Name some reluctant heroes from movies
October 17, 2017 10:13 AM Subscribe
Emphasis on reluctant. Han Solo, for example. Katniss kinda fits the bill, but she drops the reluctance pretty early on I think. Who are your favorite reluctant heroes?
Malcom Reynolds, Serenity
Arthur Dent, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Bastion Bux, The Neverending Story
posted by mrbeefy at 10:23 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Arthur Dent, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Bastion Bux, The Neverending Story
posted by mrbeefy at 10:23 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Sarah Connor from the Terminator series starts out as very reluctant.
Bruce Banner in the MCU is pretty reluctant.
Frodo Baggins is also pretty high on the "um, I guess I'll do this if nobody else is available" list. But Sam stayed reluctant through the whole adventure - "I don't want to be out here in the cold and dark full of people with pointy sticks; let's get this done and head back to the Shire."
Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski fits, although I'm not sure if he ever qualifies as a hero.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:24 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Bruce Banner in the MCU is pretty reluctant.
Frodo Baggins is also pretty high on the "um, I guess I'll do this if nobody else is available" list. But Sam stayed reluctant through the whole adventure - "I don't want to be out here in the cold and dark full of people with pointy sticks; let's get this done and head back to the Shire."
Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski fits, although I'm not sure if he ever qualifies as a hero.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:24 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Agreeing with philip-random about the hero's journey, I'll answer your final question about favorite reluctant heroes.
So, my answer is Clive Owen's character in Children of Men.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 10:24 AM on October 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
So, my answer is Clive Owen's character in Children of Men.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 10:24 AM on October 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element
posted by ewok_academy at 10:28 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by ewok_academy at 10:28 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
TV Tropes has Resigned to the Call and Knight in Sour Armor, as well as Punch Clock Hero, all of which fit the "reluctant hero" definition.
I will also add Maui from Moana.
posted by castlebravo at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
I will also add Maui from Moana.
posted by castlebravo at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Harry Potter!
posted by something something at 10:32 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by something something at 10:32 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
I think Buffy fits.
posted by anastasiav at 10:33 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by anastasiav at 10:33 AM on October 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
Yeah, Harry Potter for sure. In the books he's much more reluctant than he is portrayed in the movies.
posted by cooker girl at 10:43 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by cooker girl at 10:43 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm only part way through series 1 but Elliot from Mr Robot?
posted by 92_elements at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by 92_elements at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
How about Clint Eastwood's character from Unforgiven? Stretching the definition of "hero," all to pieces, but he seems to fit.
posted by Alensin at 10:51 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Alensin at 10:51 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Logan in "Logan."
posted by bdk3clash at 11:10 AM on October 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by bdk3clash at 11:10 AM on October 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Neo from the Matrix!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:13 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:13 AM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Deckard, from the original 'Bladerunner'.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2017
posted by spinifex23 at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2017
Almost every single character played by Bruce Willis.
posted by teleri025 at 12:00 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by teleri025 at 12:00 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all these replies. To philip-random I would say that yes, in that story paradigm a hero is always initially reluctant. What I'm most interested in is the character for whom their reluctance remains a prominent, exhibited trait. Han Solo is crabby and sour throughout much of the first movie, and claims to be only in it for the money. The Dude is a good example as well. As opposed to heroes who bury or get over their reluctance early on. What interests me is seeing how long a character can exhibit reluctance while still progressing in their heroic journey, without it becoming tiresome or dissonant.
posted by malhouse at 12:03 PM on October 17, 2017
posted by malhouse at 12:03 PM on October 17, 2017
Ash in Army Of Darkness!
posted by The otter lady at 12:05 PM on October 17, 2017
posted by The otter lady at 12:05 PM on October 17, 2017
Shrek
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 12:07 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 12:07 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Shane.
Achilles is primordial in the West, and his reluctance is almost unwavering, but I don't know how well various movie adaptations capture this.
posted by jamjam at 12:12 PM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Achilles is primordial in the West, and his reluctance is almost unwavering, but I don't know how well various movie adaptations capture this.
posted by jamjam at 12:12 PM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz? Really any character who finds themselves in adventure and responds "I just want to go home".
posted by The otter lady at 12:19 PM on October 17, 2017
posted by The otter lady at 12:19 PM on October 17, 2017
Jack Ryan in basically all the Clancy books/movies? He's pretty much always talking about how he's not a spy/agent/whatever. He's just a writer/analyst/teacher/etc.
Even when he winds up president he's only there because he's agreed to become VP for like a month so that he can't be pressed into service again.
posted by bowmaniac at 12:22 PM on October 17, 2017
Even when he winds up president he's only there because he's agreed to become VP for like a month so that he can't be pressed into service again.
posted by bowmaniac at 12:22 PM on October 17, 2017
Remember that Odysseus has to retrieve Achilles from his concealment among the women in order to get him to join the expedition to Troy in the first place.
posted by jamjam at 1:05 PM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 1:05 PM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
He didn't fight over Briseus anyway, he fought to avenge the death of Patroclus, as I recall -- and there is no way 'sulking in his tent' can be construed as other than reluctant, and that is the direct antecedent of the act which constitutes his heroism: slaying Hector, against whom no other Achaean could stand.
posted by jamjam at 1:56 PM on October 17, 2017
posted by jamjam at 1:56 PM on October 17, 2017
Not so much Achilles, but Odysseus himself, right?
