Freakishly ugly good guys

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

You don't see a lot of freakishly ugly good guys in movies, do you? Y'know, like deformed people. I guess a lot of it's because someone who's deformed prolly doesn't get the inclination to be good as often as they do to lash out.

Still, I saw Harry Potter 4 or whatever and was hoping that the dude with the eyepatch would turn out to be good. No such luck.

I mean, there'll always be your Hunchback of Notre Dames and your Bad Santas but I feel like it's not enough of a trend.

I'd like to barely be able to look at a hero and have them still be endearing, still be the hero. I would like them to be a complete and utter failure in everything they wish to achieve and yet still eventually achieve those things. I would like to see the hero fall into an unrequited love that REMAINS unrequited, because the hero is a freakin' FREAK.

I'm just saying-- maybe it would help the image problem in America if American cinema reflected a different attitude. Maybe there'd be less focus on appearance and less bias. If it was a box-office hit, anyway.

Any thoughts?

---Josh

[damnhooligan]

Well, in Goblet of Fire's defense, Mad Eye Moody is actually a good guy. It just happened to be that a bad dude was parading around using his likeness for a while. He'll be back in the following movies, as a goodie.

I think the only movies where you're going to see really ugly heroes is where it's a major plot point, rather than a last minute add on. In the most well known tales of deformed heroes, like Phantom of the Opera (though Erik's not a terribly convincing hero), Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast, the primary focus is that the character is outcast from society and falls in love with a woman who cannot love them in return. And as interesting as that is, I don't know if I could take another rehashing of that old tried and true plot.

But as far as hoping Tom Cruise will dawn a fake hump and a limp for his next action flick, or an acid-burned Will Smith romantic comedy, don't hold your breath. Movies like that are merely Hollywood vehicles to show off A-listers in all of their professional-trained, airbrushed, Prada-wearin' glory. And heaven forbid anything tarnish that.

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

Yeah, that's a shame, isn't it?

Actually, making Will Smith and Tom Cruise ugly would be contrary to my cause. Seeing less of them in hero roles and more of Steve Buscemi and Jason Alexander (neither of which are freaks, but both of whom would be guys who, upon sleeping with them, star****er girls would say they slept with "the guy from Reservoir Dogs" or "the guy from Pretty Woman") in these roles would change everyone's viewpoint of what a hero has to be. Why should they be so glamorous? Why not average-looking people?

I dunno, it probably won't happen, and I won't hold my breath. But I can dream...

---Josh

[Katie]

hehe I guess since Hollywood is Fantasyland anyway you might as well have a nice looking fantasy.

I'm with you though. All those really Beutiful star-types just give me a complex. I'll never be skinny enough, blonde enough, or tall enough. *shrugs* I never went for the Ken-doll types anyways. I'm average...and my guy (though I think he's amazing) is average too.

Hooray for Average people! :D

[KROW]

What about Dark Man, Swamp Thing, Roger Daltrey?

[iris]

I think that there are a lot of examples. The first one who came to mind was Dark Man. (TMNT also comes to mind.)

Cyrano de Bergerac and La Belle et La Bete are probably a classic examples, though the love is requited in those. Heh... and then there's King Kong.

[KROW]

Well, I wouldn't consider King Kong as freakishly ugly; not even ugly at all. I mean, he's a gorilla. He's not freakish as far as gorillas are concerned. He's just really big.

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

Examples do come along every once in a while, but it is usually a major plot point. If it was just taken as a part of the character that they aren't super attractive, and it still had an effect on the story but didn't dictate where it went, I think it could make for something interesting.

Also, if it became a trend and wasn't in only a few movies, that'd only help more.

I mean, beautiful fantasies are great-- but imagine-- if more realistic people were in your fantasies, your fantasies would be closer to being a reality. It'd be putting a resolve to change things in the hands of average man.

I dunno, it's worth a thought.

---Josh

[Jo Dawn]

Actually... In Goblet of Fire... the 'patch man' Mad Eye Moody IS a good guy. The one that was bad was using his form via a potion.

But he IS a good guy.

[iris]

Well, I wouldn't consider King Kong as freakishly ugly; not even ugly at all. I mean, he's a gorilla. He's not freakish as far as gorillas are concerned. He's just really big.
You're right; he's not ugly/freakish in that he's a gorilla. I was just thinking that he fits the "persecuted hero" pattern. He is a monstrous beast anyway. ;)

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

Actually... In Goblet of Fire... the 'patch man' Mad Eye Moody IS a good guy. The one that was bad was using his form via a potion.

But he IS a good guy.

