One-dimensional characters are bad. · 11:58pm Sep 7th, 2017
Excuse me while I bitch.
It happens, on occasion, that we encounter a character in a work who simply has no character--their entire existence is defined by a single quirk.
If that character exists to move a scene along or set up a single instance of a joke, that's fine--then you have a Soup Nazi, and Soup Nazis make for great comedy.
But a recurring character in a major or supporting role should *never* be defined by a single trait. When this happens, you have a character who frankly should either evolve or be written out.
Unfortunately, sometimes you just get stuck with a dead weight supporting character whose lack of dimension makes them.pointless, and yet they can't just be done away with for one reason or another.
A perfect example of how to get stuck with a pointless, flat character: Genta Kojima from Detective Conan. He has one character trait that so completely defines him it is literally his entire existence: obsession with eating. No matter what situation occurs, if Genta is on screen and talking, it's about food.
This is bad writing, folks. This is the kind of pointless dead weight character you do NOT want to get stuck with.
Genta Kojima. My phone hates me tonight. Also, we really need to be able to edit blog posts in mobile.
4661517
...does this also apply to Chris from Dan Vs? Or is this Genta fellow even worse along those lines?
...I assume this applies to Chloé Bourgeois as well? Well, concerning Season 1, at least.
4661517
I feel your pain.
That’s one of the things I fear in writing, making characters that are one-dimensional.
I think a one dimensional character be entertaining they're really hammy
4661517
Go to My Content -> Blog in the sideswipe menu. You'll be taken to the usual personal blog index, complete with edit buttons. If you don't see the My Content section, touch the bit at the top labeled Account.
4661517
We still can, it's just not quite as convienent. On the drop-down menu that brings up your username and library and whatnot, click on "Account" and then under the "My Content" section click on "Blog."
Or you can just keep the manage/blog-posts link in a handy place.
Edit: Ninja'd.
... Reading this, I suddenly feel a lot more. Confident about a few of my own characters.
4661568
Thanks, that's what I needed!
4661519
Not really. Chris has his food-related quirks, but it's not his lone character trait.
4661563
Not when they've been doing the same thing for 20 years.
4661525
Eh, different situation. Chloe has character depth in a sense, but being one-dimensional is what defines her dimensions of growth. I'm talking about characters with no growth at all, ever, and no indication of growth.
One dimensional-ism isn't new. What are Wimpy's traits outside of loving hamburgers in the Popeye cartoons? What does Starscream do, other than try to usurp Megatron, in G1 Transformers?
Sometimes we also get characters that oversimplify another character in their perception such that they appear one-dimensional.
The crowd of phlegmwads that laughed at Pinkie because she's the funny one, for example.
He's also a spineless sycophant though. Plus there was that time when he was a bee.
Ha! Watching "Detective Conan" over supper is our nightly family thing. And while we all really like the show, we also all despise Genta. Tho I would say he has one other character trait - he's a complete screw-up. Then again, his screw-ups are usually because he was thinking with his stomach!
Actually another character on there that gets on my nerves a bit is Heiji (sp?) With him it's because he has a really sweet girlfriend, and he's constantly berating her and calling her stupid. When the chips are down and she's in trouble or something seems to mean a lot to her, he DOES seem to really care about her, but in his normal interactions with her he's a dick. And actually in some of the flashbacks before Shinichi was shrunk he could be a bit of a jerk with Ran. I do feel like his experience as Conan may have made him a bit more sympathetic to her, seeing how much she actually loves and misses him and he may regret some things in their past.
Generally seeing people who are supposed to care about each other treating one another like crap makes my blood boil.
4661654
Eh, Kazuha is just as bad as Heiji on that front. It's how they love. Some couples are just like that.See also Bulma and Vegeta.
4661588
The irritating thing about Chloe is that she's basically Astruc's way of bitching about a character he irrationally hates for some reason. This is because she was originally supposed to have a SECOND sycophant with dark hair and olive skin. When you combine a fashionista blonde, a nerdy red-head and a sporty vaguely Latina person, aren't you really talking about "Totally Spies!"?
I mean, really! Chloe....Clover.....potayto, potahto!!!!
4661614
Of course it isn't new, but that doesn't excuse it at all.
4661875
Chloe always reminded me more of Mandy, really. Especially that laugh she has in the webisodes.