My Top 10 Fictional Character Crushes
I know that this list may seem creepy to a lot of you, and I get it. The connotation of some guy saying which fictional female characters they find attractive online is pretty sketchy and makes many people uncomfortable. But I promise you: I'm not going to get weird with this. I'm not going to go into deep detail why I find these women physically good-looking or which features of theirs I find the most appealing. And I DEFINITELY won't weird any of you out with any fanfiction-creepfests that come to people's minds when you mention this topic. With this list, I merely will tell you why I find these female characters interesting, engaging, and attractive in terms of their personality and character traits. That is all. I cannot stress that any further.This subject is also something that YouTubers Doug Walker and Saberspark have done in the past
Clarice Starling is often ranked among the greatest movie protagonists of all time, and Jodie Foster won the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of her at the 64th Academy Awards. Both of these accolades are very well-deserved. There's just something so enthralling and engaging about Clarice's character that's hard to put into words. In a world that seems claustrophobic and where horror seems to lurk around every corner, we get to experience it all through the perspective of a young, humble FBI trainee that was thrust into a situation that would cause any normal person to feel overwhelmed. However, as shaken as she is by Hannibal's presence and as disturbed as she is by Buffalo Bill's actions, Clarice continues to press on in order to right all the wrongs she can, and also find closure and silence the demons within herself. She's extremely tough and resilient, and she's very persistent in her work. Being in college currently, it's truly awe-inspiring for me to see how much work and effort Clarice pours into everything she does. She is completely relentless in her pursuit of both Buffalo Bill and her quest to fulfill her dream of being an FBI agent. Over the course of the film, numerous characters compliment her on her beauty but that's something that doesn't seem to matter to her. She couldn't care less if anybody thought she was pretty, devalued her expertise due to her only being a trainee, or thought less of her because she's a woman. She's just going to work even harder to fulfill the life-long goal that she set out for herself. She is truly one of the most genuine characters I have ever seen in any work of fiction. The passion that Jodie Foster brings to this role is truly astonishing, and it's her determined yet homely portrayal of Clarice that makes her a character that anybody of any age can be inspired by. And it's that passion, charm, and humbleness that makes her seem all the more beautiful and attractive in my eyes.
Queen Elsa of Arendelle is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 53rd animated film Frozen. This website is crawling with try-hard edgy teenage boys who claim that Frozen is the worst thing to ever happen to mankind. They go on and on about how "girly" it is, how there's too much singing (despite the fact that it's a damn musical), and how much they want to see Elsa dead. And believe it or not, I was one of them for over two years after the film's release. I hadn't seen the movie, so I took that pent-up frustration and threw it at something that didn't even deserve the scorn in the first place. Even while I was annoyed at Frozen's overexposure and relentless marketing throughout 2013 and 2014, something deep down told me that this movie was special and that I would probably like it if I were to give it a chance. From afar, the character of Elsa didn't seem like a typical perfect "Disney princess" and had interesting and relatable qualities to her. By the time I finally decided to watch the movie from beginning to end, I had fully come around and realized that I loved the movie and Elsa's character in particular. I really see a lot of myself in her. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm not the most talkative person or the most socially confident, and watching an animated female Disney character that was similarly shy and socially awkward was truly a sight to behold for me. Elsa is a perfect mixture of strength and vulnerability. She has these abilities that make her a one-of-a-kind person, but she's also afraid of who she is and doesn't want to hurt the people she loves. Too often, she allows her fears of letting others down and not living up to other people's expectations control her and prevent her from being the best possible version of herself. And when she's able to relieve herself of these fears that have held her back, it's one of the most satisfying and heartwarming experiences I have ever had watching a movie. Watching this beautiful, reserved, and warm-hearted person develop from a scared, self-doubting child to a confident young woman is truly exhilarating, and it's the main reason why she's an attractive and inspirational character to so many people, myself included.
Marceline the Vampire Queen is a fictional character in the American animated Cartoon Network television series Adventure Time, created by Pendleton Ward. Marceline the Vampire Queen has had a very rough life. Here's a run down of all the messed up things that have happened to her in her 1,000+ years of living:
- She was born from a demon father and a human mother.
- She was born at the time of a nuclear war, and lives were being lost everywhere.
- Her mother (with whom she had a loving relationship) died when she was a little girl due to unknown causes.
- Her biological father rarely cared for her and made no effort to properly raise her while she was growing up.
- The father figure that had looked after her for years slowly went insane, and eventually abandoned her in the fallout of the war.
