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maaarine · 3 years

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MBTI Typing Index: Fictional Characters — INFP ENFP INFJ ENFJ

Fictional characters: NF, NT, SJ, SP. Real people: index.

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INFP

A Quiet Passion: Emily Dickinson

Alice in Wonderland: Alice

Amélie: Amélie Poulain

Blue Is The Warmest Color: Emma

Conversations with Friends: Frances

Donnie Darko: Donnie Darko

Downton Abbey: Sybil Crawley, Matthew Crawley

Dragon Ball: Gohan

ER: John Carter (in earlier seasons)

Game Of Thrones: Bran Stark, Shireen Baratheon

Gilmore Girls: Rory Gilmore

Girl Interrupted: Susanna

Hannibal: Will Graham

Harry Potter: Luna Lovegood, Newt Scamander

Her: Theodore

Jane Eyre: Jane Eyre

Maid: Alex

Mindhunter: Holden Ford

(Les) Misérables: Marius Pontmercy

Money Heist (La Casa de Papel): Rio

My Brilliant Friend: Elena Greco

Normal People: Connell

Perks of Being a Wallflower: Charlie

Six Feet Under: Claire Fisher, Russell Corwin

Skins: Frankie

Star Wars: Luke Skywalker

Stranger Things: Jonathan Byers

You’ve Got Mail: Kathleen Kelly

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ENFP

Aladdin: Genie

Ally McBeal: Ally McBeal

Anne of Green Gables: Anne Shirley

Babylon Berlin: Charlotte Ritter

Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight: Céline

Conversations with Friends: Bobbi

Dead Poets Society: John Keating

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor

Downton Abbey: Tom Branson

(The) Edge of Seventeen: Nadine

ER: Doug Ross

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Clementine

For All Mankind: Wayne Cobb

Frances Ha: Frances

Frida: Frida Kahlo

Gilmore Girls: Lorelai Gilmore

Good Girls Revolt: Patti Robinson

(The) Good Wife: Elsbeth Tascioni, Owen Kavanaugh

(The) King’s Speech: Lionel

Masters of Sex: Virginia Johnson

Money Heist (La Casa de Papel): Nairobi

My Brilliant Friend (L’Amica Geniale): Lila Cerullo

(The) OC: Sandy Cohen

Persepolis: Marjane

(The) Playlist: Martin Lorentzon

Six Feet Under: Brenda Chenowith, Billy Chenowith

Skam: Even

Suits: Donna Paulsen

Tick, Tick...BOOM!: Jonathan Larson

(The) Worst Person in the World (Verdens verste menneske): Julie

Y: The Last Man: Yorick Brown

—

INFJ

Conversations with Friends: Nick

Doctor Zhivago: Yuri Zhivago

ER: John Carter (in later seasons)

Game Of Thrones: Jojen Reed

Genius: Carl Jung

Gladiator: Marcus Aurelius

Harry Potter: Albus Dumbledore

(Les) Misérables: Jean Valjean

(The) OA: Prairie Johnson

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Titanic: Rose Dewitt Bukater

—

ENFJ

Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight: Jesse

Borgen: Birgitte Nyborg

Breaking Bad: Skyler White

Doctor Who: Clara Oswald

Downton Abbey: Anna Bates, Isobel Crawley

Friday Night Lights: Tami Taylor

Game Of Thrones: Daenerys Targaryen, Margaery Tyrell

Halt and Catch Fire: Donna Clark

(The) Hour: Bel Rowley

(The) Hunger Games: Peeta Mellark

Jessica Jones: Trish Walker

(The) Last Kingdom: Aethelflaed

Money Heist (La Casa de Papel): Raquel

Ozark: Wendy Byrde

(The) Secret Story: Julian Morrow

Skam: Noora

Skins: Grace

Star Wars: Padmé Amidala

Suits: Rachel Zane

—

Fictional characters: NF, NT, SJ, SP. Real people: index.

#mbti #mbtiindex #mbtichar #mbtitv #mbtifilms #infp #enfp #infj #enfj

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gonzo-rella · 4 years

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Fandoms (and Characters Within Them) I Enjoy Writing For

I’m only listing the fandoms/characters I enjoy writing for, and then my all time favourite characters to write for will be indicated as shown below. If you request a headcanon for a fandom, without one specific character/a few select characters, I will write for most of the characters on the list below said fandom, provided the list isn’t too long.

Feel free to ask if I’ve watched a show/movie and/or if I’d be willing to write for a certain character. I might have left it off the list, or might be interested in getting into it.

Also, I’d like to preface this list by saying that me writing romantically for kid characters doesn’t mean I’m romantically attracted to them. Funnily enough, I (born in 2005) have no romantic interest in a 12-year-old character. To me, it’s no different than an author romantically pairing up two of their same-age child characters. That being said, I have indicated under certain fandoms that I’d prefer writing for characters as being aged up at least a couple of years if the request is romantic.

If you have any requests or questions, leave them in my ask box!

