6 May 2023

extrapenguin: Northern lights in blue and purple above black horizon. (Default)
In my opinion, the perfect comedy protagonist is someone who's unsympathetic enough that you don't feel too bad laughing at them, but sympathetic enough that a happy/okay ending is satisfying. If you make someone too sympathetic, you won't get the "lol" reaction from the audience when shit happens to them; if you make them too unsympathetic, your audience will be left :/ by a regular comedy arc with a happy ending. (Black comedy or other more toothy subgenres can have less sympathetic protagonists. In general, the more bad stuff you expect people to laugh at, the less sympathetic/heroic your protagonist must be.)

On average, this rounds to a sympathetic villain, with bonus points if there's something larger than life about the characterization. In Star Wars land, this is Maul – he's done enough bad stuff of his own volition you don't feel too bad laughing at him, yet he's enough of a victim of circumstance that a happy ending is satisfying (unlike for, say, Palpatine). TCW-era and beyond Anakin also works.

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extrapenguin: Northern lights in blue and purple above black horizon. (Default)
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