Confession Time: Fictional Character Edition

Even when most of my friends are settling into the married reality, I continue to fight (i.e. bitch and moan). Perhaps this is why I always refer back to:

Raoul Duke...Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Holden Caulfield...The Catcher in the Rye
The Kid...Blood Meridian

1. Harry Haller of Steppenwolf. I've always identified with his journey to try to realize the meaning in his life. I like the way that he tries to piece things together throughout the book and how he started from scratch by discarding everything that everyone else seems to care about. I also like how his journey isn't glorious. It's real and full of failure, which I don't see as being a bad thing.

2. Zelda Fitzgerald - I identify with her wacky side. She is kind-of cheating since she was a real person but she was also a literary character in the form of many of the females in her husbands novels. She was a terrific muse and a gifted intellectual and artist in her own right. I LOVE how she decided she wanted to be a ballerina after having very little professional instruction and became quite good before her second or third mental breakdown caused her to have to quit.

3. Jessica Rabbit - She married Roger Rabbit because "He makes me laugh". And she is awesomely sensual for a cartoon when you get her onto the stage at an art deco club with a cool password that you need to use to get in.

Mandy U

Doc Savage!

At this stage of life, I can't think of a specific character, though I'm sure I've identified with one or another along the way. I have definite affinity for two quotes, however. The first is from Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories; it's about Haroun's father, and the first time I read it, I knew that he was talking about me and my father:

"Straight answers were beyond the powers of Rashid Khalifa, who would never take a short cut if there was a longer, twistier road available."

And the other one, which I've known for a lot longer, is from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, one of the best lines in any movie:

"Oh laugh, Curtin, old boy. It's a great joke played on us by the Lord, or fate, or nature, whatever you prefer. But whoever or whatever played it certainly had a sense of humor!"

That last sentiment has helped me through many bumps along the way.

Frank Moorman, skeptic

Not sure exactly why, maybe the way I've always felt a little out of place, but I can easily identify with genetically engineered characters. I suppose my second choice would be Kira Yamato, from Gundam Seed, mostly because I identify with his ideals.

Actually... Harry Potter. As anyone who knows me. I identify with different aspects of the character, and different parts of his situation (being thrown into a world of unusual expectations when all he wants to do is play sports and live his life, having to fit into two worlds that are so different but unable to quite fit into either one... there are more reasons, too). The books were an escape for me on many levels, and it was almost a relief to let someone else go through the torment, but at the same time, I could follow along on the adventure and put myself in those shoes. And if you ask anyone who knows me, I've got a similar personality, hero complex, the irrational need to jump in and do the right thing, and reckless bravery. Being a Leo, almost born on the same date, and an obvious Gryffindor personality kinda adds to it, too.

There are worse characters in the world with whom you could associate yourself. Harry's a decent kid who went through hell and came out mostly okay. Not a bad life's work for a teenager.

Shaun from Shaun Of The Dead. I'm basically a boring, kinda nerdy guy letting life pass me by, with a cast of characters around me that are more interesting than I am.

I also often feel like Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. What does this say about me???

Though I'm not sure she qualifies as an entirely fictional character...

I'm thinking a mash-up of comic-book superhero The Atom, an edgier version of cartoon character Yogi Bear, and movie character Alvy Singer from Woody Allen's "Radio Days."

Who I would WISH to be like would be Robert Heinlein's Lazarus Long.

I always liked the hero of "The Stand", Stu, because he was the only hero I shared my name with! (Elaine once said on "Seinfeld", "I never met a Stuart who was normal.")

My confession, however, is that I'm really his antagonist, Harold: overweight, bookish, unpopular and completely inept with the ladies. So I have a kind of schizo thing going on whenever I read the book-the guy with my name, completely unlike me, besting the unlikeable character I have so much in common with!

I don't identify with characters so much as wish I could identify with characters; that is, I'd like to live up to the values they portray. Moreta is one of the characters of Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels, and embodies my ideals: intelligent, pragmatic, able to put duty above personal preferences and not feel sorry for herself about it, clever about snatching pleasure when she can, and willing to do whatever is needed in a crisis. I'm just smart enough to realize I'm stupid, whine about duties I'd rather not take on, too cautious about having fun, and lose heart when a crisis gets too intense. Oh, well, everybody needs goals.

I've always identified with the hunter that shot Bambi's mother.

...just kidding ;)

I had heard a story about someone who was starting work at Disney and during the orientation meeting of new employees used that as their answer to "if you were a Disney character, who would you be?"

I don't think she lasted very long there.

Ender, from the Ender's Game books. I'm not street-smart enough to be Bean, but I am almost certainly naive enough to be Ender. And who doesn't want to save the world from an Alien Menace because they're good at video games and commanding imaginary troops? That might mean all this World of Warcraft is actually doing the Horde some good somewhere!

I forgot to offer absolution. Not that you need it, mind you; everybody wants to be able to do a little magic now and then. And if you get to fly a broom, save the world, and boff your best friend's sister, all the better!

Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.

I know Lucas "war hero" Jackson was supposed to be a Christ-like figure, but I've always thought of myself as being like him. At least, I want to be. That easy-going-but-don't-piss-him-off attitude, that don't-take-no-shit-from-no-one, don't-back-down-even-when-the-guy-bigger-than-you-is-beating-your-head-in persona. Someone... someone ought to stop this, but it won't be you. You just keep going at him, with a hand full of nothin'.

Sure, there's the downside, because when you're Cool Hand Luke, you take a stand on principle and don't let it go, even if it means you have to eat 50 hard-boiled eggs, or get shot in the throat because of it. But you don't care, because there's a whole lot of world shaking to do, and you just go on with that half-crooked, go-to-hell grin.

Who the hell would want to be like Mike? I want to be like Luke!

Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.