Why do we like Fantomas

By Itzach Bin Lazier

Fantomas is 1 of the 1st in a long-running archetype known as the Phantom Thief. While future iterations of this character would change some stuff (for example most Phantom Thieves don’t murder people) the building blocks are still present in this early story. So the question of the day … why do we like characters like Fantomas and of course why do we like Fantomas? But before that, I should explain the pronounced historical impact that Fantomas has had on literature and the genre of crime fiction. But before THAT I need to define crime fiction. Crime fiction is a broad genre definition that includes any fiction that centers around crime. Fantomas is 1 of the progenitors of the phantom thief archetype; A strong and memorable archetype most of the time they are the protagonists of their stories. These are uncatchable thieves with a gentlemanly persona. A lot of crime fiction is centered on detectives solving crimes, but this is a subgenre that centers on the criminals doing the crime. This is part of the reason to like Fantomas, because of his strong influence on culture, but there are other reasons to like Fantomas. For one we tend to like bad boys. We see something romantic in characters like Fantomas. Even if you wouldn’t date someone like Fantomas you’d still hang out with them. Fantomas’s dateable persona is a large factor in our enjoyment of him. This is more of a thing in visual mediums so for now lets, move on. Another founding character for this archetype is Robin Hood. It’s easywhy Robin Hood is a beloved character; he’s fighting against a corrupt status quo in a system where he has vanishingly little power. A lot of phantom thieves are the heroes of their own stories and this is a common way to put them in the right. This isn’t the case with Fantomas. Fantomas is fighting against Juve and while a writer can interpret this as a little guy fighting a much bigger system, in this book it is a fight between a downtrodden cop and a gentlemanly thief. So we must look elsewhere for the appeal of Fantomas. There is also a case of villain characters being just fun to watch. There are a lot of ways to make a villain character fun to watch. A villain can be an interesting obstacle for our heroes to fight, even if like with Juve the obstacle is impossible to defeat. For other villains, they can just have a fun personality, that makes the scenes with them fun and I think this is where Fantomas’s appeal lies. Fantomas has a gentlemanly persona that we 1st see when he interacts with the princess (even if this isn’t the “real” Fantomas as Juve doubts). This gentlemanly character is present through most characters influenced by Fantomas so this likely is where Fantomas’s appeal lies. Another aspect that could lead us to like Fantomas (and what’s important to the discussion of Sherlock Holmes) is an annoying hero. Juve is a pretty generic Sherlock Holmes-type character with the major exception that he is often unsuccessful. I have theorized a lot, but I should likely discuss my feelings on Fantomas. I like Fantomas. Of course, I enjoy the phantom thief archetype so I like it from that angle. But even from a casual reader experience, I enjoy the novel. Fantomas himself is a great gentleman and the ensuing mysteries he creates are fun to think about. That is to say I like Fantomas for the reasons I outlined before this segment and I hope you agree.

This is part of my 2nd assignment for my crime fiction class. I don’t believe I’ve uploaded this before, but correct me if I’m wrong.