Helpless and Hopeless: A No Fail Formula
Apr. 9th, 2004 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisabetDoes the new season of QaF start Sunday?
Does Brian finally develop superpowers this year? See, I've kinda been meh about the new season and about B/J in particular. I don't know why really - I think it is the lack of superpowers. Maybe if Brian could just have a tiny little power that isn't really a power, I'd be more excited.
Or be a vampire. I kinda really dug that. Oh, I also really like invisibility - but only if its use and presence will gradually drive our intrepid hero insane and cause great physical pain. Mmmm, angstalicious. Mmmm, mental anguish.
Brian could have x-ray vision. He wouldn't use it for good - that much is a given, but I am okay with shades of gray.
I was explaining to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sockkpuppett a few weeks ago that I think all of my fannish crushes can be broken down into one of 2 groups: Hopeless versus Helpless. Let me explain. I like a lot of different characters - but it takes a specific type to interest me in daydreaming and pondering and basically just obsessing constantly. This is my attempt to make sense of it all - also - I like categorizing things.
Little boxes, on a hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky, little boxes on a hillside, little boxes all the same
The Hopeless dude is just that - without hope. He has pain. You can't even begin to fathom his pain - and in some cases you only know enough about him to know that it is bad. He typically is a loner. A OTP is not necessary - although if one exists - he will lose that person. This is a given and he knows it. His future is bleak and the Hopeless guy doesn't really believe that anything around the bend is going to be any better. But here is where the thing that makes The Hopeless guy more than a Gloomy Gus and into the object of my obsession comes into play: He still doesn't give up. Maybe in little ways, you can see his facade cracking, because the burden he carries is deep and wide and without occasional falls, we wouldn't know how far our hero has traveled. But there is no point and the pain continues, on and on and into infinity.
Examples: Angel (AtS). Mal Reynolds (Firefly). Brian Kinney (QaFUS) falls into this category by default, but if he had a superpower, it would just really help me out. Clark Kent (SV, Superman). Xander Harris (BtVS - but only as he exists in fanfic. I like Dark Xander).
there's a blue one and a green one and a pink one and a yellow one, and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same
Now the Helpless guy is actually quite gifted. He possesses a talent or knowledge or something that sets him apart as special, unique and Important to the Universe. He also possesses a knack for putting himself in situations that inevitably lead to extreme danger. If left to his own devices, the Helpless guy will get himself killed. He needs protecting (and possibly cuddling and soup) and this is where the presense of a OTPing - a protector - can really shine. Saving the Helpless Hero from himself - I LOVE this. The Helpless guy cannot exist for more than short-term on his own. He requires a Partner/Protector.
Examples: John Crichton {Farscape), Darien Fawkes (I-Man), Fox Mulder (TXF - and Mulder probably imprinted this type on me), under certain conditions Lex Luthor (SV, Superman), Wes (AtS) once fit fairly well into this category, but he is moving right along into Hopeless as the seasons progress, Spike feels right in this category - but I think I am thinking more in terms of fanfic again -- I just can't buy Spike as Helpless - except he does have a talent for getting himself almost killed - but then he usually acts as his own Protector and that brings me to my next point:
My favorite dynamic is when the Hopeless Hero takes on the Protector/Partner Role of the Helpless Hero. I get two types, forged together in one irresistable dynamic. It is just lovely, you know? Plus - painful and also DOOMED (doomed). Seriously, it is an angst-producing formula that just cannot fail: You've got the Hopeless dude and all of his lovely pain and just a glimmer of hope given to him - a reason for it all - by the sheer presence of the Helpless Hero. And then shit happens. It's enough to make me want to buy a TIVO.
And then you have Spike - who apparently can be his own OTP. It's actually that quality about him that I find most appealing.
ETA: Linked in the comments - but noteworthy in typing archtypes - is the Clam/Anti-Clam discussion inelynross's LJ. Chances are a pairing you are a fan of got brought up as an example - I think *all* fandoms were incorporated.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/elynross/32583.html
So yeah - gotta go withlaurashapiro's comments below: Hopeless Heroes are clams intrinsically - they *have* to be clams. If they are not clams, People Die (the fact that people die anyway, just from being in their proximity, is not lost on them).
Conversely, the Helpless Hero has a bit more emotional freedom - he is an anti-clam. He is also generally a bit nuts. Most Helpless sorts are brilliant, but with a couple of screws loose. This is actually a defining characteristic: Has the candidate for Helpless Hero, ever been restrained for his own protection (tied to a bed, straitjacket, cuffs - you get the picture)? If the answer is no - then get back to me in two seasons.
Does Brian finally develop superpowers this year? See, I've kinda been meh about the new season and about B/J in particular. I don't know why really - I think it is the lack of superpowers. Maybe if Brian could just have a tiny little power that isn't really a power, I'd be more excited.
Or be a vampire. I kinda really dug that. Oh, I also really like invisibility - but only if its use and presence will gradually drive our intrepid hero insane and cause great physical pain. Mmmm, angstalicious. Mmmm, mental anguish.
Brian could have x-ray vision. He wouldn't use it for good - that much is a given, but I am okay with shades of gray.
