Character Survey of Doom
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Campbell is rather tall, 6’1”, and ridiculously skinny. Like, nearly skeletal he’s so skinny. He is like a series of straight lines. He looks like he hasn’t really grown into himself yet.
2. How old is he?
He’s 19.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
He carries himself surprisingly well, but he does tend to slouch at his neck a bit, probably on account of being so tall.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Campbell doesn’t really think much about his physical health. He is only active as much as he bounces about like a maniac, but as for actual exercise, not as such. He has basically zero muscle structure. Also, he’s been doing absolutely nothing at St. Jude’s for probably around a year or so, so he probably has a little bit of a tum from sitting around inside. Not much of one, though, as he is adolescent, ridiculously energetic, and rake-thin. He doesn’t have any physical illnesses or conditions.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Campbell moves like a marionette. Quick, jerky movements, flopping into various positions, and huge gestures.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Campbell’s aware of his appearance, it’s just not hugely important to him. He wishes he had a bit more mass so that he could pull girls, but other than that, he’s pretty comfortable with who he is. He’s definitely not conventionally handsome.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
He’s very pale, being Scottish, and somewhat freckled.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Campbell’s hair is a pretty traditional 90’s style. It’s floppy, straight, and parted. The larger section of the part has a tendency towards flopping into his eyes and he pushes it back sometimes. He seems to have a lot of it. It’s a coppery sort of brown that looks dark brown in some lights and practically ginger in other lights.
9. What color are his eyes?
Dark brown.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
His face makes the WEIRDEST expressions. But I can’t think of anything else.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
His shoulders, his neck. Probably his hands.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Very 90s. We probably see all of it in the show, too. He has four baggy jumpers: rainbow tie-die, taupe, red and mustard yellow, a 4-colour hoody, a tight stripey t-shirt, a baggy white t-shirt, an acid-wash jean jacket, a HORRIBLE dress shirt in all the colours of HELL and grandmothers’ curtains (with accompanying gold bow-tie), a couple pairs of jeans, khaki green trousers, some black sneakers or shoes (it’s rather hard to work out) and a New York Giants ballcap. He doesn’t have a suit.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
His clothes are all about comfort. Most of them are ludicrously baggy.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
Campbell doesn’t really have a job in the show, but once he does, he definitely tries to dress the same way. Which works as far as his job at the radio station but doesn’t work so well at more serious places of employment. He tends to aim for places that don’t require him wear a suit. He’s not a fan of suits.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers. Definitely. Teen boy who likes everything baggy=no contest. Er. I just watched the bit where he gets a needle to the bum and apparently, it is actually briefs. They looked like kind of baggy briefs, though, so I stand by at least half of my analysis.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
His voice is sort of mid-range. Pleasant to listen to, but with his usual speed, that does mean it can degenerate into a sort of pleasant whirr of sound.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Campbell generally speaks loudly and as fast as he possibly can. Absolutely zero hesitation with him.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
His accent is fairly Scottish. Not so thick you can’t understand it but thick enough that if a North American zones out, they can completely miss what he’s on about, and he uses a lot of Scottish slang. If he’s speaking SUPER fast, he goes a little bit more slurred and Scottish.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
He speaks English, and that’s it.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
He does a lot of imitation and impressions, generally American. He’s actually fairly good at it, though not brilliant.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He perhaps SHOULD think a little more about his words, but he doesn’t. He can make inspirational speeches up on the spot, and he has quick answers to nearly everything.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Campbell’s pretty eloquent. Sometimes he’s not as clear as he could be because he’s going too quickly for people to understand but he doesn’t seem to have any trouble expressing himself.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
He seems to have a lot of potential that he’s wasting. At least, he seems intelligent, but he doesn’t apply himself. He bases a lot of his ‘street-smarts’ on what he’s learned from mostly American television and oddly, it seems to work a fair amount of the time.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
He thinks on his feet all the time, but if he has more time to deliberate, he appreciates it, and uses it to get more eloquent. But generally he flies by the seat of his pants.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
He’s completely intuitive and idealistic. He doesn’t live in very much of the real world. He wants to be a rockstar or a star jockey or an actor or a famous DJ. Nothing that earns a person very much money unless they’re high up in the business.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
He dropped out of school before doing his GCSEs. Possibly it had something to do with him being bipolar and going to St. Jude’s for treatment, and the way his dad acts about it, still seeming to hope Campbell will go back and do his exams, and focussing on him being bipolar, it looks like that’s a likely cause. Of course, he probably would have dropped out anyway. He’s not very good at committing to things.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