*___* = one of my favourites to write for (though not always a reflection of my opinion of the character/show; I love a lot of characters/shows that aren’t listed with *_*, but I’ll just find them a bit tricky to write for)

-___- = I’ll write for them, but only platonically/not romantically

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Here’s a quick reminder to please please please read through the post regarding requesting rules, things I will/won’t write and just general information you should know before sending in a request. It’s linked HERE.

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SECTIONS GUIDE

SERIES

ANIMATION (NON-ANIME)

ANIME

DRAMAS

FANTASY/SCI-FI

SITCOMS/COMEDIES

MOVIES

80s & 90s DRAMAS/DRAMEDIES

ANIMATION

COMEDIES

DRAMAS

GHOSTBUSTERS

STAR WARS (WILL GET ITS OWN SECTION WHEN I’VE WATCHED THE SHOWS)

MARVEL

DEADPOOL (MOVIES)

ANIMATED TV SHOWS & MOVIES

DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE

VIDEO GAMES

DATING SIMS

VISUAL NOVELS

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TV SHOWS

ANIMATION

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

-Aang-

-Katara-

*Sokka*

-*Toph*-

*Zuko*

*Suki*

Mai

Ty Lee

-Azula-

-Iroh-

BOJACK HORSEMAN

BoJack Horseman

*Diane Nguyen*

*Todd Chavez*

Princess Carolyn

Mr Peanutbutter

*Sarah Lynn*

DUCKTALES (2017)

-*Huey Duck*-

-Dewey Duck-

-*Louie Duck*-

-*Webby Vanderquack*-

-Scrooge McDuck-

-*Della Duck*-

-Donald Duck-

-*Lena Sabrewing*-

-Violet Sabrewing-

-*Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera*-

-*Gyro Gearloose*-

-*Launchpad McQuack*-

-Drake Mallard (Darkwing Duck)-

-Gosalyn Waddlemeyer-

GRAVITY FALLS

-*Dipper Pines*-

-*Mabel Pines*-

-*Stanley Pines*-

-*Stanford Pines*-

-*Soos Ramirez*-

-*Pacifica Northwest*-

-Bill Cipher-

*Wendy Corduroy*

-Candy Chu-

-Grenda-

Note: I’d write romantically for most of the HUMAN characters if if I were to write for them at a high school/college/young adult age.

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER

Adora

Catra

*Scorpia*

Glimmer

Bow

*Mermista*

*Sea Hawk*

*Entrapta*

ANIME

FREE!

*Haruka Nanasae*

*Makoto Tachibana*

*Rei Ryugazaki*

*Nagisa Hazuki*

*Rin Matsuoka*

Gou Matsuoka

Note: I’ll be writing for the rest of the Samezuka boys, Kisumi etc. when I’ve started rewatching Free. Right now, I’m fairly comfortable writing for the characters listed above, but feel free to send in requests for characters not listed and I’ll be able to get around to writing them when I become better reacquainted with the characters.

DRAMAS

BREAKING BAD/BETTER CALL SAUL

-*Walter White*-

*Jesse Pinkman*

-*Hank Schrader*-

-*Skyler White*-

-*Marie Schrader*-

Walter ‘Flynn’ White Jr.

*Saul Goodman*

-*Mike Ehrmantraut*-

-*Gus Fring*-

*Brandon ‘Badger’ Mayhew*

*Skinny Pete*

*Kim Wexler*

*Nacho Varga*

*BRIDGERTON*

*Anthony Bridgerton*

*Kate Sharma*

*Edwina Sharma*

*Benedict Bridgerton*

*Colin Bridgerton*

Daphne Bridgerton

Simon Bassett

*Eloise Bridgerton*

*Penelope Featherington*

*Francesca Bridgerton*

-Gregory Bridgerton-

-Hyacinth Bridgerton-

-*Lady Danbury*-

-*Violet Bridgerton*-

Cressida Cowper

Note: If I haven’t included a character you’d like me to write for, feel free to ask if I’d be willing to write for them.

THE LAST OF US

*Joel Miller*

*Ellie Williams*

Note: Feel free to send requests for other characters. Also, I haven’t played and don’t intend to play the the video games, but I’d be willing to check out a playthrough if you send me a link to a good one.

*YELLOWJACKETS*

Shauna Shipman

Jackie Taylor

*Natalie Scatorccio*

*Taissa Turner*

*Misty Quigley*

*Lottie Matthews*

*Vanessa ‘Van’ Palmer*

Note: These are just the characters I feel the most confident writing for, but I’d be happy to try writing for some of the other characters.

FANTASY/SCI-FI

STRANGER THINGS

Mike Wheeler

*Dustin Henderson*

*Lucas Sinclair*

*El / Eleven / Jane Hopper*

*Max Mayfield*

Nancy Wheeler

Jonathan Byers

*Steve Harrington*

*Robin Buckley* (romance for female/enby/gender neutral readers only; platonic for all genders)

*Joyce Byers*

-*Erica Sinclair*-

*Jim Hopper*

*Chrissy Cunningham*

*Eddie Munson*

SITCOMS/COMEDIES

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY

*Janine Teagues*

*Gregory Eddie*

*Barbara Howard*

*Melissa Schemmenti*

*Ava Coleman*

*Jacob Hill*

-*Mr. Johnson*-

*THE AFTERPARTY*

*Aniq Adjaye*

*Zoe Zhu*

*Detective Danner*

*Yasper Lennov*

*Chelsea*

Brett

Xavier

Walt

Note: I’ll be adding season 2 characters once season 2′s final episode has aired.