- While protecting a group of humans when she was a late-teenager to early-20s, she was bitten by a vampire and stopped aging. She went on to lose contact with the very people she was trying to save.
- She had to live a good thousand years while the world around her changed more than she ever did.
- At some point, she had a falling out with her best friend/possible girlfriend.
- And after briefly getting rid of her vampirism, she was forced to defeat the same group of vampires that cursed her and had to become a vampire again for the greater good.
That is a lot for one person to deal with, and yet, Marceline continues to live the best life of hers possible. She treats every day as a challenge and is not fazed by the hardships life has thrown at her over the years. She has a sense of cool and calm that comes with living so long and experiencing so much heartbreak. Even with her demons deep down, she truly is a joy to watch and she lights up every single episode of the show that she's in. Marceline's relaxed and chill demeanor disguise the fact that she is a warrior and a fighter that has had to claw and adapt to survive in the ever-changing post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo. Her strength and resilience, combined with her laid-back approach to life, is what draws me to her the most.
Mia Wallace is a very troubled person. In addition to being the young wife of a gangster who would attempt to murder anybody if they ever laid a finger on her, she also has an enormous drug addiction. However, despite all the struggles and turbulence that happens in her life on a daily basis, she keeps a realistic and idealized view on things. Despite her flaws, she is one of (if not the only) morally-sound person in the wild universe of Pulp Fiction. She is in a considerably large position of power being the wife of one of the most feared men in the city, and yet she keeps a calm and low maintenance view on life. She's way kinder, more receptive, and more genuine than you would expect someone in her position to be like. She also happens to deliver one of my favorite movie quotes during her dinner with Vincent: "Don't you hate that?...Uncomfortable silences...Why do we feel it's necessary to yack about bull**** in order to be comfortable?...That's when you know you found somebody really special, when you can just shut the f*** up for a minute and comfortably share silence." That quote has stuck in my mind ever since I heard it for the first time. It's something that I think about on a near daily basis, and it's one of the most insightful truths about the human condition that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Mia has many personal flaws and issues that ravage her and nearly get her killed in the movie, but her genuine spirit and friendly presence about her make her seem like a person you could talk with about anything for any stretch of time.
Rocky Balboa is my favorite character of all time. Being from Philadelphia, it's basically impossible for me not to love him. Everyone in this city has a little bit of Rocky in them. Everybody feels like an underdog and everybody has a toughness about them with a big heart underneath. And it's his relationship with Adrian that really shines and really intrigues me. When you look past the boxing scenes and iconic training montages, Rocky and Adrian's romance is one of the best love stories ever told. The two characters are complete opposites of each other, and perfectly balance each other out. Rocky loves to talk while Adrian is soft-spoken. Rocky is socially confident while Adrian is shy and reclusive. Rocky's father told him to develop his body because he wasn't much of a brain while Adrian's mother told her to develop her brain because she wasn't much of a body. While both of them have many differences, they find so much solace in each other's company and they both can agree that shyness is not a bad thing. It doesn't bother either of them, because they know it's a part of human nature to feel uneasy and scared about new experiences. And as the film goes on, we see Adrian becoming more confident in herself. She stands up for herself and continues to fight until she is able to take charge of her life, all while not sacrificing who she is. Adrian and Rocky are able to bring out the best in one another and each of them inject the other with little pieces of themselves. Rocky inherits Adrian's compassion while Adrian inherits Rocky's fighting spirit. The chemistry between these two characters is my all time favorite fictional romance, and Adrian is just a fantastic person to watch develop over the course of the first Rocky movie and the series that would follow it.
Princess Anna of Arendelle is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 53rd animated film Frozen. Frozen is a very character-driven film. Most of the plot revolves on the intertwining relationships between the main characters, and each new development to the story is sparked by the actions or inner turmoil of a particular person. Princess Anna is a character that could have easily been written too bland or too one-note. However, by putting her in the hands of a talented actress-singer with personality to spare, she becomes one of the most entertaining and heartwarming characters I've seen in any form of media. Kristen Bell injected Anna with so much of her own personality to the point where the two of them are practically the same person. Because of this, she comes off as 110% genuine. Anna is not a stereotypical Disney princess. She's awkward, she's not dignified, and she feels like an actual person that you could approach in real life. It's her passion that makes her stand out in my opinion. She just loves her sister so much and it's their inseparable bond that never fails to give me that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. More importantly, she's a fighter who is willing to fight for the people she cares about. In many respects, I call Anna the Anti-Disney Princess Disney Princess. She doesn't get rescued. She rescues people. She doesn't ask others to save the day for her. She goes out and saves the day herself. She is completely different from her older sister in the fact that she is very extroverted and wants to seemingly make friends and form social connections with every person she meets. After having nobody from the outside world visit her kingdom for over a decade, it makes sense that she would be so trusting of others and want to throw her emotions all over the place. And if she happens to make mistakes (like she did with Hans), she is willing to learn from them in order to become the best possible version of herself she can be. Anna is a funny, sweet, loving soul that is just impossible for me to not root for.
