The protagonist in a thriller is an ordinary person who is thrust into an extraordinary dangerous situation. They have no special combat or survival skills but must rely on their instincts and intelligence to stay alive. While their primary goal is self-preservation, over the course of the story they discover that stopping the larger threat or conspiracy is the only way to save themselves and society.

1. Protagonist
The protagonist is the main character in a story, novel,
drama, or other literary work, the character that the This is Taylor
Lautner who
This is Miley reader or audience empathizes with, if his or her plays Nathan
Cyrus who intentions are agreeable or not. in „Abduction‟
plays Ronnie in who finds out
the „The Last An example of an protagonist would be Harry Potter as he was
Song‟ and she he is one of the main character throughout the film and abducted at a
is the very young
protagonist he is the “good guy” as this is how he is portrayed. The age, and
throughout the code and conventions he shows is he‟s a leader for shows his
film, as she is journey to find
the hero who example he is shown leading the order of phoneix out who his
wins over her against Voldemort. family really
dad‟s love. are.

2. This is Isabelle
Fuhrman, who
Antagonist
plays Esther, she
an orphan who
is really a 32/33
year olds with
dwarfism who
She goes into  The antagonist is the opposite to the protagonist and also portrayed as
peoples homes the “Bad guy”. Antagonist is refers usually to a person or group of
all sweet and people opposing, struggling against or competes with another
innocent, then opponent/protagonist. Usually known for being someone who is very
tries to have sex evil and always has a goal which is to prevent the protagonist‟s goal.
with the man of For example we always see Voldemort trying to kill Harry because when
the family. When he tried killing him as a baby & he couldn't, he felt weak. He wants to prove to
he says no, she
takes revenge
the wizard world that Harry, the boy who lived can die in his hands.
and kills all the
This is the green goblin from the movie „Spider man‟
family.
his aim is to kill Spiderman throughout the whole film
because he believes that Spiderman has killed his
father and seeks revenge.

3. Thriller Protagonist
 „The thriller protagonist is an everyman thrust into an
extreme situation. This character allows the
audience to experience their own nightmares as
they focus their emotional identification on the
character‟s willingness to stay alive. While Thrillers
and Action-Adventures have many superficial
elements in common, there is one very clear
distinguishing characteristic that separates the two
genres.‟
 From: Writing the thriller film (hicks)

4. Thriller protagonist does not possess
martial skills
 ‘Although the character may have useful skills not directly
related to the situation, he is not expert in hand-to-hand
combat, firearms, or any other life-saving lethal skill. In 3
days condor, Joe Turner’s CIA dossier mentions that he
worked in telecommunications while serving in the Army.
Turner’s knowledge of system patches then, becomes
element in his ability to confound his pursuers by cross-
connecting the lines during his telephone calls to them.’
From: Writing the thriller film (hicks)

5. Thriller protagonist does not come
equipped with official sanction
 „Unlike the protagonist of an Action-Adventure,
who enters the story generally as some kind of
military or police presence with the official consent
and duty to engage the enemy, the protagonist
of a Thriller is an ordinary person thrown into
extraordinary circumstances. The character,
therefore act with the ethos of the audience.‟
From: Writing the thriller film (hicks)

6. Thriller protagonist is a dabbler in life, a person
who is marked by the avoidance of the
commitment .
 „It is difficult to cast an iron mold for all Thriller
protagonists, but by and large the lead characters
in Thrillers share a common ethos of evasion and
no confrontation. The Thriller protagonist has
developed strategic avoidance as the principal
skill for coping with the pressure of daily life.‟
From: Writing the thriller film (hicks)

7. The Thriller protagonist has the simple
objective of trying to stay alive.
 ‘Because the Thriller protagonist is more or less self-
centered and moreover, because the character is
directly threatened by the antagonist, the primary goal
is to escape death. It is the Narrative Trajectory that the
screenwriter must never lose sight of. If the audience
cares about anything, they care about how the
protagonist is going to remain alive. Any diversion from
the Narrative Trajectory stretches their fundamental
suspensions of disbelief.’
From: Writing the thriller film (hicks)

8. Thriller protagonist discovers that personal
salvation is also the only method to save society
from a larger menace or conspiracy.
 ‘The nature of the Thriller antagonist is such that,
nearly always, the menace threatening the protagonist
is merely a sample of a greater danger to society at
large.’
Thriller protagonist has untested personal courage honor, or
principles.
„This is not to say that the Thriller protagonist is a coward, but that
there is a significant difference between the nature of Thriller
back-to the-wall courage motivated by self-interest , and the
Action-Adventure and thriller genres of the Action-Adventure
protagonist gains courage because of moral conviction, whereas
the Thriller protagonist gains moral conviction, whereas the Thriller
protagonist gains moral conviction because of the courage.‟
From: Writing the thriller film (hicks)