Summary
- John Dutton lacks the antihero qualities that made characters like Tony Soprano and Walter White so compelling in popular dramas like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.
- Unlike those shows, Yellowstone doesn't fully critique or condemn John Dutton's morally wrong actions, often romanticizing them instead.
- The success of shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad suggest that Yellowstone could have been more successful if it had made its main character more complex and introspective.
Despite the fact that Yellowstone is generally popular, it is also true that, unlike past popular drama series, the show's ratings have decreased or varied from season to season, and it may be because Yellowstone's main character is lacking one particular detail. Yellowstone is a neo-Western drama created by Taylor Sheridan and Paramount. It follows the dysfunctional Dutton family, who own the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. Led by the patriarch, John Dutton, the family must figure out how to maintain their ranch in a world that is constantly changing for better and for worse.
Although the series has a large, talented cast, the heart of Yellowstone really lies with John Dutton. Played by Kevin Costner, John Dutton is the leader of both his ranch and his family, and even his town at times. In a sense, everything begins and ends with John. When his children fight, it is their shared childhood with him that underlies the issue. Each character has an urge to either please him or defy him, and this is what makes him so important. However, John Dutton is not exactly like the popular drama protagonists of the 2000s and 2010s. In fact, they had something over John that made them better.
The Sopranos & Breaking Bad Both Had Great Antihero Main Characters
When looking at the most popular drama series of the 2000s and 2010s, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, it is clear that their main characters are something that Yellowstone's John Dutton is not. They are antiheroes. Although The Sopranos' Tony Soprano and Breaking Bad's Walter White lead their own stories and change over time, for the most part, they are just as villainous as they are good. Tony Soprano may love his family and the ducks in his pool, but he is still a mob boss. Walter White wants to make money for his family, but he makes highly addictive and illegal drugs to do it.
An antihero main character may seem like a risk, but The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are just two examples of how popular and successful this trope can be. Although an antihero risks isolating the audience by doing bad things, their story is less about their questionable actions and more about how those actions affect them. Audiences want to see Tony Soprano's mob ties finally get to him, and they want to see how far Walter White will go for his family. Ultimately, the antihero is one of the most interesting types of main character.
Yellowstone's John Dutton Should Be An Antihero - But Really Isn't
Many may argue that Yellowstone's John Dutton is an antihero, and in some ways, he is written like one, but all in all, John Dutton is not the antihero that The Sopranos and Breaking Bad offer. First and foremost, John Dutton is definitely portrayed as a villainous person. He and his family have committed and covered up countless crimes, including murder, in order to maintain their hold on their land. Worse than that, the Dutton family, and John in particular, has played a role in keeping ancestral land from the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock. This alone makes John a bad person.
However, the problem Yellowstone has is that the show doesn't really indict John like it should. While The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are quite clear about the moral wrongs that their main characters are committing, Yellowstone lacks that kind of clarity. If anything, Yellowstone can at times romanticize the wrongs its characters commit, leaning into the Wild West stereotypes of the olden days. Overall, this is what makes John Dutton a less compelling antihero. If he does not reflect on his actions, then John Dutton becomes more like a villain and less like an antihero.
Walter White & Tony Soprano Prove Yellowstone Could've Been So Much Better
In the end, the success of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad prove that Yellowstone might have had a better run if it had made a few key changes to its main character. John Dutton was definitely written to be an antihero, but the show failed at making him think about his villainous ways. While the other Yellowstone cast and characters change around him, John Dutton remains somewhat the same, and this makes his character worse. If John Dutton had been written more like Tony Soprano or Walter White, not only would he have been more likable, but Yellowstone might have had even more success.
Yellowstone is coming to an end in 2024, as Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premieres in November 2024.
"TV" - Google News
January 01, 2024 at 09:50PM
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The 2000s & 2010s Best TV Shows Reveal Yellowstone's Biggest Problem - Screen Rant
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