Antagonists

So, following my line of inquiry about literature and fiction as such in general...

What makes a good antagonist? I'd mean an "active" antagonist here, rather than "forces of nature", "life itself" and other such fanciful things. In other words, what makes for a good bad guy to you people?

Dragon Age: Origins

David Gaider, one of the lead designers/writers for BioWare, charged with writing an introductory novel to the setting, writes:

"Standing gingerly, Maric listened for where the voices were coming from. As soon as he ascertained their source, he headed in the opposite direction. It was an awkward hobble at first. His legs were bruised and cramped and he might have broken some bones, but he ignored the pain. With effort, he grabbed on to low-hanging branches and pulled himself farther into the darkness. They would pay for what they had done. If he did only one thing as King, he would make them pay."

Sigh. Same old crap. Dead royal parents, surviving heir, evil necromancer armies taking over a kingdom, warrior maidens, heroic rogues, revenge. It's as if people used 3% of their brain capacity in order to barf out this sort of pompous drivel.

Oh wait, they do.

The Male Opinion On Sex And The City

So a while earlier I got to see the Sex And The City movie, and I had such an estrogen injection right there I couldn't write a straight review until now. I mean, seriously, do you know what all those bags, blings, shoes and dresses do to a non-metrosexual male that's not very much in touch with his feminine side? I go to watch a movie that has "Sex" in it and what did I get? Fashion? Do those two equate for women? What? What?!

As an aside, I suppose that "sex" could refer to just the sexuality thing, since there was a token gay character and as gender is purely biological while the sexuality is an identity thing... I forgot the point I was making here so I move on.

So the movie called Sex and the City is about this woman that's about to get married so she has to get the best dress ever, the best house ever and the best spot ever in a public goddamned library with four hundred guests attending because she has a point to make. What's that point? I dunno really, probably that best guy ever has the fattest wallet ever to pay for the awesomest wedding ever or that she has a bipolar personality (as we later get to see when she finally gets the actual wedding off in some crammed office - woops, I just made a spoiler).

Now, if the film was actually about what the name claims it is, I'd say that about five minutes before or after the introduction of the clothes they'd be discarded as unnecessary, but the film director has different things in mind! And those things are called Product Placement! Gucci bags! Somebody's Rings! Named Dresses! 

Eventually, they collect enough sponsor money to move on with the plot - the guy, like, well, any normal guy, has enough of the nonsense, albeit in a horribly unrealistic way (Oh yes, that's what men do, doubt the whole wedding thing because a drunken friend of the bride with a trainwreck personal life says one sentence that doesn't go something like "I just saw your future wife kissing the chef in the kitchen!"), and the bride's friends decide to cheer her up by taking her to the honeymoon hotel in Mexico or whatever anyway, where they cry, hit on waiters (!), crap their pants (!!) and discuss personal life of the mentioned trainwreck woman by pointing out her bikini line (!!!). Truly, women are wondrous creatures of nature.

Anyway, then they get back to the city, fashion, internet, strong cool hip sistah from the hood (more stereotyping!), and then it turns out the groom was sending a letter to the bride every day and she goes like "OMG NOWAI" and the trainwreck woman tells like "IT WAS ALL MY FAULT" and the bride goes "How could you do it and why do you want me to forgive you when you can't forgive your husband!?" because adultery and being drunk and saying one stupid sentence that ruined a glam wedding are totally the same thing, and then everyone kisses and makes up except the other blonde that actually breaks up and kisses afterwards. And then there's a baby born from the character that was completely trivialised because she actually had a happy marriage!

And everybody is happy!

And oh my god what the hell (place I'm going to for uttering the Lord's name in vain as I'm being pointed out)

Anyway, it's not actually a bad movie, especially once you're stunned with all the fashion talk.

But just think of what the film Sex and the City would be like if it was about a guy spending his last unmarried days in company of three other guys. 

Hint: it wouldn't be about fashion.

tenorikissa - Mother's milk says:

Unless they're gay guys! It would be about fashion and gay orgies.

The Swedish Epic

It's mostly about butter and herring. In iambic pentameter.