Unlikable /= CompellingComplications Ensue
Complications Ensue:
The Crafty Screenwriting, TV and Game Writing Blog




Archives

April 2004

May 2004

June 2004

July 2004

August 2004

September 2004

October 2004

November 2004

December 2004

January 2005

February 2005

March 2005

April 2005

May 2005

June 2005

July 2005

August 2005

September 2005

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006

February 2006

March 2006

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

July 2006

August 2006

September 2006

October 2006

November 2006

December 2006

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

January 2016

February 2016

March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

June 2016

July 2016

August 2016

September 2016

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

September 2017

October 2017

November 2017

December 2017

January 2018

March 2018

April 2018

June 2018

July 2018

October 2018

November 2018

December 2018

January 2019

February 2019

November 2019

February 2020

March 2020

April 2020

May 2020

August 2020

September 2020

October 2020

December 2020

January 2021

February 2021

March 2021

May 2021

June 2021

November 2021

December 2021

January 2022

February 2022

August 2022

September 2022

November 2022

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

July 2023

September 2023

November 2023

January 2024

February 2024

 

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

DMc thinks that I don't like unlikable characters. Or rather, that I don't like series about them.

That's not really true. I can watch a series about a guy I don't like. I didn't like Tony Soprano and I watched the first six seasons of the show, before it descended into utter nihilism. And I'm watching Mad Men, and Dan Draper is a true heel.

But there's a mystery about him, and I want to open the box.

My problem with David Duchovny's character in CALIFORNICATION isn't that I don't like him. My problem is that I don't have a reason to care about him. He's a whiny writer who, in a fantasy not uncommon to writers, gets laid by women all over the place because he's a whiny writer.

I don't feel there's a mystery to him. I just want to slap him upside the head.

It's true that I have quite low tolerance for whiners as main characters. (Sidekicks, fine.) I have an extremely low tolerance for characters I suspect of being a stand-in for the screenwriter. Especially when they have none of the drive or social graces that the screenwriter probably actually has, or he wouldn't have got his movie made. (I'm thinking of the irony of Richard Linklater making a movie about SLACKERS, the irony being how much hustle he had to put into it.)

If the first episode of CALIFORNICATION had implied that Duchovny's character had a dark destiny, and was going to get involved in something much bigger than schtupping hot 16-year-olds, I'd have stuck with it. If he had a dark past that was going to return to bite him in the butt, I'm there. But bitch bitch bitch whine whine whine and that's all there is to it? It's not pulling me in.

Labels: ,

5 Comments:

Take it from a woman, Alex. The whiny writer isn't getting laid because he's a winy writer. He's getting laid because he looks like David Duchovney.

By Blogger the third coast, at 1:45 PM  

oops, I mean "Duchovny"

By Blogger the third coast, at 1:46 PM  

If the first episode of CALIFORNICATION had implied that Duchovny's character had a dark destiny, and was going to get involved in something much bigger than schtupping hot 16-year-olds, I'd have stuck with it.

He is involved in something much greater - he's going to try and win his life (and ex-wife) back.

The journey is going to be how this massively neurotic guy gets it together enough to be a good husband and father...and yes, this character is his own worst enemy, so the journey is going to be two steps forward, one step back...

So I think the show has less to do with sex (screwing) and more to do with being screwed up in a town where image is everything. Thus the title: Californication.

By Blogger Cunningham, at 2:25 PM  

For my money, the best unlikeable character ever is Basil Fawlty. A thoroughly rude, incompetent, chronically depressed a@@ of a man. And yet, you're with him all the way. You want his hare-brained schemes and pathetic social climbing to work out because there's a kind of desperate pathos to him. He's the kind of character whom, if you met him in real life -- at Fawlty Towers, for example -- you would likely detest him, but such is the power of pathos and point-of-view (and the clarity of conception and painstaking execution John Cleese and Connie Booth brought to the series) that he is the ultimate in unlikeable heroes.

By Blogger Michael, at 8:26 PM  

Actually, I'll buy that he's getting laid not for being a whiny writer, but because he's the smartest asshole in the room. I'm smart, and an asshole, and I know women are attracted to it(granted not like this guy).

And he's not whiny to the women he bags, they find him charming. It's the women he cares about(and us, the poor audience by extension) who know about his inner neurosis.

But when it comes down to it, there's no story to this guys story. He didn't do anything. Stuff happened, he dealt with it. I'll allow that in the pilot, it's hard to write a pilot. But if this guy doesn't start forcing his life for better or for ill I'm out.

And while being a smart asshole may make you compelling(for better or for ill) in person, through the TV screen it comes through a muddled shmarmy.

By Blogger Whaledawg, at 8:30 PM  

Post a Comment

Back to Complications Ensue main blog page.



This page is powered by Blogger.