In every film, play, or literary text, there is always a protagonist and antagonist. When creating a thriller film, for example, these characters are formed to lead the story in a particular direction, the protagonist supposedly leads in a positive direction, whereas the antagonist tries to put the protagonist ‘off the tracks’, if you like, causing twists and dangerous events which form the thrills and mystery of the film.
The protagonist is the main character of a play, drama or literary text. The protagonist is usually a hero or heroine and leads the plot, creating events throughout the storyline forming, in thrillers, its complexity and mystery. We therefore view the protagonist in most films as being the ‘good guy’ however in thrillers, there are often twists which portray the protagonist as being the ‘good guy’ but instead are used as a tool to expose another character, leading the audience to realise that they are actually the anti-hero or villain.
The antagonist on the other hand is the character who is opposed to the protagonist. The antagonist creates situations which the protagonist must overcome, these obstacles are usually put in place to danger the protagonist, leading in some cases, to danger or life threating situations for the protagonist. Throughout the storyline or film the protagonist is in constant battle with the antagonist as they both fight for what they believe is right.
‘The Shining’ is a psychological thriller by Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel by Stephen King. The protagonist in the film, Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), a writer who takes up the job as a caretaker in an isolated hotel, is firstly portrayed as a normal character- father and husband. However we soon discover his insanity as the plot is unravelled. At first we believe he is the ‘good’ character in the film, wanting to escape from noise to study and work quietly, bringing his family with him to the large and beautiful hotel at which he works. Later, we discover through the use of his son Danny, who is telepathic, that in actual fact Jack is on a mission to kill his son and family. There are several antagonists in the film; those are the characters who hold ‘the shining’, a gift which makes them telepathic, giving them the ability to see into the future as well as the past. One could argue therefore that both Danny and Dick are both the antagonists as they possess ‘the shining’ and both communicate with each other using this gift to escape from Jack. Conversely, one could argue that the hotel itself is the antagonist as it maintains all these bad demons from the past which act as a motive for the characters in the film, one being the two young girls who were murdered years before at the hotel.
Unlike ‘The Shining, ‘The Bourne Identity’, a thriller directed by Doug Liman has a distinctive protagonist and antagonist, the protagonist being Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) and the antagonist being Alexander Conklin. Jason Bourne is the main character in the film and we are introduced to him right from the start, throughout the film he is seen as trying to escape from himself and the audience empathise with him throughout as he tries to do what is right. Bourne’s character could also be portrayed as being an antagonist as he is a trained assassin who has killed many innocent people. Despite this, the audience are aware of the main antagonist throughout; Conklin is the chief member of ‘Operation Treadstone’, in the film he states, ‘The story he could --- forget it. I have the entire team on ‘stand-by.’ Castel is on him. If he fails? He won’t fail. And even if he does, I got another dozen right behind him. I don’t know if Bourne went rogue and I don’t need to know. All I want to hear is that he’s dead before he brings this whole thing down on our heads.” Being the antagonist in the film, he creates a number of dangerous situations for Bourne to overcome, using his ‘entire team’ to defeat Bourne, creating further twists in the plot due to the fact that when the audience think Bourne has escaped, another one of the CIA members is there to kill Bourne.
Similar to ‘The Shining’, ‘Silence of the Lambs’, a psychological thriller directed by Jonathan Demme, has a clear protagonist, Clarice Starling, but an unclear antagonist. Starling is the main character in the film, she is also the first character we see. She is a trainee police officer on a mission to find a serial killer Buffalo Bill. To get to Buffalo Bill Clarice uses serial killer Hannibal Lecter in order to find out further information on Buffalo Bill and his whereabouts. Buffalo Bill is undoubtedly an antagonist in this film as he is the main enemy, putting lives in danger; however you cannot deny Hannibal Lecter being an antagonist too, he is a serial killer who also inflicts danger to society, in fact during the film he kills two police officers in order to make an escape.
The film ‘Misery’ directed by Rob Reiner, has a defined protagonist and antagonist, the two main characters in the film, Paul Sheldon (protagonist) and Annie Wilkes (antagonist). Paul is a writer who wishes to cut off a character in his books in order to create a new style of writing to please his fans, however Annie, an obsessive fan, has a great love for this particular character and tortures Paul forcing him to keep the story how she wants it to be.
According to Jonathan Bishop, a theorist, there are 11 different types of characters which form the story behind any media text or production. The protagonist and antagonist are vital, they could fit into many different characters; using this particular theory the protagonist could be ‘Lurker’, it could also be ‘MHBFY Jenny’, similarly the antagonist could be ‘Troll’, it could also be ‘Iconoclast’, however, usually there is one main protagonist and antagonist leading the storyline or plot.
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