A TV or film or literary character with which you identify....

[West of the Rockies]

This thread may go down in flames, but here goes....

Are there any fictional characters with which any of you identify?  I know, for instance, that I could relate to most of the kids in the J.J. Abrams film Super 8 (probably the minor character Preston).  I was just a couple years older than them, but I did many of the same things.  I could certainly relate to being awe-struck and quite in love with the Alice Dainard character (Elle Fanning) at that age.

Now I probably relate more to Melvin Frohiki (minus the many cool and esoteric talents).   

[Eddie Coyle]

       Almost all of my interaction with authority figures going back to childhood have been McMurphy-esque (oddly enough,that a combo of my grandmothers maiden names)

       When my peers/schoolmates/kin saw "Reservoir Dogs" they all pretty much said Chris Penn's "Nice Guy Eddie" character was eerily close to my demeanor.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

Great topic, West.  Funny that Eddie mentioned McMurphy, as I'd also go with a Nicholson role and say Bobby Dupea.

[Sardondi]

Okay, this is off the top of my head...and probably won't appeal to many (any?) people...but my Rorschach response is Samuel Johnson. Although others might say I'd be the Boswell instead.

If not a Samuel from a century earlier: Pepys. Was it the presumed fondness for maids/hookers/FWB? Obsessive wanking? Obsessive journaling? Or the encryption?

[stevesh]

Josey Wales. The whole revenge/personal justice thing really appeals to me.

[Juan]

Ellwood Blues.

[b_dubb]

Steve Zissou

[West of the Rockies]

Steve Zissou

That's the character from "Aquatic Life", right?  My wife and I may have been in a weird mood that night... I remember trying to watch that movie, but we bailed out.  I'm not a big Wes Anderson fan.  His stuff always seems really self-indulgent, weird, and depressing.

But in what ways did you identify with that character?

In younger years I wished to think of myself as Pip in Great Expectations.  A much-beleaguered waif... I was usually in love with one unattainable girl or another.  I had no mysterious benefactor though. 

[Tinfoil Hat]

Lucas Jackson, although I never got so hammered I was tempted to cut the heads off of parking meters.

("Destroying municipal property?")

[b_dubb]

That's the character from "Aquatic Life", right?  My wife and I may have been in a weird mood that night... I remember trying to watch that movie, but we bailed out.  I'm not a big Wes Anderson fan.  His stuff always seems really self-indulgent, weird, and depressing.

But in what ways did you identify with that character?

In younger years I wished to think of myself as Pip in Great Expectations.  A much-beleaguered waif... I was usually in love with one unattainable girl or another.  I had no mysterious benefactor though.

well if you MUST know ... Steve Z is a bit of a fail. maybe there was something there early on but then not so much. my life hasn't worked out all that well. and to make matters worse I don't own a red cap and a speedo

the first time I saw this movie it really didn't appeal to me. but on subsequent viewings it got better. I had a similar experience with The Royal Tenenbaums

[Nucky Nolan]

Has anyone seen "Road To Perdition"? I'm the unseen great-great-grandson of Irish mob boss, John Rooney (Paul Newman). My great-great-grandpa wasn't a homicidal gangster, though. He was one of the bankrollers of bootlegging.

My family certainly is not connected to organized crime these days. I never even experimented with *prohibited* drugs in my college and high school era. I drank enough to make up for it, though. I stopped not long after the time it was legal for me to buy beer.

[Sardondi]

Josey Wales. The whole revenge/personal justice thing really appeals to me.

Ellwood Blues.

Steve Zissou

In younger years I wished to think of myself as Pip in Great Expectations.  A much-beleaguered waif... I was usually in love with one unattainable girl or another.  I had no mysterious benefactor though.

Lucas Jackson, although I never got so hammered I was tempted to cut the heads off of parking meters.("Destroying municipal property?")

Has anyone seen "Road To Perdition"? I'm the unseen great-great-grandson of Irish mob boss, John Rooney (Paul Newman). My great-great-grandpa wasn't a homicidal gangster, though. He was one of the bankrollers of bootlegging.
My family certainly is not connected to organized crime these days. I never even experimented with *prohibited* drugs in my college and high school era. I drank enough to make up for it, though. I stopped not long after the time it was legal for me to buy beer.

Fascinating! Why can't I dream?

[onan]

Fascinating! Why can't I dream?

There hasn't been a character written deeply enough for you.

[Sardondi]

There hasn't been a character written deeply enough for you.

Hah! Rather, twisted or conflicted enough.

[Nucky Nolan]

Hah! Rather, twisted or conflicted enough.

I picture you as the Pennsylvania version of Fred Thompson during his stint on "Law and Order". There might be a copy of "Fifty Shades of Gray" hidden in your desk.

[Sardondi]

I picture you as the Pennsylvania version of Fred Thompson during his stint on "Law and Order". There might be a copy of "Fifty Shades of Gray" hidden in your desk.

I tend to distrust those who write almost exclusively about sex, particularly those whose approach is clinical (and, IMO, joyless), à la Erica Jong, Gay Talese, even Henry Miller. I've just never understood it, and I find those three authors in particular too depressing for words. E.L. James I just wouldn't know.

[MV/Liberace!]

       When my peers/schoolmates/kin saw "Reservoir Dogs" they all pretty much said Chris Penn's "Nice Guy Eddie" character was eerily close to my demeanor.

"out of the fuckin' bluuuuuuue!!!!!!"

[Eddie Coyle]

I tend to distrust those who write almost exclusively about sex, particularly those whose approach is clinical (and, IMO, joyless), à la Erica Jong, Gay Talese, even Henry Miller. I've just never understood it, and I find those three authors in particular too depressing for words. E.L. James I just wouldn't know.

        The prospect of having to possibly endure Miller or Philip Roth played a significant role in switching my major to history.

         Erica Jong just exudes sex. Once you go yellow...(not a racial crack, she looks jaundiced to me)

[Eddie Coyle]

"out of the fuckin' bluuuuuuue!!!!!!"

      The way his eyes bulge out and he spits all over himself when he says that...that's me. I think the beer belly, bad clothes and intemperate racial remarks probably contribute a bit as well.

[Usagi]

Larry David.

Regardless of the fact that I'm not old, rich, male, or Jewish, I know what he's going through.  Life is just a bunch of dumb, petty crap and being forced to deal with people you don't want to deal with.  I get that, Larry.  I get that.

[Nucky Nolan]

Josey Wales. The whole revenge/personal justice thing really appeals to me.

I dig your taste in westerns. That one is in my personal top ten list of horse operas. One of the best (and funniest) lines came from Chief Dan George when an Indian girl beat him up in a fight that Wales stopped. "It's a good thing you stopped us; I could have killed her."

[Nucky Nolan]

I tend to distrust those who write almost exclusively about sex, particularly those whose approach is clinical (and, IMO, joyless), à la Erica Jong, Gay Talese, even Henry Miller. I've just never understood it, and I find those three authors in particular too depressing for words. E.L. James I just wouldn't know.

We like some erotica. I don't care for the gynecological and urological documentaries, though. I'm vanilla with a bit of chocolate sauce. I have a few token kinks but far fewer than the Ray Davies canon (I regret posting that).