Annoying Fictional Characters

[lovecraft68]

My oldest son in on the spectrum. To quote him, "Dad, Sheldon isn't autistic. he's just an asshole."

I owned a comic book store and anyone who discovers that gives me the "You must love big bang theory!"

No. Those idiots might be funny to some people for twenty minutes at a time on TV but deal with them in person for any length of time and you will have an entirely different opinion.

 

[RetroFan]

Am I the only author who was waiting for someone to mention one of my characters?

--Annie

I apparently wrote the most hateful character in all of fiction in the form of Breanna, the main character of my story series 'Trailer Trash Teen Hates Rules'. Obnoxious, foul-mouthed, abrasive and violent, Breanna is a difficult girl without doubt. She sits on the toilet with the door wide open to shock and offend people, throws her used period pads on the floor, cannot put a sentence together without using the word 'shit', 'fuck' or 'cunt', steals anything she can get her hands on, takes promiscuity off the charts, with the assistance of her best friend Isabella (an also unlikeable girl who grew up in a housing project) plays practical jokes on people that are so-mean spirited they are sociopathic, has a parasitic lifestyle, is extremely bigoted especially against gay men and is physically violent having attacked her older brother Dustin on numerous occasions, bashing him over the head with a skateboard one time, pouring hot spaghetti all over him then kicking him in the groin another, and throwing a broken bottle at his head when the two get into a heated argument close to the end of the series.

 

[RetroFan]

One of my "favorite" annoying characters from a TV series is Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim Bauer, on the show 24, whose role on the show is to do exactly the stupidest thing one can do at exactly the wrong time, so Jack has to take time out from saving the world and save his stupid daughter instead, thereby creating a completely contrived subplot. I watched the episode where she escapes from a psycho and runs down a hillside and just happens to encounter a mountain lion, and my sons and I just burst out laughing while watching it. We were rooting for the mountain lion.

I was thinking of Kim Bauer after I posted this thread. It's amazing she can even go to the bathroom without getting into trouble and needing to be rescued.

I've written some dumb characters over the years. There's dim-witted Debbie the titular character from my story 'Debbie the Dumb Gold Digger', and Tiffany the bimbo daughter from my story 'Tonya, Tiffany & the Twins' who asks the most stupid questions imaginable. There's also Todd from my 'PTA Queen Bee & Teen Rebel' stories, a fat, lazy and gluttonous 300 pound high school bully who is so stupid that he thinks about himself in the third person. But even Debbie, Tiffany and Todd if in the same situations as Kim would stop, think things through and then do the opposite of whatever Kim does.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Raymond's mother, or any character played by Doris Roberts. Can't watch anything with her in it.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Characters that are added strictly for comedic relief.
The fat guy in any comedy. The gay guy in any sitcom. Jar Jar.
The super character with undefined powers that become a writers crutch. Comics are filled with them and I hate them all.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Raymond's mother, or any character played by Doris Roberts. Can't watch anything with her in it.

I have the same issue with Will Ferrell with the single exception of Talladega Nights.

 

[YmaOHyd]

The children in Jurassic Park.

 

[ADirtyPerv]

I have the same issue with Will Ferrell with the single exception of Talladega Nights.

I just watched Stranger Than Fiction, and he's less Will Ferrell-y, and balanced by Dustin Hoffman. I liked it a lot.

 

[RetroFan]

My oldest son in on the spectrum. To quote him, "Dad, Sheldon isn't autistic. he's just an asshole."

In the earlier seasons of TBBT in the late 2000s, possibly into 2010 and 2011 Sheldon had more of an innocence about him. He would often want to do the right thing but due to his lack of social awareness would say or do the wrong things. Seeing the character in the earlier years of the show one could argue that he had Asperger's Syndrome, and some other quirks of his character like obsessive routines and interests would also suggest this. Another clue might be the fact that Sheldon was never able to drive, and never even able to master driving on a simulator or a video game, as people with Asperger's are noted for having very poor hand-eye coordination and struggling with spatial awareness.

However as TBBT progressed from the early to mid to late 2010s before ending in 2019 most of the main characters had progressed in their lives. Sheldon also did in some ways (Amy), yet at the same time did not in other ways, some of his personality quirks endearing and amusing in the early seasons of the show being more pronounced and irritating in later seasons.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I have the same issue with Will Ferrell with the single exception of Talladega Nights.

Yes!. Hate that guy!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

That could almost be another thread ... actors/actresses you avoid at all costs.

 

[TheLobster]

The children in Jurassic Park.

I see I'm not the only who was cheering for the velociraptors.

 

[caleb35]

I like Tarkin very much, what are you talking about!?

Are you referring to Parkin' Tarkin?

 

[caleb35]

I know people found Jar Jar annoying. Hell, I did too.

But I'm glad the actor, Ahmed Best, is finally getting some love and recognition from the fan base. He didn't deserve the hate that was piled on him.

A lot of people have a weird inability/refusal to separate actor from character.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

In the earlier seasons of TBBT in the late 2000s, possibly into 2010 and 2011 Sheldon had more of an innocence about him. He would often want to do the right thing but due to his lack of social awareness would say or do the wrong things. Seeing the character in the earlier years of the show one could argue that he had Asperger's Syndrome, and some other quirks of his character like obsessive routines and interests would also suggest this. Another clue might be the fact that Sheldon was never able to drive, and never even able to master driving on a simulator or a video game, as people with Asperger's are noted for having very poor hand-eye coordination and struggling with spatial awareness.