I was explaining to
sockkpuppett a few weeks ago that I think all of my fannish crushes can be broken down into one of 2 groups: Hopeless versus Helpless. Let me explain. I like a lot of different characters - but it takes a specific type to interest me in daydreaming and pondering and basically just obsessing constantly. This is my attempt to make sense of it all - also - I like categorizing things. Little boxes, on a hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky, little boxes on a hillside, little boxes all the same
The Hopeless dude is just that - without hope. He has pain. You can't even begin to fathom his pain - and in some cases you only know enough about him to know that it is bad. He typically is a loner. A OTP is not necessary - although if one exists - he will lose that person. This is a given and he knows it. His future is bleak and the Hopeless guy doesn't really believe that anything around the bend is going to be any better. But here is where the thing that makes The Hopeless guy more than a Gloomy Gus and into the object of my obsession comes into play: He still doesn't give up. Maybe in little ways, you can see his facade cracking, because the burden he carries is deep and wide and without occasional falls, we wouldn't know how far our hero has traveled. But there is no point and the pain continues, on and on and into infinity.
Examples: Angel (AtS). Mal Reynolds (Firefly). Brian Kinney (QaFUS) falls into this category by default, but if he had a superpower, it would just really help me out. Clark Kent (SV, Superman). Xander Harris (BtVS - but only as he exists in fanfic. I like Dark Xander).
there's a blue one and a green one and a pink one and a yellow one, and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same
Now the Helpless guy is actually quite gifted. He possesses a talent or knowledge or something that sets him apart as special, unique and Important to the Universe. He also possesses a knack for putting himself in situations that inevitably lead to extreme danger. If left to his own devices, the Helpless guy will get himself killed. He needs protecting (and possibly cuddling and soup) and this is where the presense of a OTPing - a protector - can really shine. Saving the Helpless Hero from himself - I LOVE this. The Helpless guy cannot exist for more than short-term on his own. He requires a Partner/Protector.
Examples: John Crichton {Farscape), Darien Fawkes (I-Man), Fox Mulder (TXF - and Mulder probably imprinted this type on me), under certain conditions Lex Luthor (SV, Superman), Wes (AtS) once fit fairly well into this category, but he is moving right along into Hopeless as the seasons progress, Spike feels right in this category - but I think I am thinking more in terms of fanfic again -- I just can't buy Spike as Helpless - except he does have a talent for getting himself almost killed - but then he usually acts as his own Protector and that brings me to my next point:
My favorite dynamic is when the Hopeless Hero takes on the Protector/Partner Role of the Helpless Hero. I get two types, forged together in one irresistable dynamic. It is just lovely, you know? Plus - painful and also DOOMED (doomed). Seriously, it is an angst-producing formula that just cannot fail: You've got the Hopeless dude and all of his lovely pain and just a glimmer of hope given to him - a reason for it all - by the sheer presence of the Helpless Hero. And then shit happens. It's enough to make me want to buy a TIVO.
And then you have Spike - who apparently can be his own OTP. It's actually that quality about him that I find most appealing.
ETA: Linked in the comments - but noteworthy in typing archtypes - is the Clam/Anti-Clam discussion in
elynross's LJ. Chances are a pairing you are a fan of got brought up as an example - I think *all* fandoms were incorporated. http://www.livejournal.com/users/elynross/32583.html
So yeah - gotta go with
laurashapiro's comments below: Hopeless Heroes are clams intrinsically - they *have* to be clams. If they are not clams, People Die (the fact that people die anyway, just from being in their proximity, is not lost on them). Conversely, the Helpless Hero has a bit more emotional freedom - he is an anti-clam. He is also generally a bit nuts. Most Helpless sorts are brilliant, but with a couple of screws loose. This is actually a defining characteristic: Has the candidate for Helpless Hero, ever been restrained for his own protection (tied to a bed, straitjacket, cuffs - you get the picture)? If the answer is no - then get back to me in two seasons.
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 10:16 am (UTC)The Helpless are all open and out there with there pain somewhat - my mind goes to John raging about on the dying Leviathan in "Crichton Kicks" - this might be because this is illustrative of that point, or it might just be because my mind wants to linger there for a bit. I really have no idea.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 11:01 am (UTC)Mmm. John Crichton. I love the way he lets it all hang out, and it's funny because I'm normally more attracted to clams.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 11:09 am (UTC)I mean - I understood how much having Harvey around bugged John - but I never got how much it pained him to have an outsider present in his brain (possibly because he *used* Harvey as an advantage in so many situations) - but I never really got how bad it was for him - until Jack killed Harvey in Infinite Possibilities II and we see John's reaction. That *kills* me because I had no idea, but now I do *and* made my subsequent reactions to John-on-Moya that much more intense, because he still has a neural clone and he is still just making the best of a really bad situation.
Now I need to go make John some soup.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 03:09 pm (UTC)Yes. John needs soup. I need an icon that says "John needs soup."
no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 12:31 pm (UTC)http://www.livejournal.com/users/elynross/32583.html
CLAM!
no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 12:50 pm (UTC)Edited my post to reflect the link, btw. Ain't fandom grand?