Bandits and Anti-heroes

I thought this particular topic considered the concept of the 'anti-hero'. Having discussed characters such as Robin Hood - the 'noble' thief who robs from the rich in order to provide the poor. In my opinion, Robin Hood is an anti-hero. It can be confusing trying to distinguish an anti-hero. When doing so, I take one thing into account. As discussed in lecture, 'when are the bad guys the good guys?' So, in other words, in what context can villains become heroic figures? Does the villain/bad guy have at least a moment of redemption? Do they undergo a small space of time in which they are able to redeem themselves. Are they able to evoke sympathy from the spectators? Is there danger of glamourising ciminal or bad behaviour? These factors are ones to consider when pondering on anti-heroes. Anti heroes are protagonist's with antagonistic values.

Anti-heroes I can think of within cinema are for example Darth Vador and The Terminator. The Terminator is a peculiar one. I consider him an anti-hero because where he is a terminator in the first part, he becomes a protector in the sequal. This alters the audience perception of bad and good, and the two versus each other.

The link above provides a detailed plot summary for Terminator 2 - for those of you (I presume very few!!) who are not familiar with it.

I think that a classic anti-hero is the one and only, Patrick Bateman of American Psycho.