However as TBBT progressed from the early to mid to late 2010s before ending in 2019 most of the main characters had progressed in their lives. Sheldon also did in some ways (Amy), yet at the same time did not in other ways, some of his personality quirks endearing and amusing in the early seasons of the show being more pronounced and irritating in later seasons.

He's much less irritating in Young Sheldon, because he's a kid and thus expected to have sub-par social skills. But TBBT suffered the common US TV show problem of going on for too long and the characters turning into caricatures.

 

[Britva415]

One of my "favorite" annoying characters from a TV series is Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim Bauer, on the show 24, whose role on the show is to do exactly the stupidest thing one can do at exactly the wrong time, so Jack has to take time out from saving the world and save his stupid daughter instead

They cast the perfect person for her part. Her face looks so dumb when she's playing Kim Bauer.

I've seen her in other stuff and I've seen her when not-acting and she doesn't have that look, so, I think she was in on the joke.

 

[SimonDoom]

In the earlier seasons of TBBT in the late 2000s, possibly into 2010 and 2011 Sheldon had more of an innocence about him. He would often want to do the right thing but due to his lack of social awareness would say or do the wrong things. Seeing the character in the earlier years of the show one could argue that he had Asperger's Syndrome, and some other quirks of his character like obsessive routines and interests would also suggest this. Another clue might be the fact that Sheldon was never able to drive, and never even able to master driving on a simulator or a video game, as people with Asperger's are noted for having very poor hand-eye coordination and struggling with spatial awareness.

However as TBBT progressed from the early to mid to late 2010s before ending in 2019 most of the main characters had progressed in their lives. Sheldon also did in some ways (Amy), yet at the same time did not in other ways, some of his personality quirks endearing and amusing in the early seasons of the show being more pronounced and irritating in later seasons.

The problem with The Big Bang Theory, as I saw it, is it's a Hollywood idea of what nerds are like. There are elements of truth to it, but the whole thing, in sum, is a big caricature.

Sheldon's problem is that he was the "breakout" character. He wasn't intended at the outset to be the main draw, but like the Fonz in Happy Days (I'm horribly dating myself) he became that anyway, so the writers had to scramble to do more with him than they originally expected to. Fortunately, the show lucked out with the perfect actor to do the character, so it worked, sort of, but he's always more caricature than character.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Tasslehof Burrfoot

Oh god, I'd forgotten how much he irritated me.

For some reason, Donna Tartt likes to write novels from the point of view of completely unlikeable, borderline sociopathic, young men. She did that years ago with her first novel, The Secret History. It's an interesting artistic choice. I find the POV tedious after a while. I want her narrator to get his comeuppance, to get beaten up and left in a gutter somewhere.

I felt the same way about American Psycho. I understand that the stuff that irritated me about Patrick Bateman was intentional, Ellis is trying to portray somebody soulless and empty, but it's hard to endure for a whole novel.

I'd constrast it to The Wasp Factory, which is also from a sociopath's POV but avoids being annoying.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I just watched Stranger Than Fiction, and he's less Will Ferrell-y, and balanced by Dustin Hoffman. I liked it a lot.

Everything Must Go is another example of him playing against type that is a good movie.

 

[Djmac1031]

He’s still incredibly annoying.

I honestly think George Lucas could have redeemed Jar Jar if only he'd written ONE scene, near the end, differently.

If Jar Jar had saved the day by actually doing something brave and smart JUST ONCE during that battle scene, it could have been an actual character arc by turning him from the bumbling idiot to the warrior hero.

But nope. He just stumbles his way through it all, survives by sheer luck and beats the Droids only by accident.

Bantha poodoo.

 

[ADirtyPerv]

I honestly think George Lucas could have redeemed Jar Jar if only he'd written ONE scene, near the end, differently.

If Jar Jar had saved the day by actually doing something brave and smart JUST ONCE during that battle scene, it could have been an actual character arc by turning him from the bumbling idiot to the warrior hero.

But nope. He just stumbles his way through it all, survives by sheer luck and beats the Droids only by accident.

Bantha poodoo.

Agreed. He gets to be a legitimately seductive, suave badass in one of the clone wars episodes, with a queen of all things, but it hardly counts. The number of people who saw that is way lower than the number that saw the movie. Lucas messed up with him.

 

[Djmac1031]

I have the same issue with Will Ferrell with the single exception of Talladega Nights.

Which reminds me; how have we gotten this deep into this thread and no one has mentioned Adam Sandler and that obnoxious baby voice he does?

 

[ADirtyPerv]

Which reminds me; how have we gotten this deep into this thread and no one has mentioned Adam Sandler and that obnoxious baby voice he does?

All you have to do for Sandler is mention his TWO good, non-annoying performances. The Wedding Singer, and Uncut Gems. That's pretty much it. Everything else is aggravating. Often in a good way. Le sigh.

 

[Djmac1031]

All you have to do for Sandler is mention his TWO good, non-annoying performances. The Wedding Singer, and Uncut Gems. That's pretty much it. Everything else is aggravating. Often in a good way. Le sigh.

Thats funny; I haven't seen Uncut Gems but of course haven't heard the praise. Its on my list.

But yeah I can basically only tolerate him in The Wedding Singer and to a lesser degree, 50 First Dates.

But me liking those films probably has more to do with Drew Barrymore than him.

 

[SimonDoom]

I see I'm not the only who was cheering for the velociraptors.

Jurassic Park would have been a better movie if told from the point of view of the dinosaurs.

"Bro, it's the postman from Seinfeld. Snack time!"