Gen-types

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I feel like maybe we've discussed this before but, well, we like talking about the same things again sometimes, right?

So recently I read a book which was OK, but I didn't love. When trying to figure out what exactly wasn't working for me, I realized one of the big issues I had--I felt like the author was trying to make one of the main characters into a Gen-type character, but was failing.

(To be completely honest, my first thought was, "This book would just be so much better if it was about Lord Peter instead." I think I'm due for a LPW re-read.)

So I started trying to figure out why I felt like the character failed to live up to the "Gen" type.

I started by trying to think of successful Gen-type characters. I know some are missing from this list, but these are the first I came up with--

Gen (obviously)
Lord Peter Wimsey
Sir Percy (the Scarlet Pimpernel)
Miles Vorkosigan
Chrestomanci
the Doctor

My list stopped there, even though I KNOW that I've read other books with this character type--help me out here, guys.


Then, I tried to decide what characteristics made this mold. The characters I listed above fit most or all of these characteristics:

clever and witty--quick thinking
intelligent--long term thinking
people skills--good at reading and understanding people
Aristocratic/privileged background, usually with a sense of style to go with it
Brave--sometimes in almost a daredevil way
Stick to a code/personal beliefs
Sometimes works in disguise or with another identity (not always literally)

That's all I have so far.

So what I'd be curious to discuss are these questions:

What other characters would you add to this list, and why do you think they fit? (Particularly if they're from books I haven't read ;-) Would you take away any I listed?
What characteristics would you add to this list--or take away from it?
Why do you think this character type appears repeatedly?

Comments

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I see Peaceable, Howl, Sir Percy, Lord Peter and Thomas have all been mentioned already. So basically I just approve of this entire thread.

Oh, don't forget Sherlock Holmes. The reason I thought of him is because I just finished reading Jackaby, and the title character was basically a blend of Sherlock and The Doctor, which of course made it fun, if a bit too familiar at times.

He's not a main character, but there's a shadow of this type going on with Finnick Odair in HG -- in that Katniss initially can't see past his witty pretty-boy Capitol pet persona, to the real person underneath (he's eventually revealed to be fragile, sweet, and clever enough to have been undermining the Capitol long before Katniss caught on).

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Its interesting to me that sometimes, this character type can be so exciting and fresh, but sometimes you find one and think, "You're basically just trying to be so-and-so, but s/he did it better." Maybe? Some authors are just amazing is all. :-)

Admission... I never read the last Hunger Games book. I read the first and was like, "Well, that was violent. And a bit love-triangle-y. I'm not sure I really liked it." Then people told me the second was better, and then it was WORSE and I said, ok, I'm done with this.

But I'll take your word for it that thats how it happens.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I maybe should have included a spoiler warning in my original comment. 0:)

I was not a fan of the 3rd book--in fact, I don't consider myself a fan of the series as a whole, though I read them readily enough. It struck me as having potential, in that the concept brought a lot of thought-provoking issues to the table, which would ideally bring some much-needed weight to the YA genre as well as carry with it a lot of opportunities for good & original storytelling. But to be honest, I thought the writing itself was lacking something. Concept > execution. So, yeah, it comes across with a definite lack of feeling, and seemed to get away from the author by the end, like even she wasn't sure how to handle it all.

That said, I expected the movies to be absolute rubbish and so far I've actually managed to respect them a little bit more than the books they are based on, which is...Highly Unusual. Perhaps because I have a lot of respect for PTSD and seeing it thoughtfully represented, among all the other huge action hero movies, is at least a change of pace.

In summary: my feelings toward HG as a whole are complicated and I understand both the likers and the dislikers. Certainly makes for interesting discussion, anyway!

To bring it all back on subject: It's curious that Finnick, for having a relatively tiny role, is so popular. Perhaps because he fits into a popular archetype?

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Yes. I agree with so much of what you said about the Hunger Games. *spoiler warning if you don't want to know about the end* I thought the ending was flat. Like Katniss didn't even care about what had happened. I understand that - really I do. But as a reader, I want to know if everything she went through was worth it. And the book didn't answer that question. (of course, "worth it" is in the eye of the beholder - and the emptiness it left could never be completely filled by "worth its" - but like in Harry Potter, there's a line at the end of the last book about how much safer the world was without Voldemort - that's all I wanted to see in HG)

I think Finnick is one of those characters is made just loveable enough to get killed off, and have people really care. If you've ever read Fullmetal Alchemist - there is this one guy who's whole role is to show up, steal the show with his character (and his cute daughter), and then get killed. I think authors plan the "victim" to be loveable enough that readers want to see the same - or worse - happen to the bad guys. If the readers didn't love the victim character, they wouldn't care about how the bad guys got revenged.

[intangible-muse.livejournal.com]

I agree that the last Hunger Games fell flat. I personally didn't enjoy the last book very much, though I know some who loved it. And like freenarnian, I too felt that the writing was lacking and the love triangle (in general) was just unnecessary and poorly executed, especially in the last book.

Finnick was probably on my favourite characters. Clearly, I get attached to characters with little screen time because I also really liked Mags, while I didn't share the same enthusiasm for Katniss or Peeta. I think that, with Finnick, he kind of fits that popular archetype. He's definitely not as clever as Gen, per say, but part of the attraction is that under his charming pretty-boy attitude, he's quite intelligent and moral. However, I thought he might be a little too perfect personality-wise. *SPOILER ALERT* I felt his death was unnecessary . It didn't particularly advance the plot or anything. It just showed that people died in war...

FMA spoilers inside

[agentmaly.livejournal.com]

That's actually something I haven't understood since reading all of FMA this summer and talking to others about it! I like the character you mention well enough, but I feel I've been encouraged to like him more by his compatriots within the story and all the readers who seem to love him and are so upset when he gets killed. It certainly mattered to me when he was killed, and the way that it was done was reasonably disturbing (but a lot of violent acts in FMA shocked me considerably more), but it didn't rock my core and form a personal inciting incident against the Homunculi the way that it seems to for the readers I've talked to. For me it's not one of the more emotionally-charged FMA plot points (and of course there are many).

Perhaps his broad appeal is the fact that he's so happy? That is refreshing, especially as a point of contrast to, say, Roy.

Oh also, on the FMA topic: I have a friend who's seen the original anime and read the manga up through the point at which Roy performs a certain act which is hard to accept. And then she stopped! At the time it was because she was busy with school, but given everything she's read since, I really wish she would get back into the manga, because that's a terrible place to leave things at, especially since she really likes Roy. It's given me good practice in being an unspoilery friend: 'Yes, that's unconscionable; Roy really shouldn't have done that. I did respect him more before that point, it's true.'