MovieChat Forums > The General (1927) Discussion > Rooting for the bad guys?

Rooting for the bad guys?

posted 12 years ago by johnnymonsarrat
21 replies | jump to latest

I don't see the angle of shows like The Sopranos where viewers are expected to root for the bad guys. Same thing with Das Boot, which portrays German submariners during World War II.This film, too, wants us to root for a Confederate soldier whose actions lead to a lot of Union deaths and presumably the pushback of the war to free the slaves.

I'm surprised that none of the reviews or comments I read here mention this. It's a well made film but I could not give it a top score.

[–] dyahrmarkt (5) 7 years ago

You "don't see the angle"? Do you have to "root" for the Corleones? Or Jimmy Cagney's gangsters? Or any myriad number of films where there are shades of grey delineating the good guys from bad? What matters is how much you enjoy spending time with the characters, good or bad. I'd rather spend 2 hours with an evil villain if they're charasmatic enough as opposed to some insufferably boring, morally righteous "good guy".