What makes a good character? Is Marty McFly a good character? Why or why not?

What makes a good character? Is Marty McFly a good character? Why or why not?

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You actually want to have a reasonable and in-depth discussion on Sup Forums?

yes.

Someone the audience can relate to and feel as though they are in the shoes. By that definition characters like Marty are good characters. Same as say Luke Skywalker or Indiana Jones. Though this doesn't work for women characters because they are not rational.

BRAAAAAAAP

Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones aren't relatabale in the slightest you dick sucking faggot.

>Luke Skywalker
What exactly is his character besides "good"?

>kid who does shitty work for his parents and lives a boring life longing for adventure
>not relatable

heres something you've never thought about before, but is literally true.

marty mcfly is peter parker. peter parker is marty mcfly. if spide-rman was made first in the 80s, he would be played by michael j fox. if back to the future was made for the first time now, marty would be played by tom holland.

Michael J. Fox would've been a GOAT Peter Parker, but while in the Twin Peaks thread I realized how phenomenal young Kyle Maclachlan would've been.

I think Biff was a fucking great character, one of my favorite movie characters of all time

goes from a little bit of a whiney kid to a hardened bad ass to a zen like spiritually enlightened state
I really enjoyed his character development

He was bored out his mind on the farm and longed for adventure and had a typical teen angst, pretty relatable
you must be stupid

dunno maybe he's relatable for being competent but not an always calm James bond chad.

A good character is one that you care about what happens to them, whether it's seeing a hero triumph or a villain fail. You're invested in the character's fate.

And Marty?

You didn't describe his character, what's Luke's personality?

I have the same height of marty mcfly

Besides heroes, we can also see how people loved to tune in to see what Tony Soprano and similar characters got into. Some characters explore the areas of life the average person cannot. They are compelling because you can understand where they come from, what they intend to do, and the struggles they overcome. Which is why people are turned off by mary sues. If there is no real conflict, no development of the character from the beginning, then what's the point? If I wanted that, there's a million sitcoms with a status quo to maintain.

A good character doesn't have to be likable or relatable, but they do have to be compelling. You're interested in them, how they act, what fate will befall them.
They need understandable motivations, defined personalities, they just need something the audience can latch onto.

Luke Skywalker isn't a terribly complex character, but he's based on a very classic and compelling archetype.

Is Ron Stoppable a good character?

Marty is a fun character too, but the last time I saw these movies it was Biff's performance that stood out to me as brilliant

youtu.be/2rhMu6FFJPw

I think this video summarizes it pretty good. At least what makes likable characters

the episodes where he saves the day were always the most satisfying

>this doesn't work for women characters because they are not rational.
A character doesn't need to be rational to be good. They could make irrational decisions but as long as they're coherent to the character that was created and believable it'd still be good.

For eg you could show a woman having a bad day at work and taking it out on her children. This is not a rational thing to do but it's believable and if she's been shown to similarly selfish thing previously or later in the film it's coherent.

The only likeable character on Game of Thrones is Davos and Bronn.

Same as Toby Macguire's Peter Parker

no.

tits plus timestamp or gtfo

Regardless of your personal preference there is undoubtable proof that people LOVE GoT characters. Almost all of them that aren't villains. That's why they are devastated so much when they die.

Yes.

I'm tempted to reply by sweetie-posting but I'm a dude. I don't think there are many good female characters but I don't think it's impossible to write one.

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>letting anons answer your Film class' homework

based

I don't like giving movies more credit than they deserve but the individual fleshed out mannerisms of the characters in Back to the Future are incredible. Especially Crispin Glover. God damn he acted so well in this movie.

A good character needs believable motivations and some form of personal development or growth (not necessarily in a positive sense, however). A character who stays the same or fails to doubt their own convictions is not interesting. Crisis is the spice of life– otherwise you end up with someone like Rey from TFA or Scarlet Johansson in Lucy, neither of whom have any real character traits or internal conflicts whatsoever.

>A character doesn't need to be rational to be good.
This desu. It's pretty fucking annoying when people complain over characters not always doing the perfectly rational and logical choice in any given situation. It's human to act on emotion and the character doesn't always know what you, the viewer, know.

To be fair, Episode VII is part of a trilogy and we have no idea where they'll take Rey's character in the upcoming movies.

This isn't strictly the case. A character can still be fascinating and 'good' while also being completely off kilter or alien or very different from what we could relate to or see ourselves doing. Though it would be a hard sell for a protagonist, it doesn't mean they're automatically a bad character.

What others said but also the costume.
Its very non threatening almost teenage and incredibly iconic.

