It's why I hates the novel The Time Traveler's Wife. While the characters were not 'good' or 'evil', they were such utter Mary Sues that it was unbearable. Obnoxious, pretentious Mary Sues to boot.
Characters that are too perfect
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
Is Shelby the one that died? THE GOOD ONE?
Yeppers.
I think the only time I've disliked a "perfect" character was when the characters were in such an utterly FUBAR situation that trying to be too idealistic was actually going to get everyone killed. Dale from The Walking Dead comes to mind.
That was one of the few shows my ultra religious Catholic father would watch. That alone was enough to ensure I avoid it like the plague.
Speaking of Michael Landon, even as a child I disliked how Charles and Caroline Ingalls were portrayed in the television show as perfect. Okay, having Caroline say "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" on the show wasn't going to happen (though Caroline's fondness for this saying and her hatred of First Nations people is mentioned several times in the Little House books), but the sickly sweetness and goodness was off-putting even to a 10-year-old. It's one of the reasons I stopped watching the show once I started reading the books, the main reason being that compared to the books the show as a whole was complete and utter crap.
Perhaps. But I have the opposite attitude: I do like characters who are unambiguously good or evil. Simply put: I like to know who to root for.
I mean, I certainly don't expect to see such absolutism, but I'm always glad when I do happen to see characters that are. I don't want realism...reality is depressing enough. I want an escape from reality.
Of course people in real life are rarely so clearly defined in terms of good or evil, but that's why I gravitate towards such people in fiction. It's why I like Transformers so much - it gives me characters like Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, who are as close to absolute good as we're likely to see. And it's one of the reasons why I prefer the original Battlestar Galactica over the remake - you just know who's good and who's evil, and it's easier to root for Lorne Greene's version of Adama (although, don't mistake my meaning - EJO's version is noble enough as well), and much easier to root against John Colicos' Baltar.
Again: I KNOW this isn't realistic. But I don't care. It's simply what I enjoy. I fully accept that it'll be hard to find a series or film that has characters like this. And it will probably take a long time. In the meantime, I won't complain if I don't find it; just cheer when I do.
Although there are 'perfect' characters that even I can't stand. For example, there are a couple of Trek novels with "Lieutenant Piper", who is the most obvious Mary Sue that I have ever heard of. I did not like her at all...
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I can't believe it took this long for this answer to occur to me, but:
Snow White, from "Once Upon A Time"
She's just too entirely aware of how pure she supposedly is.
Snow White, from "Once Upon A Time"
She's just too entirely aware of how pure she supposedly is.
OK folks, which family do you think was the most sickly sweet - The Waltons or the Ingalls (TV not books)?
The Bunkers. 
I'm only rewatching this recently because my 5 year old seems to love watching it, but...
the entire cast of "Full House".
It was decent when it was its original run, but it's just way too sappy/goody-goody/sweet for me to stand today! And even when the kids are being "naughty", it's nothing that's even close to what I'd call really bad. Not to mention the fact that they start the sappy music when they beat you over the head with the day's lesson. *shudder* Yeesh.
Oh, and I'm absolutely shocked nobody's mentioned Wesley Crusher yet!
the entire cast of "Full House".
It was decent when it was its original run, but it's just way too sappy/goody-goody/sweet for me to stand today! And even when the kids are being "naughty", it's nothing that's even close to what I'd call really bad. Not to mention the fact that they start the sappy music when they beat you over the head with the day's lesson. *shudder* Yeesh.
Oh, and I'm absolutely shocked nobody's mentioned Wesley Crusher yet!
Speaking of FUBAR, would you think Hanks, as Captain John Miller in "Saving Private Ryan" would qualify in this thread....since I saw it the first time, it left me a little unsettled...maybe a little too...
Sounds more like Ghost Whisperer I think, as I understand it was all about trying to put spirits to rest and "cross over." Touched by an Angel was always a team and the people they got sent to weren't dead (yet?).
I agree with Davros about Superman. I find that character so boring.
I like my characters flawed, so I don't usually end up reading/watching much that would head towards perfect character territory, thankfully. I'll stick with my Tony Soprano and Jay Gatsby.
I like my characters flawed, so I don't usually end up reading/watching much that would head towards perfect character territory, thankfully. I'll stick with my Tony Soprano and Jay Gatsby.
There isn't a clear "winner" for me. I remember an episode of The Waltons where Mary Ellen got hooked on uppers when she was studying for her nursing exams, and another episode where Cora Godsey became an alcoholic and crashed the car she was driving. Oh, and Olivia said the word "damn" in one episode!
On Little House, there were times when Laura was dithering about her relationship with Almanzo, and when she flipped out over the baby who died of SIDS (the baby they had after Rose). And they had two different outcomes for Albert's character. In one, he got hooked on some kind of drugs and Charles had to get him through withdrawals (that was a fairly graphic story); later, the closing narration said he came back to Walnut Grove as "Dr. Albert Ingalls." The second outcome for Albert had him dying as a teenager (I don't remember what disease he had). And then there was the series conclusion, where they blew up the whole town.
So if I had to pick one over the other, I'd say the Waltons, simply because there weren't so many stupid retcons.
Yes! That's the one! Thank you
Mr. Laser Beam, I understand your point and agree that reality is bad enough already. I prefer imperfect characters because it's easier to identify with them. One does get deeper into the movie this way, in a manner. Characters that are more like us (i.e. not 100% good or evil) are easier to understand. We have experienced similar emotions, remember them and thus get involved deeper in the movie than by just watching.
At the risk of being lynched: I liked Wes. It is not easy to have nobody your age and intellect. For a teenager too intelligent to hang around with children and too young to be fully accepted by adults I think he did quite well. Particularly after he became friends with Geordi and Data and finally got the intellectual challenge he needed so desperately.
Could someone please explain what FUBAR means? I've never come across that expression before.
I think the Ingalls were worse than the Waltons. Not because of the characters but mainly because of the work of the director. Too many close ups of doggy eyed people.
FUBAR = Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
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