Who else can't stand stories with despicable characters?

[ImBigBob]

While hanging out at a friend's place tonight, I caught a bit of the movie Ted. The movie was generally well-reviewed, though when I watched it, I couldn't stand it. Mark Wahlberg's character did stupid things that were obviously stupid, everyone in the movie was a dumbass, and as a result I couldn't enjoy it, even though the movie was trying to make us laugh AT the characters, not with them.

This isn't the only series I've had this problem with. The drug scenes in Grand Theft Auto IV just made me uncomfortable. I like Breaking Bad for its emphasis on Walt's descent into madness, but Jesse walks an odd line that makes me iffy about him. On one hand, he's a thug who is trying to pull himself out of the hole he's dug himself in (which makes him interesting), but on the other he does the most idiotic things that make me just want to punch him.

Naturally, flaws make characters human and interesting, but it's all about the context. Captain Walker does some terrible things over the course of Spec Ops: The Line, but it's all about feeding into his hero fantasy. But characters who do stupid things because they're stupid and not because of some underlying motive just turn me away from stories. That's a big reason why I don't like shows about teenagers (because they're idiots). Also romantic comedies, because that relationship would go a while lot smoother if you weren't such an idiot.

Then again, people watch Jersey Shore and Honey Boo Boo, so what do I know?

 

[KingCrInuYasha]

I think it depends on context. To quote The Nostalgia Critic when talking about Bella Swan:

"This has to be the most selfish, male-depending, uncaring, manipulative, self-centered, pretentious, idiotic, whining little *****-bag you will ever see in your entire life! And honestly, that wouldn't be too bad a character, that'd be very, very interesting IF IT WAS INTENTIONAL!!!"

 

[Amethyst Wind]

One-dimensional evil characters are rarely worth watching. They don't all need a sympathetic backstory or Freudian excuse but they damn well better be nuanced! Antagonists when done well are far more interesting than even the most captivating protagonist.

 

[Vault101]

snip

generally I can;t stand charachters I find to be amoral or unlikeable..

but as the first poster pointed out FRAMING is very important, Daniel Plainveiw is a despicable man but the film doesn't frame him as anything else...a good exmample of this would be to check out Nostalga Chicks reveiw of Reality Bites...charachters who are still despicalbe despite the film framing them as the protagonists...its otherwords unintetionally

also certian type of charachters grind my gears more than others...the main charachter from The Invisibles is the "misunderstood troubled rebellious youth" sterotype...and ok, I get it, its fine for the most part.But he acts like a complete and total whiney insufferable little prick for the first half of the thing...one bit at the start where he kicks a teacher in the head who only ever tried to help him really soured my impression of that charachter. I mean for fucks sake "rebel agaisnt authority" Doesn't mean you can act like a ****

it can also depend on how those characters are used, one of my favourite villans from the comic book "The Boys" is despicable..yet somwhat likeable and also an utter bastard and manipulator, a character like that makes for a strong and enjoyable villan

one of my other favorite villans is (from the same writer) from Preacher..he is a ruthless bastard who doesn't let anything get in his way, yet he's also the series "butt monkey" (a trope meaning a character that gets bad shit happen to them for laughs) not only is it hilarious but you kind of feel sorry for him, the fact that he manages to be both is something you don;t see often