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I see this everywhere. Basically, the anti-hero will be doing something good/trivial/civilized, while the scene repeatedly cuts to his henchmen running around doing bad things.

  • A famous example of this is obviously the baptism scene in The Godfather, where Michael kills the other dons.
  • Another example is Walter White in Breaking Bad, Season 5, walking around with his baby, while it keeps cutting to his hired assassins committing brutal murders in prison.
  • Yet another example is Narcos, where Pablo Escobar is dancing with his wife, while his henchmen commit some murders elsewhere.

I have seen similarly-structured scenes elsewhere as well. It seems like a very predictable and cheap way for the movie to depict that the protagonist is deep because he's got this civilized side to him but simultaneously does some really evil things.

Is there a name for this trope?

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    "It seems like a very predictable and cheap way for the movie to depict that the protagonist is real deep because he's got this civilized side to him but simultaneously does some really evil things." — I, for one, cherish the contrast, and showing contrast has been an artistic means or an artistic end for a very, very long time. I don't think the edgy commentary that Walter or Michael were supposed to be deep and edgy is warranted. I'd appreciate it if you remove subjective opinions out of the question.
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Jul 4, 2020 at 17:51
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    I'm also not sure that "anti-hero" is the right term for these characters. They're more like Villain Protagonists (TV Tropes warning).
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Jul 4, 2020 at 18:29
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    Some of these might be Byronic Heroes, which as @F1Krazy points out could be ant-heroes OR Villain Protagonists, like for instance, the dancing scene doesn't necessarily show how "good" the character is, but rather makes him seem unfeeling, because he/they show no remorse or somehow have compartmentalized the action by believing they take no responsibility in it, when in fact in some cases, they do.
    – Darth Locke
    Commented Jul 5, 2020 at 0:32

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