Icons in entertainment that have made me who I am
Post the characters in literature or film that have impacted you the most and then those couples that have really made you fall in love with them
I tried to be careful about spoilers for films, so I put those in spoilers sections
Characters I love:
Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind):
I’m not exactly original in saying that Scarlett is a character that can’t easily be forgotten, but she’s always remained in my mind as one of the best characters ever created. To summarize Scarlett in two words, they would be: manipulative bitch. She lives on the attention other people give her, mainly male attention, and leads men on to help boost her ego or get something she wants out of them. She rarely cares about other people’s feelings and spends the entire book/film chasing after the husband of the only woman who actually cares about her. But her strength of character and determination are what endear her to so many people, myself included. When she looses everything after the war: both her parents, her entire fortune, almost her beloved Tara (the house), she must step up and become the head of the household, and she does it magnificently. Not only that, Scarlett represents feminism, in a time where women were thought of as stupid and better reserved for batting their eyes and wearing nice frocks, Scarlett sets up a lumber mill, feeds a household of soldiers at one point and lol births a baby at one point. For all of her bad qualities, she makes up for them and is incredibly admirable.
The embedding has been disabled on the video, go to watch it here, MY FAVORITE LINE FROM A MOVIE EVER: www.youtube.com/watch
Fanny Brice (Funny Girl):
Fanny Brice is actually a real person, who the movie “Funny Girl” is actually based off of, but since I know nothing about her besides what the film portrays, I’m going to go with the fictional Fanny. "Funny Girl" is basically the story of the ugly duckling only wrapped in the package of Barbara Streisand. It’s the story of a woman growing up and breaking into the theatre world. She’s rejected at first because she’s considered “ugly” and has “skinny legs”, but her talent shines through and she ends up working for Zigfield. She’s funny, talented, and extremely strong and independent.
Glee recently did a cover of this song:
SPOILERS IN CASE YOU WANT TO SEE THE FILM
I actually wanted to show you all this video, because it encompasses her character much better. Nick, the love of her life, has asked for a divorce because he can’t handle her making all of the money and being more successful than he is. He’s told her and now she must perform on stage. It’s a wonderful song and really moving.
Dr. Lisa Cuddy (House MD):
Um LOL what can I say about this woman that I haven’t already ranted about multiple times all over the internet? Cuddy sits nicely in the category of strong women who manage to make it through tough situations, as I seem to really love those kind of women, but what I like about her, that makes her different from the two above, is that she’s a bit of an oxymoron of a character. She’s incredibly insecure but completely narcissistic, she’s an idealist but also a hospital administrator forced to follow the rules, she wants a normal happy life but she’s in love with a masochist, she’s got a guilt complex but can be pretty rational and stand offish at times. Basically she’s just a joy to watch!
Dr. Gregory House (House MD):
I started watching House seriously at the age of 13, and to be honest I was pretty innocent and naïve about the world around me. This show hasn’t changed my life or anything, but it has made me think differently about things time and time again, and the reason for that? Dr. Gregory House. His speeches make you think differently about what you’ve been taught your whole life. He takes away the platitudes that society has created about life and tells you things like they really are, no matter how horrible it is to hear sometimes. I’d love to go on about his character, but frankly I’m tired and he’s freaking complex. All that’s needed to say is that he’s emotionally screwed up, arrogant, self hating, insecure and incredibly needy.
V (V for Vendetta):
Growing up in England I got to experience the English holiday known as “Guy Fawkes Night” and truly grew up burning Guy Fawkes dolls in a bonfire and learning about how he planned to blow up the houses of parliament. This movie blew my mind, because it not only because of the big brother element to it all and what happens when government has too much control, but because it took a look at the grey areas of history. One of the questions this movie, at least to me, brings up is…was Guy Fawkes really a cold blooded terrorist, or was he in fact a freedom fighter, portrayed by history as a villain. I had never doubted before that he was a villain of history, I had been told since I was 6 years old that he was a traitor and evil and such, I never even considered the fact they he could have been portrayed much more evil than he ever was. It made me think about the grey areas of history. This speech is just so wonderful.
Billy Flynn (Chicago):
This movie was the first movie I ever truly loved that made me think. When I first saw this movie I was 11 years old, and besides being shocked by how risqué it was, I came out wondering why I had been cheering for murderesses. Between then and now, I’ve seen that movie more times than a sane person with a life should have, and for some reason, the song “Razzle Dazzle” always stays with me. The way that Billy talks about lying and manipulating the people of the courtroom to side with Roxy always wows me and makes me feel just the slightest bit uncomfortable, which is exactly the feeling I think they were going for! Billy always reminds me that appearances are not as they seem.
