What makes a strong human antagonist?

Prompted by a listener (and patron of the podcast) question, Stu and Chas dive into antagonistic forces. And because Draft Zero does not do anything by halves, this is Part One of a Five Part Epic Exploration™ into antagonists; namely: vs humans, vs self, vs nature/supernatural, vs systems and "other". aka the classic narrative conflicts.

For this "vs humans" part, we chose to look at DIE HARD, MISERY and THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE OF EBBING, MISSOURI (with special mentions to THE DARK KNIGHT, LA LA LAND and - of course - STAR WARS). In particular, we look at some classical villains, internal vs external antagonists, and how antagonists and protagonists can swap roles over a scene or a sequence.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND

Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicated below. Chapter markers included in the mp3.

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EPISODES LINKS

DRAFT ZERO RELATED EPISODES
- DZ-43: Driving Sequences – Character and Plot Intensity
- DZ-35: Driving Characters or Character Driven?
ANTAGONISTS OVERVIEW
DIE HARD screenplay: Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza [@ 12m 27s]
- JustWatch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/die-hard-1
MISERY screenplay: William Goldman [@ 24m 25s]
- JustWatch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/misery-stephen-king
THE DARK KNIGHT story: Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer screenplay: Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan [@ 40m 12s]
- WATCH: The Dark Knight — Creating the Ultimate Antagonist
- JustWatch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/batman-the-dark-knight
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE OF EBBING, MISSOURI w&d: Martin McDonagh [@ 45m 32s]
- JustWatch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri
LA LA LAND w&d: Damien Chazelle [@ 1hr 11m 30s]
- JustWatch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/la-la-land
WRAP UP [@ 1hr 14m 33s]

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Many thanks to Sandra, Paul, Rob, Christopher, Joakim and Khrob for being top-level patrons. They're good human antagonists.

DZ-49: Antagonists! 1 - vs Humans

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast