Can fiction change your personality?
I was reading some of your comments from the last post about what endings you would have chosen for certain books and movies, and it made me think about the stories and characters that have actually changed my personality over the years.
You know, the ones that make you want to act like the hero or heroine–and not just for a day, but for the rest of your life.
This is where it gets potentially embarrassing, but to borrow Annette’s phrase from yesterday, “fess it up”:
1. Any book or TV show or movie about a girl and her dog or horse–I was her. I would spend hours in intense make-believe, petting, grooming, talking to my imaginary dog, riding my imaginary horse. And this was just last year. Seriously, all those kid-and-animal shows deeply touched an animal-lover nerve in me, and made me want to grow up to be someone who surrounded herself with the love of some good mammals.
2. Xena. The show came out just as I was getting involved in martial arts, and so you’d better believe I was Xena every week, studying the moves, wishing I could wear an outfit like that in my everyday life. Sometimes if I’m feeling a little insecure in a social situation, I put on Xena’s personality, walk tall, make my shoulders broad, get ready to do a flip and take somebody down if necessary. Or at least be able to introduce myself to someone without my palms going all sweaty and my voice cracking.
3. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Show of hands–how many of us have always wanted to be her? Smart, sassy, bold, loyal, true to herself in all situations, for better or worse. She keeps her head when all around her others are losing theirs. And she snags one of the best romantic leads in all of literature. Can’t beat Lizzie.
4. Dana Scully from X-Files. Those few times she actually kissed Mulder. Ahhhh . . . Plus, she was smart and brave and had perfect skin. Sometimes when I’m Scully I can suck it up and do what truly terrifies me. Plus she always wore such stylish clothes–especially those long overcoats. I might need to buy one of those to really get into the part.
5. Joey on Dawson’s Creek. Shut up. I’m not even going to talk to you about this, or you’ll just make fun.
6. Ellen Ripley from Alien. Oh, yeah. She was strong and smart, had a great haircut, didn’t care if she was always sweaty, and totally kicked ASS. She showed proper fear, but she kept moving in the face of it. GREAT heroine. Will love Sigourney Weaver forever because of it.
7. Of course Meryl Streep in River Wild, but you knew that.
8. Linda Hamilton in The Terminator and T2. Awesome kick-assedness.
I could go on and on. But I swear that at various times in my life, I have been each of the above women when a situation called for it. Maybe I spend more time than other grown women in this state of make-believe, but I find that putting on some fictional character’s personality, even for a few minutes, has really helped me in dicey circumstances, like having to argue a case in court or meeting my mother-in-law for the first time.
The same thing happens when I write. I’ll know a book is going well when I start acting like my heroine. It’s the reason I learned to ride a horse, lost a bunch of weight, started dressing in nicer clothes, dumped a mean friend. I figure if I can write characters who are better than I am, the least I can do is try to live up to their example.
Okay, my confession is over. Your turn. Are there any books, movies, or TV shows that you think changed how you behave? Is there some heroine (or hero) you try to live up to? Cross-gender make-believe is perfectly acceptable. Sometimes I wish I were Han Solo.
Technorati Tags: Books, Reading, Writing, Writers, Movies, TV, Television, Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice, Linda Hamilton, Terminator, Xena, River Wild, Meryl Streep, Alien, Sigourney Weaver, X-Files, Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
October 4th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
1. Spiderman - With great power comes great responsibility.
2. Chewbacca - nuff said
3. Any Hugh Grant character in a romantic comedy. oopsie daisy.
4. Iron Man - Because I always wanted to be an alcoholic brilliant inventor with a heart condition.
5. Belgarion
6. Any Adam Sandler character in a romantic comedy. –See? Billy Idol gets it!
October 4th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
This is a fun game! So,my picks are:
1)Jo March/Little Women-I was always more of a Beth in real life so the bold gals are the ones I yearn to be.
2)Buffy the Vampire Slayer-fighting vampires(and dating them),wicked warrior skills and witty puns for every occasion,what’s not to envy here?
3)Willow Rosenberg/BTVS-I know,same show but again,I identify with Willow alot(especially in her high school nerd days)and when she went all Dark Phoenix in Season 6,booya!
4)Anne Elliot/Persuasion-I’ve been the “go-to” girl just Anne in many situations,plus I don’t mind a man in uniform:)
5)Wonder Woman-She’s a wonder,Wonder Woman!
6)Hermoine Granger/Harry Potter series-brains and magic,how cool is that?
7)Ursula/The Little Mermaid-also love being bad and she was wickedly good!
8)Catwoman/Batman Returns-Michelle Pffeifer set a high standard that Halle Berry couldn’t even reach on her tiptoes.
9)Evil Queen/Disney’s Snow White-the first villianess I ever saw onscreen and still the best.
10)Charlie/Shadow of a Doubt-I’m referring to the Theresa Wright character,not her evil uncle. Actually,if I was able to be any old school actress,it would be Theresa Wright. She was smart,stylish and forthright.
October 4th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
uhh…pipi.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:06 am
Ditto on Dana Scully.
Time passes in moments.
Moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life.
Just as surely as they lead toward its end.
How rarely do we stop to examine that path.
To see the reasons why all things happen.
To consider whether the path we take in life is our own making.
Or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed.
But if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes,
Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life?
And seeing those choices, choose another path?
– Dana Scully, “All Things”
October 5th, 2006 at 8:02 am
I love your lists! I don’t know who Belgarion is (yes, Patrick, I’m sure I live under a rock), but the others are all great.
Heather, where did you get that Scully quote?
October 5th, 2006 at 8:19 am
I yahooed it. Can’t remember the site.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:27 am
David Eddings. Early LoTR clone. Just ’cause you don’t know it, doesn’t mean it isn’t great. 1 Orb to rule them all. or something like that.
I forgot - Chevy Chase in Caddy Shack.
Judge Smails: Ty, what did you shoot today?
Ty Webb: Oh, Judge, I don’t keep score.
Judge Smails: Then how do you measure yourself with other golfers?
Ty Webb: By height.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:42 am
When I was a child, I wanted to be any girl in any horse story-National Velvet, Misty, you name it. Currently, I want to be either the blonde or brunette FBI team member on the show “Without a Trace,” valued for my brains and ability to kick serious a** while wearing tight, fashionable clothing. And, although not a fictional character, I do have a yen to be like Erma Bombeck-she’s got a heck of a sense of humor, which is awfully handy when I can’t kick somebody’s a**.
October 5th, 2006 at 10:43 am
What most people don’t realize is that, since 1991, there’s been a dramatic increase in size and complexity of circle design. That’s when the Mandelbrot Set appeared in England. A series of geometrically perfect rings appearing almost impossibly overnight in a field near Cambridge. But that was merely prelude of what was to come. Three years later, in 1994 even more complex formations occurred simultaneously on opposite ends of the English countryside with the Mandelbrot Set, were it still there, at its center. Then, in 1997, even more complex formations occurred… and I’m not wearing any pants right now.
-Mulder
October 5th, 2006 at 11:04 am
I don’t remember that one, Patrick, and somehow I think I would have.
October 5th, 2006 at 11:24 am
I didn’t either… It was in the same place I found Heather’s quote. What you have to remember is that he is wearing pants. Scully was ignoring him. I remembered it after that.
8. Pierce Brosnan in the Thomas Crowne Affair.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
1. Lazarus Long
2. Gandalf
3. Honor Harrington
4. Howard Roark
5. John Galt
6. Michael from the movie Michael. I always wanted wings
October 5th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
did i mention, uh, pippi?
October 5th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Deborah, yeah on the horse thing, for sure. Herb, yes to Howard Roark, no to John Galt (maybe because I hate that opening and continuous line, “Who is John Galt?” Ugh). Yes to Gandalf, of course.
Annette, you’re on your own with Pippi.
October 5th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
“yes to gandalf, of course”–who the hell is gandalf?? i don’t care how much scorn is heaped upon me, i admit i will have to look up every one of herb’s fantasy alter-egos except lazarus (as long as that is lazarus, aka SATAN) and michael (as long as that is michael, avenging angel of god). geesh, and i thought patrick was a lot of work.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Um, Annette, Gandalf is from Lord of the Rings, and that’s all I’m saying because I can’t believe you’re not one of us.
And Lucifer, not Lazarus, is Satan, but Michael is an angel, so you gained a point there.
And to tell you the truth, other than the Ayn Rand characters, Michael, and Gandalf, I didn’t know any of Herb’s people, either.
But I was just happy he–and all the rest of you–showed up and played along. It’s so much more fun that way.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
full on oops as to lazarus, brother of somebody in the bible raised from the dead or whatever, and i did read ayn rand or at least the cliff notes on whatever class it was were we had to read “atlas shrugged” but the fact that herb knows this and at the least fantasy lives is, awesome but perhaps scary or at least troublesome.
October 6th, 2006 at 7:31 am
Annette, scary?, troublesome? Yes but, I found that with the proper medication, no one has a clue. Lets keep it our secret.
October 6th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Mostly Anne Shirley. Actually, pretty much only Anne Shirley.
Some Princess Leia. Some Jo March.
October 6th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Diana, I admit I had to look that up. I never saw Anne of Green Gables. Are you telling me there’s a chunk missing in my childhood development?
October 6th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
My list–
1.
Maybe this is why I’m not a writer.
Annette, Pippi was cool, though I never wanted to BE her.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
9. Daniel Jackson
October 7th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
Patrick, ????
October 8th, 2006 at 10:42 am
just to check the accuracy of my inner barometer of reality, yesterday i saw (with my 21 year old daughter happily in tow) a local college stage production of–suprise–”pippi”. no need to reiterate–she rocks. the median age in the audience was about 8.5 (excluding my attendance which would, in and of itself, push it to 15) and they went wild. here is this totally irreverent little girl who happens to be the “strongest person in the world”, has a horse, a monkey, a chest of gold, a mama in heaven and a papa who’s a pirate, doesn’t go to school and only sometimes tells the truth. keep in mind she has no technology (other than imagination and magic) to work with here–bj you MUST rethink you position on this. (ps, my daughter agrees).