Dumbledore (Harry Potter):
Dumbledore was always my favorite character in Harry Potter because he always brought calm to his parts and a feeling of security and safety whenever he was around. He felt like my mentor as well as Harry’s, giving life lessons to every child that read the book, letting us all soak in his messages. I will always remember him because he was someone as a child reading the books that I could really look up to.
The embedding has been disabled again: www.youtube.com/watch
Couples I love/d:
I find it incredibly difficult to become severely attached to couples, like seriously attached. Most of the time I may like two characters together, but not really care about whether or not they actually end up together….so these people are the only people I’ve ever grown so attached to that I was (and in some cases still are) completely and utterly rooting for them. Ironically, they all seem to like to banter!
Marian/Harold Hill (The Music Man):
This was my first real obsession. Was there ever a movie you watched almost on cycle when you were little, if you did, this was mine. This was the first couple I ever really “shipped”. A con-man and a lonely, strict librarian. The story of the Music Man is that he is a con man who comes to River city, Iowa to try and start a boy’s band. The plan is he gets everyone to buy instruments and music, and then before they have to perform, he leaves town with all of their money. But the problem is that he can’t really read music, so he has his own method called “The think system” and supposedly it works just like whistling only on instruments ;) The only problem with his plan is that the local librarian, Marian, also happens to be the music teacher in town and she could rat him out for the fraud that he is. So he decides to woo her so that she won’t rat him out, even if she does discover him. She hates him at first, which leads to banter, creepy stalking on his part, some serenades that publically embarrass her and then finally her falling head over heels for him (sound familiar?). They’re just wonderful together and have a great story and very good chemistry…I adore them so much!
Edward/ Vivian (Pretty Woman):
Who doesn’t love the story of Cinderella? Now twist it a bit and instead of having a sweet girl forced to stay home from the ball, it’s a hooker who gets an offer to be a personal escort for a month (I can’t remember the time limit). We see Julia Roberts transform from a trashy hooker into a beautiful woman that as a young teenage (I saw this movie far too young) I ironically aspired to be. I wanted my own prince charming wrapped in the charming packaging of Richard Gere. The story is sweet and simple, their scenes are wonderful and it’s just an enchanting couple!
Hercules/Meg (Disney’s Hercules):
My favorite Disney couple, easily. I loved how Hercules was a total dork around her and she was all sexy and actually working for Hades (I guess I have a thing for adversaries). I don’t have that much to say about it, but it produced not only the fantastic “I won’t say I’m in love”, but also that lovely scene in which Meg says, “you do crazy things, when you’re in love” AWWWWWW!!!!! One of my favorite lines ever! I wanted to find a YouTube video of that scene, but I couldn’t, so I settled on the ending of Hercules, when he saves her from the underworld!
House/Cuddy (House MD):
Another aspect of entertainment I’ve talked way too much about. But House and Cuddy is the only TV couple ever to make it onto my list of favorites. For some reason when I watch TV, most of the couples I see seem so….I don’t know….I guess not epic? I don’t know what the right word is, but they just don’t pull at my heartstrings they way that couples in books or movies do. But House and Cuddy pull at my heartstrings almost more than any other couple. Maybe it’s because I love both of the characters so much, but I think it’s because they are written as a couple so well. Sure, there are moments where the writers sell out because it’s a TV show and they have to keep it going (aka Luddy), but generally these characters feel as though they belong in some sequel to “Pride and Prejudice” or something. They way that they’re so perfect for each other sometimes and utterly wrong for each other at other times, the way that Cuddy protects House and how he creepily stalks her is just pure entertainment. What can I say….I love them!
Scarlett/Rhett (Gone with the Wind):
This is my ultimate OTP. I hate to say too much about them because for those of you that haven’t seen this film, it is a must, and I don’t want to ruin any of the surprises in it. But there’s a reason it’s called “the greatest love story ever told”. It’s just so wonderful on so many levels. Scarlett is in love with a married man and Rhett spends the entire movie trying to get her to love him instead. He banters with her, respects and truly likes the ambitious, devilish side of her. It’s so powerful on so many levels and leaves you completely blown away and utterly devoted to the characters. AAAHH I don’t know how to describe them without spoiling you LOL. This video is just a small bit of their banter!
grrr...enabling again: www.youtube.com/watch
SPOILER SECTION YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
What makes them great of course though, is that they are a tragic couple. The ending to their story is perhaps one of the greatest endings in the course of literature. Scarlett does indeed love Rhett but she’s been so focused for the majority of her life loving Ashley Wilkes, that she doesn’t realize it until too late, until she’s driven Rhett away. After telling her for years she didn’t love him, refusing to sleep in the same bedroom as him and finally the death of their child, Rhett decides to leave Scarlett just as she admits how much she loves him. This is the scene where he walks out and utters his famous last words “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”.
Wow again with the embedding crap! www.youtube.com/watch
Anyways if you made it to here I'm impressed with you! Now its your turn!!!
