Why Do Antiheroes Appeal to People with Dark Traits?
Antiheroes, morally ambiguous characters who are not clearly either good or evil, are popular protagonists in modern media. A recent study found that people who have a particular affinity for antiheroes tend to be relatively high in antisocial traits, particularly aggression, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. This suggests that people may particularly enjoy characters who they perceive as being similar to themselves. This is in line with other research that has found that people’s media preferences generally tend to reflect their personality traits and that people’s fantasy lives are more likely to reflect their actual personalities rather than being explorations of what it would be like to be a completely different person.
A number of highly popular shows and movies have featured morally ambiguous characters as their protagonists, such as Dexter Morgan in Dexter, Walter White in Breaking Bad, and Deadpool in the movies and comics of the same name. A salient feature of such characters is ruthlessness and willingness to use violent and aggressive means to meet their goals and overcome obstacles. Several studies have pointed out that such characters seem to possess personality traits that have been referred to as the “dark triad,” namely, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy (Jonason et al., 2010, 2012). I have discussed the dark triad in detail…
