Standard character

Role

The standard use of characters in the representations of the products of the Mass culture has a federator attraction: the roles are implicitly evoked by the stereotype to which is identified the played character. In order to attract the greatest number of spectators, the film scenario writers with great budget which are not concerned with films of author thus may find it beneficial any to call upon the generally accepted ideas contained in the interactions between these stereotyped fictitious characters.

A succession of standard characters, perfectly compatible with the diffusion in the form of Consumption of Mass of these graded products throughout the chain of promotion. The glamor and the spangles of the Starlette S contribute to it, in order to make exceptional what is only the new variation of the banal one.

The identification of the spectator, whatever his cultural origin, is immediate when he sees the images of a valiant Héros fighting in an outburst of violence against a Génie of the evil, with the rescue of a Demoiselle in distress retained in captivity.

A repetition of these stereotypes can evoke the trouble, but can conversely delight a certain avid public by Kitsch or put more at ease a spectator in unknown territory.

List characters standard

Hero

the Prince charming , man of all qualities who is the incarnation of that of which dreams all the women and who sometimes happens to save one by love and romanticism of it (the true romanticism does not have in fact anything to see with this side blue flower);
a Retributive mysterious wandering in the Far West which is a As of the trigger ;

the Private detective which must and can solve the businesses vis-a-vis which the police force is impotent;

a Secret agent virile and drawn seducer with four pins which multiplies the female conquests and collects the most sophisticated gadgets. It is often inspired by James Bond;

a valorous Superhéros with the carved musculature, equipped with a variegated grinding costume, and sometimes followed by an assistant young person who is used as Faire-valoir. It is often inspired by Superman and/or Batman;

L Apprentice champion , which in spite of its weakness in a sport or another discipline, has passion and much of potential, which possibly carries out it towards the victory despite everything the challenges;
the Hooligan in the large heart , young man maker of disorders who in spite of his violent and dangerous pace has a noble and significant bottom;
the Sidekick or Development , friendly near which follows the hero and the assistance, without however exceeding it in importance or stature;

Malicious S

the insane Erudite , scientist able to create things out of the commun run, but alas often irresponsible and over-excited by what it does;
the Genius of the evil , making use of its intelligence to create effective plans that he believes will be enough to thwart the hero and/or to dominate the world;
the Lord of Darkness ; personification of the evil, it often practices the black Magie, adores the Enfer and the Ombre and wants to obtain the ultimate capacity in order to reign on all and to put an end to happiness (duality Manichéen);
the Caïd , child or teenager which make use of his physical force and of his comrades who follow it to exploit weaker than him;
the Serial killer masked which prevails in a campus of students, killing preferably out of pretty naive young girls, equipped with an incredible force and a resistance allowing him to survive any wound normally mortal. Another alternative: it operates discreetly in the shade, assassinates its victims in a special way which is its signature and defies the police force to find it;
the Clown malefic which, instead of being joker and sympathetic nerve, is a diabolic psychopathe who sows terror with his sadistic and unforeseeable nature, exploiting the incongruity of the appearance of a clown except context;
the Bad promised in marriage , physically or mentally ugly man that heroin is forced to marry, often by the will of his/her parents, but the hero will intervene to save it situation;

Comic

the comic element , a character whose objective is to make laugh the public and to slacken the atmosphere, by his naivety and/or its awkwardness. There is like examples:

the large one which amuses the gallery with its weight, its naivety and its greediness;
the Addicted to drink of the corner, more often drunk than sober, giving place to situations cocasses;
the jovial Afro-American and " cool" , which often makes team with a American white more serious and preserving;
the Geek , faiblichon anticonformist and not " cool" who knows himself there more in the fields of science and data processing that the sport and popularity;

the False hero , arrogant individual and little shining which is full with false confidence in its capacities, being forged its reputation by lies and handling. It often adapts the success of truths hero, and its admirors are unaware of the truth about it;
the Tourist ignoramus and ethnocentric which makes the round the world tour and is often made berner by the salesmen of the corner;
the Pet speaking which is shown often more intelligent than its Master;
the white , melancholic person and poetic Clown;
the majestic Clown , his facetious partner;
the Guy of the harem , which is found surrounded by many pretty girls although it is not itself of the tempting kind;
the Cave man stupid and brutal, which trimbale a large club with which it strikes no matter whom;
the dysfonctionelle Family consisted of an opportunist idiotic father, a reasonable mother exceeded by the events, a son breakage-neck, a girl neurotic and the small odd last;

Women

the Demoiselle unweaves of it , pretty woman reduced to the impotence which the hero must save;
the Last surviving , young woman who survives at the end of a history to the other characters after the end of the malicious one;
the the Warlike Amazon , woman who is tempting by her force, her sturdy character and her independence;
the femme fatale , tempting woman who leads the hero to her loss;
the Real tomboy , nobody of the female sex which adopts several attitudes considered as male;
the popular Girl , which, beautiful, with the mode, condescending, has a horde of admirors (and admirors) with its knees in the college;
the studious Fille , which is worried more its studies that of its popularity;
the female Trio , or three people of female sex trail together and are very different, at least by the color of their hair;

Children

the horrible brat , unbearable very joker and vulgar child for his age;
the Child spoiled , child or teenager which, having almost always had its whims satisfied by his/her parents or his entourage, became covetous and arrogant;

Old age

the Old wise , character old who announces hero of his experiment. A popular stereotype is old Asiatique with the long white moustache which is a Master in Martial arts, knows many quotations of Confucius, Lao-Tseu or Bouddha and teaches its knowledge with a young apprentice who is him, seldom Asian;
old the Miserly which sacrifices many pleasures in the life to be able to preserve its money;
the Old old seaman which has a great knowledge of the sea, ships, folklore and can tell many stories paying to it (but not large thing of other), giving him a mysterious pace and even supernatural;
the very nice Grandmother always which spoils its grandchildren;

With the theater

References

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