*COMMUNITY*

*Jeff Winger*

*Britta Perry*

*Annie Edison*

*Troy Barnes*

*Abed Nadir*

*Frankie Dart*

-Shirley Bennett-

-Pierce Hawthorne-

-*Craig Pelton / The Dean / Dean Pelton*-

-*Elroy Patashnik”-

DERRY GIRLS

Erin Quinn

Orla McCool

*Clare Devlin* (romance for female/enby readers only; platonic for all genders)

*Michelle Mallon*

James Maguire

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR

Will Smith

*Carlton Banks*

*Hillary Banks*

-Ashley Banks-

Jazz

FRIENDS

*Monica Geller*

Rachel Green

*Phoebe Buffay*

*Joey Tribbiani*

*Chandler Bing*

Ross Geller

*Mike Hannigan*

*GHOSTS*

*Alison Cooper*

*Mike Cooper*

*Thomas Thorne*

*Lady Fanny Button*

*Patrick ‘Pat’ Butcher*

*Julian Fawcett*

*The Captain* (As he’s heavily implied to be gay, I’ll only write romantically for him with a male reader. However, I’ll write platonically for him with a female or (preferably) gender neutral reader.)

*Mary*

*Kitty*

*Robin*

*Humphrey Bone*

*HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER*

Ted Mosby

*Robin Scherbatsky*

*Barney Stinson*

Lily Aldrin

*Marshall Eriksen*

*Tracy McConnell*

*Victoria*

Zoey Pierson

*George Van Smoot/The Captain*

*Kevin Venkataraghavan*

*Becky*

*MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE*

-Dewey Wilkerson-

Malcolm Wilkerson

*Reese Wilkerson*

Francis Wilkerson

Stevie Kenarban

-Lois Wilkerson-

-Hal Wilkerson-

Note: If a romantic fic is requested for any of them, I’d prefer writing for Reese, Malcolm and Stevie when they’re teenagers or older.

*MODERN FAMILY*

-Jay Pritchett-

*Gloria Delgado-Pritchett*

*Claire Dunphy*

*Phil Dunphy*

*Mitchell Pritchett*

Cam Tucker

*Haley Dunphy*

Alex Dunphy

Luke Dunphy

*Manny Delgado*

Note: I’d only write the kids as older teens/adults in anything romantic, though I don’t mind brief childhood flashbacks.

THE OFFICE

Jim Halpert

*Pam Beesly*

Erin Hannon

Andy Bernard

*Dwight Schrute*

*Karen Filippelli*

*Kelly Kapoor*

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

*Stede Bonnet*

*Edward Teach*

*Izzy Hands*

*Lucius Spriggs*

*Oluwande Boodhari*

*Jim Jimenez*

*Frenchie*

*Roach*

Note: Feel free to request poly stuff! I’d love to write for Stede x Ed x reader, Steddy Hands x reader and Jim x Olu x reader.

*SCHITT’S CREEK*

*David Rose*

*Alexis Rose*

*Stevie Budd*

-*Johnny Rose*-

-*Moira Rose*-

Patrick Brewer

*Twyla Sands*

-*Roland Schitt*-

-*Jocelyn Schitt*-

SCRUBS

John ‘JD’ Dorian

*Elliot Reid*

Chris Turk

*Perry Cox*

*Ben Sullivan*

-The Janitor-

*Jordan Sullivan*

Carla Espinosa

Denise Mahoney

*Kevin Casey*

TED LASSO

*Ted Lasso*

Coach Beard

*Rebecca Welton*

*Nate Shelley*

*Roy Kent*

*Keeley Jones*

*Jamie Tartt*

-Higgins-

*Sam Obisanya*

Note: I’ll definitely write for most of the minor/supporting characters (e.g. the other Richmond players), but I’d definitely prefer writing headcanons for them rather than one-shots. There are some exceptions to who I’ll be able to write one-shots for, so just ask if anyone you wanted a one-shot about isn’t listed above.

*WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS*

*Nandor (The Relentless)*

*Nadja*

*Laszlo Cravensworth*

*Guillermo de la Cruz*

-Colin Robinson-

*The Guide*

*Marwa*

*The Djinn*

MOVIES

80s & 90s

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

*Allison Reynolds*

Brian Johnson

Claire Standish

*DEAD POETS SOCIETY*

*Todd Anderson*

*Neil Perry*

*Charlie Dalton*

Knox Overstreet

Gerard Pitts

*Steven Meeks*

Chris Noel

Note: While I’m willing to set my writing for DPS in 1959, I’d prefer to write for it in a more modern setting, such as the 80s, 90s, 2000s or the present day. When sending in requests for DPS, please specify which time period you’d want it set it (and be more specific than ‘modern AU’ please).

