Analysing Protagonist and Antagonist

Firstly, an antagonist is a character or group of characters that represents the opposition (the rivals) against the protagonist which is therefore the opposite and usually the main character. Sometimes the Protagonist at somepoint in the film becomes so manipulated that he is influenced in somewhat of an antagonist way and 'becomes one of them' for example 'Spiderman 3' but usually there is a clear differentiation between the protagonist and antagonist. This is usually done by within the mise en scene, for example the protagonist for the majority of the film is in a nicer environment to the antagonist, for example Star Wars- Darth Vadar usually situated in a dark location whereas the protagonist in lighter areas.


Often when the protagonist and the antagonist meet and confronting eachother the antagonist tends to be slightly on the left hand side of the screen, this tells apart from the two. Also the protagonist gets a wider range of camera angles, for example Superman (protagonist) low angle, suggesting that he is superior and unique. Not only that but obviously costumes tell the antagonist and protagonist apart for example the antagonist tends to wear dark clothes that covers most of the body whereas the protagonist tends to wear colourful, bright clothes to suggest being the main character.



This blog was created by Toby Moffat, George Tibbett, Graeme Beck and Andrew Thomson.