The good son (1993)
In this phsycological thriller we see the protagonist vs antaganoist really at work.
There are two young boys who are thrown together. They are cousins, around the same age and both male. A perfect equation. However, we find out that the plot is actually more surrounded around a protagonist chracter, Mark Evans, against an antanoist character, Henry Evans.
Protagonist Chracters
These characters are the 'good guys' of the genre. They tend to be the main chracter and the one that the audience connects with the most. In 'The good son' the character Mark Evans is the protagonist. This is shown through his costume. He wears all of his clothes neatly and tidy. He is also the innocent one. This is show in the scene when Henry takes a cigarette out of his box and lights it and Mark's response is to tell Henry that they cause cancer. He also shows other signs of being a typical protagonist character by being the one that the storyline is based around and he is also the one that has the problem. However, these types of characters try to sort out this problem as they are intelligant and they beleive that if they sort the problem out then everything will be alright again. In this story his mother has died and therefore this means that his dad has to do a big job and has to leave the country. This means that Mark gets left with his auntie, uncle and cousins. This is where he finds out that his cousin has gone mad and has a secret in which he finds out and then tries to tell his auntie and uncle. However, they do not believe them. This is the problem in this particular film, most of the protagonist chracters have a problem that they are invovled in and they have to sort it out. This is one of the main characteristics of the protagonist in thriller films. Perhaps this is also one of the main features of the chracter.
Antagnoist Characters
These are the chracters that tend to be seen as a the bad ones. The 'Villan'. This character is meant to be the opposite of the protagonist character. They give the audience a feeling of unease and being scared or thrilled. This is instantly obtained in the good son, when we first meet out anatagnoist character, Henry Evans, we are put on edge. He appears over the bannister with a mask covering his face and cocks his head to the side as if he is sizing up Mark. The main trait of this particular character is that he or she is the one that causes the protagonist the problem that they face. In the good son, Henry continully puts probelms in place for Mark. At the begining they just appear to be small childish pranks such as throwing a dummy off a bridge that causes an accident and pretending to play war games with the cross bow that Henry has made (all of which add to the unease that the audience, and Mark, feel for Henrys persona). However, Mark soon discovers that Henry is the one behind Henry's little brothers death. Mark continues to think and it comes to his mind that Henry is planning on killing the rest of his family because Mark has become close to them. Therefore, Henry throws problems into Mark's way so that his friends and family beeive that Mark is mad and it's not Henry that has gone mad. Examples of this include, bullying and manipulating words and ways in which to make Mark angry so Mark threatens to kill Henry with a pair of scissors, Henry's father walks in and finds this and locks Mark up which then allows Henry the free chance to kill his mother without Mark there to stop him. Another main trait of these types of chracters is that they are highly intelligant. Even more so than the protagonist. This is shown in the good son in the final scene when the mother has to choose who to save between the two boys and you can hear Henry calmly telling his mother that he loves her, he is also trying to persuade her that he needs her other hand so therefore she needs to let go of Mark.
