#Unlikable characters

[howifeltabouthim]

She'd been coddled, assuaged, but she wanted heads. That was the problem with unhappy women. They didn't just want the problem solved. They wanted everyone to die, including themselves.

Lisa Taddeo, from Ghost Lover

[appropriate-as-always]

literally, every single person in prometheus is an absolute idiot

[a34trgv2]

The Problem With Unlikable Characters

When watching a piece of entertainment, liking a main character is a good way to get the audience invested in the story. Yet lately, I've seen at least a dozen cartoons made as recent as 2016 that are littered with some of the most unlikable characters in fiction. For this post, I'm going to talk about why unlikable main characters are a nuisance and how to get in their side despite their reprehensible actions.

One problem I have with unlikable characters is the fact they're so frustrating to watch. I can't tell you how many times I roll my eyes, groan, and even yell at the screen because the characters are so unlikable; and as such make watching the show a chore. Take The Loud House, for example; because none of the characters are likable, the 11-minute runtime of each episode feels like 11 hours. Unlikable characters tend to make every second irritating to sit through because I'm not laughing with them or at them. I'm just angry with them.

Another problem I have with unlikable characters is their lack of growth or development to make them likable. Just about every show I've watched in the past couple of months, the characters NEVER grow or become more likable. No, they're the same annoying, selfish, greedy, or incompetent character in episode 1 by the time we're in episode 10! If the characters aren't going to eventually be likable, what's the point?! I don't want to watch a show where an annoying chatterbox like Molly McGee is the protagonist. That makes me feel foolish for wasting my time.

Is there a way to make an unlikable character fun to watch? Absolutely! You can start by making them relatable to the viewer so that we can see where their coming from. Ed, Edd, and Eddy scam the kids out of their money in every episode. What makes them fun to watch, though, is the fact that we see where they're coming from. They're 3 social outcasts who just want some loose change to get a jawbreaker. In addition to making them relatable, having them be funny is also a plus. Zim may be an egotistical invader who wants to take over the world, but his futile efforts and manic nature make him hilarious to watch. Then there are despicable characters who love being dastardly people. Some of the most iconic characters we love to hate are Disney villains. None of them are good people, but they're all show stealing characters that we can't get enough of. These are instances in which we don't mind their reprehensible behavior because they're not supposed to be liked. They're supposed to be entertaining characters.

Unlikable characters don't always make me want to keep watching. In fact, the more I watch a show with an unlikable character(s), the more likely I'm gonna turn it off and watch something else. The best way to avoid making unlikable characters irritating to watch is making them funny and/or relatable. Or, save yourself the trouble and just make them likable. We don't need more jerks like Mitch Williams from Glitch Techs or Paul for Pokemon. Let's make more kind, curious and caring characters like Hilda or brave, smart and resourceful characters like Carmen Sandiego.

[randombook4idk]

some fandoms need to see this

[musubiki]

balor 🥰

[doctorwhommm]

about to throw hands with l*ndy pepper bean

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

illustrated guide to simons. i Think

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bonus 8: How met your mother (CSSR design by @qourmet!)

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[omaano]

The teams are set for the biannual venator-wide mousedroid races. The others don't stand a chance against team FivesWalker, everyone's knees and ankles will soon be in danger!

For Amina from @fanfictasia who asked for Anakin and Fives getting up to shenanigans for @vaderkin-is-a-lightning-rod 's Vaderkin 2024 Creative Exchange :3

[penelopesbridgerton]

NICOLA COUGHLAN as PENELOPE FEATHERINGTON BRIDGERTON BRIDGERTON | “INTO THE LIGHT” (3.08)

[firestorm09890]

there's a part of canto vi I've been thinking about since it came out, and it doesn't actually have anything to do with Heathcliff.

this

She is bitter as fuck and as time goes on she's getting worse at keeping it down. Sinclair's the one who started it, by talking about how sad it is that they'd never get to see color, and Rodya starts to get a little irritated over it (yeah, sure, pity the Backstreets folk and their poor miserable little lives, privileged nest boy), but she's obviously trying not to straight up call Sinclair a privileged nest boy because she doesn't want to. But then Yi Sang and Ishmael join in on talking about how sad this place is with no color and she just can't keep her opinion down.

