Ever wondered how film/ TV writers and directors manage to make us fall in love and root for the bad guys?
In this post we will present 8 scriptwriting and directing techniques that are used to make the audience like immoral protagonist.
These 8 techniques are inspired by a psychology theory called Moral Disengagement.
So, we will be driving a new film theory from a psychology theory!
We will be explaining the anti-hero, the moral disengagement theory, and finally our new film theory.
If you wish to skip the psychology and jump right to our 8 directing and screenplay techniques to make the audience root for the bad guys… just click here.
What is an anti-hero?
An antihero is when the main character is actually the bad and immoral guy.
In other words, an anti-hero is when the protagonist has the traits of the antagonist in the story.
An antihero is a central character in a story, movie, or television show that lacks conventional heroic attributes you’d find in a traditional hero.
Jason Hellerman, What is an Anti Hero
Why Do People Root for the Bad Guys?
We are not talking here about the obvious reasons… Because they are the main character because the audience identifies with them, or because they actually have good in them…
First, the protagonist should be relatable. The viewers need to identify with the characters to be able to like them in the first place.
Let’s dive deeper into why the audience root for Dexter and Walter White.
Why they wanted Frank Underwood to reach his goal in becoming the president in House of Cards.
Why we want the members of a mafia to win over other members of the mafia? Talking here about The God Father, Peaky Blinders, Sons of Anarchy…
Theoretically, the audience should not root for criminals, thieves, and mafia members. And the viewers should not fall in love with drug deals, manipulators, and serial killers.
The answer to why we actually root for the bad guys is that we don’t regard them as bad.
The audiences don’t register the criminal acts of the protagonist as immoral or entirely wrong.
So there must be some filmmaking techniques that seem to work in disguising the immoral acts of the protagonist.
Let’s see what psychological mechanisms make us disregard an immoral act.
later, we can use these psychological mechanisms in our screenplay, and even convert them to directing techniques.
Maybe a little vague? bare with us.. we will get there eventually.
Psychology Theory: Moral Disengagement
Moral disengagement is a self mechanism that lets people do immoral actions without feeling the guilt.
There are 8 psychological devices that a person can use to look at an immoral act in a different way.
Through these devices, people can mute their moral censorship. Or, morally disengage.
Briefly, the 8 tools are:
1- Labeling: That is when we give a different and positive name to the action.
We are not lying, we are telling a white lie.
2- Justification: We think that our action serves a bigger moral purpose.
We lie to spare the feelings of others.
3-Diffusion of Responsibility: When many people are responsible for a “bad” action it becomes more acceptable.
Come on.. everybody lies.
4- Distortion of Consequences: When we don’t see the result of the immoral action. Or the outcome of the action is minimized.
My lie did not hurt anyone.
5- Replacing Responsibility: When we blame other people for pushing us to do the action.
My friend made me lie to her.
6- Blaming the Victim: When we see ourselves as victims and that the actual victim forced us to do the action.
7- Favorable Comparison: We look at our immoral act as fair when we compare it to worse action.
He has been cheating on her with her best friend. It’s Okay to lie on him this time.
8- Dehumanization: We don’t see the victim as human.
Filmmaking Techniques: Make the Audience Root for the Immoral Protagonist
We have an idea about these 8 moral disengagement devices.
Now, let’s see how we can use them as directing techniques and scriptwriting tools that filmmakers can use to manipulate the audience into rooting for the bad guys in movies and TV.
1- Labeling
Lead the audience to label these actions in a more positive way.
Or simply let the characters refer to the immoral actions in a different way.
Our first trick to make your viewers/readers accept the bad actions that the protagonist does is a screenplay technique that you can use in dialogues.
For example:
Dexter is not killing, he is restoring justice.
Walter White is not selling meth, he is making money to provide for his family.
Thomas Shelby is not stealing weapons from the government, he is protecting his family.
2- Justification
Direct the viewers attention to an advantage for the immoral act.
