I know I’ve done this to death here, but Tolkien’s Turin Turambar makes my teeth itch. He’s a whiny, self-pitying emo kid who happens to occasionally stumble into doing great and heroic deeds. I have not and will not read The Children of Hurin because I’d be tempted to burn the damn thing by the time Turin comes to Nargothrond…
on House, I actually don’t mind House so much. He’s supposed to be a jerk. And Cuddy’s alright. But the rest of them make me want to drive icepicks through their eyes.
on MAS*H- I love the show, but all the characters are obnoxious. Especially Hawkeye.
and in RENT- I absolutely love the show, but everyone acts like anyone who wants them to work for a living or pay for the stuff they buy like the rest of the world is some supervillain bent on destroying all art. And then they make money off things like rigging ATM machines and being hired hits on little dogs.
and I get the feeling we’re supposed to like Tyra on America’s Next Top Model. And probably also Miss Jay. I can’t stand either one of them.
I like Fanny Price. She has really strong feelings about right and wrong and although she has no power and almost no influence, still keeps trying to live up to those feelings. Whether in the midden of her birth family’s home, or the empty elegance of Mansfield, she’s still doing her best to be true to herself. And she has the temerity to fall in love with Edmund before he falls in love with her, which Austen makes clear in P&P and the rest of her books isn’t really the done thing- not modest/ladylike to dare to have a strong preference before he’s shown his hand. Go Fanny!
Of course, Mary Crawford is way more fun. Fanny doesn’t make jokes about rears and vices.
Is this a joke? We absolutely aren’t supposed to like Cartman. He’s the villain of the show. He’s one of the most evil characters on television. He’s misogynistic, anti-Semitic, manipulative, racist, murderous, and hateful. There is absolutely nothing he wouldn’t stoop to, and regularly does things that would be too horrific, over the top, or controversial on any other tv show. Like many great villains, he’s likable, but you aren’t supposed to imagine you would enjoy knowing him. You are supposed to enjoy hating him.
Oh, man, Jane Eyre is not a wimp. Instead of accepting St. John’s proposal, she refuses, when accepting would have given her both social and financial security. A woman in the Victorian era who was not either married or in the protection of an adult male really didn’t have much ground to stand on. Sure, she had her inheritance, but she couldn’t do much with it herself, and if it disappeared, she couldn’t really go out and earn more. And the way she acted at the girls’ school – wow. Jane Eyre isn’t balls-to-the-wall bold, but she is subversive. She does all sorts of things that challenge her status in society, which takes lots of courage.
I also agree with Idlewild about Fanny Price, who is a character surrounded by crappy people. She may do things that don’t fit in with the modern idea of a strong woman, but she also engages in some subversive behavior, like falling in love with Edmund first.
As for Hardy, Gabriel Oak in Far from the Madding Crowd is the quintessential male doormat. God, I hated that book and Bathsheba.
::gasping in horror::
Her name is Lyra Silvertongue! And you wouldn’t say such things if Iorek were around!
Well, that’s not true. Iorek would let you say then, because otherwise he would not be justified in killing you for doing so. But once you’d said it, your skull would be all POP like an eggshell.
I agree. In the beginning of the series there were more decent characters, but they were wrecked by love triangles.
Poor Gabriel Oak was a sucker. Hardy was out to get him from the start. I have to admit I put the book down and laughed for five minutes straight when I got to the part where
the sheep go off the cliff
because although it’s horrible it was just plain obvious that Oak was being set up to be a worthy but bad decision making martyr. Holy crap. Hmm. My main character is a sheep farmer enjoying a very tiny amount of prosperity and stability. What will happen now?!
I made an effort with Hardy and read Return of the Native as well, and he just didn’t do likeable, it seems. Memorable, but mostly miserable.
For me, it will be Billy Jack and his idiot girlfriend Jean. Hell, all the “good guys” from Billy Jack, including everyone in that annoying school. Self-righteous, passive-aggressive, and ineffectual, they just sit back and let their problems get worse and worse, until there are rapes and murders, and shoot-outs with the cops. I wouldn’t want Billy Jack watching my back on a trip to the mall.
On edit: You know, I only saw the first season of Scrubs, but I kind of liked JD. He was kind of clumsy and goofy, but he was a beginner after all, and he even got singled out for praise by Dr. Cox, not an easy man to please. He must have gotten way worse by the later seasons.
Heh. First time I read Wuthering Heights was after having encountered a brilliant Edinburgh Festival pisstake entitled “Withering Looks”, and also reading Stella Gibbons’ “Cold Comfort Farm”. Very hard to get through the thing without breaking into hysterical giggles after that.
I like Jane Eyre. But I don’t care what Fanny Price’s motivations are, I still want to throttle her, and I bet she’s who Charoltte Bronte was thinking of when she wrote about how much she hated Austen’s books.
I also came in here to nominate every single character in “The Nanny”. Flush 'em all away…
I came to nominate all of Jane Austen’s heroines (except Anne Elliot in Persuasion - she’s ok) and see Fanny Price has been dealt with. It’s the preachy, moralising superiority of 'em I can’t stand. Very uncharitable towards their rivals in love (but it’s ok their rivals are of inferior characters!) I suspect that JA and I wouldn’t have hit it off. Oh and well done Emma Thompson for making the characters in Sense and Sensibilty vaguely likeable (the woman) and in the case of the men, giving them some sort of personality at all.
I like Jayne Eyre, though.
I’ve read it twice and haven’t really liked Jane either time. Perhaps I’ll give it another go and try and figure out why, specifically. It may have more to do with the gothic writing style than the character.
Austen’s own mother called Fanny Price “insipid.” This seems to be a pretty good paragraph on her good and bad qualities: Mansfield Park, By Jane Austen
I’ve said it before, but I would like to take just about every single character from every single Pat Conroy novel and line them up against a wall, and then have Bull Meecham just walk up and down the line stooge-slapping them until they stop whining about and dwelling on their problems and start solving them.
I like House, the gorgeous eyes certainly don’t hurt. I kind of like Wilson, he reminds me of puppy that’s been whipped too much. Cuddy gets on my nerves a little but not as much as the 3 Housekateers, especially Cameron.
MAS*H - I used to love the show, but whenever I try to watch it in reruns now I can’t get over how obnoxious all the characters are and I end up turning it off. Sometimes you can’t go back again.
The only thing remotely interesting about Tyra is to see how many references to Tyra that she can work into an episode of ANTM. It would make a good drinking game but could lead to liver damage. Dislike Miss Jay, too, but I like Mr. Jay - he actually offers constructive criticism to the models during their shoots.
Another thread just reminded me of another jerkish character you’re supposed to like but I never did - The Roadrunner.
I guess that one should be obvious.
Transferring this topic to real people is a bit odd. You’re not supposed to click with all people, but a scripted character usually has a set intention.
But I suppose a show host ought to be charismatic and likable. I personally find Rachael Ray to be highly, highly annoying.
The best thing about ANTM is that it doesn’t matter if you like Tyra, she loves herself more than enough to make up for it.
She’s better if you watch her with the sound off, and picture her slathered in EVOO.
Oops, I was responding to someone else’s post on the subject and forgot they weren’t fictional. Sometimes I do find myself wondering if they are for real.
true, but there are “real people” you’re supposed to like and “real people” you’re supposed to… not so much.
Like whatsisname on American Idol. nobody’s really supposed to like him. And if you watch Top Model, in the old ones, you don’t get the feeling you’re supposed to like Janice Dickinson. But there’s a very clear “Isn’t Tyra wonderful?!??!??!” vibe on Top Model.
I think Ellison likes to make people suffer, some of whom happen to be characters in his stories.