Its a costume I think only MJ Fox could've pulled off.

Today's actors would sexualise and almost fetishize it.

It was an incredibly brilliant costume department for the 1st film

*tips fedora

The only thing that would make her even remotely interesting is if she turned to the dark side. As of right now she's a Mary Sue who isn't much more than a carbon copy of Luke, albeit one who doesn't need more than maybe a half hour of screentime before suddenly gaining incredible force abilities which your average Jedi would take years to perfect.

I'm not sure about back to the future's theme. Basically a guy that stands up for himself by punching the bully in the face is not a good life lesson. You can kill a guy with a punch like that, but of course that outcome would be too dark for the comedy movie.

Perks of being a wallflower and jonah hill's Babysitter, have similar character arcs; nerdy insecure guy overcomes himself and punches the bully in the face at the end. Its not good. Young people grow up thinking you could or even should punch someone in the face for hurting your feelings, life isn't like that.

Duelling was outlawed because lots of guys died for stupid shit like being called a sissy.

Hello rebbit. I see your scat fetish is still intact

How cold is it there? He's wearing a tshirt, button up shirt, jean jacket, and a down vest. It must be freezing

What was Luke's arc in the first Star Wars that makes him any better of a character than Rey?

I hate how at the end of frozen anna just punches hans in the face

It's very 80s. It was a very superficial decade in many ways.

I didn't actually say he was better, I said Rey was a two-dimensional clone of luke and her origin story imitates almost beat-for-beat that of Luke's.

My main point was that it takes luke literally two films before he becomes reasonably competent with the force– its a challenge that has to be overcome, and one that requires guidance from a certain green migdet. Rey gets captured, tries to control a stormtrooper with her mind, and it works. There's literally no struggle for development, she just wishes for power and BOOM, everything she needs is at her fingertips.

Yet no one was calling Luke a mary sue? It's weird.

A good character needs to be relatable and understandable. A character can be a complete asshole but as long as you understand why he is an asshole, you can relate to him and therefore becomes a more fleshed out character. Marty Mcfly is a good character from his actions he does in the movie. He is constantly looking out for doc brown and it's understandable why. It's not firmly stated in the movie but it is implied that Marty and Doc have been friends for a very long time through Marty's actions. Marty is also nervous about really trying anything and keeping a reputation because of his father and it is obvious when watching the movie

>A good character needs to be relatable and understandable
Nope. Take Frank Booth for example

MJF as Marty McFly is a good character interpretation.

Eric Stoltz was the original Marty and the tone was wrong.
He didn't have the same costume either. Though the vest
may have just been an attempt to fill out Fox's small stature.

Fox was an established comic talent at that point and was
able to bring that into the movie which was otherwise a
more straight forward adventure concept. Doc was obviously
meant to be the comic relief from square one, but having Marty
be played by another comedic actor allowed them to play off
each other more. Creating more chemistry.

Marty didn't punch Biff though, George did. And George punched Biff because he just tried to rape Lorraine

Luke made mistakes and screwed up a lot. Rey doesn't, she's perfect at everything. And not only is she perfect, but everyone keeps telling her what a great job she is doing every chance they get.

Luke also has an actual character arc. He starts off as a farmboy who wants to do some good in the universe, but even though he yearns for excitement, he is reluctant to leave because he doesn't want to abandon his family. Once his family is killed Luke finally goes on his adventure, he goes aboard the Death Star, makes some mistakes, but still saves the day and rescues the princess.

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>this arguement again
Can we just save it for the next inevitable Rey thread?

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Sneed's f... just fucking with ya.

Marty was balanced. He wasn't exception, but he wasn't a loser. He had flaws:
>being called chicken
>being greedy with the sports almanac
>being reckless

But he was also brave. He fixes his own damn problems, and isn't a dbag about it. He's an average kid pushed by extraordinary circumstances. That's why people can relate to him and like him.

Ah, gee Rick.....

>manlet
>good character

pick 1

That's a shit ton of layers for CA.....

Why in the fuck does he have so many shirts on?

I think Jenny from Forrest Gump is a good example of this. Irrational character, but still very well written.

JC Penny product placement.

Don't judge, teens today are beanieinthesummerfags.

Yeah, off the top I can't tell you what Luke Skywalker's personality is, but he's still a likeable and compelling character.

He dressed like that because he was meeting Doc at the mall at 1 AM

>Writing lessons from Game of Thrones

Global warming. It used to be much colder here.

I'd love to see the Stoltz footage one day, just to see how miscast he was.