My favorite hashtag from the last few weeks was, without a doubt, #describeyourselfin3fictional characters. In light of this, I will not only present my 3, but will also detail the reason or reasons behind my choices.
Chandler Muriel Bing from Friends- Chandler is by far my favorite fictional character of all time. He's witty, he's funny, he can make fun of himself, and yet has a serious side that still fits in with his normally jokey character. His wit, sarcasm, and ability to make fun of himself have been things that I have most definitely worked into my own personality and life, and if you've met me you can probably see that yes, Chandler Bing is my spirit animal. On top of all of his personality traits, Chandler is also an excellent friend. I mean, who doesn't love Chandler and Joey? They are adorable together, going through many different things together, and even though eventually Chandler gets married to Monica, his marriage doesn't stop the bromance. I think everyone deserves a Joey to their Chandler or vice versa depending on which one you are. Beyond just Chandler Bing in the context of Friends, I think that in ways I wanted to be Chandler Bing. Even if things phased Chandler, he was still able to have fun and laugh about everything, and I always wanted to have the ability to be able to laugh things off even when things were bad, and keep myself together like Chandler seemed to be able to do.
Steven Hyde from That '70's Show- Hyde feeds my throwback side and my conspiracy theorist side. He listens to classic rock and thinks your crazy if you don't. On the government, he thinks the government is just a bunch of puppets and that the system is rigged. Another very sarcastic character, Hyde uses his sarcasm and wit to have fun toying with his friends, particularly Kelso. As the show progresses through its seasons, it also becomes clear that, like Chandler Bing, Hyde has feelings just like us. I was so mad when he and Jackie broke up, but that's for another day. Beyond his character, I always thought that Hyde was the guy that was sort of an outsider but didn't care what others thought and just lived his life. Being an outsider for much of middle school, I always thought that it was cool that his character displayed that being an outsider didn't mean you were bad.
Goose, Top Gun: I don't know which of my friends would be Maverick, but I sure am not him. I could say pretty surely that in many ways I am Goose. Most of my friends are more confident and forward than I am, and that would make me the one that hangs back a bit, which I definitely do. Moreover, as we see that Maverick clearly is much more aggressive and impulsive in his decision making, Goose is the wiser one who tries to keep Maverick in check as well as he can. No offense to teenagers, but a lot of them do not think things through at all. When the rare occasion arises that my friends make potentially dangerous decisions with me in tow, I usually end up questioning their decision making rather than being part of the bad plan. Less seriously, I would also not be the one flying a F14 fighter jet. Are you kidding me, me trying not to have a panic attack behind the controls of one of those? Nope, forget about it.
One of the common themes between these three characters and my favorite characters in most tv shows in movies is that I am frequently drawn to the sarcastic characters that use one-liners. With Scrubs my favorite character is Dr. Cox, in Bones my favorite character is Dr. Hodgins, and the list goes on and on. Some of my choices are debatable and one or a couple of my list might not make sense to you, but Chandler Bing belongs on it no matter what.