About all Campbell is properly good at is talking. Everything else, he changes his mind about what he wants so often that he knows how to do a little of everything, but nothing really well. He does appear to be rather good at getting his way, which he does by ignoring everyone else and behaving as if he will automatically get what he wants no matter what, or strategically lying. Alright, and to be fair, he is very, very good at marketing himself, and working out publicity stunts.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
Campbell is almost painfully extroverted. He doesn’t seem to suffer from any shyness at all.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
Campbell has very strong moods, but he doesn’t exactly have mood swings. If he’s cheerful, it takes a lot to take him out of it, but if he’s sad or angry, it takes a lot too. He’s more likely to be cheerful than melancholy, though. He also switches wildly between being laid-back and driven. He’s usually laid-back, unless he has a cause, and then he sinks his teeth into it and pursues it.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
To pretty much any new person or situation, Campbell comes off as fairly relaxed about it, if not necessarily CALM. He likes to plunge into new things, situations or relationships, and act like he knows exactly what he’s doing.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
He acts without thinking all the time, so, act.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
His default is fight, for all the good it might do him.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Campbell seems to appreciate most humour, though he has a tendency to tell really long corny jokes.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Campbell is bipolar, and whereas he likes the stability of being on drugs and not going over the top (although he does resent the drugs somewhat), he is proud to be a “loony”, as he refers to it. He deals with it by completely accepting it as part of himself; he doesn’t want to hide it. He seems to tend more towards the mania side of the bipolar spectrum, and he always seems a little bit manic, even when on drugs. Being bipolar means that when he’s manic, he feels like he can do anything. His already rather quick pace of talking becomes even faster and he switches trains of thought every few seconds. He was acting the only time we see him ‘manic’ but it was real enough to fool his best friend Fergus.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
It is a SPOILER, so highlight to read. One of the really big moments is when Fergus died. He was fairly serious about being a DJ before then but once he realized that he would be trapped unless he really gave everything he had to his cause, that he would end up like Fergus did, he stepped up his game. It really seemed to serve as a sort of inspiration to him to not take no for an answer. It also made him a little more realistic than he had been before. I’m not certain he would have taken the BBC Scotland position without Eddie before Fergus died.
14. What does he fear?
He fears being stamped down by society on account of being bipolar to a certain extent. He also fears becoming like his dad, and being a civil servant. He wants to be extraordinary somehow. But for the most part, any fears or doubts that he has, he pretends that he doesn’t have, and brushes them aside. He doesn’t really give himself time to fear.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
They shift a lot, but for the moment, he aspires to be a successful radio DJ.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Probably the fact that he has doubts, ever, at any point in time. If he acts confident all the time then he IS confident because no-one knows that he isn’t.
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
His mum is his mum. He seems to be alright with her. As for his dad, he seems to have developed a tradition of joking and talking quickly to try and stop his dad from asking him questions that he has to make decisions on. His dad doesn’t particularly understand or sympathise with his son’s condition, and he sees it as Campbell just trying to procrastinate more and joke around and not decide what to do with his life. Campbell clearly does have difficulty deciding on things, but he feels alienated from his dad, especially when his dad starts making huge sweeping decisions for him. Overall, it’s a very typical teenager/parent relationship, on the alienation side of the spectrum. Not to mention it’s all very masculine and his dad feels uncomfortable expressing any sort of emotion towards his son, which makes Campbell close off more and on it goes.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
No other siblings are mentioned when his dad comes to meet him and Campbell really feels like an only child. So probably not.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
He has an Auntie Susan who lives in Perth but he doesn’t seem to be for or against her. She just is.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Campbell seems to have kind of replaced his dad with Eddie. He feels betrayed by his own father, and he really looks up to Eddie as being oddly a sort of glamorous figure as a radio DJ. His own dad is a glorified road sweeper, which Campbell looks down on, especially as he wants to do something glorious with his life. He seems to have additionally accepted everyone at St. Jude’s as his substitute family.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
He probably had other best friends before he started living at St. Jude’s but his best friend in the Asylum is Fergus. They clearly met when Campbell moved in, and Campbell probably made friends with him because he was interesting, and always escaping. He wasn’t like the other inmates who just sit and watch TV all day. Campbell likes exciting things and Fergus, being prone to doing exciting things, was the obvious choice for a friend. Fergus also puts up with Campbell’s ridiculousness for the most part.
