"I might be empathizing with the wrong character here..."

DocBalance

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So awhile back I went to see one of my good buddies in a production of "Oklahoma!" I'm told it was a decent interpretation, bu I didn't notice that, because I spent the entire thing empathizing with the character who was ostensibly the villain, Judd Fry. Why? Because Curly seemed like an asshole and that lead chick whose name I can't even remember at this point was a one-dimensional, vain, freak.

When the dream sequence came and Curly gets strangled to death, I repressed a cheer. I hated the character that much.I was surprised by just how horrible Judd's ending was.

The reason I say this is because I'm curious: what movie/play/book/what-have-you was ruined for you because you spent the whole thing cheering for the wrong character and then ended up shocked when they lost? I can't be the only person this has happened to. Discuss!
 

nico74

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Feb 11, 2007
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I wish Wiley Coyote to catch Road Runner, I want Tom to catch Jerry and Sylvester to eat that cursed Tweety. See the pattern?
 

RatRace123

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Dec 1, 2009
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Colonel "Badass" Quarritch.
Yeah, yeah we get it the humans are all evil and horrible for not wanting to die because they can't get the unobtanium.
That movie had a very twisted green asop, sure the Navi were in harmony with their environment but it was only because they had the USB hair thingy that allowed them to control everything.
It wasn't shocking that the humans lost or that Quarritch was killed but he was just so entertainingly dickish, I found myself rooting for him.
 

Raykuza

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nico74 said:
I wish Wiley Coyote to catch Road Runner, I want Tom to catch Jerry and Sylvester to eat that cursed Tweety. See the pattern?
All this, but I don't want Pepe le Pew to rape that poor cat...
 

KefkaCultist

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Jun 8, 2010
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The family in Devil's Rejects.
Maybe I'm just messed up in the head, but I'll admit that what happens to them at the end of the movie got me teary eyed
 

G Skunk

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Apr 19, 2010
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I could see a lot more of myself in most of the villains/assassination targets in Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood than for sparkles-in-the-sunlight Ezio, mostly because they (like me) were human beings whereas Ezio was a giant Marty Stu.
 

Trivun

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Dec 13, 2008
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TheMaddestHatter said:
So awhile back I went to see one of my good buddies in a production of "Oklahoma!" I'm told it was a decent interpretation, bu I didn't notice that, because I spent the entire thing empathizing with the character who was ostensibly the villain, Judd Fry. Why? Because Curly seemed like an asshole and that lead chick whose name I can't even remember at this point was a one-dimensional, vain, freak.

When the dream sequence came and Curly gets strangled to death, I repressed a cheer. I hated the character that much.I was surprised by just how horrible Judd's ending was.

The reason I say this is because I'm curious: what movie/play/book/what-have-you was ruined for you because you spent the whole thing cheering for the wrong character and then ended up shocked when they lost? I can't be the only person this has happened to. Discuss!
To be fair, if you see it again with a different cast then the odds are high that you'll get a much more different view, and empathize with different characters. The thing with plays is that the way you see characters depends very much on the way they are portrayed by the actor. To cite an example from my own life, I acted in the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, at school. Now, with the way my friends and co-actors played their roles, I found myself empathizing more with the main character, John Proctor, than anyone else, and with the way his actor played the final scene (which I didn't appear in and thus watched from the wings), I was really moved by the way the character broke down at the end and gave such a powerful speech and eulogy before being led away to his death. But then, I saw the same play at university a few years later, and with the acting in that version, I was more empathizing with the 'villain', Abigail, rather than John Proctor. Don't get me wrong, the character was still well acted, but he seemed much less sympathetic and more one-dimensional than the previous portrayal I'd seen, whereas the girl playing Abigail gave a much more solid performance than the actress in the previous play I'd seen.

For the record, by the way, that's also my answer to the thread question...
 

WolfThomas

Man must have a code.
Dec 21, 2007
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I feel some fans of Rorshach suffer from this. Don't get me wrong he is a good character, but some people find him a little too likeable.
 

j0frenzy

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Dec 26, 2008
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About half-way through Evangelion I decided that I was rooting for the apocalypse. I just wanted that entire universe to die. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
 

The Salty Vulcan

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Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Ok, he didn't ruin the movie and in the end I was still rooting for Red, but Nuada did have a legitimate claim for his actions. You only have to hear the tone in his voice when the Plant God died, that he was partially right in his thinking. To a lesser extent, his troll accomplice Mr Wink. Yeah, the guy was just a big bruiser with an iron fist, but he did have a genuine moment of humanity before he died.
 