ANIMATION

TREASURE PLANET

*Jim Hawkins*

*Captain Amelia*

Note: I’m willing to write for the other characters in a limited capacity (in more minor roles and strictly platonically). Just try to avoid requests that will involve me writing for that fucking robot. God, how I hate that fucking robot.

COMEDIES

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU

*Kat Stratford*

Patrick Verona

*Bianca Stratford*

*Cameron James*

Michael Eckman

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID (THE TRILOGY)

*Rodrick Heffley*

Note: I’d probably write platonically for most of the characters, but I only put this section here for Rodrick.

*FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF*

Ferris Bueller

*Cameron Frye*

Sloane Peterson

*Jeanie Bueller*

HOT FUZZ

*Nicholas Angel*

Danny Butterman

*SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD*

Scott Pilgrim

Ramona Flowers

*Knives Chau*

*Envy Adams*

*Roxie Richter* (romance for female/enby/gender neutral readers only; platonic for all genders)

*Wallace Wells* (romance for male/enby/gender neutral readers only; platonic for all genders)

*Kim Pine*

*Stephen Stills*

Julie Powers

Stacey Pilgrim

Lucas Lee

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

*Viago*

Vladislav

Deacon

Nick

*Stu*

*Jackie*

THE WORLD’S END

*Gary King*

DRAMAS

*CHALLENGERS*

*Tashi Duncan/Donaldson*

*Art Donaldson*

*Patrick Zweig*

Note: I’ll be happy to write for these characters separately and in their polycule. When requesting, please try to specify how accurate to canon you want these characters and their relationships to be.

*GHOSTBUSTERS*

*Ray Stantz*

*Peter Venkman* (note: prefer to write for him platonically, but would be fine writing something romantic)

Egon Spengler

*Winston Zeddemore*

*Dana Barrett*

Louis Tully

Janine Melnitz

-*Phoebe Spengler*-

-Trevor Spengler-

Callie Spengler

*Gary Grooberson*

*Lucky*

-*Podcast*-

(Note: When requesting for Ray, Peter, Winston, Janine and Dana, please specify which era you’d like the fic to be based in, i.e. do you want me to write for them at the ages they were in the original films or at the ages they are in Afterlife and Frozen Empire)

STAR WARS

STAR WARS ORIGINAL TRILOGY

*Han Solo*

*Luke Skywalker*

*Princess Leia Organa*

*Lando Calrissian*

-Chewbacca-

-R2-D2-

STAR WARS PREQUELS

*Obi-Wan Kenobi*

Padmé Amidala (preferably in headcanons)

Anakin Skywalker (preferably in headcanons)

OBI-WAN KENOBI SERIES

*Obi-Wan Kenobi*

-*Little!Princess Leia Organa*-

Note: I might write for other characters at some point, but these are the ones I feel able to write for right now.

STAR WARS SEQUELS

Rey

*Finn*

*Poe Dameron*

*-BB-8-*

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo

*Old man!Han Solo*

*Old man!Luke Skywalker*

*Old lady!Leia Organa*

-Chewbacca-

MARVEL

*DEADPOOL (MOVIES)*

*Wade Wilson/Deadpool*

-*Negasonic Teenage Warhead*-

-*Yukio*-

Cable

Colossus

*Domino*

Vanessa Carlysle

-*Blind Al*-

-Dopinder-

*Peter*

-Russell Collins-

*Cassandra Nova*

*Logan Howlett/Wolverine*

Note: I will start writing for the X-Men movies/characters once I’ve seen Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. I have seen Deadpool and Wolverine, so I’d be happy to write about Wolverine in the context of that movie in the meantime.

ANIMATED TV SHOWS & MOVIES

HARLEY QUINN (THE SERIES)

*Harley Quinn*

*Poison Ivy*

*Barbara Gordon*

DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE

BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)

*Harley Quinn*

*Huntress/Helena Bertinelli*

*Black Canary/Dinah Lance*

*Renee Montoya*

-*Cassandra Cain*-

VIDEO GAMES

DATING SIMS

OBEY ME! (CURRENTLY ON: Lesson 18-1)

*Lucifer*

*Mammon*

Leviathan

*Satan*

Asmodeus

*Beelzebub*

*Belphegor*

-*Luke*-

Note: I’ll be adding more characters as I get further into the game. The ones listed above are the ones I’d be confident in writing for right now.

VISUAL NOVELS

DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB

*Monika*

*Sayori*

*Natsuki*

*Yuri*

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brianfallingwithstyle · 4 years

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So I was in a skype call with some friends and we were talking about Breaking Bad. This got me thinking about what Inanimate Insanity characters would play which Breaking Bad characters. Have you put any thought into this? Which Inanimate Insanity characters would play which Breaking Bad characters?

