Friday, January 17, 2014

Feature Friday: The Most Influential Fictional Characters of 2013

I know, I know.  You've probably seen a million "best of" and "most memorable" lists for 2013.  These kinds of lists are popular every January.  I love lists though, so I don't get sick of them.  

This one, though is from Time Magazine.  Nice of them to include fictional people in their year-in-review lists, don't you think?  They seemed to draw much more heavily from film and TV than books, seeing as Katniss is the only literature representative.  And she might only be here because Catching Fire came out in 2013.  Oh well.  C'est la vie.  Here is Time Magazine's List of the Most Influential Fictional Characters of 2013:

11. Brian Griffin (from Family Guy)

10. Tony Stark (from Iron Man)

9. Burka Avenger (a female Pakistani superhero)

8. Ron Burgundy (from Anchorman 2)

7. Michael de Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips (from Grand Theft Auto V)

6. Frank Underwood (from House of Cards)

5. Carlos Danger (Anthony Weiner's virtual persona)

4. Sophia Burset (from Orange is the New Black)

3. Katniss Everdeen (from The Hunger Games)

2. Olivia Pope (from Scandal)

1. Walter White (from Breaking Bad)

5 comments:

  1. Gross. I do not like this list. My review:

    11- hate him, hate that show. (And why are there 11? My OCD is not pleased...)
    9- meh.
    8- no.
    7- who?
    6- what?
    5- how?
    4- never heard of her.
    3- there we go, finally a good one.
    2- nope.
    1- never seen it.

    Granted, I am not a huge TV consumer but they could have done so much better. At least get Downton Abbey on there or something... or something from a really good movie like "Captain Phillips" or something like that. Disappointed, Time Magazine. Disappointed indeed. This makes me want to write my own list, and I think you should too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I skipped 10. Dumb. 10- he's okay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't know who half these characters were, either. I'm disappointed that they drew so heavily from film and mostly ignored the vast pool of spectacular fictional characters in literature. If I had made the list I certainly would not have included anyone from Family Guy (my hate for that show knows no end) or Anchorman. I would totally have included Anna and/or Mary and/or Maggie Smith's character from Downton Abbey. And probably Alina from Siege and Storm, Roar and Olivia from Through the Ever Night, and I guess I would have to include Beatrice Prior from Allegiant. (I'm not a huge fan of Tris, but she's certainly been a popular discussion character this year, so I think her spot is merited.) Who else would you have chosen???

      Delete
  • If we're talking most influential and not just awesomest, I'd have to include the following, but not necessarily in this order: Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. Katniss Everdeen (that was a great choice). Hans Hubermann. Ender Wiggin. Beatrice Prior or some other Divergent character (I haven't read them but they took the country by storm last year...) Bilbo Baggins. Princess Elsa from Frozen. Whomever Sandra Bullock played in Gravity (haven't seen it) because everyone's raving about that movie. Matilda (from the new musical in London that's done so well.) And finally, a weird one. Lennay Kekua- Manti Te'o's accidental made up girlfriend. Google the story, it's weird and sad.

    My alternate character is Thor.

    I know several of these characters didn't necessarily make their debut in 2013 but they became more widely known in 2013 so I guess they count. And I have almost no one from television because I'm not a huge fan of any of those dumb shows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YES TO EVERYTHING. Except Gravity, since I haven't seen it yet. Or Frozen. (I know, I'm like the only person in the world who hasn't.) Or the Matilda musical. But I'll take your word on it.
      Being big Notre Dame fans in this house, I know all about the Manti Te'o fictional girlfriend scandal. The story is def weird and sad, and my heart goes out to Manti. But I have to say, I think it would be kind of hilarious if the fake girlfriend was on the list of Most Influential Fictional Characters of 2013.

      Delete

Hi! Thanks for your comment! I am currently being hit by a large amount of spam, so I've upped my comment moderating settings for the time being. I will revert back to more comment friendly settings once the spammers go back to the gutters from whence they came.