ah! Thank you! *notes down acronym as highly useful phrase*
Characters that are too perfect
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
Yeah. I don't know how I missed this post the first time, but I agree entirely, as well. Especially the examples cited!
Yeah, but she's had her heart darkened for a while now (a full season?) for her actions regarding Cora (Regina's mother).
Hand in your Trek card, please. Archer was in ENTERPRISE, not VOYAGER. Hang your head in nerd shame.
I think something that might be considered as regards the Waltons' perceived saintliness is the factor of the time period in which the show was set. A large part of the show's appeal was in the portrayal of a family, a large one at that, trying to make their way through a time of extreme dislocation and privation of our history, one which was still personally familiar to a large sement of the audience.
The fact that the family valued the disparate talents of its members, utilized them for the communal good, and managed to successfully stay together with love, respect, and optimism in trying circumstances, however jarring the rosy idealism and unrealistic portrayal of the framework might have sometime seemed, served to feelingly move many people. The fact that these touchstones may have been ersatz ones and the references manufactured, did nothing to diminish the appeal of an experience that, not coincidentally, came at a time when popular culture providers were seeking to provide some grounding after the country made its way through an extremely tumultous period in its own right.
The fact that the family valued the disparate talents of its members, utilized them for the communal good, and managed to successfully stay together with love, respect, and optimism in trying circumstances, however jarring the rosy idealism and unrealistic portrayal of the framework might have sometime seemed, served to feelingly move many people. The fact that these touchstones may have been ersatz ones and the references manufactured, did nothing to diminish the appeal of an experience that, not coincidentally, came at a time when popular culture providers were seeking to provide some grounding after the country made its way through an extremely tumultous period in its own right.
Examples of too-perfect:
- Kid Anakin from The Phantom Menace. (It wasn't Jake Lloyd's fault, it was the whole concept, writing and direction.)
- Jack Shepherd on Lost.
- Most incarnations of James Bond or Batman or Superman (yes, their being unbelievably perfect is kind of the premise of their characters, but still).
- The team of lovable anti-heroes in George Clooney's "Ocean's" movies (yes, it was fun the first time out, but it got old).
There are lots more.
But what I notice a lot more these days, TBH, is Annoyingly Neurotic / Dysfunctional / "Quirky", like to a degree where it's not believable that the character can function in the role they're supposed to be doing. It's a common Sue trope and has become a much more common trait of heroes generally as a means of making stories "grittier." It's often just as annoying and violent to narrative logic as the Perfect Character. (Cf. for example the incredibly twitchy Sherlock Holmes in Elementary -- by contrast with Cumberbatch's version, who is also mentally ill* but at least has an ailment that believably makes him charismatic to those around him.)
* Also? Hate hate hate the modern rule whereby brilliant characters must also be dysfunctional, as if someone was balancing out Positive and Negative character traits on a GURPS character sheet or something.
- Kid Anakin from The Phantom Menace. (It wasn't Jake Lloyd's fault, it was the whole concept, writing and direction.)
- Jack Shepherd on Lost.
- Most incarnations of James Bond or Batman or Superman (yes, their being unbelievably perfect is kind of the premise of their characters, but still).
- The team of lovable anti-heroes in George Clooney's "Ocean's" movies (yes, it was fun the first time out, but it got old).
There are lots more.
But what I notice a lot more these days, TBH, is Annoyingly Neurotic / Dysfunctional / "Quirky", like to a degree where it's not believable that the character can function in the role they're supposed to be doing. It's a common Sue trope and has become a much more common trait of heroes generally as a means of making stories "grittier." It's often just as annoying and violent to narrative logic as the Perfect Character. (Cf. for example the incredibly twitchy Sherlock Holmes in Elementary -- by contrast with Cumberbatch's version, who is also mentally ill* but at least has an ailment that believably makes him charismatic to those around him.)
* Also? Hate hate hate the modern rule whereby brilliant characters must also be dysfunctional, as if someone was balancing out Positive and Negative character traits on a GURPS character sheet or something.
^Ah, the perfect imperfection. I find this particularly annoying when in the form of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl; a character whose mental illness exists to enlighten a man, but the symptoms of which only extend so far as is still sexy.
and let's not forget that annoying stereotype of the child that gets lost or kidnapped and has to be rescued by a squad of heroes who infallibly perish within the next 90 minutes because the kid stubbornly and stupidly keeps disobeying orders. Nevertheless the sole surviver of the hero squad won't cease to assure the kid how great and wonderful he/she is and that nothing that happened was his/her fault.
*ugh* Touched by an Angel. Couldn't stand that show sometimes.
Ghost Whisperer... I HATED this show with a PASSION.
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