The American Anti-Hero

The American anti-hero is a type of character found in films that perform heroic acts, yet with unheroic intentions. There are various historical factors that contributed to the rise of this type of character from 1945 into the 1980s. One of the reasons was because America emerged a new country after WWII. America was not as innocent and pure as it was before and characters on screen needed to reflect that. Characters became more gritty and real and flawed. The article by Andrew Henneberry also mentions how America was more rebellious. Protagonists reflected this by being morally questionable. Filmmakers encouraged audiences to sympathize with these characters and in turn realizing the wrongs in society.

The American anti-hero contradicted the Classic Hollywood Ideology because the characters in Classic Hollywood Cinema were clearly definable whereas anti-heroes had a variety of motivations. Heroes in classic cinema would have traits that were immediately recognized, while in anti-heroes, these traits were not always apparent all the time.