The Importance of Character

Eric Cartman (South Park)

By now, nearly everyone has heard of the little hell raiser known only as Eric Cartman. If their is an offensive thing to say about any person, place, or thing its probably safe to assume that Eric had either said that thing, or is thinking about saying it. But what people don't realize is that Eric Cartman has an impact on society much larger than many other T.V. show characters. Simply put, he represents (in a funny and usually offensive way) the dark side of humans. He isn't afraid to speak what’s on his mind, he has more stereotypes then I care to count or comment on, and he is generally just uncaring of other people. Indeed, one could make the case that Eric Cartman is narcissistic. As such, he gives the viewers of South Park a glimpse into a more self absorbed self centered world that many people have not experienced. This, to me at least, makes him noteworthy.

Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Ah yes, Lord Vader. The very image of evil depicted in a nearly seven foot tall robot like suit. Anyone who's seen the original Star Wars trilogy (and many who haven't) can tell you who this giant vision of evil is and why he is important to the story of Star Wars. However, he is more important than that, more important than just "the villain" in a famous trilogy. That importance comes from his complex character. When we first meet Vader, all we can see is a being in a mask-truly, we are not even sure if he is human. We are led to believe that Darth Vader is in fact, nothing but evil. His thoughts are evil, his actions are evil, and his ambitions are evil. Everything about him screams evil. But as the movies go on, we start to see a different side. We learn a bit of his past, specifically his past with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Of course, up until the last few sequences of the final movie do we begin to suspect that is in fact, NOT the tower of malevolence we have been led to believe he is, and he is finally revealed (in an appropriately dramatic manner, of course) that he is in fact Luke's father. As the movie begins to draw to a close, Vader finally turns on the Emperor, and ultimately, he sacrifices his life for his son, leaving us wondering what he could have been had he not been corrupted by "the dark side." Vader, therefore, is important beyond the obvious because he makes the average person reconsider their so called concrete views of good and evil, and, perhaps, in some cases, causes a viewer to question whether they themselves would be able to perform a noble sacrifice to save someone's life.


Elric of Melnibone-This is a character that few have heard of and even fewer have read about. Elric hails from the Elric Saga (shocking, I know) written by Michael Moorcock. He is the ruler of a land known as Melnibone the Dragon Isle. Despite this, he is, for all intents and purposes, a total outcast for one very simple reason. He has has empathy for other people. The folk of Melnibone are basically cold hearted sadistic killers who have ruled the world for thousands of years. For Elric, the very act of posessing an emotion other then an insane lust for power exiles him, at least in spirit, from his people. Elric, at his very core, forces the reader to wonder how far he or she would go to mantain his or her ideals.