I was lecturing recently in Terrassa, Spain, at a program called "Four Corners," for recent film school graduates. Very nice people, but the city was once a center of industry and is struggling to reinvent itself (the promotional pamphlet says it is "the city of chimneys and mills"...I'm not sure that's going to make people flock there).
Anyway, it was good while there to catch up with scriptwriter and author Tony Macnabb. His lecture was on "Heroes and Villains." Pointing to series like "The Shield" and "Dexter," Tony says:
"We have always liked edgy characters such as maverick cops, spooks, and psychopaths--in fiction and on feature films. Ruthless and amoral characters are not new. But our complicity with them is. It's one thing to have someone like this as the hero of a novel or a movie. Quite another to make them the returning hero of a TV series...Now we want them in our living rooms, week after week, pursuing our enemies, telling us we're as powerful and dangerous as our enemies are."
He adds, "They are not anti-heroes, ironic challenges to our moral certainties, but anti-anti-heroes, doing what has to be done in a dangerous new world where morality is being redefined and new myths constructed."
Whether or not you think this re-defining of morality is a good thing--and personally I don't--Tony makes a good point: "In popular culture, supply follows demand." That's as true of heroes as of energy drinks or mp3 players.
(Tony Macnabb and Tony Bicat are the co-authors of "Creative Screenwriting--A Practical Guide." In the UK, it's available from Play.com, among others.)
