between these 2…who do you think had a bigger impact in the world of fiction
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RXORDs41w84/UikBJK4lk0I/AAAAAAAAJM0/OFsVPEHVoNU/s1600/Walter+White.jpg
http://www.picgifs.com/clip-art/cartoons/super-mario/clip-art-super-mario-340834.jpg
Walter White or Mario?
I’ve never heard of Walter White before; what is he known for? At least I do know who Mario is…
Why would one would compare these two characters, rather than two who are…well…comparable?
Mario has been around 6 times as long, is actually family friendly, and has appeared in multiple media for the entire 30+ years he’s been around, and became the mascot of a major international entertainment company.
Walter White is the main character of a single 5-year old TV series (Breaking Bad, for Trinopus’ benefit), not only aimed at adults, but highly inappropriate for children, and appearing on a cable network, to boot.
Mario is more iconic, by far…it’d be more fair to compare him to Sonic (who meets the same criteria almost exactly), or Walter White to Tony Soprano (who’s got most of a decade on Walter, but still is a relatively good candidate to compare).
Your OP and thread title ask 2 different questions.
Iconic character? Mario hands down. He’s pretty much only an icon for selling games and merchandise. He’s recongizable the world over which includes my students in China. Walter White? He’s blazing hot right now, but it’s not clear how much staying power he has or star power outside of English speaking countries. Lots of people have never heard of Breaking Bad, let alone Walter White.
Bigger impact of fiction? Pretty much any serious narrative figure would beat Mario. He’s a happy-go-lucky plumber that likes rescuing Princess Peach and going Karting with his enemies. Other than that, he’s a blank slate. Nobody takes him seriously as a character archetype.
It’s not really the right time to make the comparison. Breaking Bad just ended and the character of Walter White is probably as famous right now as he will ever be in history. Come back in a year and see if Walter White is as famous as Tony Soprano or Al Swearengen.
You’d need way more than six barrels to hold all the money Mario’s made.
The Mario Brothers movie really spoke to me about the dangers of inter-dimensional mutagenic manipulation.
The old cartoon show had some catchy music. Mostly interesting because it’s so weird, maybe some nostalgia if you watched it as a kid. Not really good though.
Even in the RPG games he’s a mute protagonist, not really showing any development. I think Nintendo decided long ago not to give him any sort of strong personality so as not to offend anyone’s idea of who Mario really is. Although that high pitched Italian voice ever since 64 is kinda bad.
I bet there’s some epic grimdark fan-fic out there where Mario recognizes that Princess Toadstool is a tyrant and he’s been tricked by her feminine charms into doing her dirty work to get rid of Bowser. So he goes on an adventure to liberate the Mushroom Kingdom.
I know who Mario is. I have very little idea about the other guy.
I’ve never played Donkey Kong or seen Breaking Bad. As an outsider to both subcultures, I recognize Mario instantly when I see him, but I never heard the name Walter White until a month or two ago.
Who is Al Swearengen?
…had to Google – Deadwood.
Yeah, it’s not even a contest in terms of pure recognizability, even though Breaking Bad is about as popular as it will ever be right now.
There is a great difference between “iconic” and “currently popular among my peer group.”
