popularity of shows like House of Cards and Breaking Bad, and video games like Grand Theft Auto.

Now, I watched the entire first season of House of Cards and some of the second season. I thought it was well-written, well-acted and downright fascinating, an opinion shared by millions. And yes, protagonist Frank Underwood is anything but a hero.

However, that’s one show out of hundreds, most of which still have you rooting for the good guys. Consider the wildly popular Law & Order franchise or almost any other crime show out there (and there are A LOT!), or fantasy/sci-fi-based series like Grimm and Agents of Shield.

Audiences root for the good guys in those, not the bad guys. That’s the norm.

Yes, the good guys are flawed. They wouldn’t make good stories otherwise. (Sometimes I marvel – Marvel! Ha! Totally didn’t intend that pun, but I’m keeping it in now – at how Steve Rogers, who comes about as close to moral perfection as a hero can get, can make for such compelling plotlines. Yet he does, so clearly it’s possible.)

But in the end, they’re still good guys. They still stand up against evil, not propagate it. They defend the defenseless, not their own selfish advances. They make the world a better place, which is what audiences everywhere should be rooting for.

Otherwise, we’re cheering mediocrity at best and evil at worst.

So no offense to the aforementioned AN, but he’s wrong. The traditional concept of a hero isn’t dead.

And it’s going to be a sad day when it is.