Most Hated Disney Protagonist (Male)

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.

            Today is day 5 and the topic is “Most Hated Male Protagonist”.

            This one is kind of cheat.  But it is my blog, so I am going to go thru with this…

I am a fan of escapist entertainment.  I like the fantastic, hence why I talk about things with several more mutants, wizards, and spaceships than I encounter in real life.  I like fun, and part of having fun when experiencing fiction is being able to identify with someone who is on an adventure.  So, if all of the elements of the fantastic are gone I expect an emotional or narrative journey that makes up for the spectacle.

When I tell you that I hate in a real way this boring flat character, believe me that it is for this reason: I feel nothing watching this character, and I feel every chance I have given this guy has been a waste of my time.  I hate this pathetic asshole so much that I went out of my way to learn how to put a hidden feature in my blog just so the reveal could hold impact.

            I think I can explain this one with a somewhat paraphrased quote from my brother, “I like Doug.  He’s boring.  Sometimes you just need to watch something really boring.”

            Doug Funnie from “Doug’s First Movie” is the nadir of creativity.  For a show about a creative kid who likes to draw it is one of the most boring and paint by numbers non-shows in the world, and the movie, which tries to create something… is nothing.  (This is primarily my grievances against the character in the context of his show.)

            This is one of those things that bothers as a person who considers himself creative, but the is show about someone who is “creative” whose greatest creations are incredibly lame self-insert characters.  They go on non-adventures where he just makes parodies of the guys at school he doesn’t like and how he "cleverly" defeats them in his boring derivative fantasy land.  I find it almost personally offensive.

            And you know what baffles me?  People like this guy.  And it is not like I was outside the demographics for this, it ran from 1991-1999 (Jesus, I apparently have to start making blander stuff if I want to work as a creative type) I was 6-14-year-old boy at those times.  And I just did not get it.

This time I am confused about why people like a thing.
Not why I dislike something less than what I thought.

            I am talking out loud to myself write now looking for something say, somewhere to take this discussion.  Trying to make this sound like anything.  NOTHINGCOMES.  The stakes are so small, the humor so dull, the style so bland, the everything is so nothing.

            Just compare this to yesterday’s entry on Basil of Baker Street.  A dynamic intelligent character who seizes the moment and looks for adventure.  He uses his mind to solve his problems rather than wallow in them.  He uses his creativity to get into dangerous situations and then gets out of them.  He is motivated, he is driven, he is flawed.

            What does Doug Funny HAVE?  WHAT?  WHAT?  Why do people watch this?  I am now upset from having wrote this.  Fuck this character!  Goodnight!

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry.

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.  So please, tell me how my opinion about cartoon movies is biased and how your opinion on cartoon movies is objectively right.

No!  I’m not Done YET!

If you can, please tell me what this guy’s appeal is.  But please try to explain this.  Don’t just tell me that you liked it, or that you associate it with something else you liked, “Grandma would make us chicken fingers and sit and watch it with us.  And the show reminds me of her and I miss my grandma.”  <- NOT THAT.

Something that resonates on a level that you have to ponder to reach.  Were you a loser who drew pictures of yourself as a superhero so you could pretend to beat up the popular kids?  If so, why in god’s name did you want to watch a character doing what you already do?  The appeal.  WHAT?  What is it?

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