I worked together with Justin and Ben to carefully create a full cast list. I am very pleased with the results. Walter White: Test Tube Jesse: Lightbulb Skyler: Salt Marie: Pepper Hank: Trophy Gomez: Tissues Walt Jr: Baxter Saul: Cheesy Gus: Cobs Mike: Knife Tuco: Taco Lydia: Soap Todd: Bomb (both commit an abrupt vile act of betrayal in a desert) The Cousins: Cherries Hector: Box Jane: Microphone Donald: MePhone4 Wendy: Bow Gale: Fan Huell: Dough The married couple from the ATM machine episode: MePhone5S and 5C Badger and Skinny Pete: Yin-Yang and Pickle Elliott and Gretchen: OJ and Paper Ted: Baseball Brock: Suitcase Tortuga: Apple Victor: MePhone6 Tyrus: MePhone6+ Uncle Jack: Nickel

#inanimate insanity

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battlestar-royco · 4 years

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I checked out the buzzfeed article you talked about, and while I only watched 2 of the shows that were mentioned, just reading some of the reasons were listed was pretty telling. Also I was kinda surprised to see Katara on there, I was kinda under the impression that most people like her (i mean i don't, but that's entirely based on 8 year old me deciding that she reminded me too much of blossom, aka my least favourite powerpuff girl lmao)

I’ve watched so much TV, probably way more than is good for me. Of the shows on the list, I’ve watched several at least halfway or in full (ie The Office, Breaking Bad, Teen Wolf, Mad Men, TWD...). Some of the characters on the list are so hated that the fandom hate is literally the reason why I know of them. I was expecting the article to be kind of white feminist but it was really on the ball.

The rules of TV fandom are: if you’re cheated on by your partner, you’re more hated than the dude no matter how you react--have your own affair, confront him, accommodate his affair, stay unaware. If you're fridged, you’re either an ideal wife or a horrible crone. If you stand up for yourself/your kids in any way, even if your husband is literally a career criminal, you should’ve stood by the husband. If you develop any slight assertion, you’re unlikable (this happened with Pam from The Office. PAM. The most innocuous, kindest character ever. Because she decided to CORRECT HER BEER ORDER AT A BAR. This, along with racism, is why we have Katara hate. She’s not my fave, but a lot of people find her annoying because of her “bossiness.”) If you have ANY characteristic that could be slightly construed as annoying, everyone can’t wait until you die. If you’re a WOC and you breathe, you’re the most hated character, full stop. Don’t even think about stepping into a white ship.

And for women viewers, I feel like part of the hate is not only internalized misogyny but also due to the lack of care in the writing. Personally, I try to direct my hate at the writers unless the character is genuinely a bad person. It’s not Stock Wife’s fault that her creators can’t imagine her having a life outside of her douche husband. In the case that the writers created a complex character whose flaws don’t hinge on how nice she is to her husband, I usually still find that character interesting. Characters like Betty Draper, Skyler White, and Lori Grimes aren’t often my favorites, but I have no reason to hate them. Characters like Wendy Byrde, Cersei, Yennefer etc are a different story, because they’re actually allowed to have drive and be controversial. They just get way more shit for it because, you know.

#why did this get so long #long post #maxine talks tropes #fandom sexism

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ethanalter · 7 years

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‘Ozark’ Postmortem: Jason Bateman Reveals the Scene That Convinced Him to Make Netflix’s New Crime Drama

Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde in ‘Ozark.’ (Photo Credit: Jackson Davis/Netflix)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the “Sugarwood” episode of Ozark.

With one Netflix series already under his belt — the revival of Arrested Development, which debuted its fourth season on the streaming service in 2013, with another to follow next year — Jason Bateman wasn’t necessarily looking to add another. Instead, as the actor tells Yahoo TV, he planned to expand his feature filmmaking horizons by directing a movie that took place on a bigger canvas than his first two features, 2013’s Bad Words and 2015’s The Family Fang. But then the pilot script for Netflix’s moody crime drama Ozark arrived on his desk, and reading through it, Bateman came across a scene that landed on him with a major impact.

Arriving at roughly the 40-minute mark in the first episode, “Sugarwood,” the scene that turned Bateman’s head finds the show’s central character, financial planner Marty Byrde (Bateman), racing up to the apartment building where he expects to confront his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) and her lover. As he approaches the tower, rehearsing what he’s going to say to the pair, a body hits the pavement right in front of him. It’s his rival for Wendy’s affections, tossed over the side of his 80th-floor balcony by the drug cartel enforcer, Del (Esai Morales), whose bosses have been laundering money through Marty’s firm.

(Credit: Netflix)

“The way that scene sneaks up on you when you’re reading the script was a clear indication of the prism of the show,” Bateman says. “Marty thinks he’s got everything under control, but he’s not so bright that there aren’t going to be problems. And then one problem literally falls from the sky right in front of him.”

Reading and re-reading that scene on the page, Bateman’s directorial mind immediately took over as he envisioned the various ways it could be shot to make as big an impression on a viewing audience as it did on him. And when he finished the script, written by Ozark creator, Bill Dubuque, he put his feature film plans on hold, and committed his time and energy to Ozark both in front of and behind the camera. In addition to starring in the 10-episode series, Bateman is the show’s executive producer and directed four installments, including the premiere and the feature-length finale. (Initially, he hoped to direct every episode, but the demands of the production didn’t allow for that.) Through it all, he says that he approached Ozark not as a TV series, but as a “10-chapter movie” — an expansive storytelling canvas that most feature films can’t boast of.

Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde, Skylar Gaertner as Jonah, Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde, and Sofia Hublitz as Charlotte in ‘Ozark.’ (Photo Credit: Jackson Davis/Netflix)

Viewers who primarily know Bateman from his other, funnier Netflix series, as well as big screen comedies like Dodgeball and Horrible Bosses, may be surprised to see him navigating much darker terrain in Ozark. In addition to adultery and defenestration, the first episode also features Marty eyeing prostitutes and porn, and pleading for his life when Del aims a gun right at his head, intending to take his life as payment for the substantial debt left behind by his co-workers, who have already met their ends in violent ways. Interestingly, Bateman’s performance in that moment expresses the kind of pure desperation that’s also been glimpsed in his comedic work. “Desperation is really the root to both comedy and drama,” he says. “If you’re able to show somebody coming apart at the seams, you can get people to laugh or cry. It’s all about navigating how much desperation or vulnerability you show.”

Marty pleads for his life in ‘Ozark’ (Credit: Netflix)

In the midst of his freakout, Marty also concocts a plan that delays his death sentence… for now. He sells Del on a grand, potentially Quixotic scheme to launder drug funds through the Ozarks region of Missouri. That plan requires him and Wendy to uproot their two kids, Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah (Skyler Gaetner), and trade Chicago’s towering skyscrapers for Missouri’s skyscraping trees. The final shot of “Sugarwood” finds the Byrd family standing on a cliff overlooking the expansive Lake of the Ozarks, as the camera pulls back until they’re barely dots amidst the wild landscape. That scene allowed Bateman — who cites Michael Mann, David Fincher, and Paul Thomas Anderson amongst his directorial influences on Ozark — to achieve a personal first: directing a helicopter shot. “The pilot came right in, hovered in front of us, and started his pullback,” he remembers. “It shows us as these little figures in this vast new environment, not knowing which way to turn or what’s ahead of them.”

(Credit: Netflix)

Bateman adds that the helicopter sequence was filmed on location in the Ozarks around lunchtime after he had already spent the morning aboard the chopper supervising overhead shots of the surrounding countryside to use in future episodes. (While set in Missouri, the bulk of Ozark was filmed in Georgia due to the state’s tax incentives.) “It was really fun,” he remarks of his first experience in aerial cinematography. “I felt like Mom and Dad were away on vacation and left me the keys to the house. It was like I was just a kid getting a chance to do this stuff. But it really hits home that you’re an adult when you have a helicopter waiting for your direction.”

Ozark is currently streaming on Netflix.

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#_revsp:wp.yahoo.tv.us #drama #_author:Ethan Alter #_uuid:3263cb0c-3e75-33d1-a08a-a2653ebcaf45 #jason bateman #ozark #netflix #_category:yct:001000086 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000AE7lXEAT #interviews

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Ozark season two is built on a lie, one the audience can see coming from a long way off.

It begins from the premise that Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy Byrde (Laura Linney) will split from the little Ozark resort town they moved to in season one once they’ve built the casino they promised to their various criminal partners. Said casino will help launder money for the Mexican cartel Marty works for, but it will also provide a slightly more legitimate business enterprise for a local crime family, the Snells, whose land will furnish a location for the casino and whose heroin trade might also provide a lucrative side enterprise for the cartel.

This complicated balancing act, with the Byrdes at its center, would seem to set up a second season all about Marty and Wendy trying to keep the casino on track while trying to keep the cartel from stomping on the Snells and the Snells from fucking everything up in a fit of pique. (Darlene Snell, played by Lisa Emery, doesn’t much like “Mexicans,” as she’s fond of pointing out, but she can come up with any number of reasons to stomp on the casino project, some of which she just pulls out of her ass in the moment.)

Yet season two of Ozark is mostly about the Byrdes trying to pretend they’re not characters in a TV show, as Marty and Wendy focus on their plan to split with their two kids for the Gold Coast of Australia once the casino is open, leaving behind whatever mess they’ve created. They give much less attention to their burgeoning criminal empire.

Leaving aside that the Byrdes are frequently the least interesting characters on their own show, perpetually trapped in moral dilemmas prompted by their life of crime (dilemmas you’d really think they would have seen coming had they watched any other crime drama ever made), the audience knows they won’t be leaving anytime soon.

The Byrdes are our point-of-view characters. The story is about their slow descent into outright criminality, juxtaposed with the way said descent changes their family, sometimes for the better (but often for the worse). If they leave the Ozarks, then there is no show.

This is a common thing for an antihero drama to try for a few episodes. The “what if I tried to escape?” story has driven arcs on just about any antihero drama you can think of, though rarely successfully. TV doesn’t handle the moment where the protagonist “refuses the call” well, because it tends to drag out that moment into long bouts of inaction. Thus, in season two of Ozark, the Byrdes are too often reactive protagonists, trying to clean up messes caused by others rather than making new messes of their own.

There are still enough good things going on that I could have written off Ozark season two as competent but ultimately not for me — but for one thing.

