One True Characters
I hate Adobe Premiere. Or rather, I hate how my computer is unable to deal with it. I might hate it more than Windows Movie Maker, if that's possible. (insert long technical rant here)
Hi, LJ. Want some multifandom meta? You're getting it.
fox1013 recently had a really cool post about having a One True Character/Archetype. What do you get when you put together all the characters you love most? Fox's was made of gifted children and sociopaths. It sent me on thinky thoughts about the kind of characters I keep being drawn to, beyond just "crazy! and preferably English crazy!"
So here's what my equation looks like:
Lindsay Weir (Freaks and Geeks) + Gaius Baltar
+ .5[Simon Tam + Wesley Wyndam-Pryce] + .5[Nicolette Grant + David Fisher]
+ scattered fractions of Professor Lupin, Tess Harding, and Angela from The Office
The answer to that equation would be someone I'd just hug and hug forever.
What this means about my OTC archetype, as far as I can figure:
Book-smart, particularly in science or math. Kind of anal and easily stressed out or upset by things that wouldn't faze the other characters. Tends toward teh crazy, but functional. Not quite good or brave enough to be the hero. Unintentionally funny. Has a self-perception that does not match what the audience feels about them. Probably has a gentle paternal or maternal side toward someone in particular -- pets, younger siblings, surrogate/adopted children -- but not necessarily a kid.
Outsider status, like even among the misfits and werewolves and gays, is the big overlap. I'm sitting here thinking "how the hell did Tess get in there, anyway?" when it hit me she was the alienest of all the aliens, which pretty much describes every character in that math. This whole list is made of people whose entire storyline is desperately trying to make themselves fit (Lindsay, Gaius, David) or else overly embracing the special-snowflakey thing that isolates them (this is latter-day rogue Wes in my mind, and Nicki in her prairie dresses, and Simon not liking to swear on a ship full of criminals: "It means more out here. It's all I have.")
P.S. Is there a reason all my male favorites are extremely effeminate? 'Cause they clearly are. Yet they also get laid a lot. This concerns me a little. Meanwhile the women are superficially very feminine -- like historically feminine, like actually from-another-era feminine -- but there's an awareness of how much of an act that is. (Lindsay is the only one who doesn't fit this part, I think. I can't really explain what goes on with her gender on that show, but she's both the only major female character and the main protagonist, so one day she's going to star in my Judd Apatow & People With Vaginas thesis.)
Anyway. What about you? You don't have to go crazy with the self-analysis like I did. I just think the whole equation/perfect-character-in-a-nutshell thing is fun.
Alternately, is there a character I haven't discovered yet that you think I would love?
Hi, LJ. Want some multifandom meta? You're getting it.
fox1013 recently had a really cool post about having a One True Character/Archetype. What do you get when you put together all the characters you love most? Fox's was made of gifted children and sociopaths. It sent me on thinky thoughts about the kind of characters I keep being drawn to, beyond just "crazy! and preferably English crazy!"
So here's what my equation looks like:
Lindsay Weir (Freaks and Geeks) + Gaius Baltar
+ .5[Simon Tam + Wesley Wyndam-Pryce] + .5[Nicolette Grant + David Fisher]
+ scattered fractions of Professor Lupin, Tess Harding, and Angela from The Office
The answer to that equation would be someone I'd just hug and hug forever.
What this means about my OTC archetype, as far as I can figure:
Book-smart, particularly in science or math. Kind of anal and easily stressed out or upset by things that wouldn't faze the other characters. Tends toward teh crazy, but functional. Not quite good or brave enough to be the hero. Unintentionally funny. Has a self-perception that does not match what the audience feels about them. Probably has a gentle paternal or maternal side toward someone in particular -- pets, younger siblings, surrogate/adopted children -- but not necessarily a kid.
Outsider status, like even among the misfits and werewolves and gays, is the big overlap. I'm sitting here thinking "how the hell did Tess get in there, anyway?" when it hit me she was the alienest of all the aliens, which pretty much describes every character in that math. This whole list is made of people whose entire storyline is desperately trying to make themselves fit (Lindsay, Gaius, David) or else overly embracing the special-snowflakey thing that isolates them (this is latter-day rogue Wes in my mind, and Nicki in her prairie dresses, and Simon not liking to swear on a ship full of criminals: "It means more out here. It's all I have.")
P.S. Is there a reason all my male favorites are extremely effeminate? 'Cause they clearly are. Yet they also get laid a lot. This concerns me a little. Meanwhile the women are superficially very feminine -- like historically feminine, like actually from-another-era feminine -- but there's an awareness of how much of an act that is. (Lindsay is the only one who doesn't fit this part, I think. I can't really explain what goes on with her gender on that show, but she's both the only major female character and the main protagonist, so one day she's going to star in my Judd Apatow & People With Vaginas thesis.)
Anyway. What about you? You don't have to go crazy with the self-analysis like I did. I just think the whole equation/perfect-character-in-a-nutshell thing is fun.
Alternately, is there a character I haven't discovered yet that you think I would love?