This week, the social media world has been buzzing with “three fictional characters challenge.” On Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook people have been sharing pictures of three characters who they believe describe them. From what I’ve seen it seems as if people tend to focus on their more positive characteristics and pick characters that are generally likeable. I could easily pick my own characters and say I’m a mixture of Jess Day, Lizzie McGuire, and Andy Dwyer, but I decided it would be more fun to ask my friends. I asked my two best friends and my sister to each give me one fictional character I remind them of with no explanation as to why they picked that character. Once they each gave me a character I decided I would take it a step further and try to figure out why they picked that character.
My best friend Brianna told me I remind her of Leslie Knope from “Parks and Recreation.” If you’ve never seen the show, Leslie Knope is a character who has an extreme love of public service. She started as the Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation department in her home town of Pawnee Indiana, and works her way through many different titles and it is implied she eventually become the President of the United States. Even though I have no interest in becoming the President, I have a few reasons as to why I think Brianna picked this character. The first reason is that Leslie is optimistic. She tries to see the best in everything and everyone. Even when things don’t go her way, she is tries to see the positive side. I like to think this is a quality I also possess. The second reason is Leslie is obsessive. Once she gets focused on something she thinks about it nonstop. More specifically, she is obsessed with Joe Biden and waffles. Joe Biden to Leslie is what Nick Jonas is to me. Also, I do enjoy the occasional waffle. Lastly, Leslie loves animals. There is an episode where she adopts thirty-two dogs which is definitely something I would do.
I really wasn’t surprised when my sister Katie told me I remind her of Louise Belcher from “Bob’s Burgers.” On the show, Louise is the younger sister to Gene and Tina. She loves to cause trouble and always has a witty comeback. Like Louise, I am the youngest of three with an older brother and sister. Even though I’m the youngest I have to have the last word and always have a funny comment to make. I also think Katie picked Louise because she thinks I get away with a lot. Louise always talks her way out of troublesome situations and uses her charm to her advantage.
The last character I was given by my best friend Jessica is Michael Scott. I’ve never watched more than a few episodes of “The Office,” but from what I’ve seen Michael is very funny. Whether he is intentionally funny is a completely different matter. I know Jessica thinks I’m funny because she is often the only person to laugh at my jokes. Another characteristic of Michael is he’s definitely an original. He doesn’t try to be anyone but himself. I think this reminds Jess of me because we are very weird when we’re together. I honestly don’t understand how other people can stand to be around us because we laugh at everything and say things that often don’t make sense.
My relationships with Brianna, Katie, and Jessica definitely influenced their choices. Doing the challenge this way allowed me to see which of my traits stand out to other people. Hopefully I was right about some of their reasons. It’s clear I have a little bit of Leslie, Louise, and Michael in me.