For example:
Let’s say that the main character killed another character (X). The expected reaction from the audience would be dis-like the protagonist.
But, to avoid this reaction and maybe reverse it, you can emphasize the advantages of killing X.
So, let’s make this character X a rapist. He is about to rape a girl. Then, after X is killed, show that the girl is now safe.
- Highlight that the girl is saved.
- Show less of the negative effects of the killing. Such as the mourning of the family.
3- Diffusion of Responsibility
Another way to make the audience accept immoral acts done by the protagonist is to involve a group of characters in the action.
This way your main character will not be the only one to take the blame.
We say that the responsibility is diffused.
For example: Let’s say the main character is involved in a bank robbery.
To make the act seem less immoral, the robbery can be done by a group of characters including the main.
In this example, a character could threaten the workers with a gun, and another one takes the money. A character makes sure that no one is looking and another waites in the car.
This way, the main character’s action will be more acceptable because he did a small action that lead eventually to the bigger immoral act.
4- Distortion of Consequences
The audience could be lenient towards an immoral act if the negative consequences were misrepresented.
For example:
If the character is selling drugs to another character, don’t directly jump to a dark scene where the buyer is using or struggling from from a drug related problem.
You can choose to show the buyer high in a comedic scene. That is highlighting the positive outcome.
Or
You can show your protagonist/antagonist making use of the money he made. Going on a nice date, paying a debt… That is under representing or even neglecting the actual consequences of the action.
By that, you will be making the audience concentrate on the positive effects, and disregard the immoral act. Thus they will still be liking the immoral character and rooting for him.
5- Replacing Responsibility
Show that another character or organization is responsible for the bad action.
Your character has to commit an immoral act. And you want the audience to still like him and root for him.
Then, lead the viewers to displace the responsibility on the authorities rather than the character who committed the act.
Example:
The protagonist killed another character in the movie or TV series.
Then, you can make the main character a member of a gang, and the gang leader ordered the killing.
But wait… This would not be enough to totally replace the responsibility.
It will help to have a scene where you show that the protagonist disapproves the killing. And that he is obliged to do it.
So imagine that the gang leader threatens to hurt the protagonists’ love interest if he did not follow the killing order.
At this point, the options of the character are very narrow and the killing order must be obeyed.
Finally, and to seal the deal, let the character show some hesitation and internal struggle while committing the act.
6- Blaming the Victim
This technique is to turn the “bad guy” into the victim.
It is actually used almost all the time in movies and TV series. The easiest example is any scenario of revenge.
If a character X inflected severe hurt on your protagonist, the audience will not only accept it when the main character acts immorally towards character X, they will actually be cheering for it.
7- Favorable Comparison
When the antagonist does an immoral act, have a different character do another bad action that results in much worse circumstances.
This way, your viewers will see the crime of the antihero smaller. Thus they will root for the bad guy.
For example, have 2 scenes in the screenplay where the characters are stealing a house:
The main character breaks into the house and restrains the members in it, and steals their belongings.
On the other hand, the opposite character breaks in, kills the members on the first chance, and steals their belongings.
When the viewers compare between these two actions, that of the main character would appear minor and even may seem moral.
In order to promote that comparison, it would help to have the action close in time so that the audiences can easily recall them and compare them.
8- Dehumanization
The audience may excuse an immoral act conducted on an “inhuman” character.
Of course we don’t mean animals when we was inhuman!
Establish within your scenes that the victim is heartless, a criminal, let other characters refer to him with inhuman names (a beast), or let it be a corrupt organization.
To Answer The Question: How to Make The Audience Root for the Bad Guys?
Lead the audience to believe that the “bad” or immoral actions are not really bad.
This can be done using some screenplay techniques such as giving a reasonable motivation, blaming other characters for the actions of your protagonist, making the immoral action seem minor in comparison to what the antagonist did. You can also play on words by referring to the crime with a positive description and referring to the victim with non-human adjectives.