Yeah, I picked that up... but the good one wasn't in the movie. He never really showed up til the end. Ah, well. Does the real guy have a significant role in the 5th one? I kinda stopped reading the books after the 3rd one... in 9th or 10th grade everyone started calling me "Harry Potter" and I kinda developed a vengeance complex towards the whole thing.

---Josh

[Hannah]

But Tom Cruise IS a horribley disfigured and ugly "hero".

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

But Tom Cruise IS a horribley disfigured and ugly "hero".

I guess that'd explain why no one's going to see MI:III. (Oooh, burn. Recover from THAT one, you Last Samurai, you!)

---Josh

[Jo Dawn]

Yeah, I picked that up... but the good one wasn't in the movie. He never really showed up til the end. Ah, well. Does the real guy have a significant role in the 5th one? I kinda stopped reading the books after the 3rd one... in 9th or 10th grade everyone started calling me "Harry Potter" and I kinda developed a vengeance complex towards the whole thing.

---Josh

Yes, and the Sixth, also. An even bigger one.

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

Yes, and the Sixth, also. An even bigger one.

Well, that's a step in the right direction! However, I don't think I'll be satisfied til Harry, Ron, and Hermione all get out of a burn ward and still save the day.

That's actually what I figured "Goblet of Fire" would be about. Boy, was there egg on my face!

---Josh

[Barkworm]

I guess that'd explain why no one's going to see MI:III. (Oooh, burn. Recover from THAT one, you Last Samurai, you!)

---Josh
I went to see it! J.J. ABRAMS!!!

[Jo Dawn]

I actually saw it, too.


...



And I liked it. ;) :)


Philip Seymour Hoffman rules, by the way. Okay? Hehe.

[Barkworm]

Yeah, he ruled. The way he was killed off didn't though.

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

Hey, I'm just saying that from a box office perspective, it's making less than expected. No personal offense intended.

Except to Tom Cruise.

---Josh

[Serp]

I like the Story of Frankenstien. And its cool that a character like Mario isn't whats considerd to be a vision of Beauty, but he is the hero, and he got the girl. Though in the live action Mario, they made Luigi a handsome guy and he got the Princess instead of Mario.:ohwell:

But I see where Josh is coming from.

[KROW]

You're right; he's not ugly/freakish in that he's a gorilla. I was just thinking that he fits the "persecuted hero" pattern. He is a monstrous beast anyway. ;)
Oh, I see what you mean.

I guess that'd explain why no one's going to see MI:III.
For me it's X-Men 3.

[Anarky]

There's this movie coming, called "The Chancellor Manuscript" after a book of the same title by Robert Ludlum. It's going to have Leonardo di Caprio as Peter Chancellor in it.

The reason why I mention this is the fact that Peter Chancellor has a crippled leg and a large scar on his head because he was in a car accident. So, unless they change the script, we're going to see an ugly good guy.

[Mecha Cow]

Ugly good guys? Do we really want more Rob Schneider movies?

[KROW]

I have an ugly good guy: Mark Hamill. He got into a car wreck before filming Empire and he came back with buggy eyes and a scarred mouth.

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

There's this movie coming, called "The Chancellor Manuscript" after a book of the same title by Robert Ludlum. It's going to have Leonardo di Caprio as Peter Chancellor in it.

The reason why I mention this is the fact that Peter Chancellor has a crippled leg and a large scar on his head because he was in a car accident. So, unless they change the script, we're going to see an ugly good guy.

On the other side of that, we're gonna see an ugly good guy played by Leonardo di Caprio.

Hollywood's gonna have to try a little harder, methinks.

---Josh

[iris]

Well, despite having done films like "Titanic" :dead: Leonardo DiCaprio is actually a very good actor. And I'm saying that as someone who started out biased against him. Or did you mean he's not ugly enough? :D

I think that there are several movies in which the protagonist is disfigured in some way. What about "Mask" (with Cher and Eric Stoltz, not Jim Carrey)?

I have an ugly good guy: Mark Hamill. He got into a car wreck before filming Empire and he came back with buggy eyes and a scarred mouth.
I never noticed ugliness. (But I DO notice your awesome Ash siggy!)

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

Yeah, I just meant he's not ugly enough. I mean, anyone who's been in the same sentence with the words "teen heart-throb" isn't fit to the image of ugliness I think should be portrayed in movies. Maybe I'm being picky.

---Josh

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

How about Sloth from the 80s movie "The Goonies", he was a bad guy at first but we find out he really is a good guy and was deformed looking with make-up on, and he is very popular with the generation who grew up in that era. HEY YOU GUUYYYYYYS!