It's time to draw attention to a major writing flaw in media today: emotionally unstable and/or emotionally driven primary protagonists. I know for a fact I am not the only person who hates this lazy, overused character trait because I had a heated rant session with my good friend Nathan about it just last week. In great frustration he said,
"Alright, here's a rant for you. I am so sick of the principal protagonist in a story being oblivious, naive, jumpy, or fastidious. Why can't the main character be calm, in control? [...] Why does the protagonist have to be ruled by emotions, can we not read a story about someone who is primarily analytical and rational for once? If I never have to read one more story about some nervous, stupidly-honest, overly dramatic, emotional fool, it'll be too soon."
I could not agree with him more.
I further confirmed his frustration by voicing mine in relation to the recent movie "Avengers: Infinity War." I know everyone has their own theories about the 14,000,605 possible futures Dr. Strange saw, but was Star-Lord completely idiotic in all of them or...?
Because TALK ABOUT AN OVERLY EMOTIONAL CHARACTER! If Star-Lord had waited another 0.5 seconds to punch Thanos in the face, Spider-Man would've been able to pull the Gauntlet off Thanos' hand and that future would've been much better and way fewer people would've died. Just saying.
I realize that's just one example, but it's festering inside of me as I fill with anger and frustration towards my previously beloved Star-Lord, however, he is not the only fictional character with such a disappointing, ill-timed, catastrophic character flaw. Batman (aka Bruce Wayne) is another example (even though I love him too) because he attempted to save Rachel Dawes instead of Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight."
Luckily Joker, the brilliant supervillain, anticipated this moronic move from Batman and actually tricked him into rescuing Harvey Dent (which probably hindered him in the long-run because Harvey turned into Two Face... but whatever). This rescue resulted in the death of Bruce Wayne's love interest (Rachel Dawes) and, while I hate that Wayne acted so irrationally, I wasn't super upset that she died; just bothered by the principle of his actions.
All that being said, characters do not need to be "over-the-top" emotional when it comes to life, love, or the pursuit of happiness. I would be just as invested, if not more invested, in a character who actually thought about what they did before acting. Impulsivity is only entertaining so many times and I think, by now, it isn't entertaining anymore.
