10 Favorite Characters (but not really) Meme

Another meme, another mad dash to think about all the movies I've enjoyed over the years, this time courtesy of Jason (The Cooler) and Miranda (Cinematic Passions). It's a bit of a tricky one because you have to separate character from actor from quality of performance.

Since memes have pretty flexible rules, I'm going to take a different spin on this one: five of my favorite movie characters, and three movie characters I hate to love. The second group may be despicable or possibly deranged, but there's something about them that makes me want to get to know them better.

Five random favorites...

Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding - The wisest man in Shawshank State Prison was a quiet leader who knew the ways of the world without having lived in it for decades. He also had a fascinating outlook on life ("Hope is a dangerous thing.") and could read other people extremely well. Red was never one to stand out in the crowd, but if you got to know him, you can be sure you'd never forget him.


Andy Dufresne - The smartest man in Shawshank State Prison was a quiet leader who knew the ways of prison life without ever having set foot in one. He also had a fascinating outlook on life ("Get busy living, or get busy dying. ") and could read other people extremely well. Andy was never one to stand out in the crowd, but if you got to know him, you can be sure you'd never forget him.


Celine - She's worldly and brilliant, yet humble and curious, open to new ideas and the spontaneity of deep conversations. I also love her keen sense of self-awareness: "Each time I wear black, or like, lose my temper, or say anything about anything, you know, they always go, 'Oh it's so French. It's so cute.' Ugh! I hate that!"


Amélie Poulain - Hmm, something about French female characters, I guess, though Amélie is in many ways the complete opposite of Celine. She likes "to look for things no one else catches." She's innocent yet mischievous, ditzy yet deceptively smart, vulnerable yet confident, charming, curious, and I guess above all else, just plain cute.


Jason Bourne - All he ever wanted to do was serve his country. When it betrayed him, he didn't seek revenge but justice, wanting only to clear his name. I find some nobility in that. Plus, he can do a lot of awesome things I can't do, like jump across balconies and blow things up using items like toasters.

Three random favorites I hate to love (and would love to know better)...

Biff Tannen - Kind of an amalgamation of characters in three different centuries, Biff was always one of the most magnetic characters on the screen, a dopey, mostly harmless villain whose quirky lines and oafish mannerisms always made for great entertainment.

Tyler Durden - When he's not drinking, smoking, lying, stealing, fighting, or generally wreaking havoc, he's waxing philosophic about the ills of society. And I love it:

"We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.

Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway."


Hans Gruber - The most dastardly of this group, Hans always got me with a line that showed he wasn't just in it for himself:

Hans: "The following people are to be released from their captors: In Northern Ireland, the seven members of the New Provo Front. In Canada, the five imprisoned leaders of Liberte de Quebec. In Sri Lanka, the nine members of the Asian Dawn movement..."
Karl: [mouthing silently] Asian Dawn?
Hans: [covers the radio] "I read about them in Time magazine."

So that was a quick, somewhat thoughtless go at it. Your turn, Fletch (Blog Cabins), Craig (Living in Cinema), Scott (He Shot Cyrus), Alexander (Coleman's Corner in Cinema), and Ibetolis (Film for the Soul). And of course anybody else.