Tuesday 9 September 2008

The Anti Hero

Why is it there are people in stories and movies, who we like, that are not nice, in fact there are people in movies that are down right nasty or evil and we like them, we cheer for them, we want them to win and they are downright evil. I am thinking of characters like Hannibal Lector, or the Corleones in The Godfather, or in a recent film I watched called 'In Bruges' , a very unsuitable, funny, dark film with an anti hero in the form of a Colin Farrell.

Is it the case that these people are fighting something more evil, we find we have to take sides so we choose the lesser of two evils, is it just that the author or director has given the monster a human side, they explain a backround or circumstances that we accept, when in the real world most people would string up a monster before asking why they are.

Is it that we see someone evil, almost being the good guy and it gives us hope, is it that within every person, no matter who they are or what they have done, there is such a thing as redemption. Of course in the movies redemption is found in saving someone else or the realisation of a life that has only destroyed other lives, and turning away from it. I suppose in a way they are nearly there.

I will be very basic now, but it is the greatest fact that Jesus saves when we turn away from what we were and trust him, and it is even an invite open to anti heroes.

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