(no subject)
I've never understood why people complain about characters being "whiny". For one thing half the time those characters really aren't horribly whiny, for another... why is it the Ultimate Evil?
I'm whiny. A good 90% of the people I know are whiny, if not more. Not ANH!Luke caliber whiny, sure, but we have a tendency to complain when something happens to us.
What do you know, most people do that! Let me repeat that: Most people complain when bad things happen to them. I complain a bit more than I have a right to, I'm sure. It can get annoying, but it is hard to me to keep my mouth shut when I'm in pain or annoyed. Having whiny tendencies is pretty much a default character trait. People who don't complain are held in awe by me.
Which is why I don't find it to be that big of a deal in characters. In whining, they act like real people. I thought that was the point of good characterization: making fictional character beleivable.
I'm going to use Kagome from Inuyasha as an example. Most Kagome haters I find, call her whiny, which boggles me. For one thing, I find her to complain much less than she deserves. Are they referring to her crying at the beginning of the series? Because honestly--isn't that to be expected? It would be horribly unrealistic if she took traveling back in time & meeting supernatural beings without a few fits. I thought she handled it rather admirably, really--she was resourceful & strong, despite being thrust into a very spectacular situation.
Really, that's what I find endearing about Kagome. She is a very normal girl who is clumsy, frets over math, yes, complains a little--it is only in extraordinary circumstances that her own extraordinary strength of heart becomes apparent. Gives me hope for myself, doesn't it? :)
But obviously, because of that, she will be accused of being perfect, too. The same fans that call her whiny complain about her being a Mary Sue. The fandom is so torn about wanting characters with flaws & wanting them without. It's crazy & hypocritical.
OotP!Harry also gets his fair share of "whiny" accusations when he's just being written realisticly as well. I liked him more with his temper, honestly, though I found it annoying at first. Upon rereading, I thought it made him much more realistic to the point that I really, really felt for him. It wasn't like that in previous books (well, the end of GoF); honestly, I thought he lacked a whole lot of personality until now, if anything.
Harry has always lashed out when emotion got too much for him to handle. As I interpret his character, he doesn't quite know how to express himself--probably due to his childhood. So he ignores his emotion until it can't be ignored any more--and then he snaps & yells. It's in previous books. It's much, much more obvious in OotP because he has so much to deal with: many people, including some of his classmates, are against him, Dumbledore is ignoring him, he can't do a thing about what's going on outside Hogwarts, the new teacher is giving him hell... All of that, coupled with the fact that he is 15, has a constant headache, & hasn't gotten a proper night's sleep in a very long time, is a bit much to handle. It doesn't make it particularily right that he takes it out on Ron & Hermione, but it makes it understandable.
The fact that he handles this with much more grace in HBP just makes him so much more respectable. He overcomes his weaknesses. I love that so much more than not having any in the first place.
I could touch loads of other characters (Shinji Ikari not being last on that list), but I think these two really express my point enough.
Whining = natural. It can be annoying. I find it a lot more annoying when someone is rude, cruel, hypocrtical, or a number of other things. In fact, whining is at the bottom of my annoying character traits list.
Love your characters when they're beleivable. When they don't complain once in a while, they're probably more annoying than if they do.
I'm whiny. A good 90% of the people I know are whiny, if not more. Not ANH!Luke caliber whiny, sure, but we have a tendency to complain when something happens to us.
What do you know, most people do that! Let me repeat that: Most people complain when bad things happen to them. I complain a bit more than I have a right to, I'm sure. It can get annoying, but it is hard to me to keep my mouth shut when I'm in pain or annoyed. Having whiny tendencies is pretty much a default character trait. People who don't complain are held in awe by me.
Which is why I don't find it to be that big of a deal in characters. In whining, they act like real people. I thought that was the point of good characterization: making fictional character beleivable.
I'm going to use Kagome from Inuyasha as an example. Most Kagome haters I find, call her whiny, which boggles me. For one thing, I find her to complain much less than she deserves. Are they referring to her crying at the beginning of the series? Because honestly--isn't that to be expected? It would be horribly unrealistic if she took traveling back in time & meeting supernatural beings without a few fits. I thought she handled it rather admirably, really--she was resourceful & strong, despite being thrust into a very spectacular situation.
Really, that's what I find endearing about Kagome. She is a very normal girl who is clumsy, frets over math, yes, complains a little--it is only in extraordinary circumstances that her own extraordinary strength of heart becomes apparent. Gives me hope for myself, doesn't it? :)
But obviously, because of that, she will be accused of being perfect, too. The same fans that call her whiny complain about her being a Mary Sue. The fandom is so torn about wanting characters with flaws & wanting them without. It's crazy & hypocritical.
OotP!Harry also gets his fair share of "whiny" accusations when he's just being written realisticly as well. I liked him more with his temper, honestly, though I found it annoying at first. Upon rereading, I thought it made him much more realistic to the point that I really, really felt for him. It wasn't like that in previous books (well, the end of GoF); honestly, I thought he lacked a whole lot of personality until now, if anything.
Harry has always lashed out when emotion got too much for him to handle. As I interpret his character, he doesn't quite know how to express himself--probably due to his childhood. So he ignores his emotion until it can't be ignored any more--and then he snaps & yells. It's in previous books. It's much, much more obvious in OotP because he has so much to deal with: many people, including some of his classmates, are against him, Dumbledore is ignoring him, he can't do a thing about what's going on outside Hogwarts, the new teacher is giving him hell... All of that, coupled with the fact that he is 15, has a constant headache, & hasn't gotten a proper night's sleep in a very long time, is a bit much to handle. It doesn't make it particularily right that he takes it out on Ron & Hermione, but it makes it understandable.
The fact that he handles this with much more grace in HBP just makes him so much more respectable. He overcomes his weaknesses. I love that so much more than not having any in the first place.
I could touch loads of other characters (Shinji Ikari not being last on that list), but I think these two really express my point enough.
Whining = natural. It can be annoying. I find it a lot more annoying when someone is rude, cruel, hypocrtical, or a number of other things. In fact, whining is at the bottom of my annoying character traits list.
Love your characters when they're beleivable. When they don't complain once in a while, they're probably more annoying than if they do.