345: Why Too Many TV Antiheroes May Be Bad for the Climate

Fair warning: this episode spoils a lot of (older) media.

Antiheroes make for great television. But why are we obsessed with them? Why are they in nearly all prestige dramas? Is this a result of our cultural beliefs, or is it (re)producing a culture of cynical realism? What impacts might it have for politics and climate change?

This ascendancy of the antihero is a trend I've been watching (and often enjoying) since my teen years. Shows like The Sopranos helped bring television to its lofty artistic status, but it did so by confusing the natural empathy that good storytelling generates. The longer one watches shows like The Sopranos, the more one ends up rooting for bad guys to be successful. In a world that is ever more mediated by media, could a similar trend be happening in politics?

Today's show is an attempt to make sense of the antihero through a number of prestige dramas, and look for some ways of telling stories that don't lead us into the abyss of constant moral ambiguity.

Today we're going to talk about hope, reclaiming moral authority, and why it's cool to believe in things. I hope you'll join me in that ambition.

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"The judge speaks in the name of justice; the priest speaks in the name of pity, which is nothing but a more lofty justice."

- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
- Matthew 18:21-22, KJV

'Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan Says We Need More Good Guys on Screen as Bad Guys Have “Taken Over the World” article on MSN

The Sopranos (here's a clip where Anthony Jr. steals sacramental wine from the church and the shot lingers for a few extra seconds on St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes—perfection)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on Wikipedia

"Antihero" article on TVTropes (my favorite repository of writings on archetypes and common storytelling devices)

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