I tried to be careful about spoilers for films, so I put those in spoilers sections
Characters I love:
Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind):
I’m not exactly original in saying that Scarlett is a character that can’t easily be forgotten, but she’s always remained in my mind as one of the best characters ever created. To summarize Scarlett in two words, they would be: manipulative bitch. She lives on the attention other people give her, mainly male attention, and leads men on to help boost her ego or get something she wants out of them. She rarely cares about other people’s feelings and spends the entire book/film chasing after the husband of the only woman who actually cares about her. But her strength of character and determination are what endear her to so many people, myself included. When she looses everything after the war: both her parents, her entire fortune, almost her beloved Tara (the house), she must step up and become the head of the household, and she does it magnificently. Not only that, Scarlett represents feminism, in a time where women were thought of as stupid and better reserved for batting their eyes and wearing nice frocks, Scarlett sets up a lumber mill, feeds a household of soldiers at one point and lol births a baby at one point. For all of her bad qualities, she makes up for them and is incredibly admirable.
The embedding has been disabled on the video, go to watch it here, MY FAVORITE LINE FROM A MOVIE EVER: www.youtube.com/watch
Fanny Brice (Funny Girl):
Fanny Brice is actually a real person, who the movie “Funny Girl” is actually based off of, but since I know nothing about her besides what the film portrays, I’m going to go with the fictional Fanny. "Funny Girl" is basically the story of the ugly duckling only wrapped in the package of Barbara Streisand. It’s the story of a woman growing up and breaking into the theatre world. She’s rejected at first because she’s considered “ugly” and has “skinny legs”, but her talent shines through and she ends up working for Zigfield. She’s funny, talented, and extremely strong and independent.
Glee recently did a cover of this song:
Click to viewSPOILERS IN CASE YOU WANT TO SEE THE FILM
I actually wanted to show you all this video, because it encompasses her character much better. Nick, the love of her life, has asked for a divorce because he can’t handle her making all of the money and being more successful than he is. He’s told her and now she must perform on stage. It’s a wonderful song and really moving.
Dr. Lisa Cuddy (House MD):
Um LOL what can I say about this woman that I haven’t already ranted about multiple times all over the internet? Cuddy sits nicely in the category of strong women who manage to make it through tough situations, as I seem to really love those kind of women, but what I like about her, that makes her different from the two above, is that she’s a bit of an oxymoron of a character. She’s incredibly insecure but completely narcissistic, she’s an idealist but also a hospital administrator forced to follow the rules, she wants a normal happy life but she’s in love with a masochist, she’s got a guilt complex but can be pretty rational and stand offish at times. Basically she’s just a joy to watch!
Dr. Gregory House (House MD):
I started watching House seriously at the age of 13, and to be honest I was pretty innocent and naïve about the world around me. This show hasn’t changed my life or anything, but it has made me think differently about things time and time again, and the reason for that? Dr. Gregory House. His speeches make you think differently about what you’ve been taught your whole life. He takes away the platitudes that society has created about life and tells you things like they really are, no matter how horrible it is to hear sometimes. I’d love to go on about his character, but frankly I’m tired and he’s freaking complex. All that’s needed to say is that he’s emotionally screwed up, arrogant, self hating, insecure and incredibly needy.
V (V for Vendetta):
Growing up in England I got to experience the English holiday known as “Guy Fawkes Night” and truly grew up burning Guy Fawkes dolls in a bonfire and learning about how he planned to blow up the houses of parliament. This movie blew my mind, because it not only because of the big brother element to it all and what happens when government has too much control, but because it took a look at the grey areas of history. One of the questions this movie, at least to me, brings up is…was Guy Fawkes really a cold blooded terrorist, or was he in fact a freedom fighter, portrayed by history as a villain. I had never doubted before that he was a villain of history, I had been told since I was 6 years old that he was a traitor and evil and such, I never even considered the fact they he could have been portrayed much more evil than he ever was. It made me think about the grey areas of history. This speech is just so wonderful.
Billy Flynn (Chicago):
This movie was the first movie I ever truly loved that made me think. When I first saw this movie I was 11 years old, and besides being shocked by how risqué it was, I came out wondering why I had been cheering for murderesses. Between then and now, I’ve seen that movie more times than a sane person with a life should have, and for some reason, the song “Razzle Dazzle” always stays with me. The way that Billy talks about lying and manipulating the people of the courtroom to side with Roxy always wows me and makes me feel just the slightest bit uncomfortable, which is exactly the feeling I think they were going for! Billy always reminds me that appearances are not as they seem.
Dumbledore (Harry Potter):
Dumbledore was always my favorite character in Harry Potter because he always brought calm to his parts and a feeling of security and safety whenever he was around. He felt like my mentor as well as Harry’s, giving life lessons to every child that read the book, letting us all soak in his messages. I will always remember him because he was someone as a child reading the books that I could really look up to.
