Coined by Twitter user @
buggy_con, the John
Walker Effect is when in any form of media, the writers unintentionally make the antagonist characters
-Far more entertaining
-Far more believable as characters
-More sympathetic
-More heroic than the
stale and downright evil protagonists/heroes
Typically you will see the writers project all the attributes they view as evil onto these characters in order to make a straw man to pit against their oh so
perfect heroes. However, this unintentionally causes these characters to be beloved by the audience (or at least a section of the audience who believe that the ideas they embody are good), for they are the only ones who
-Call out the protagonists'
bullshit for what it is
-Have actual ideas and motivations that aren't
selfish
-In some way or other represent the ideal of the ideology they embody (since a writer cannot tear down an idea without first building it up)
Oftentimes these characters have to be amped up to cartoonish levels of evil in order to try and make the audience
root against them, which usually does not end up working and in some cases just makes the audience love them more.
Rorschach from Watchmen, Tyler Durden from
Fight Club, and Colonel Quaritch from
Avatar are all examples of villains that suffer from the John
Walker Effect.