But that makes the atmosphere tense, and she hates a tense atmosphere, so she changes the subject and her tone, not giving a damn about how obvious it is. also, haha, ice and cold references.

And actually, this doesn't really have much evidence to support it, but I wonder if she holds a higher level of resentment for Sinclair in particular.

Canto II had some discussion about how Rodya wishes she was special (and while I think what Sonya said about her killing the tax collector just to feel special is absolute bullshit, I do also think there is some truth to her wanting to feel special), and introduced us to the concept of The Sign in a way that was vague and more like foreshadowing than actually introducing it. Then Canto III was all about The Sign, and how special Sinclair is, and since then we've had people talking about signs and stars and a new birth of the world and it's all stuff Rodya doesn't get to be part of.

I don't think she wants to hold resentment for Sinclair, and she especially never wants him to know, but going back after all this time and rereading this one interaction with him in Canto II felt pretty jarring.

the more important part of this is the way it feels like she's making a joke at Heathcliff's expense, for being poor, like even though she's also from the Backstreets she feels she's "above" it.

She absolutely does not feel this way.

On my way to find the first passage, I reread some other interesting stuff:

Once again, there's the harsh juxtaposition between casual, fun-loving Rodya, and tired, poor man's advocate Rodya. Almost everyone on the team speaks through the lens of a Nest dweller (I have to wonder if learning that Heathcliff was apparently raised in a mansion made her even more bitter), and the way she's so short with her mention of the Sweepers makes me think she's thinking about how painfully obvious it would have been to any other Backstreets dweller. And then, right after, dropping back into her casual voice, and Sinclair revealing that Rodya used the fucked up Backstreets creature to tease him...

Other obvious moments of Rodya being bitter as hell about rich people include this part of S.E.A.

and this part of her observation logs on Spiral of Contempt (actually, nearly everything in that log that isn't about the physical abnormality has to do with how much she hates how rich people look down upon the poor)

Hong Lu's canto comes after Don's, and then after his is Ryōshū's, who, based on her source material, probably served one of the most awful, contemptuous rich people the sinners have access to, and I really hope at some point here Rodya gets to snap in a big way

...hey so I wrote this entire post at 1 in the morning and then saved it to drafts because I didn't want to post something at 1 in the morning. the Timekilling Time trailer came out about two hours later, featuring both Rodya... and the long-awaited return of the Yurodiviye. so now it's past 3 in the morning for me but I'm posting it now anyway because ohohoho seeing the Yurodiviye again has given me SO much energy

I have a feeling all this is going to be very relevant extremely soon

[howifeltabouthim]

Obviously, these people are very sick. I don't think there's much film potential in it because none of the characters are likable.

Chris Kraus, from I Love Dick

[egophiliac]

his magic is so PINK and FLUFFY and PRETTY! I love it!

I'm ready to process the Diasomnias now, buckle up

[eerivee]

My earth genasi tiefling Opali! She's an npc in our campaign... But most likely will also become an actual pc in the future hehe.

[canisalbus]

I’d invite machete and vasco to my animal crossing village

They're a package deal, you have to take them both.

[fairandfatalasfair]

I do think there's value in Charles' ability to let insults and verbal antagonism roll off him - I think it makes him happier than he'd be otherwise, and I think it's a big part of why he does so well at adopting prickly hostile people who try to drive away potential friends by reflex because they've been burned so many times before. I think he likes being the only person allowed to hug Edwin without complaints or the one Crystal can talk to when she's feeling insecure about her powers disappearing on her or missing her family.

But I also suspect it's a survival skill he learned by growing up in a home where nothing good was ever said about him and the other place he spent most of his time was a school where yes, he had friends, but their support came with the caveat that they were likely to be casually racist and possibly classist towards him, and if he had too much to say about it he'd be out.

Like I don't think it's a bad thing for him most of the time, but I do think it comes from a place that hurts my heart to think about.