LIKEABILITY

It could of course just be me.

Recently, meaning the last few years, many new dramas seem to lack any empathetic characters or likeable characters.  Have the creators of such dramas forgotten that the viewer needs to feel involved and the only way that we can do this is if we like the character or feel empathy for them? I am talking here about both film and TV drama.

I watched just the first probably three or four episodes of Madmen and quit because I found all of the characters to be obnoxious.  I gave it as long as I did in the hope that somebody vaguely likeable and self-centred would appear.

We recently started to watch a film called Cracks. it looked as though it was going to be a good drama about a private educational establishment in the 1930s.  After 20 minutes the we found no one likeable and realised we didn’t really care what happened.

I disliked Sex And The City because I found all of the characters incredibly self-centred.  The oldest one whose name escapes me right now who had all the sex was the least amusing.

In  Desperate Housewives, the dynamic is different.  Yes all of the characters are self-centred but they are also amusing and designed to be.  They are not drawn or portrayed as self-centred in the extreme so therefore they have likeable qualities and are human enough for one to identify with. Much to my surprise my favourite character is Bree!!! Yes, I am afraid that is so.  Susan is the most extremely self-centred of all of them.  Lynette is probably the most normal and Gaby is a stark mix of virtue and vice.  The whole program works because it is not meant to be taken seriously and it clearly does not take itself seriously and they have the mix of likeability and unlikeability down well.

When it comes down to it, a film, a TV program, or a book, has to have characters that we care about in them.  Perhaps I am wrong and the majority of people much more enjoy reading or watching obnoxious twats.