Why We Root for the Rebel

The Enduring Appeal of Characters Who Refuse the System

There’s a story—perhaps apocryphal—about a singer summoned to perform for a dictator. When she refused, the tyrant threatened her with torture. Her response has stayed with me for years:

You can make me scream. You cannot make me sing.

That’s rebellion distilled to its essence. The dictator could destroy her body, but he could not actually make her do anything. The rapist can rip your clothes off, but he can’t make you undress. The thug can shoot your knees out, but he can’t make you kneel.

When you drill it down to the brass tacks, the only thing anyone can make you do… is die.

That’s a steep price, of course. And not one any of us wants to pay. But the stories that feature characters that are willing to make that sacrifice, if needed, have enduring appeal. We love stories of rebellion, all of us. Somehow, the stories that stay with us, the characters we carry long after we’ve closed the book, are almost always the ones who looked at the consequence of saying no and replied, “all right, …