Berethond

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Nov 8, 2008
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I always empathized with Magneto more than the X-Men. I mean, he's just trying to prevent from history from reoccurring the way it did before. His methods just didn't work out. Well, that and Wolverine's a douche.
 

dalek sec

Leader of the Cult of Skaro
Jul 20, 2008
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RatRace123 said:
Colonel "Badass" Quarritch.
Yeah, yeah we get it the humans are all evil and horrible for not wanting to die because they can't get the unobtanium.
That movie had a very twisted green asop, sure the Navi were in harmony with their environment but it was only because they had the USB hair thingy that allowed them to control everything.
It wasn't shocking that the humans lost or that Quarritch was killed but he was just so entertainingly dickish, I found myself rooting for him.
Don't worry, when the Imperial Guard or Space Marines are brought in those foul xeno's will fall before the glory of the Emperor! :D

If that ever does happen I can only hope that Commissar Cain kick's Sulley's ass like he did that World Eater Marine.
 

SimuLord

Whom Gods Annoy
Aug 20, 2008
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nico74 said:
I wish Wiley Coyote to catch Road Runner, I want Tom to catch Jerry and Sylvester to eat that cursed Tweety. See the pattern?
Wile E. caught the Road Runner in a famous (and hilarious) scene where the Coyote shrank down to the size of a bug while the RR remained full size.

Tom caught Jerry in Johann Mouse, but luckily for Jerry the servants heard the music and "a cat that could play? A mouse that could waltz?"

Sylvester never caught Tweety, but dear gods, Tweety's a sadistic douchebag. And not even a funny one like Screwy Squirrel. Tweety's just plain mean-spirited. He's not even doing it "for the lulz" like Screwy does.

So there's that.
 

The Salty Vulcan

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Jun 28, 2009
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SimuLord said:
nico74 said:
I wish Wiley Coyote to catch Road Runner, I want Tom to catch Jerry and Sylvester to eat that cursed Tweety. See the pattern?
Wile E. caught the Road Runner in a famous (and hilarious) scene where the Coyote shrank down to the size of a bug while the RR remained full size.

Tom caught Jerry in Johann Mouse, but luckily for Jerry the servants heard the music and "a cat that could play? A mouse that could waltz?"

Sylvester never caught Tweety, but dear gods, Tweety's a sadistic douchebag. And not even a funny one like Screwy Squirrel. Tweety's just plain mean-spirited. He's not even doing it "for the lulz" like Screwy does.

So there's that.
Lets not forget what Tweety did to Eddie in Who Framed Roger Rabbit!
No. More. PIGGIES!!
 

Nouw

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RatRace123 said:
Colonel "Badass" Quarritch.
Yeah, yeah we get it the humans are all evil and horrible for not wanting to die because they can't get the unobtanium.
That movie had a very twisted green asop, sure the Navi were in harmony with their environment but it was only because they had the USB hair thingy that allowed them to control everything.
It wasn't shocking that the humans lost or that Quarritch was killed but he was just so entertainingly dickish, I found myself rooting for him.
/thread.

The only time I see decent Space Marines and they get their ass-kicked by Xenos? HERESY!



Quantum Roberts said:
Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Ok, he didn't ruin the movie and in the end I was still rooting for Red, but Nuada did have a legitimate claim for his actions. You only have to hear the tone in his voice when the Plant God died, that he was partially right in his thinking. To a lesser extent, his troll accomplice Mr Wink. Yeah, the guy was just a big bruiser with an iron fist, but he did have a genuine moment of humanity before he died.
I wanted him to die, I felt sympathy for the guards D:

Basically the Colonel from Avatar. I wanted him to get his way so bad damn it! I wanted the Space Marines to win!
 

Lazarus Long

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Strawman Has A Point. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StrawmanHasAPoint] I think my favourite example is Oliver Platt in 2012. Also, I always felt really bad for Skeletor, poor guy.