I'm not sure if he knows.
Honestly, I don't actually know if there is one or not. I haven't checked. I just assumed there wasn't because like 99% of shows out there there contain some sort of romance.
Movie, TV, Web Series, and Music Hot Take(s).
- Thread starter BrawlMan
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Honestly, I don't actually know if there is one or not. I haven't checked. I just assumed there wasn't because like 99% of shows out there there contain some sort of romance.
I mean, everybody working retail has a story of "that one time with that asshole", but that's the outlier. Most people are more than happy sneezing into a mask, myself included.
Revenge 3:14 And so saith John to Jesus "I haveth the High Ground" and then he cutteth off Jesus's limbs and left him there to die on a lava planet.
Yeah, Hollywood does that. There was a movie that came out a while back called The Finest Hours that's about an event that actually has a lot of really good real life drama in it yet they staple a fucking romance onto it. Like, romance is a thing that is used so often because of how it connects to so many people, I get why Hollywood does this but it is really frustrating at times.
"The character is supposed to be unlikeable" is the dumbest fucking defense of a shit character and I'm hearing it far too often these days.
I agree with that one. You can write a character that is meant to be hated, but still write them well. Case in point: Professor Umbridge in Harry Potter.
It makes me think of a YouTuber I watch who covered all of Madonna's movies. When he covered her worst one, Swept Away, he summed up the difference between a well-written unlikeable character and a badly written one perfectly. "I hate her. I mean, I know I'm supposed to hate her. But I don't want to see her get her comeuppance. I just want her gone."
It makes me think of a YouTuber I watch who covered all of Madonna's movies. When he covered her worst one, Swept Away, he summed up the difference between a well-written unlikeable character and a badly written one perfectly. "I hate her. I mean, I know I'm supposed to hate her. But I don't want to see her get her comeuppance. I just want her gone."
I agree it can get used as a defense against bad character writing, but the idea of a purposefully unlikeable (main) character is itself not a bad one. I feel both sides are often guilty of this criticism or dismissing of criticism.
The obvious problem in writing purposefully unlikeable characters is that they need to be engaging. A likeable hero character that isn't engaging is just boring or bland, an unlikeable character that isn't engaging is both boring and annoying. But then what's considered engaging also varies from person to person, making critical discourse surrounding certain unlikeable characters a bit of a quagmire.
It's something I've heard many times on a writing podcast I listen to. Having your characters be proactive is the easiest way to make readers interested in them. It's why so many stories resort to big fight scenes or action filled chase sequences, because stuff is happening and people are doing things and why quiet introspection is hard (But rewarding) because you always have to watch out that you don't become boring with characters not doing anything or getting anywhere. Unfortunately, proactivity can also cause audiences to be tricked (Whether by the writers or themselves) into thinking a character is well written simply because they are doing something. "Wait, how did this character figure out the hero's trick in 5 seconds when they've never been shown to be smart before?" "WHO CARES! Wasn't it badass when they suddenly flipped everything on its head?!"
Exactly why I hate Black Lagoon, Rick and Morty, the 3rd season of Drawn Together & Movie, and Shaman King (manga) so much.
Well in those cases those characters really are supposed to be unlikable. Bob was talking about badly written characters being defended using that as an excuse. In your case (And my own, as I feel the same about those shows) we don't like following unlikable characters regardless of how intentional it is.
Depends on the show you're talking. Black Lagoon is almost nothing, but nihilistic wannabe sociopaths/psychopaths with barely a difference between each other. The only characters I like are from the Lovelace clan. Garcia, Fabiola, and Roberta, because they actually have something else going on for them. Drawn Together became this by the 3rd season where everyone became unlikeable, and relied way too much on shock humor. The Movie got even worse and creators had a bug up their asses, because South Park was doing better than them. They never got any work ever again after the DT Movie. Plus, some characters are still supposed to be seen as sympathetic.
Shaman King (manga) and I am gonna assume the second anime adaption suffers from his. Anna Kyoyama is an unsympathetic biatch that is an abusive girlfriend, and Hao Asakura is a badly written, overpowered villain, that we're supposed to feel sorry for too much and cry about, because he lost his fucking mommy! Cry me a river! You kill over a 1000 people with a smile on your face! You don't deserve jack shit!
Rick and Morty is a mixed example, depending on who you are talking about. Even then, characters like Rick and Beth we're supposed to see as "sensible" or "more right" by comparison to other characters (Jerry) or the villain/stooge of the day to be humiliated. It got to the point where in Season 3, I hated Beth more than Rick in a lot of cases. By the time Season 4 and Season 5 came out, the damage was already done. I will give them credit for finally showing how much of loser Rick actually is, but I am in no rush to bother with Season 6 (and most likely the series finale).
Exactly. I'll throw in Elfen Lied while I'm at it too.
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Elfen Lied pisses me off. "It is genetically inevitable for us to become evil psychopathic torturers and murders. It's not my fault I do all these horrible things."
The funny thing is, Nana was one of the exceptions to that rule. Contradicting how full of shit that genetics excuse actually is. The manga version is even worse, and contradicts the story and explanation even more.
I only remember two parts of Elfen Lied: The beginning when she's escaping from containment and the Puppy Scene.
The Puppy Scene felt like it was meant to justify why she's so psychotic and god did that put me off the show so much.
Pretty much this, and Lucy/Kaede being jealous of Kohta's cousin. He lied about the gender of his cousin (who is a girl), which is a fucking stupid reason to go kill crazy on everyone! For the record, his dumb cousin does have a crush on him, and is a brat, but Kaede could not have possibly known that at the start.