Antiheroes

An antihero in a work of fiction is the protagonist who is unlikable and villainous, but still is the main focus of the story. A perfect example of an antihero is Travis Bickle from Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver. Taxi Driver is about a discharged marine who takes a job driving taxis in Manhattan to cope with his insomnia. Disgusted with the filthy city filled with underaged hookers and street crime, he decides to buy some weapons and goes through a rigorous workout. In the end of the film, after a failed assassination attempt on the senator, Travis visits a brothel and shoots up the place. Travis was once a brooding, cynical man, but the city transformed him into a psychopathic murderer! This man is clearly the villain of the film, but you can't help but feel for the angry, lonely man. Travis just wanted to make Manhattan a cleaner, safer place. His cause was noble, but his execution was what made him a villain. It takes a truly talented writer to make an audience feel sympathy for a "villain". This "villain" was fed up and just wanted to change a city for the better.