6. Does he have other close friends?
There’s Eddie, but other than Eddie, he seems to be friendly with everyone and anyone, but friends with only a few.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He will talk and be friendly to anyone but he has a bit of trouble with listening, which means he can be kind of a dick. He’s nice at heart, though, and he does care about people. But if they disagree with him, he stands his ground and acts petulant and so on.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Friends, definitely. He feels rather alienated from his family.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Campbell is basically a failure with women and is therefore single. It comes of his inability to compromise as well as, presumably, his condition turning at least a few of them off. He also comes off as a little bit frighteningly earnest.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
Nope. Not as such.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
His first crush was probably a girl in his class in grade 3. And then an hour later, he decided he didn’t really like her very much after all and decided to like a different, prettier girl. By lunchtime, he’d cycled through a few of his female classmates and decided on one, who he teased, and pulled the chair out from under when she was going to sit down and bothered for about two weeks before getting bored of her because she didn’t appear to like him back and becoming interested in football. (Which lasted about as long.)
Right now, it’s sort of between Julia Roberts and Michelle Pfieffer. Julia is really hot but Michelle was in a catsuit in Batman Returns. A CATSUIT.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
He seems like the sort to honestly just want anyone. But if he got choosy, I imagine he’d really love there to be someone who just accepts him, mental condition and all. Being attractive couldn’t hurt as well. And if he’s really lucky, an American accent.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
He doesn’t have children and he doesn’t really want them right now. He wants to focus on himself, and get somewhere with his life, and not have kids getting in the way.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
By being rather caustic in response to any criticism or rudeness, he has a talent for making enemies fairly quickly. He’s rude to the police, even. He has little respect for authority, which means he vilifies most of the people in charge of the asylum, or Stuart, the nurse’s assistant.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
I have difficulty really deciding. Whatever he is, he’s very comfortable with it, gender-wise and sexual orientation-wise. I don’t think he’s a 0 but he is definitely not a 6. Probably not even a 3, honestly. 1 or 1.5 seems likely? In that he would date any person he really truly liked but given the chance to sleep with someone, or say who he was attracted to, would always choose a woman.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
He’s still a virgin but he wants sex. Probably preeeeeeetty badly, considering that he’s a teenage male and it’s also apparently one of his first goals after getting out of the Asylum.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
He doesn’t exactly have weird bedroom habits, as he hasn’t really had a chance to develop them. And his turn ons and offs are fairly typical as well for a teenage boy.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
His birthday (decided by me) is April 18, 1975. Which makes him an Aries and a Rabbit. Aries fits because I chose the date. The one website I found says Aries are adventurous, clever, energetic, dynamic, selfish and impatient, which is pretty much just Campbell.