Watching any given frame of this series, which has earned Emmy nominations for directing and cinematography, is frequently like looking through a pool of dirty dishwater. So intent on being perceived as serious is Ozark that it never stops to shoot anything in a format other than “ultra-glum.”

Some spoilers follow, mostly in the images, which depict certain situations the characters get into.

Let me explain what I mean by starting with a shot that is, on its face, totally defensible.

Ruth talks to her dad in the Ozark season two premiere. Netflix

I call this image “defensible,” because it more or less makes sense why Ruth’s face would be half in shadow. The scene takes place in a car, in late afternoon, in a place without a lot of light sources other than the sun. If you’re following a naturalistic theory of lighting, you can more or less argue for why Ruth appears to be receding into darkness.

But I pull up this image to give you a rather dramatic example of Ozark’s primary method for lighting scenes featuring human beings. Regardless of where they are, regardless of how much light would be present, they’re always lit so that half of their face is in shadow. I spent season two trying to count times when characters weren’t lit this way, and I never got to 15, across 10 episodes where the shortest installment ran 55 minutes and several ran over an hour.

It’s not just Ruth (the teenage would-be kingpin played by Julia Garner, who was the best thing about season one and is frustratingly wasted in season two), either. It’s every character. They’re all constantly trapped between darkness and light, in a bit of not particularly subtle visual symbolism.

Wendy attends a very important meeting. Netflix Marty makes a choice. Netflix Mason reveals himself. Netflix

Now, again, I could sort of make an argument for any of the above images making sense from the point of view of “there probably would be low light levels in that situation,” especially if you accept that everybody in the Ozarks is turning off lights all of the time to save on their electric bill.

But it’s harder to make that argument for a shot that is set in a hospital room. Have you seen hospital lighting?

You’d think the nurses would turn on more lights. Netflix

Or this shot, set outside, on a sunny day. The sun is literally right behind the subject of the shot, but the director has staged the shot underneath an overhang so that the shadow lies over half the actor’s face.

The sun is right there! Netflix

This is not a problem of any one director, either. The show’s directorial crew includes esteemed Emmy nominees and winners like Alik Sakharov and Phil Abraham and Bateman himself. No, this is just how the show chooses to light every single shot, so that you always know the characters are in a murky moral gray area, caught between their darker selves and their better selves. There’s no attempt to vary this, and everything has a vaguely bluish tint over it, like the whole story takes place at 6:30 am in November.

But all of the above shots are more or less legible. Yeah, I think they’re all kind of silly as visual metaphors, but you can mostly see what’s going on, and a sufficiently skilled actor (and Ozark has plenty of those) will be able to get across just as much with only half their face as with access to their whole expression.

No, the real problems arise when Ozark stages so many of its scenes in ways that downplay visual contrast, leaving almost everything shrouded in shadow, to the point of genuine incomprehension. (At one point in watching season two, my monitor switched off, and it took me a couple of seconds to figure it out. Once I turned it back on, you couldn’t see anything that was happening anyway.)

Like, what are we supposed to make of this …

Ruth wakes up to see her father. Netflix

Or this …

Guys, you can really turn on some lights. Netflix

Or this?

A pieta! I guess? Netflix

Any one of these images might be stunning if it weren’t surrounded by so many other images that looked just like it. The last one, in particular, accompanies an emotionally powerful moment, and seeing this sort of negative image of a pieta could create something incredibly moving. But when everything is suffused with shadow, it’s harder for those moments to stand out.

The shadowy images are so bad they even swallow some of the show’s attempts at visual humor. For example, try to tell me what’s supposed to be funny about this image:

Any guesses? Netflix

The joke is that this would-be tough guy is wearing a shirt that reads “Take a Dam Ride.” Even if you don’t know who the character is, you should be able to spot the silly pun. But Ozark’s visual scheme chokes even that out.

There are some occasionally interesting visuals in Ozark season two, usually involving the sudden eruption of fire (which has a tendency to cast an unearthly but much-needed glow onto everything nearby). And I liked the season’s final image, which uses the flatter lighting of a news photograph to throw everything that’s happened into relief.

But the show’s visuals, too often, feel like a series playing at seriousness via tricks it learned on other, better shows.

This is a big, emotional moment, which would be evident even in a still if we could see the actors’ faces at all. Netflix

I can already hear Ozark fans lining up to say, “So what if it’s dark and moody? I like dark and moody!” Well, let’s take a look at a famous shot from a series Ozark is frequently compared to: Breaking Bad.

Walter White at night. AMC

Notice how much more definitive the contrast in lighting is here. Yes, you lose a bit of Walter’s face to shadow, but you can still see what’s going on, and the string of lights behind him acts as an effective visual counterpoint to the dark things he’s doing. This is a scene, set at night, that immediately tells you everything you need to know about who Walter is and what he’s doing. And if you know the series, you’ll understand that even better.

What’s more, not all of Breaking Bad was lit like this! In fact, here’s a shot from the very same episode as the shot from above, the classic “Ozymandias” (directed by Rian Johnson).

