What Is “Antagonism” in a Story?

If you know anything about storytelling, you know conflict is essential. By understanding how antagonists are used in screenwriting, you can better handle story conflict in your own scripts. In this article, we’ll cover all the different antagonistic forces writers can choose from, how they work, and how to decide which one best fits your story.

A Quick Definition of Antagonism

What does “antagonist” mean? It usually means the story’s protagonist (central force) runs into trouble. Screenwriters have many different ways to use various obstacles to oppose their protagonists.

We’ll look at more examples of antagonists in films like Kill Bill and The Birds to see how writers work with them, but first, let’s define the term itself.

What Is an Antagonist?

An antagonist is the force in a story that opposes the protagonist. It can be human, natural, or supernatural. The word “antagonist” comes from the Greek “agonizesthai,” literally “to struggle against.” Every protagonist needs some kind of antagonistic force. But that doesn’t mean the force has to be another character. The hero’s main obstacle could be the environment, an animal like a killer shark, an idea, or their own flaws.

Typical traits of an antagonist:

• Parasitic to the protagonist
• Often malevolent
• Blocks the protagonist’s progress

Writers also call the antagonist an “opponent” or “hostile force.” In his breakdown of Sideways, Edson makes an important point: the opponent doesn’t have to be a villain (at least not in the typical sense); it can be anything that opposes the protagonist. In Sideways, the primary opponent is a character who only appears in two scenes, yet her impact on the protagonist is pervasive.

The relationship between protagonist and antagonist is key to storytelling. It’s not just “you can’t have one without the other.” In the long run, there’s no one-size-fits-all. It’s more like: “Who or what is the perfect, most challenging obstacle for my hero?”

Let’s look at that relationship more closely.

What Are a Protagonist and an Antagonist?

The protagonist and antagonist have a symbiotic relationship. A good way to explore the antagonist is to examine their opposite: the protagonist.

Let’s get familiar with protagonists—their types and traits—through the following video.

Here’s an example of how conflict arises and is resolved between a protagonist and an antagonist.

Protagonist: Character A wants thing X.
Antagonist: Character B wants thing Z.

Things X and Z are in opposition.

Let’s plug these variables into The Lion King.

Protagonist: Simba wants justice for his murdered father.
Antagonist: Scar wants absolute power over the Pride Lands.

Notice how these two goals clash? That’s because the struggle between protagonist and antagonist is the most common example of character conflict. The moments when these characters and their desires collide are called climaxes.

Examples of Antagonists in Film

Film may attract bad guys, villains, psychopaths, and bullies more than any other medium. In many movies, the antagonist is more interesting and/or more memorable than the hero. To quickly get a sense of some of the best bad guys, here are examples of antagonists in film:

• The Joker in The Dark Knight
• Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back
• Saruman in The Lord of the Rings
• Voldemort in Harry Potter
• Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs
• Scar in The Lion King
• Hans Gruber in Die Hard
• Captain Hook in Peter Pan
• Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds
• Agent Smith in The Matrix

All of these antagonists are essentially evil—but importantly: not every antagonist is a villain. We’ll get to non-evil opponents shortly, but first let’s break down the “bad guy.”

What Types of Antagonism Are There?

Just as there are many kinds of protagonists, writers also have several types of antagonists to choose from. When planning any narrative (novel, play, video game, screenplay, etc.), it’s important to know what the options are, how they work, and which one best fits your specific story.

Here’s a rough breakdown of the main types of antagonists:

• Villain
• Anti-villain
• False antagonist
• Hidden antagonist
• Inanimate antagonistic force
• Internal antagonist
• Heroic antagonist

Of course, there’s overlap among these types. But each has its own distinctive style of antagonism. Like pairing wine with a meal, writers should have a firm grasp of each one’s characteristics. Let’s start with the most common: the villain.

Antagonist vs. Villain

It’s commonly assumed that every antagonist is a villain. While many are, there are other kinds of antagonists too. Villains are just the most common and most memorable.

Most villains are inherently evil. These characters embody a worldview completely at odds with the protagonist’s. Villains will go to great lengths to impede the protagonist’s progress.

A classic example of a villain is the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Everything about his character is designed to instill a sense of evil. He and Batman mirror each other like two sides of the same coin.

The Joker is wholly devoted to sowing chaos in Gotham. His entire existence is defined in relation to the story’s protagonist, Batman.

Another similar example is Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, who obstructs the Fellowship’s journey to destroy the One Ring of true power.

We know Sauron is evil from the start, but we’re not initially sure what role Saruman will play. Once his evil scheme is revealed, we see that he’s the Fellowship’s most direct character-based obstacle.

Heroic Antagonist

Heroic antagonists are almost always used to oppose anti-heroes. So what is an anti-hero? We can define an anti-hero as “a story’s protagonist who is self-interest–driven…often feels rejected by society and follows a self-destructive path that leads to isolation or death.”

Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can is a good example of an anti-hero, but he’s also someone we empathize with on an emotional level. We’re drawn to his intelligence and we feel the pain of his childhood.

Abagnale’s main opponent is Carl Hanratty. As Carl tries to catch the con artist Abagnale, we as the audience largely identify with Carl’s moral framework.

Carl is portrayed as sensitive and well-meaning, which helps us connect with him, even though we don’t actually want him to catch Frank.

The two characters oppose each other in a cat-and-mouse game. Carl is willing to believe Frank will show virtue. In the following scenes, the conflict between the two reaches a peak.

