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, we can better handle story conflict in our own scripts. In this article, we’ll cover all the different antagonistic forces a writer 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 (the 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 screenwriters work with them, but first, let’s define the term “antagonist” itself.

What Is an Antagonist?

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

Typical traits of an antagonist:

• Parasitic on the protagonist
• Often malicious
• Blocks the protagonist’s progress

Writers also refer to the antagonist as the “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 antagonist 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, it’s not a one‑size‑fits‑all situation. It’s more like: “Who or what is the perfect, most challenging obstacle for my hero?”

Let’s look more closely at this relationship.

What Are the Protagonist and Antagonist?

The protagonist and antagonist have a symbiotic relationship. Perhaps the best way to explore the antagonist is to examine its opposite: the protagonist.

Let’s start by familiarizing ourselves with the protagonist, including types and traits.

Here’s 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 opposites.

Let’s plug those 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 stand in direct opposition? 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 clash are called the climax.

Examples of Antagonists in Film

Perhaps more than any other medium, film attracts bad guys, villains, psychos, and bullies. In many films, 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’s a list of antagonist examples 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 look at non‑evil antagonists shortly, but first, let’s break down the “bad guys.”

Types of Antagonism

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 these options are, how they work, and which one is best for your specific story.

Here’s a rough list of the main types of antagonism:

• Villains
• Anti‑villains
• False antagonists
• Hidden antagonists
• Inanimate antagonistic forces
• Internal antagonists
• Heroic antagonists

Of course, there’s some overlap between these types. But each offers its own unique style of opposition. Like pairing wine with food, writers should have a solid grasp of each one’s qualities. Let’s start with the most common: the villain.

Antagonist vs. Villain

People often assume every antagonist is a villain. While many are, there are other kinds of antagonists. Villains are simply the most common and most memorable.

Most villains are essentially evil. These characters embody a worldview that stands in stark contrast to the protagonist’s. Villains will go to any lengths to impede the protagonist’s progress.

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

The Joker is a character dedicated to creating chaos in Gotham. His entire existence is set up to be juxtaposed against the story’s protagonist, Batman.

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

We know Sauron is evil from the start, but we’re less sure at first what role Saruman will play. When his evil plan is revealed, we see that he’s the Fellowship’s most immediate character‑based obstacle.

Heroic Antagonists

Heroic antagonists almost always oppose anti‑heroes. What is an anti‑hero? We can define an anti‑hero as “a story’s protagonist who is centered on self‑interest… often feels rejected by society and follows a path of self‑destruction that leads to isolation or death.”

Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can is a great example of an anti‑hero, but he’s also someone we empathize with emotionally. That’s because we’re drawn to his intelligence and feel the pain of the childhood he endured.

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

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 game of cat and mouse. Carl is willing to believe that Frank will show virtue. In the subsequent scenes, the conflict between the two reaches its peak.

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

Nature as Antagonist

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

Though it’s less common, some stories feature the environment itself as antagonist. This kind of environmental antagonism is rooted in the classic “man vs. nature” conflict structure.

Think of disaster films and how filmmakers find ways to turn nature against us. Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, and more all make fantastic forces for your protagonist to battle. Films like these remind us that even though we may be at the top of the food chain, we can’t actually control the natural world around us.

A powerful example of “man vs. nature”—or more accurately “woman vs. nature”—in film is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies: The Birds.

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

This conflict is so effective because in many ways it’s completely unexplainable. That inexplicability produces a supernatural feeling and engages the audience’s minds to speculate about the story’s subtext.

Anti‑villains

We’ve already mentioned anti‑heroes, who are protagonists that don’t behave heroically. As we noted, the counterpart to an anti‑hero is a heroic antagonist. So what is an anti‑villain?

Have you ever watched a villain deliver a climactic monologue about their goals and reasons and thought, “Wait, this person actually makes sense”? If so, you’ve been watching an anti‑villain.

An anti‑villain is a character who does bad things for good reasons. Take Roy Batty in Blade Runner, for example. For all intents and purposes, Batty is the film’s antagonist, wreaking havoc on Earth as he searches for Tyrell.

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

False Antagonists

False antagonists pose this question: “What if your ‘bad guy’ isn’t actually bad, but has been good all along?”

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

But everything is turned upside down when it’s revealed that Snape has actually been protecting Harry ever since his mother died.

Snape isn’t the only false antagonist in the Harry Potter series. Sirius Black also plays this role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Sirius is initially presented as an evil villain who played a key role in Harry’s parents’ deaths.

Gary Oldman amplifies this fake‑out with his performance—broken teeth, a crazed gleam in his eyes. He looks every bit the classic villain.

But as the film goes on, we discover that Black is actually one of Harry’s closest allies and goes on to become an important friend and mentor for the rest of the series.

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

Hidden Antagonists

Hidden antagonists are the opposite of false antagonists. Here, a character we initially think is benevolent turns out to be the villain.

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

But as the film progresses, we discover that Coraline’s new parents are not what they seem and in fact have sinister motives.

Coco also features a great hidden antagonist. At the beginning of the film, Miguel is obsessed with the late, famous musician Ernesto de la Cruz.

Miguel is overjoyed—understandably—when he believes he has discovered that Ernesto is his great‑great‑grandfather, and when he visits him in the Land of the Dead, everything seems to be going well.

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

As Coco demonstrates, hidden antagonists create powerful dramatic moments filled with shock, betrayal, and deep emotional pain. These are feelings you might want to avoid in everyday life, but they can make for riveting cinema.

The Internal Antagonist

To some extent, we all have an internal antagonist. The internal antagonist is the embodiment of the old saying: “There are two wolves inside you; you must feed the right one.” This is where the protagonist feeds the “bad” wolf, making self‑destructive decisions that lead to their own downfall.

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

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

Aronofsky’s films are often considered difficult, and a big reason is his use of internal antagonists. Watching a character destroy themselves can be painful and frustrating. Facing an external enemy—even if the protagonist loses—can still feel like a noble, entertaining battle.

An internal enemy is harder, subtler, and, unfortunately, all too real.

What Is a Secondary Antagonist?

In most stories, there is only one protagonist. The number of antagonists, however, can be limitless. In some films, there is a primary antagonist and several secondary antagonists.

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

A useful way to think about secondary antagonists is as mini‑bosses you encounter in a video game before you reach the final boss.

In Kill Bill, the Bride has to face these mini‑bosses before she can get to the final boss.