McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Hero of their own stories in popular media

(1/6) > >>

ltgalloway:
Hello,

This could have gone under Media, but it relates more to story and character than anything else.

I was wondering if anyone knew of some other examples (specifically in literature but film too) where the story is told primarily from the perspective of the antagonist. Everyone is the hero of their own story but I really like how this type of story telling can add some perspective to the motivations for villains. Not so much a redemption story, but what drives the character to commit evil acts.

Some that come to mind are:
Novels
Grendel by John Gardner

Films
The Assasination of Richard Nixon starring Sean Penn
Falling Down starring Micahel Douglas

Cooper:
On top of my head, The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger

LizW65:
Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake spend at least equal time inside the head of the antagonist, Steerpike.

Several classic noir mystery novels such as The Postman Always Rings Twice are told from the perspective of what would be considered the villain in a more traditional mystery -- often a hard-luck guy who is driven to murder by his own personality flaws or the machinations of a glamourous femme fatale.

Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels feature an amoral sociopathic killer as the protagonist.  More recently the Dexter series of novels and TV program are told from the POV of a serial killer.

And while I haven't read it, I believe Mists of Avalon is told primarily from the viewpoint of Morgan Le Fay, usually the villainess in traditional Arthurian legend.

LizW65:
Oh yeah, and the Parker books by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake.)  I just ordered the graphic novel of the first one off Amazon and it looks like it's gonna be great -- the whole thing is rendered in an early 1960's ad. art style by a guy named Darwin Cooke (never heard of him, but apparently he's quite big in comic book circles.)

Aludra:
Yes the Mists of Avalon is from the viewpoint of Morgan Le Fay called Morgaine, and also of Vivianne and Gwenwhyfar who are equally cast as villainess and heroine.  It's actually a good read if you don't mind the intimidation factor *cough*and time*cough*.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind is enormously creepy and in the viewpoint of the murderer.  I think they made a film based on the book, but I can't see how that would be effective in getting accross all the nastiness and the freakiness.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire is of course the villainess' perspective and is not bad. I enjoyed it, personally, but I don't recommend the sequels or bothering with the other fairy tales he worked with.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page