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Cocky Bastards

Faye

Faye

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Mar 9, 2009
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There are so many television shows where either the main protagonist or one of the main characters is a guy who is overly arrogant, self-confident, and frequently a know-it-all. Obviously, it is okay for him to be this way because he really is that amazing.

This is completely astranged from reality, yet somehow many people enjoy seeing this and are able to relate to these characters. I wish that television had more humble people on it so that people wouldn't get the idea that having an inflated head is either acceptable or, even worse, normal.

What do you think?
 
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They don't portray women in this role as much, but they do it sometimes. They do have women who are know-it-all's, but they tend to make them less egotistical (often they'll be the partner of Mr. Ego instead in some fashion).
 
I agree. I find most characters on TV unrelatable. And too fake.

i wish we could also see more positive male role models. Anymore fathers are just portrayed as morons.
 
Ah I agree with you for the most part, especially with NBC shows (not sure why, but I just get that vibe from those shows). However, I find there are plenty of shows where the protagonist is realistic (the Office comes to mind, if there is a protagonist).

However, I disagree with your second post about how female characters aren't normally portrayed like you described. More and more--again on the shows I watch--I see women filling these know-it-all and egotistical roles. It's annoying, but more tolerable for some reason (definitely because I know women that fit these character profiles to a T...).
 
Detective Conan said:
Ah I agree with you for the most part, especially with NBC shows (not sure why, but I just get that vibe from those shows). However, I find there are plenty of shows where the protagonist is realistic (the Office comes to mind, if there is a protagonist).

However, I disagree with your second post about how female characters aren't normally portrayed like you described. More and more--again on the shows I watch--I see women filling these know-it-all and egotistical roles. It's annoying, but more tolerable for some reason (definitely because I know women that fit these character profiles to a T...).
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I didn't say that females aren't normally portrayed in this way. I just said tehy aren't portrayed this way as much as men are. The frequency that they are made out this way is alarming.
 
Dragon said:
I didn't say that females aren't normally portrayed in this way. I just said tehy aren't portrayed this way as much as men are. The frequency that they are made out this way is alarming.
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Ah, sorry for misreading. But regardless, I think women are portrayed in such a light just as much (if not more often) as men lately.
 
Because it's entertaining, and often times funny. Mind you, the shows that have lead characters who aren't like this are the ones I enjoy the most.

Probably the best example I can think of off the top of my head is Peter Petrelli from Heroes (lets just pretend everything after the first season never happened). There was an extremely well defined character that was genuinely unique and didn't fall back on the gruff voice, arrogant attitude or obnoxious one liners to propel his character forward. Total INFJ too.

If you think women aren't portrayed like that though... you clearly haven't watched Sex in the City!
 
Broken Beggar said:
Because it's entertaining, and often times funny. Mind you, the shows that have lead characters who aren't like this are the ones I enjoy the most.

Probably the best example I can think of off the top of my head is Peter Petrelli from Heroes (lets just pretend everything after the first season never happened). There was an extremely well defined character that was genuinely unique and didn't fall back on the gruff voice, arrogant attitude or obnoxious one liners to propel his character forward. Total INFJ too.

If you think women aren't portrayed like that though... you clearly haven't watched Sex in the City!
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More or less just the bolded part. However, coming down to the reality that the show did have a second, third, and fourth season, Peter Petrilli, in my opinion, definitely fell victim to the egotistical, know-it-all mentality. Even AFTER he was rendered powerless. Really turned a likable character into a very annoying one.

I agree with your first point a lot, though. A lot of comedy shows these days rely on protagonists like this to push the show through season after season. Even drama shows, like House, relied/rely on the same character profile...
 
Detective Conan said:
However, coming down to the reality that the show did have a second, third, and fourth season, Peter Petrilli, in my opinion, definitely fell victim to the egotistical, know-it-all mentality.
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Maybe for the second or third season, yes, but us fans tend to prefer those seasons didn't happen, just because the writers were on crack and didn't have a clue what they were doing.

Season 4 was very much a redemption for the character.
 
I don't find such characters enjoyable. In fact I find quite a number of characters in tv shows and movies rather irratating in some respects. The fact of the matter is though that the majority of people like such types of personas for one reason or another, so they are glorified.
 
Some cocky bastards are great.

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NCIS

It has a cocky bastard in it - Tony DiNozzo - but he's often wrong and the butt of jokes as a result of it. NCIS has two cocky womens in it, Abs and Ziva. Abs is nearly always right, whereas Ziva is often as wrong as DiNozzo.

NCIS is full of real people, the relationships work well because they're realistic and the characters develop while remaining, essentially themselves.
 
I've been noticing this and it's very annoying. It turns me off. It gets tired after a while when almost every main character is an arrogant know it all, who is prideful and over confident in everything they say or do. I understand it but it's really annoying. I miss tv shows with normal, balanced characters - more even keeled.
 
Reoccurring themes in TV or Books are sometimes called tropes. They are used by writers to deliver to the audience consistent themes and are impossible to avoid, as everything has been done before.

There is a whole site dedicated to tropes, and they have an article for this guy: The Magnificent Bastard.

Tropes aren't cliches, but tools that the writer knows the audience can respond to, and if used correctly make for entertaining fiction.

Warning: tvtropes.org will keep you up late at night if you're into that stuff...

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Bones has a large ego and is very seldom wrong in her observations.
 
Shawn and Carlton from Psych both exhibit this trait. Except Shawn is pretty much always right, and Carlton is wrong(Most of the time).

They help you relate to Shawn by showing clips from his past at the beginning of every episode.
 
Dragon said:
They don't portray women in this role as much, but they do it sometimes. They do have women who are know-it-all's, but they tend to make them less egotistical (often they'll be the partner of Mr. Ego instead in some fashion).
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I think that Bones from the show Bones is like the person you described.
 
I will say this though, there can be a difference between a cocky bastard and someone with a large ego. Although it is rare.
 
I think we need some anti-hero protagonist. That would be more realistic than some of the portrayed "perfect-wise" characters that we see on tv.
 
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