Kristen Bell is my favorite actress by a wide margin, and she's one of the very few celebrities that I have a crush on. She's very gifted and multi-talented, and I love the passion that she brings to each one of her roles. That, and I respect the hell out of her for being one of the nicest celebrities in Hollywood and for helping so many people, not because she wants to appear charitable or to make herself look good, but because that's what she actually believes in. It's pretty ironic that the character she plays on The Good Place is completely different from who she actually is. I'm not sure if any of you know about this show due to me not having Netflix (I'm such a fossil) and not having knowledge of what network shows are available on streaming services, but let me assure you that The Good Place is one of the smartest, most ambitious, and most multi-layered television shows that I have ever watched. It transcends the realm of sitcom clichés and offers an intriguing experience that will make you laugh and think simultaneously. Eleanor Shellstrop was a person who lived a terrible life who made tons of awful decisions, and was sent to heaven by mistake. Despite her inherent selfish nature, she tries to use this second chance in order to become a much better person in every way she can. Watching Eleanor's character develop from a lovable jerk to a surprisingly compassionate human being has been wonderful for me to watch thus far, and I can't wait to see further developments for her in the future, especially due to Kristen Bell's fantastic portrayal and understanding of the character. While Eleanor certainly has in the past, Kristen can do no wrong in my opinion. I would highly recommend this show to anybody looking for lots of laughs with loads of thought-provoking intelligence on top of it. It's from the same guy who made Parks & Recreation, so it HAS to be good.
Quentin Tarantino is a master of creating characters who are simultaneously badass and intellectually intriguing. Shosanna is no different. After watching her Jewish family be killed by the despicable Colonel Hans Landa, she manages to escape and invent a new life and identity for herself in German-occupied France during World War II. She adopts a new alias and receives ownership of her aunt's movie theater, and all seems right until she meets up with the same Nazi that took everything from her when she was younger. After thinking it over, she calmly and carefully creates a plan to assassinate the German leadership by trapping them in her cinema and setting it ablaze. She's a person who has had to endure so many hardships and struggles to stay alive at a time when practicing her religion was a crime punishable by death. She is hardened by the terrifying circumstances that have surrounded her, but she still has a charm and natural grace to her that's quite compelling. Her desire to enact revenge for both her family and her entire religion is one of the most badass things I have ever seen, and the way she's so calm and calculating about it makes it all the more interesting.
Mia Dolan in La La Land represents anyone who ever dreamed of becoming a star. As foolish and impossible as it may seem, there are thousands of people out there who have enough passion and love for what they do to risk everything for one shot at becoming someone well-known in the entertainment industry. It's that determination and drive that Mia possesses, coupled with Emma Stone's natural charm, that makes her a very attractive character in my eyes. She has been working and struggling to get any kind of traction in the competitive world of Hollywood, but no opportunities have been awarded to her for no good reason. Even through all this frustration, she doesn't lose her head, remembers her roots, and continues to work until she is finally able to fulfill her dreams with the help of her boyfriend Sebastian. There's something to be admired in her never-say-die attitude and work ethic.
Rear Window has one of the simplest yet greatest movie concepts ever: a man with a broken leg looks out the window of his apartment and suspects one of his neighbors of murdering his wife. This concept alone brings about so much suspense and moral intrigue, and Alfred Hitchcock does everything that you imagine could be done with such a tantalizing idea. And knowing Hitch, one of his movies would not be complete without a beautiful blonde female lead. And for Rear Window, he managed to get one of the most talented and most beautiful actresses of her generation in the Philly native Grace Kelly. The late Princess of Monaco is just overflowing so much personality and (no pun intended) grace that it's nearly impossible to not be charmed by her. Lisa Fremont's character is a kind, sophisticated, young socialite that wants absolutely nothing to do with her boyfriend's voyeurism antics. However, as time goes on and as more pieces of the puzzle begin to add up, she becomes just as obsessive in cracking the murder case as Jimmy Stewart's Jeff is. The film as a whole is a masterfully executed thriller with great social commentary that holds up fantastically after more than 60 years, and Grace Kelly's natural charisma allows it to be all the more entertaining.