It was when Telemachus was a child of a month old that a messenger came from Agamemnon, the Great King, bidding Odysseus betake himself to the war against Troy that the Kings and Princes of Greece were about to wage. The wise Odysseus, foreseeing the disasters that would befall all that entered that war, was loth to go. And so when Agamemnon’s messenger came to the island of Ithaka where he was King, Odysseus pretended to be mad. And that the messenger, Palamedes, might believe he was mad indeed, he did a thing that no man ever saw being done before--he took an ass and an ox and yoked them together to the same plough and began to plough a field. And when he had ploughed a furrow he sowed it, not with seeds that would grow, but with salt. When Palamedes saw him doing this he was nearly persuaded that Odysseus was mad. But to test him he took the child Telemachus and laid him down in the field in the way of the plough. Odysseus, when he came near to where the child lay, turned the plough aside and thereby showed that he was not a mad man. Then had he to take King Agamemnon’s summons. And Agamemnon’s word was that Odysseus should go to Aulis where the ships of the Kings and Princes of Greece were being gathered. But first he was to go into another country to seek the hero Achilles and persuade him also to enter the war against Troy.
posted by LizardBreath at 2:48 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
It was when Telemachus was a child of a month old that a messenger came from Agamemnon, the Great King, bidding Odysseus betake himself to the war against Troy that the Kings and Princes of Greece were about to wage. The wise Odysseus, foreseeing the disasters that would befall all that entered that war, was loth to go. And so when Agamemnon’s messenger came to the island of Ithaka where he was King, Odysseus pretended to be mad. And that the messenger, Palamedes, might believe he was mad indeed, he did a thing that no man ever saw being done before--he took an ass and an ox and yoked them together to the same plough and began to plough a field. And when he had ploughed a furrow he sowed it, not with seeds that would grow, but with salt. When Palamedes saw him doing this he was nearly persuaded that Odysseus was mad. But to test him he took the child Telemachus and laid him down in the field in the way of the plough. Odysseus, when he came near to where the child lay, turned the plough aside and thereby showed that he was not a mad man. Then had he to take King Agamemnon’s summons. And Agamemnon’s word was that Odysseus should go to Aulis where the ships of the Kings and Princes of Greece were being gathered. But first he was to go into another country to seek the hero Achilles and persuade him also to enter the war against Troy.
posted by LizardBreath at 2:48 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I thought Logan (Wolverine) in the recent Logan took this past the point of "tiresome". I've only seen the film once, but I recall thinking "Dude, shut up about how this isn't your job, you are literally halfway to Canada right now". I would say (subject to revision if I'm just remembering wrong) that it's an example of the reluctant hero taken too far. Actually, I would classify Han Solo the same way, so maybe I'm just a reluctophobe.
posted by five toed sloth at 3:55 PM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by five toed sloth at 3:55 PM on October 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Alex Rogan in the Last Starfighter is reluctant in varying degrees until the final battle.
Alex Rogan: It'll be a slaughter!
Grig: That's the spirit!
Alex Rogan: No, my slaughter! One gunstar against the whole armada?
Dante "I'm not even supposed to be here today" Hicks though he is maybe more protagonist than hero.
ewok_academy: "Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element"
Dallas pretty much jumps in with both feet once given the chance to save the girl. He's reluctant to help the government/military/industrial complex but he's all in on being a hero.
posted by Mitheral at 8:32 PM on October 17, 2017
Alex Rogan: It'll be a slaughter!
Grig: That's the spirit!
Alex Rogan: No, my slaughter! One gunstar against the whole armada?
Dante "I'm not even supposed to be here today" Hicks though he is maybe more protagonist than hero.
ewok_academy: "Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element"
Dallas pretty much jumps in with both feet once given the chance to save the girl. He's reluctant to help the government/military/industrial complex but he's all in on being a hero.
posted by Mitheral at 8:32 PM on October 17, 2017
Sam Winchester.
(though his reluctance has substantially faded by whatever season it is now. 50, I think.)
posted by invincible summer at 10:13 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
(though his reluctance has substantially faded by whatever season it is now. 50, I think.)
posted by invincible summer at 10:13 PM on October 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Jack Nicholson hits it out of the park, and darkly, in Five Easy Pieces.
Clip is from that point in the movie where he realizes he just can't ditch his girlfriend*, even if it's the perfect moment to do so. And he absolutely HATES himself for being so f***ing decent.
* but seriously, who would ditch Karen Black?
posted by philip-random at 11:47 PM on October 17, 2017
Clip is from that point in the movie where he realizes he just can't ditch his girlfriend*, even if it's the perfect moment to do so. And he absolutely HATES himself for being so f***ing decent.
* but seriously, who would ditch Karen Black?
posted by philip-random at 11:47 PM on October 17, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
So that said, Frodo Baggins, Lebowski, Yossarian, Paul Atreides, Arthur Dent, Huck Finn, Anne of Green Gables ... and so on.
posted by philip-random at 10:21 AM on October 17, 2017 [8 favorites]