0:00:14.768,0:00:17.152
Literary critic Northrop Frye once observed

0:00:17.152,0:00:22.368
that in our primitive days, our literary heroes were -- well, nearly gods,

0:00:22.368,0:00:26.519
and as civilization advanced, they came down the mountain of the gods, so to speak,

0:00:26.519,0:00:32.636
and became more human, more flawed, less heroic.

0:00:32.636,0:00:35.101
From the divine heroes like Hercules,

0:00:35.101,0:00:40.120
down the mountain below the miraculous but mortal heroes such as Beowulf,

0:00:40.120,0:00:42.487
the great leaders such as King Arthur,

0:00:42.487,0:00:47.186
and the great but flawed heroes like Macbeth or Othello.

0:00:47.186,0:00:51.987
Below even the unlikely but eventual heroes such as Harry Potter,

0:00:51.987,0:00:54.919
Luke Skywalker, or Hiccup,

0:00:54.919,0:00:59.252
until we reach the bottom and meet the anti-hero.

0:00:59.252,0:01:04.087
Contrary to the sound, the anti-hero is not the villain, not the antagonist.

0:01:04.087,0:01:08.451
The anti-hero is actually the main character in some contemporary works of literature.

0:01:08.451,0:01:13.470
Guy Montag in "Fahrenheit 451," Winston Smith in "1984,"

0:01:13.470,0:01:16.871
who unwittingly ends up challenging those in power -- that is,

0:01:16.917,0:01:24.769
those who abuse their power to brainwash the populace to believe that the ills of society have been eliminated.

0:01:24.769,0:01:30.501
Ideally, those who challenge the establishment should be wise, confident, brave,

0:01:30.501,0:01:34.802
physically strong, with a type of charisma that inpires followers.

0:01:34.802,0:01:40.018
The anti-hero, however, at best demonstrates a few underdeveloped traits,

0:01:40.018,0:01:42.569
at worst, is totally inept.

0:01:42.569,0:01:48.552
The story of the anti-hero usually unfolds something like this.

0:01:48.552,0:01:52.837
The anti-hero initially conforms, ignorantly accepting the established views,

0:01:52.837,0:01:57.886
a typical, unquestioning, brainwashed member of society.

0:01:57.886,0:02:01.786
The anti-hero struggles to conform, all the while starting to object,

0:02:01.786,0:02:05.537
perhaps finding other outsiders with whom to voice his questions,

0:02:05.537,0:02:12.651
and naïvely, unwisely, sharing those questions with an authority figure.

0:02:12.651,0:02:15.069
The anti-hero openly challenges society,

0:02:15.069,0:02:19.269
and tries to fight against the lies and tactics used to oppress the populace.

0:02:19.269,0:02:26.102
This step, for the anti-hero, is seldom a matter of brave, wise and heroic opposition.

0:02:26.102,0:02:30.653
Maybe the anti-hero fights and succeeds in destroying the oppressive government,

0:02:30.653,0:02:33.386
with a lot of impossible luck.

0:02:33.386,0:02:38.185
Perhaps he or she runs away, escapes to fight another day.

0:02:38.185,0:02:43.319
All too often though, the anti-hero is killed, or brainwashed

0:02:43.319,0:02:45.969
to return to conformity with the masses.

0:02:45.969,0:02:52.451
No heroic triumph here, no brave individual standing up against impersonal institutions of a modern world,

0:02:52.451,0:03:01.786
inspiring others to fight, or resourcefully outwitting and outgunning the massive army of the evil empire.

0:03:01.786,0:03:05.552
Our storytelling ancestors calmed our fears of powerlessness

0:03:05.552,0:03:10.618
by giving us Hercules and other heroes strong enough to fight off the demons and monsters

0:03:10.618,0:03:14.935
that we suspected haunted the night beyond our campfires.

0:03:14.935,0:03:19.152
But eventually, we realized the monsters did not lie out there,

0:03:19.152,0:03:22.685
they reside inside of us.

0:03:22.685,0:03:25.951
Beowulf's greatest enemy was mortality.

0:03:25.951,0:03:28.136
Othello's, jealousy.

0:03:28.136,0:03:30.636
Hiccup, self-doubt.

0:03:30.636,0:03:36.168
And in the tales of the ineffectual anti-hero, in the stories of Guy Montag and Winston Smith,

0:03:36.168,0:03:41.518
lie the warnings of contemporary storytellers playing on very primitive fears:

0:03:41.518,0:03:45.719
that we are not strong enough to defeat the monsters.

0:03:45.719,0:03:50.169
Only this time, not the monsters chased away by the campfire,

0:03:50.169,0:03:54.686
but the very monsters who built the campfire in the first place.