Unlikeable main characters

Dis86

Dis86

Dis86

Caporegime
Joined
23 Dec 2011
Posts
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Location
Northern England
Watched a few things recently where I've realised I just cannot stand some of the main characters in them.
Particularly with horror/suspense films and kids where they seem to exist to do nothing but imperil the other characters. All too often i find myself sat there just thinking the kid needs a slap.
I can't tell if it's just poor writing or a deliberate plot route.

Any films/shows/characters that stand out for you?

Ross in friends and Ted in how I met your mother are 2 main characters that are just awful people.

The girl in the war of the worlds. I prayed that she would just get disintegrated.
 
Dis86 said:
Ross in friends and Ted in how I met your mother are 2 main characters that are just awful people.
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Never actually thought about it before but now you’ve mentioned it I have to agree. Ross in particular is just a horrid character.

Dis86 said:
The girl in the war of the worlds. I prayed that she would just get disintegrated
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Nah, it’s was that hateful son. I’d have shot him myself. The girl was just a bit yappy.

With all that said, I can’t bloody think of any of my own now……..I shall return.
 
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Tamsin Greig in Episodes... not that I was ever interested in the show but someone else was watching it and I had to endure a bit of it - utterly unlikeable, couldn't stand for a moment not just the character but how they were played it was insufferable.

Thekwango said:
I missed an obvious one - Sheldon Cooper. What a thoroughly horrible person, especially early seasons.
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He is intentionally meant to be somewhat unlikeable, but also supposed to be a complex character. Though some people will be totaly rubbed up the wrong way by that kind of person.
 
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Rroff said:
He is intentionally meant to be somewhat unlikeable, but also supposed to be a complex character. Though some people will be totaly rubbed up the wrong way by that kind of person.
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Oh I get that he’s meant to be somewhat unlikeable, but Jesus, even his mother struggles with him :)
And yea, I’d have him choked if he was a mate of mine. I couldn’t put up with him lol
 
TLOU 2 - Abby and Ellie (Joel would have been so disappointed how Ellie turned out).

Grandpa Joe, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - bedridden for 20 years while his family suffered in poverty, only to be up and dancing when a sweet factory tour was mentioned.

Carrie Bradshaw, SATC - in fact all of the main characters. They are the creators of their own destiny and downfalls.

Ted, HIMYM - such a whiney *****!

Andie MacDowell - any movie she is in, in particular FWAAF and GD. I don't think she is attractive and she can't act. A giant lead balloon in every role I’ve ever seen her in.

Wesley Crusher :)
 
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I just finished watching Happy Valley last night and I was thinking she (Catherine?) was quite a cow, generally pretty nasty to people, even when she realised she was in the wrong (had been real nasty to her sister) still didn't apologise or anything. People went to a lot of effort arranging her a leaving party, she just walks out. Strikes me as generally an arrogant and nasty person.

I think I couldn't get on with Up as the old man was just a ****.
 
Gonna be divisive but The Last Kingdom - Uhtred, just comes across as entitled, spoilt and up his own ass the entire time, to the point I got so sick of him I can't get past the mid point of S2. Should have made Brida the lead, even with her limited screen time she's a far more interesting character.
 
I think there is a difference between an unlikable character on purpose and written in a way for you to dislike and ones where they're completely unlikable unintentionally.

Janice Soprano - But I felt she was written for me to hate.

Deborah out of Dexter. She always wound me up.
24 - Teri and Kim Bauer
Floki out of Vikings once he becomes all butthurt.

They're the ones that immediately spring to mind
 
SixTwoSix said:
Gonna be divisive but The Last Kingdom - Uhtred, just comes across as entitled, spoilt and up his own ass the entire time, to the point I got so sick of him I can't get past the mid point of S2. Should have made Brida the lead, even with her limited screen time she's a far more interesting character.
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He’s very different in the source novels IIRC. More thinking and killing, less whinging.
 
@Junglist yeah I agree with your first point. When you have a protagonist whom one assumes you're supposed to be rooting for and they're an unlikeable ass it's not good. But is very common these days, Princess Whatever in Willow and Galadriel in RoP are both very recent examples , one assumes the writers wanted us to like them but then wrote horrid characters.
 
I had this problem with a film that everyone in the world except me loves - Sideways. The two protagonists are both such self absorbed bellends I really struggled with it.

And of course the obvious - although it's entirely deliberate - the Wolf of Wall Street. A film which is basically all about a complete and utter tossbag boasting about what a complete and utter tossbag he was, and how he completely got away with it.
This one I watched and enjoyed, but hated at the same time.
 
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