Skyler’s life falls apart. AMC

Look how powerful that shot is because of the contrast between Skyler’s raging emotions and the starkness of daylight. Her whole life has fallen apart, and the unyielding sun is going to make sure you see every iota of her grief.

But I could point to literally any other great antihero drama and find the sort of visual contrast above. Yes, they all had scenes that took place in darkness and shadow, to great effect, and they all had scenes that seemed to take place in an eerie, autumnal chill. But they also had scenes in contrast to those, where the lights are so bright that you can’t look away from the devastation onscreen.

This sort of visual discontinuity is important to an audience’s experience of a filmed story. When everything looks the same, your brain tends to slide down into a rut of numbing familiarity. Effective filmmakers use visual discontinuity, then, to jar your brain out of that complacency, to make you sit up and take notice. (The great YouTube essayist Lindsay Ellis has a wonderful video on just this topic, covering the Transformers franchise, which has a similar problem to Ozark but in an opposite direction — there, the movies have too much going on in every frame.)

Going from dark to light, from action to inaction, from cacophony to stillness are all ways to keep viewers engaged and invested. Making sure everything is muted and coolly blue is a great way to simply trick the brain into guzzling down more episodes without really thinking about what it’s watching, at least not until moving on to the next thing. It’s a way to make what’s being offered seem like it has weight, without actually doing anything weighty.

The illusion of depth without any actual there there is an Ozark specialty. By the end of season two, it’s dragged itself to exactly where you’d think it would go, and racked up quite a body count (also proving it hasn’t really learned the lessons of the shows that came before it, which did their best to hold off on killing major characters). But none of it feels as if it has any meaning beyond getting from the end of season one to the start of season three. It’s a bridge to nowhere that keeps building itself right in front of you.

Tricking viewers’ brains into continuing to just watch stuff without really engaging with it is typical of this streaming era, and especially typical of Netflix, which too often settles for shows that have the appearance of quality without actually trying to do anything worth watching. They might not be good, but so long as they look good and feature good actors and have the sorts of plot turns you’d find in better shows, your brain might think they’re just good enough to keep going.

This is the specialty of Ozark, which is admittedly not the worst show on the air, or on Netflix. But there are few shows that make me feel more like a sucker once I’ve finished watching.

Ozark is streaming on Netflix.

Original Source -> Ozark’s muddy season 2, explained in 11 incomprehensible screenshots

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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maaarine · 3 years

Note

The parallel between Walter and Skyler White (Breaking Bad) and Marty and Wendy Byrd, particularly concerning the INTJ and ENFJ dynamic, makes me wonder about how often this pairing is seen in media. What do you think it is about these two types together? Are they more fun to watch? Do they help identify one another's "blind spots"? Do they fit more neatly into typical gendered behaviors (supposed "masculine logic" vs supposed "feminine emotion")?

with this type of “mastermind character” story, I think writers start with the INTJ character at the center, then figure out what they need to build conflict and dynamism around that center

if they want a romantic hetero relationship that evolves into a partner-in-crime trope (it’s also the case in La Casa de Papel),

they’re likely to design a love interest whose intelligence and complementary skillset can help with the scheming,

but whose functioning can also conflict and comment on the shortcomings of the schemer character

so writers come up with similar characters in the orbit of the main guy because they do the same “narrative math” and end up with the same result

#questions

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

Link

Ozark season two is built on a lie, one the audience can see coming from a long way off.

There are still enough good things going on that I could have written off Ozark season two as competent but ultimately not for me — but for one thing.

Some spoilers follow, mostly in the images, which depict certain situations the characters get into.

Let me explain what I mean by starting with a shot that is, on its face, totally defensible. (And I apologize for the watermark on these images, which were drawn from my screeners.)

Ruth talks to her dad in the Ozark season two premiere. Netflix

Wendy attends a very important meeting. Netflix Marty makes a choice. Netflix Mason reveals himself. Netflix

But it’s harder to make that argument for a shot that is set in a hospital room. Have you seen hospital lighting?

You’d think the nurses would turn on more lights. Netflix

The sun is right there! Netflix

Like, what are we supposed to make of this …

Ruth wakes up to see her father. Netflix

Or this …

Guys, you can really turn on some lights. Netflix

Or this?

A pieta! I guess? Netflix

The shadowy images are so bad they even swallow some of the show’s attempts at visual humor. For example, try to tell me what’s supposed to be funny about this image:

Any guesses? Netflix

But the show’s visuals, too often, feel like a series playing at seriousness via tricks it learned on other, better shows.

This is a big, emotional moment, which would be evident even in a still if we could see the actors’ faces at all. Netflix

Walter White at night. AMC

What’s more, not all of Breaking Bad was lit like this! In fact, here’s a shot from the very same episode as the shot from above, the classic “Ozymandias” (directed by Rian Johnson).

Skyler’s life falls apart. AMC

This is the specialty of Ozark, which is admittedly not the worst show on the air, or on Netflix. But there are few shows that make me feel more like a sucker once I’ve finished watching.

Ozark is streaming on Netflix.

Original Source -> Ozark’s muddy season 2, explained in 11 incomprehensible screenshots

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

0 notes