Brainstorm: Why would an author make a protagonist intentionally “unlikeable”?
Brainstorm: Why would an author make a protagonist intentionally “unlikeable”?
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Brainstorm: Why would an author make a protagonist intentionally “unlikeable”?
Not everyone in real life is completely likeable, maybe the author was going for “real” instead
people can be… a-holes…
Just make sure theyre justified from their perspective as to why they are, and they are the hero of their own story. Dont make them a dick for the sake of it
this is good — why would I, the reader, want to read about someone that the author doesn’t want me to connect with?
because it can be part of the story, that characters development. There are a lot of examples of characters people hate, that eventually people love. A lot of them are anti-heroes or even just plain villains. Look at those types of stories for examples.
One from anime id go with is Itachi from naruto. He is a mass murderer and counter to one of the main characters. But in the end that character develops into something very interesting.
Great insight, thanks!
Right. EVERYONE has a story and no one is totally evil.
I think there are various reasons. Take the Peculiar Children books, the protagonist is a consistent idiot. I hated him the entire book, but I understood what the author was doing. The author was trying to say there are some people that are a certain way and no matter what happens to them they will not learn or change, but things can still go right despite that.
In John Dies At The End the author tries to make David Wong unlikable but fails. They do this because they want to tie the story to how they perceive the real world. But the best parts of his story is the bizarrely fictional parts, that are connected to old mythology and lore that the author completely discredits in his real life but shouldn’t. So in his case he tries to make the protagonist unlikable most likely because he doesn’t like himself or the world he lives in. Fortunately the world he created and his protagonist are worthy of being loved.
Then you have stories like awaken online where the protagonist is the villain and you are supposed to like them despite being repulsed by some of what they do. In this case I believe this is done to show corruption in society and how morally questionable acts are needed in order to create a new society.
love these examples! Thanks for showing and elaborating on three different styles of “unlikeable” characters
Another example I can think of is from tv the show The Wonder Years I really think you are not supposed to Like Kevin Arnold. He is a selfish character that is constantly making mistakes. But the thing is he is a very relatable character. Almost every mistake he made in school I did too. For me this makes the show very therapeutic because I dislike my past self and decision I made. The show allows you to still dislike this part of your Life while allowing you to understand the main character (and there by also yourself) and allows you to see how Life still goes on after awful actions that you might take.
Haha right! I just finished Sharp Objects and I struggled to like a single character in it!
Same feeling with Gone Girl
@Jennifer I loved Gone Girl… as a story. I hated all the characters. They were awful people. But the story was gripping. ??♀️
@Lisa very true, it was a great story but the 2 main characters were horrible human beings.
@Jennifer Yeah. I struggled with Gone Girl. An amazing story but the characters are so flawed.
It’s totally ok for me if a protagonist isn’t a good person as long as they’re still interesting, and there are directions you can take with a douche protagonist that are basically locked off with a good person
Read Bob Woodworths new book.
?????
The first example that comes to my mind of a character like this is of Eustace from Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia). The reader wasn’t meant to like him; you were meant to forgive him.
I love a good unlikeable protagonist.
To be different lol
Patrick Bateman, the protagonist in American Psycho springs to mind. A really evil individual, but essential to the story.
As contrast to another. To stir emotions
Because is relevant to the story
The editors didn’t talk the author out of it like mine did with my novel.
To be an antihero.
So the reader wants to see what happens to them next. A story that came to my mind is Gone Girl (I’m not really sure if there is a single likable character in that book).
I was just thinking of that novel! You’re absolutely right!
This is so true. Yet, it’s a great story.
Often times it is so we can witness their development.
Unless you are reading one of those manly man books. Those heroes are always off putting. ?
Because not all people are likeable. Cormac McCarthy might be the master of this.
to make more realistic
If the character is supposed to be unlikable, if it’s part of the plot, it has to be done. Some unlikable characters are truly amazing in the feelings they can envoke in readers! Mrs. Bennet and Proff Umbridge to name two!
I made mine a villain…then completely changed readers attitudes by making her the protagonist in my current trio. She has not changed who she was but they now have her insight and they adore her.
To show character growth or change of mindset, like in The Kite Runner. The mc, Amir, is kind of unlikable but he learns, grows, and works toward redeeming himself in the end.
I did that with a character because she was supposed to be the opposite of the male character and she was supposed to evolve as the plot developed. When a reader told me how much she disliked the arrogant Christine, I told her thanks because that was exactly what I aimed for.
I guess it’s a good way to understand what people don’t like about me. I gave an MC all the traits that people have used to negatively describe me so that I could make them useful. Grey characters are more fun to make because it divides people on whether they are likable or not.
Jane Austen famously said of the title character in Emma that she was a character no one else but Austen would like.
The author is trying to make a moral or philosophical point. Good example is Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
Some people are just unlikeable, esp at first … someone has to write about the curmudgeons of the world! ?
Depends. Sometimes it makes it more powerful when he changes. There are other reasons too. Maybe the protagonist dies at the end! ??
Dark fiction. Bad people with good reason in a worse world. Or an accidental hero
I didn’t have to worry about making my protagonist likable, because the series is his redemption arc. It took a lot of the load off when I realized that in the beginning, the reader wasn’t supposed to necessarily like him, but to just understand where he’s coming from. It opened the door to some of the more outrageous things that he says and does. He’s becoming more likable now, but he keeps surprising me, even writing Book III.
When Kingsley Amis made his protagonists Roger Micheldene and Maurice Allington so unlikeable in his novels ‘One Fat Englishman’ and ‘The Green Man’ so unlikeable, he was acknowledging the more unlikeable parts of his own personality when the two are probably more based on Amis himself than Jim Dixon in his first novel.
A character who walks the edge between likable and unlikable is the greatest challenge and accomplishment. IMO. If the character came across unlikable to you, then it just tipped the wrong way.
So that he does something honorable at the end and people are like…”Man! I thought that guy was a dick! But he’s really a good guy.”
Not everyone is likeable …?
to show you that you are bias to the label of a protagonist
At first, yes
But then, there’s a second unrecognized threat
To illuminate the complexities of the human condition. I don’t really get the need for everyone to be likeable, likeable is kind of boring.
Maybe it’s because there’s a twist. Like they aren’t really the protagonist at all but double agent!
Realism? By default, as readers, we tend to side with the protagonists. By making them unlikable, perhaps authors want to establish that when circumstances are seen from their perspective, they appear different. And hence, in life, we mustnt judge stuff when not presented with complete information.
what gets me are the protags who are “assassins” and we are sposed to like them. Nope!