The embedding has been disabled again: www.youtube.com/watch
Couples I love/d:
I find it incredibly difficult to become severely attached to couples, like seriously attached. Most of the time I may like two characters together, but not really care about whether or not they actually end up together….so these people are the only people I’ve ever grown so attached to that I was (and in some cases still are) completely and utterly rooting for them. Ironically, they all seem to like to banter!
Marian/Harold Hill (The Music Man):
This was my first real obsession. Was there ever a movie you watched almost on cycle when you were little, if you did, this was mine. This was the first couple I ever really “shipped”. A con-man and a lonely, strict librarian. The story of the Music Man is that he is a con man who comes to River city, Iowa to try and start a boy’s band. The plan is he gets everyone to buy instruments and music, and then before they have to perform, he leaves town with all of their money. But the problem is that he can’t really read music, so he has his own method called “The think system” and supposedly it works just like whistling only on instruments ;) The only problem with his plan is that the local librarian, Marian, also happens to be the music teacher in town and she could rat him out for the fraud that he is. So he decides to woo her so that she won’t rat him out, even if she does discover him. She hates him at first, which leads to banter, creepy stalking on his part, some serenades that publically embarrass her and then finally her falling head over heels for him (sound familiar?). They’re just wonderful together and have a great story and very good chemistry…I adore them so much!
Edward/ Vivian (Pretty Woman):
Who doesn’t love the story of Cinderella? Now twist it a bit and instead of having a sweet girl forced to stay home from the ball, it’s a hooker who gets an offer to be a personal escort for a month (I can’t remember the time limit). We see Julia Roberts transform from a trashy hooker into a beautiful woman that as a young teenage (I saw this movie far too young) I ironically aspired to be. I wanted my own prince charming wrapped in the charming packaging of Richard Gere. The story is sweet and simple, their scenes are wonderful and it’s just an enchanting couple!
Hercules/Meg (Disney’s Hercules):
My favorite Disney couple, easily. I loved how Hercules was a total dork around her and she was all sexy and actually working for Hades (I guess I have a thing for adversaries). I don’t have that much to say about it, but it produced not only the fantastic “I won’t say I’m in love”, but also that lovely scene in which Meg says, “you do crazy things, when you’re in love” AWWWWWW!!!!! One of my favorite lines ever! I wanted to find a YouTube video of that scene, but I couldn’t, so I settled on the ending of Hercules, when he saves her from the underworld!
House/Cuddy (House MD):
Another aspect of entertainment I’ve talked way too much about. But House and Cuddy is the only TV couple ever to make it onto my list of favorites. For some reason when I watch TV, most of the couples I see seem so….I don’t know….I guess not epic? I don’t know what the right word is, but they just don’t pull at my heartstrings they way that couples in books or movies do. But House and Cuddy pull at my heartstrings almost more than any other couple. Maybe it’s because I love both of the characters so much, but I think it’s because they are written as a couple so well. Sure, there are moments where the writers sell out because it’s a TV show and they have to keep it going (aka Luddy), but generally these characters feel as though they belong in some sequel to “Pride and Prejudice” or something. They way that they’re so perfect for each other sometimes and utterly wrong for each other at other times, the way that Cuddy protects House and how he creepily stalks her is just pure entertainment. What can I say….I love them!
Scarlett/Rhett (Gone with the Wind):
This is my ultimate OTP. I hate to say too much about them because for those of you that haven’t seen this film, it is a must, and I don’t want to ruin any of the surprises in it. But there’s a reason it’s called “the greatest love story ever told”. It’s just so wonderful on so many levels. Scarlett is in love with a married man and Rhett spends the entire movie trying to get her to love him instead. He banters with her, respects and truly likes the ambitious, devilish side of her. It’s so powerful on so many levels and leaves you completely blown away and utterly devoted to the characters. AAAHH I don’t know how to describe them without spoiling you LOL. This video is just a small bit of their banter!
grrr...enabling again: www.youtube.com/watch
SPOILER SECTION YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
What makes them great of course though, is that they are a tragic couple. The ending to their story is perhaps one of the greatest endings in the course of literature. Scarlett does indeed love Rhett but she’s been so focused for the majority of her life loving Ashley Wilkes, that she doesn’t realize it until too late, until she’s driven Rhett away. After telling her for years she didn’t love him, refusing to sleep in the same bedroom as him and finally the death of their child, Rhett decides to leave Scarlett just as she admits how much she loves him. This is the scene where he walks out and utters his famous last words “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”.
Wow again with the embedding crap! www.youtube.com/watch
Anyways if you made it to here I'm impressed with you! Now its your turn!!!