(no subject)

[gategrrl]

 I've decided I like and prefer stories (movies, books, television) where the characters are all *likable* in some way. They don't always have to do the right thing, or the best thing, because everyone makes mistakes or rotten decisions. There aren't always going to be likable people, however, but I can deal with characters who ARE unlikable, but have their reasons for being so. Doesn't automatically get them a get-out-of-jail-free card, but with the perceived number of people in real doing evil actions...in my fiction at the moment, I'd rather not have to deal with that.

Oh, sure, a Die Hard movie, or an action movie with a delineated bad guy is fun once in a while, but a steady diet of simplistic bad vs good, or angelic vs evil, is boring. I suppose you could say the same about the other type of story I mentioned in the previous paragraph. But you know what? There's a woeful lack of Totoro-style stories out there.

Comments

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. There are genuinely unlikeable people in the world, but why on *Earth* would I want to *read* about them?

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

ITA. There has to be SOMETHING about a character that I like or sympathize with. They can be all sorts of flawed aside from that, but if they're just not likeable, what's the point?