Do Badass characters exist for those who have something to prove?

Once, years ago, I thought to myself, "The Badass is the domain of the loser." A very rude thing to say out loud, though I just now did it.

But what I meant was that it seemed to be me that people who were obsessed with "Badass" characters were those who were on the lower rungs of the social ladder in real life. Look at comic books, which aren't socially popular in the US. Look at what kinds of people tend to read them, and the subject matter. Reading comic books is (in the US) considered a nerd pursuit, and the comics themselves are excessively dark, gritty, and have a lot of violence and sex, because as we all know such things are very mature.

Teenage boys also seem to like "Badass" characters to an extent. Heck, in college, a younger female student told me once that when she mentioned that she liked Mario Kart and other such video games, guys told her that she liked "those dumb games". I mean, it was mostly teen boys bitching about things being too "kiddy" for their tastes.

Am I wrong though? It did seem to me that an obsession with fictionary Badassery was a pursuit of people who felt they had something lacking and wanted to appear cool by latching onto something cool in culture, and mocking those who don't share their tastes. What do you think?

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It's escapism, pure and simple.

Mario's pretty Badass.

It's not just limited to people with something to prove; everybody likes to see a Badass.

Yeah, it's definitely not limited to those who have something to prove.

I'm thinking though that the people who are obsessed with them, who insist on such characters, or brag about how tough they are -those are the people who have something to prove or compensate for.

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People look towards impressive fictional characters as exaggerated role models? That's Older Than Dirt. I'm not totally sure what you're trying to point out. People on "lower rungs of life" tend to hold these characters deeper in their hearts than those on top of the ladder because those on top don't really need a role model. This is why Superman was such an icon during a grim time of America's history, people wanted to believe some man made of steel existed and had American ideals. This has been happening since the dawn of storytelling. Everyone wanted to be Odyssius back in the day, or Hercules, or Jesus. Now we've got Superman, Monkey D. Luffy, and the entire Spartan army.

So, what exactly are we talking about again?

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

One person's Badass is another's Mary Sue. The appeal is that the badass is an undeniable MOVER in their narrative, and people admire those who can express power in its various forms, because it's what everyone wants. Even those who have it still admire it, hence why the badass takes many forms.

Badass people do exist in real life. These are not people who have no moments of weakness; these are simply people who deal with those moments in ways that make other people stop and gape in astonishment.

Eat lightning, shit success, etc etc.

When you remember that we are all mad, all questions disappear and life stands explained.

^ I like Korchun's definition. I don't like the current trend toward defining "badass" as "Over-the-top all-but-out-of-control character who in real life you'd think was kind of a jerk and want to avoid."

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Same. Sure there's a place in my heart for the likes of Jack Churchill, but there's kind of a bigger one for the type of character who's terrified out of their mind, gulps hard, then saves the world anyway.

Whats wrong with people enjoying a character doing cool things?

You guys are overthinking this I think.

I should have phrased it better and made it more clear what I meant. I meant like characters who are excessive (e.g. Kratos of God Of War), and that they're hugely popular with people who have a "need" for them.

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Ah.

Well, I'm sure sometimes it does get excessive.

I also believe that a good majority of those fans like the carnage he brings more than the character.

But i'm sure there are also younger people who want someone to look up to.

I sincerely hope nobody looks up to Kratos.

I do think a lot of it is the character. Someone who's grimacing, mean, muscular, etc. Whatever makes them look "badass", in addition to what they do. Like they wish they could be this character.

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Kratos always struck me as kind of whiny, personally. It just happened to be the case that his whining involved violence.

Funny, I always thought the opposite because of his......demeanor.

"Thanos is a happy guy! Just look at the smile in his face!"

And from what I've seen, nerds are quite often the opposite of bandwagon jumpers— elitists, disdaining the masses for being stupid, sheep-like, shallow, etc. Granted, that doesn't rule out hypocrisy, but it seems uncharacteristic for them to make an actual effort to appear cool in the eyes of the wider culture.

The behavior of "mocking those who don't share their tastes" is pandemic among fans, especially extreme fans, which would by definition include those with an "obsession". So Opinion Myopia is sufficient to explain that phenomenon.

I'd go so far as to say that those who have something to prove are an unrepresentative minority; that the appeal of the Badass is, if not universal, then certainly very widespread among males in western culture. I Just Want to Be Badass transcends the social ladder.

I think it's only the people who brag about how tough they are. For the others, it doesn't make nearly as much sense. What a person brags about is an unambiguous reflection of how they want to be perceived. That's practically the only utility of the behavior. But being "obsessed" with badasses— that doesn't even sound like a behavior. It's more like an emotional reaction. It's it's like being fond of badasses Only More So. Same with insisting. It's not evident that there's any intentionality involved there, much less an intention to be seen in a certain manner. It may well be that a number of people are particularly fond of badasses because of their own shortcomings, but I think that ties into I Just Want to Be Badass and genuine admiration for the traits of badassery, rather than being an actual Real Life impression management strategy.

Not really. Nerds have their own bandwagons that they jump on quite regularly. They may not care about appearing cool in the eyes of the mainstream, but they're often quite concerned with appearing cool in the eyes of their fellow nerds.

I think that you may be onto something here, though. The perception that someone who talks about how [insert trait that is generally perceived as desirable or admirable here] they are is probably lacking in that trait in reality is an old one. Very old. It's reflected in statements like "All hat and no cattle", "He can talk the talk, but can he walk the walk?" (used at least back in 1953), "If you have to tell people that you're [insert trait that is generally perceived as desirable or admirable here], you aren't" and "He's all talk". Badassness is simply one of the latest [generally perceived as desirable or admirable trait]s to be [inserted here].

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Just for the record, I was not endorsing that perception, nor do I agree with it, although it is obvious that bragging about being X is an utter failure as far as proving that one is X is concerned.

edited 14th Oct '11 12:20:25 PM by Tongpu

I don't always agree with it either. But it 'is'' a very common perception.

edited 14th Oct '11 12:20:42 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I'm not sure what the OP is trying to say.

But in answer to the title, sure.

Do not forget his brother, they make a formidable team.

The fact that they have saved the princess numerous times with only their wits and jumping and flipping skills prove that they are the ultimate badass normals to ever exist.

as of the 2nd of Nov. has 6 weeks for a broken collar bone to heal and types 1 handed and slowly

@Madrugada

I can understand what you (I believe) its easy to say stuff about yourself but you need to back up your claims.

I am not sure if people create badass characters with something to prove. Badass is escapism pure and simple but who hasn't thought becoming the ultimate baddest mofo to ever live? Who hasn't thought becoming a sensation? Or who hasn't thought about being like their hero? I guess I just want to badass is so prevalent is because we (nerds) feel insecure in real life.

"Thanos is a happy guy! Just look at the smile in his face!"

Yeah, I'm thinking that such characters may be most popular with those who have something to prove, but they of course have wide appeal. A lot of people with no problems like them. It's when people mock characters who don't have such traits and point to how tough their pet Bad Ass is, that I wonder about the person. I've seen that behavior many times, and when I did, I'd always think there was something wrong with the person engaging in it.

Anyway, here's a funny monkey wrench thrown in: Cracked.com has an article called "5 Authors Who Were More Badass Than the Badass Character They Created". One of them was the author of James Bond, who was a real life spy himself!

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