Think about the first time you watched "Ocean's 11." Even though George Clooney's Danny Ocean is attempting to successfully rob a Las Vegas casino of $150 million -- a feat that is very obviously against the law -- you still hope that he and his crew get away with it. How about TV series like "Breaking Bad" and "Dexter"? Walter White makes meth. Dexter is a literal serial killer hunting down and killing other murderers. Even "Gone Girl," Gillian Flynn's bestselling novel-turned-feature film, makes the audience teeter between Team Nick and Team Amy as Amy tries to frame her husband for her murder. Against our better judgement, we root for the bad guys -- but why?
I asked myself this very question as I binge-watched the first five episodes of Lifetime's psychological thriller series "YOU" (now on Netflix) this weekend. The show follows bookstore manager Joe as he falls in love -- and in obsession -- with Beck, a grad student and aspiring writer. It's not a spoiler to say that Joe is a bit unstable and forms a pretty...unhealthy...relationship with our female protagonist. I mean, just watch the trailer. So why then, after all the crazy things he does, was I still rooting for him? I found myself needing to pause the show periodically to 1) scroll Instagram because my brain couldn't handle all the on-screen drama and 2) remind myself that Joe is not a good person and I should NOT be in his corner.
When it comes down to it, we want to believe that every human being has some good inside of them. Whether that's a troubled childhood or a crazy ex that left them jaded and confused, everyone has a past, right? The genius of "YOU" is that we want to believe Joe is fundamentally a good guy. And Joe believes it, too! He serves as a sort of caretaker to his young neighbor with an abusive home life, lending him books and even giving him dinner when his drug addict mother is too busy fighting with her boyfriend to feed him herself. Gold star. He justifies his overbearing actions as keeping Beck "safe" from her sh*thead ex-boyfriend, Benji, and her privileged, clueless friends. Another gold star. We want to believe that he means well, no matter how far he takes it in the opposite direction.
Oh, and there's the fact that this is a TV series. And no matter how invested you are in a show, it is, at its core, a show. It was created as a form of media for us to digest and forget about -- that is, until the second season comes out a year later bringing us right back into the vortex. Studies have shown that our moral compass becomes a bit skewed in instances like these; you're more likely to overlook a character's ethical shortcomings when the alternative is to lose the entertainment factor alltogether. Think back to 1994 when O. J. Simpson was speeding up the 405 in the white Bronco. Yes, this was entertaining to watch and every news outlet in the nation broadcasted the chase live, but I doubt many of you were actually hoping he would get away. That's because that chase wasn't staged and produced by the makers of "Riverdale."
Researchers at Auburn University dug deeper into the philosophy of rooting for the bad guy and found that if you, too, find yourself cheering on the villain of a story more often than not, you are not alone. "There are a plethora of reasons among psychological theories to explain why normal people occasionally find themselves rooting for the villain instead of the hero," they wrote (Studies in Popular Culture, 2012). "While some of the explanations may make us a bit uncomfortable (identifying with certain aspects of the villain or knowing we enjoy watching them commit acts we might fantasize about), others actually point to our goodness (a willingness to consider situational factors when judging others) or at least to our adaptability (getting to like things we see frequently)."
The researchers were also quick to point out that factors such as physical appearance and the bad boy/nice guy philosophy can play a huge part in our attitude toward certain characters. "Studies have shown that women seeking long term [sic] relationships valued niceness as the most salient characteristic, but niceness was devalued and other characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, became more important if the women were seeking more casual, sexual relationships."
Where "YOU" is concerned, Beck isn't shy in admitting that she is, for lack of a better word, attempting to get over Benji by getting under someone else. Er...multiple someones. As far as she knows, Joe is the cute, literary nice guy. And in some rather sick dramatic irony, we empathize with Beck in thinking she finally found a keeper, while at the same time knowing he's bad news.
TL;DR: Don't feel guilty if you watch "YOU" and find yourself on Team Joe half a majority of the time. We're only human, and this story was written to challenge an aspect of human nature that no one quite fully understands. You might find yourself wanting to date him and lock him up at the same time. And that's OK.