False protagonist

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In film, television, or literature, a false protagonist is a technique for making a scene more jarring or a character more notable. It involves presenting a character at the start of the film as the main character, but then disposing of this character, usually by killing him or her.

In film, a character can be made to seem like the main protagonist based on a number of techniques. Star power is a very effective one. Close-ups are also used. Generally the star of a film will get more and longer close-ups than any other character. Generally, the best technique, however, is to simply have him or her be the focus of the story, then kill him or her, and have the focus go to another character.

[edit] Examples of false protagonists

• The most notable example of this is Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in which the film opens with superstar Janet Leigh as the main character. When she is killed partway through the film the murder is far more unexpected and shocking and builds Bates up to be a far more fearsome villain.

• Another notable example of this technique where it is used to somewhat different effect is in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. That film opens with a ten minute scene in which three men wait for a train. The camera examines the men and their preparations in close detail. When at the end of the scene Charles Bronson's character arrives and quickly dispatches the three it serves to build up Bronson's character as a potent force.

• A Game of Thrones, the first book in George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire, features two false protagonists, a young man named Will in the opening chapter and Eddard Stark for much of the rest of the first novel. The rest of the books in the series also tend to use many false protagonists.

• One of the most famous examples this technique in literature is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, where we are initially led to believe the protagonist is Bernard Marx until the introduction of John the Savage, when the story starts to almost entirely focus on John.

• A recent film which uses the technique in another different manner is Runaway Jury which opens with Dylan McDermott portrayed as the protagonist as he begins a seemingly normal day of work. When, a few minutes into the film, he is gunned down in an attempt to make the crime seem far more villainous.

• Another recent film which may use the technique is Scream: in the opening scene of the film, Drew Barrymore's character is killed. This surprised audiences, who didn't expect to see such a superstar get killed off in the opening scene.

• A humorous use of the technique can be seen at the beginning of the film Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, at the beginning of which a character walks on screen claiming to be the narrator of the story; however, he is gunned down by a gang member shortly after beginning his narration, and another character (who happened to have gunned down the first) takes his place. He too is shot before the story finally begins with the true narrator

• Steven Seagal dies very early into the film Executive Decision despite him being billed as one of the main stars.

• Likewise Julianne Moore receives main billing along with Clive Owen for her role in the film Children of Men. Her character is an estranged lover of Clive Owen's character who is the male protagonist as well as the character who draws him into the films plot yet she is killed early on and replaced by Claire-Hope Ashitey's character as the female lead.

• The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer also uses this technique. The book begins with Matthew Mercer as the protagonist, who dies just six chapters into the book. The book continues in the third person until Harris Sandler -- Matthew's best friend -- takes over the role of protagonist two chapters later. Using this technique makes the death of Matthew more jarring and helps us to empathise with Harris when he finds out about his friend's death.

• In The Godfather: The Game, we are introduced to a gangster who works for the Corleone family. We meet his wife, and they discuss their son. Suddenly, a bakery is bombed by members of the Barzini family. The gangster goes in to save his son, which he does. The player is then allowed to play as the gangster and kill the thugs but once the game cuts back to the FMV, He is shot dead by Barzini thugs. It is then revealed that the true protagonist is his son, who wants revenge for his father's death.

• The first seven episodes of British drama Hex revolved around Cassie Hughes. At the end of episode seven she is accidentally killed by Ella Dee, who in turn becomes the new protagonist. It would appear Cassie's only importance to the plot was to bear a son, Malachi, for "chosen one" Ella to have to kill. Similarly, antagonist Azazeal only served to be father to Malachi, the real antagonist.

• Anakin Solo was set up to be the protagonist of the The New Jedi Order novels. However, he sacrifices himself in battle halfway through the series, propelling his brother, the introverted Jacen Solo, to become the hero who ultimately faces the true Supreme Overlord.

• In the video game Kingdom Hearts II, you start the game playing as Roxas, however, after about 3 hours of gameplay, you switch to controlling Sora, as Roxas seems to dissapear from the game until you later learn what happened to him.

• In the film 15 Minutes the characters played by Robert De Niro and Edward Burns seem to be the protagonists yet half-way through the film Robert De Niro's character is murdered.

• In the game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, you play as legendary Solid Snake from the original games in the tanker section of the game. Clips at E3 only showed footage of Snake being played as. Yet the majority of the game after that is played with Raiden in the Plant and Snake is now a minor role. This was done to show just how good Snake's character is i.e. by having him be more advanced than you as Raiden. Naturally, this angered many fans, but had to be done to get Hideo Kojima's (the game director) point across.