8 Popular Movie Heroes That Turn Out to Be Toxic If You Watch Them Closely
Our favorite movies and TV shows help us escape from reality, forcing us to think about eternal values and live through situations that we have not yet encountered in real life. We often compare ourselves with vivid and charismatic characters who indeed possess strong traits. But if we look at them from a distance, we may discover that their behavior shouldn’t be glorified. Here are 8 popular heroes that turned out to be bad guys.
1. Albus Dumbledore (the Harry Potter franchise)
No one will argue that Dumbledore was a great wizard and a brilliant manager, always ready to protect the honor of Hogwarts at the Ministry of Magic or elsewhere. But his behavior raises a lot of questions. He is a keen manipulator and plays with people’s feelings to achieve his own goals. Dumbledore knows way more than he says. Harry Potter needs to overcome tremendous difficulties to get the information the school headmaster could’ve easily disclosed.
2. Noah Calhoun (The Notebook)
This sweet love story melted millions of hearts and made us believe that true love knows no boundaries. The brilliant acting and personal charm of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in the roles of Allie and Noah made the main characters of this romantic drama extremely attractive. However, their relationship is not healthy.
Noah literally threatened Allie to agree to go out with him by saying he’d get himself in real trouble. They would fight almost every day, screaming and shouting at each other in front of other people. He was obsessed with everything connected to the girl during the years of their breakup. He tended to dramatize things instead of taking responsibility for his actions.
3. Rose (Titanic)
Despite the romantic fleur around the love story of a high-society girl and a poor young man with a rough past, there’s a lot to think about here. Rose doesn’t like her life, but she preferred to go with the flow, agreeing to marry a man she can’t stand and eventually deciding to end her life.
Then she dives into a relationship without thinking about her fiance’s feelings. Even when everything’s over, she decides to fake her death to hide from him and her mother instead of standing up for herself and starting an independent life openly.
4. Edward and Jacob (The Twilight Saga)
The relationships within one of the most popular love triangles from the beginning of the century don’t resemble a fairy tale. Edward and Jacob were both gifted with supernatural powers and are struggling for the attention of Bella. Sometimes it seems that they forget about the girl while trying to show each other who’s boss. They both manipulate Bella’s feelings, decide what’s better for her without asking permission, stalk her, and control her every move.
5. Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City)
Carrie Bradshaw has always been an example of exquisite style and unique taste. She is living her best life in a comfortable apartment and enjoying her career and bustling social life. But upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious that Carrie often cares only about herself and prefers to take and not to give. She needs to be heard by her friends but doesn’t seem to listen to them at all. She also builds a toxic relationship with her boyfriends and commits infidelities. Carrie often feels guilty, but this doesn’t justify her selfish behavior.
6. Ross Geller (Friends)
Ross is the iconic example of a “good guy” — he is kind, a bit clumsy, and socially awkward. But, in fact, he isn’t as “good” as it may seem. He is the only one from the Friends gang to receive a Ph.D. and sometimes comes off as arrogant, thinking he knows everything. Ross often victimizes himself and tries to preserve his fragile ego by showing everyone he is better than anybody else. He doesn’t care much about people’s feelings and can hurt them without even noticing.
7. Daniel Hillard, a.k.a. Mrs. Doubtfire (Mrs. Doubtfire)
If we put aside the image of a loving and caring “female housekeeper” that the talented Robin Williams created, we will ultimately be terrified by the behavior of the main character. Imagine an ex-husband who decides to stalk his ex-wife disguised as a woman. He loses his relationship with his kids due to his irresponsibility, then decides to get his family back by lying, performing small and big dirty tricks, and even trying to poison his ex-wife’s boyfriend.
8. Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)
Jay Gatsby wasn’t actually as romantic as he seemed in the movie. He had a painful obsession with Daisy, a girl who dated him several years ago and then married another man. Jay breaks the law to get rich and live a life full of parties in a luxurious house near Daisy’s mansion. He does everything to attract her attention, not caring about her feelings at all. He totally forgets how to enjoy simple things, and his only dream is to return to the woman he loves.
What other unfairly idolized movie characters can you name? Tell us in the comments!