In Catch Me If You Can, we see a clear example of how a protagonist and antagonist can oppose each other. Frank is the anti-hero protagonist, and Carl is the heroic antagonist.

The Natural World Strikes Back

Characters usually face either internal conflict (within themselves) or external conflict (with the world or other characters). Both are good choices; internal and external conflict can energize your story.

Less common, but still notable, are stories where the antagonist is an environmental force. This environmental antagonism is rooted in the classic “man vs. nature” conflict structure.

Think of disaster movies and how filmmakers find ways to turn nature against us. Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis—these are all powerful forces to pit your protagonist against. Such films remind us that, despite being at the top of the food chain, we don’t actually control the natural world around us.

A strong example of “man vs. nature”—or more precisely, “woman vs. nature”—in film is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest movies: The Birds.

In this Hitchcock classic, Melanie Daniels and the people of Bodega Bay are inexplicably attacked by frenzied birds. The “birds” represent nature as a hostile force, while Melanie is the story’s protagonist.

This conflict works so well in part because it is fundamentally inexplicable. That inexplicability creates a supernatural feeling and engages the audience’s mind in speculating about the underlying meaning.

Anti-villain

We’ve already mentioned the anti-hero: a protagonist who doesn’t do heroic things. As we noted, the anti-hero’s counterpart is the heroic antagonist. So what is an anti-villain?

Have you ever watched a villain’s big monologue about their goals and motives and thought, “Wait, this person kind of has a point”? If so, you’ve seen an anti-villain.

An anti-villain is a character who does bad things for justifiable reasons. Take Roy Batty in Blade Runner. For all intents and purposes, Batty is the film’s antagonist, wreaking havoc on Earth while searching for Tyrell.

But once we hear why Batty is doing what he’s doing, it makes sense. His lifespan is painfully short and he wants to ask his creator for more time. The pain he feels is understandable.

False Antagonist

The false antagonist raises this question: “What if your bad guy actually isn’t bad at all, and has been a good guy all along?”

That might sound vague. A false antagonist is a character who presents as the villain for part of a film or series, but ultimately turns out to be on the protagonist’s side. Typically, this type of antagonist is created by withholding information from both the protagonist and the audience. Think of Severus Snape in Harry Potter. For most of the series, Harry and the audience believe Snape is a villain, perhaps even a potential Death Eater.

But once we learn that Snape has actually been protecting Harry ever since his mother’s death, everything is turned upside down.

Snape is not the only false antagonist in the Harry Potter series. Sirius Black plays this role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. At first, Sirius is portrayed as a sinister villain who played a key part in the deaths of Harry’s parents.

Gary Oldman heightens the false impression with his performance: broken teeth, a wild-eyed stare. He looks every bit the classic villain.

But as the film progresses, it’s revealed that Black is in fact one of Harry’s closest allies, and throughout the rest of the series he proves to be an important friend and mentor.

Harry Potter shows us the usefulness of the false antagonist. This character keeps the audience on its toes while subtly teaching us not to judge a book by its cover.

Hidden Antagonist

The hidden antagonist is the opposite of the false antagonist. Here, a character we initially believe to be benevolent ultimately turns out to be the villain.

A classic example is Coraline, in which the protagonist discovers an Other Mother and Other Father. At first, these “Other” parents appear to have everything Coraline’s real parents lack: they’re attentive, fun, and caring.

But as the film progresses, we learn that Coraline’s new parents are exactly what they seem and that they harbor sinister intentions.

Coco also features a great hidden antagonist. At the start, Miguel idolizes the late, famous musician Ernesto de la Cruz.

When Miguel believes he’s discovered that Ernesto is his great-great-grandfather, he’s understandably overjoyed, and everything appears to be going well when he visits him in the Land of the Dead.

But Miguel soon learns that Ernesto actually murdered his real great-great-grandfather and, most importantly, that he is a fraud. This leads to a heart-wrenching scene:

As Coco shows, hidden antagonists create powerful dramatic moments full of shock, betrayal, and deep emotional pain. These are feelings you may want to avoid in daily life, but they make for compelling cinema.

The Internal Antagonist

In a sense, all of us have an internal antagonist. The internal antagonist is the embodiment of that old saying: “You have two wolves within you; you must feed the right one.” This is where the protagonist feeds the bad wolf, making self-destructive choices that lead to their own downfall.

This is a recurring theme in many of Darren Aronofsky’s films. In Black Swan, Nina battles the newcomer Lily, but in reality it’s her own obsessive nature that drives her to the edge.

The Whale also features a protagonist who is his own worst enemy. Charlie is eating himself to death, and despite the pleas of the people who care about him, he doesn’t (or can’t) stop.

Aronofsky’s films are often considered difficult to watch, largely because of his use of internal antagonists. Watching a character self-destruct can be painful and frustrating. Facing an external enemy—even if the protagonist loses—can still feel like a noble and entertaining struggle.

An internal enemy is often harder, subtler, and, unfortunately, very real.

What Is a Secondary Antagonist?

In most stories, there’s only one protagonist. The number of antagonists, however, can be countless. In some films there’s one primary antagonist, plus several secondary ones.

One of Quentin Tarantino’s best films, Kill Bill, features a primary antagonist (Bill) and several secondary antagonists (the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad).

A useful way to think about secondary antagonists is to see them as mini-bosses you face in a video game before you reach the final boss.

In Kill Bill, the Bride must first face these mini-bosses before she can reach the final boss.