One of the characteristics of good art, to me, is how strongly it makes somebody feel. Any feeling. If a work of art annoys you, that too should be appreciated. In the same way that an actor who plays a character that makes you HATE them should be admired. That is not only a difficult thing to accomplish but also the least appreciated. If all characters satisfy your personal hangups and pet peeves, then every character is the same person.
Rejoice that you are annoyed by something. That says something about you as much as the work of art
Eugh, no. Intensity is not the only axis worth caring about.
I disagree.
Recently I’ve read a book, it was alright. I went on to the next book in the series, only to realise the main characters were behaving in a stupid manner very out of character, not reaching into some pretty obvious conclusions, and that the plot was being stretched for no good reason.
This annoyed me so much I put the book down and didn’t finish. I don’t consider the changes in the second book a consequence of better writing at all.
so many people call shelley duvalls performance in the shining subpar just because shes playing a broken mess of a character
And they basically tortured her to do it
Generally speaking whether I like a character or not has very little to do with whether I think they’re moral. One of my favorite characters in any book is a horrendously evil man - like approaching Hitler levels, though on a smaller scale - but goddamn is he a fascinating character to read (Vorbis from Small Gods - which if you haven’t read it is a masterpiece)
The black-on-black eyes stared imploringly at Brutha, who reached out automatically, without thinking… and then hesitated.
HE WAS A MURDERER, said Death. AND A CREATOR OF MURDERERS. A TORTURER. WITHOUT PASSION. CRUEL. CALLOUS. COMPASSIONLESS.
“Yes. I know. He’s Vorbis,” said Brutha. Vorbis changed people. Sometimes he changed them into dead people. But he always changed them. That was his triumph. He sighed.
“But I’m me,” he said.
Vorbis stood up, uncertainly, and followed Brutha across the desert.
Death watched them walk away.
Especially impactful when you consider that Death basically never passes judgement on individuals in the series. For him to try and dissuade Brutha from helping Vorbis shows a level of disdain he usually only reserves for people who are cruel to cats
It’s funny, the name Vorbis didn’t ring a bell for me, but seeing Death’s dialogue in uppercase tells me exactly what series it’s from. I’m still sitting at just one book read out the lot and more’s the pity.
Shepards crown? I’m deliberately not reading it in the hope that my future kids fall in love with Discworld and we can read it together
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Fictional characters who commit war crimes can be magnificent bastards, but characters who are annoying cannot.
He was just too dang “unlikable!” (i.e., I didn’t like him and don’t want to explain why)
We all thought of two characters in that first post. And I know my two.
Anakin “I Surrender, Now R2!” Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks respectively.
Bad take
People like Reagan irl