However, Rabbits are supposed to be calm, peaceful, timid and conservative. Which is pretty much the exact opposite of Campbell.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
Campbell is probably agnostic. If he was ever religious, it probably didn’t last very long because he lost interest in it. I don’t think he really spends much time thinking about it, and he probably doesn’t go to church unless he’s at home, and then he goes with his parents because it’s easier than arguing about it and zones out.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Campbell’s morals are pretty grey area. He’s not the sort who’d ever kill someone, and stealing isn’t his default, but if it looked like stealing was the only way to get to where he wanted and he could get away with, he might. He has no problem lying to people to get his way. “Sometimes you have to just look them in the eye and tell them the truth that SHOULD be instead of the truth that IS.” It’s part of his weird sort of confidence, as well as the fact that he seems to have to be actively thinking about other people to really consider them.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
He’d either ignore the fact of the differing belief completely or be rude to the other person. Unless it only differed slightly, in which case he might be open to listening. Additionally, if the other person was someone he trusted, it might take a bit of convincing, and angry argument, but he could possibly come around to the belief, or at least mostly accept it.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
He’s probably at least a little bit sexist, although not actively so. It’s not as if he thinks women shouldn’t work. If he was married, though, he’d probably expect his wife to do the cooking and cleaning. And he probably believes in gender stereotypes. That sort of sexism. He’s a little bit more open to other minorities as, being bipolar, he’s one himself, and he’s experienced discrimination. Plus, he’s intelligent enough to make the connection.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Campbell is fairly poor. He really does live from paycheque to paycheque. He moved out of home properly almost as soon as he got out, confident in his ability to support himself and move up and forward in his career. Of course, he hasn’t, and he still only has one spot a week, and the job that he got to prove to his dad that he was taking things seriously (as well as prevent him from shipping him off to his aunt/having him sectioned) is what he’s supporting himself on.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
His social status seems to be fairly solid middle class. Probably more lower middle than upper-middle but he seems to feel comfortable about just faffing around and not actually doing anything solidly and definitely money-related. He’s never had to go hungry, or wear hand-me-downs.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Campbell lives in a tiny shit flat. It’s two rooms. One room has a stove, a fridge, a counter, a small table, two chairs, his guitar, a record player and a bed in it and the other room’s the bathroom. All of his clothing is in one box, when it’s not on the floor. He can’t afford anything better at the moment but he’s new enough to it that he’s thinking of it in a penniless artist sort of way instead of realising what a shithole it really is.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
If he ever has anything to spare, it goes to spur-of-the-moment clothing or record purchases. He wants to look cool, and have a certain amount of knowledge in his area. Also, cigarettes. He has an odd habit of quitting any time he thinks he needs to protect his voice, or when he doesn’t have enough money, or something of that sort, and then starting up again only a little bit later.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
Technically two things. One is what he wants to be doing, his spot at Radio Scotland. And he really is talented at it. He’s a good talker, and he has enough ideas to be perpetually interesting. However, it’s only one slot, and therefore he has to supplement it. He started out with a job at a record shop, only he completely alienated his coworkers and was only 50% successful at actually making sales, and he was therefore given increasingly crap hours until he quit a month later, just after Christmas. To replace it, he got a job as a barman. The hours are fairly late, but good enough and he’s not bad at it. He talks a bit more than he probably should but he hasn’t alienated anyone yet and he found the job easy enough to learn that he didn’t lose interest and not learn it.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Campbell’s interest change by the week, or the day. He has difficulty committing to things if he doesn’t see immediate result out of them. And because he’s interested in everything, he flits from interest to interest. His free time is either spent on his latest obsession in some way, or on watching films, or TV. One of his few constant obsessions is America. He watches American movies, and TV, and thinks that a New York Giants ballcap will make him look cool. He also knows a certain amount of the slang, and can do a decent American accent, indicating practice and research.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Campbell eats rather a lot, when he can. If the meal’s being provided, he goes back for seconds. If he’s having to buy it, he eats rather badly, with a lot of takeaways and canned stuff. He’s never bothered really learning to cook, and therefore he can’t. If he goes out to a pub with mates, he’ll binge drink, but one of the few things he’s taken Eddie’s advice on (rather than just copying him) is to not become an alcoholic. So he’ll drink by himself on occasion, but not constantly.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color?
There’s a certain set of colours clothing designers for kids and teens used a LOT in the 90s. I associate pretty much all of those with him. I think that’s his favourite “colour” as well: as many as possible.
2. Smell?
Chocolate. It’s just a good smell. And he isn’t outside very much to get into any other sorts of smells.
3. Time of day?
As he’s probably never up before noon unless he’s forced to, I imagine his favourite time is afternoon
4. Season?
Summer.
5. Book?
He doesn’t really have the patience for reading, really. He’s probably been reading the same Stephen King book for two months, now.
6. Music?
Naturally, I associate oldies with him, specifically the Beatles, as they’re a theme in the show. As for his favourite music, it’s pretty typical rock.
7. Place?
He’s a bit obsessed with America, so despite him never having been there, it’s probably his favourite place.
8. Substance?
Cigarettes. Or cocoa.
9. Plant?
…Trees? Maybe?
10. Animal?
Thanks, mostly, to Neil Gaiman, I can’t help but associate David Tennant with fennec foxes. Thanks, man.