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(no subject)
I was reading my page of "monitored" LJs - the users and communities I don't really read often, but occasionally (if you comment on my LJ you're not in the 'monitored' filter; that's mostly for those who I've friended to read every so often but don't consider them acquaintances).
Today, the author/artist of Peach Fuzz posted a mini-review of the Howl's Moving Castle movie (no spoilers) where she noted that she didn't have high expectations going in because she heard that the movie's heroine was an old woman. Quoted:
I have to say that I don't think we have the same conception of what makes for a good lead character. Which probably explains why I don't like her manga and can't stand any of the characters.* What I look for in a lead character is depth. I like it when aspects of their personality or history are hidden, so you have to poke at them and peel them away to reveal what makes them tick and who they are. I like it when they have contradictions and paradoxes which turn out to make perfect sense once you dig deep enough. I actually loathe most genki-type characters, and they have to have deeper, more serious sides to them revealed early enough on to get me to like them.
Goku, Tohru Honda, and Naruto are characters that I wouldn't normally like if they didn't have their serious sides revealed early enough -- Naruto starts off in a cranky, prankster mood, and it's revealed that he usually shoves his doubts under a confident facade. Goku was played off of three not-genki characters before we started learning his tragic backstory, and he does show very deep currents of fear for what he's capable of doing. Tohru Honda is shown as very deliberately placing her negative emotions underneath her surface because she's got such an inferiority complex that she thinks she doesn't deserve any sort of happiness, and you get hit with that the moment the book starts, when she's living in a tent instead of imposing on anyone. If we'd met her before her mother died, I wouldn't have liked her as much, I think, because I think that her insecurites all stem back to that one issues.
There's supposed to be a meeting at work now - will come back if I think of anything, or a better way to say something. [ edit ] Cancelled, it seems. At least nobody's showing up to it. Not that I have anything else to say.
* I don't hold that against her, though, I am just emphatically Not Her Audience, and I enjoy reading her posts about learning how to be a professional mangaka. Caveat posted to head off any "If you don't like her, why do you read her LJ?" cries, although I think most of my regular readers are sensible enough to understand where I'm coming from without me having to spell it out.
Today, the author/artist of Peach Fuzz posted a mini-review of the Howl's Moving Castle movie (no spoilers) where she noted that she didn't have high expectations going in because she heard that the movie's heroine was an old woman. Quoted:
When I originally found out that much of the movie was about a girl in the form of a 90-year old woman, I had my doubts that she would make for a very likable or appropriate lead character. You generally expect your main character to be vibrant or youthful or energetic (not that the lack of dissuaded me from seeing it, obviously.)
I have to say that I don't think we have the same conception of what makes for a good lead character. Which probably explains why I don't like her manga and can't stand any of the characters.* What I look for in a lead character is depth. I like it when aspects of their personality or history are hidden, so you have to poke at them and peel them away to reveal what makes them tick and who they are. I like it when they have contradictions and paradoxes which turn out to make perfect sense once you dig deep enough. I actually loathe most genki-type characters, and they have to have deeper, more serious sides to them revealed early enough on to get me to like them.
Goku, Tohru Honda, and Naruto are characters that I wouldn't normally like if they didn't have their serious sides revealed early enough -- Naruto starts off in a cranky, prankster mood, and it's revealed that he usually shoves his doubts under a confident facade. Goku was played off of three not-genki characters before we started learning his tragic backstory, and he does show very deep currents of fear for what he's capable of doing. Tohru Honda is shown as very deliberately placing her negative emotions underneath her surface because she's got such an inferiority complex that she thinks she doesn't deserve any sort of happiness, and you get hit with that the moment the book starts, when she's living in a tent instead of imposing on anyone. If we'd met her before her mother died, I wouldn't have liked her as much, I think, because I think that her insecurites all stem back to that one issues.
There's supposed to be a meeting at work now - will come back if I think of anything, or a better way to say something. [ edit ] Cancelled, it seems. At least nobody's showing up to it. Not that I have anything else to say.
* I don't hold that against her, though, I am just emphatically Not Her Audience, and I enjoy reading her posts about learning how to be a professional mangaka. Caveat posted to head off any "If you don't like her, why do you read her LJ?" cries, although I think most of my regular readers are sensible enough to understand where I'm coming from without me having to spell it out.
no subject
If she really believed that old-looking people must act old too, that says something about expectations based on appearence. I mean, in this case Sophie's appearence and personality are connected, but that didn't necessarily have to be true.
...except that in a lot of visual mediums it is. You see?
no subject
What I was really assuming was that she was referring to stories for kids in particular, because I think it's incredibly obvious that adult stories usually run to less-genki-type protagonists (Madame Bovary, anyone?). However, kids can handle much more complex and/or less enthusiastic characters than that - Bridge to Terabithia, The Phantom Tollbooth, My Side of the Mountain, hell, any of Daniel Pinkwater's books.
no subject
I've read another YA fantasy book where the (young) female protagonist is cursed to be old. The Changeling Prince (http://www.vivianvandevelde.com/bookDetail.cfm?BookId=27) by Vivian Vande Velde. The age doesn't affect the heroine's perception of herself, only other people's perceptions of her. Although I shouldn't even be comparing; it's primarily an adventure/romance and VVV isn't making any statements.
I've forgotten my point! It was probably just that Howl's Moving Castle is an unusual book and I was afraid that would work against the movie (it didn't).