4 Netflix Originals with unlikable and irredeemable main characters
By Shah Shahid
Netflix Original content is stellar TV, but their problem creating likable protagonists is glaring.
Netflix is one of the biggest content creators and distributors. All other streaming platforms are essentially trying to catch up to Netflix’s model of success. While they have had immense success with their original TV & mini series programming, Netflix original movies still very much have a problem creating proper protagonists.
Netflix has fast surpassed their reputation as only a platform where a catalogue of film and TV content is available, to becoming a stage where creators can create without the restrictions and limitations of the broadcast network or studio system. This allows creators the freedom to tell the stories they want to tell, with characters they create and in the time that they need to tell those stories. Many A-list creators are flocking to Netflix very much for these reasons.
Their original series have garnered heavy critical acclaim. From their first original series in House Of Cards, to their original Marvel collaborations to brand new innovative content like Stranger Things, have all been widely successful. But I’ve noticed a pattern in their line up of original movies that bothers me.
More from Netflix
- Bridgerton season 3: All the details to know about Penelope and Colin’s love story
- It’s a slow week on Netflix with only three new releases (Nov. 20)
- Exploding Kittens: From card game to Netflix animated series starring Tom Ellis
- The Crown and more Netflix shows and movies to stream this week (November 13)
- Escaping Twin Flames and more harrowing love-centered documentaries to watch on Netflix
The protagonists of Netflix original movies such as Like Father and Sandcastle are all mediocre to unlikable people, who show no growth or change by the end of the film.
Like Father features Kristen Bell as a workaholic who values her career over her relationships. While the film sees her reconnect with her father and reevaluate those priorities of her life, that turn happens in the last 10 minutes of the movie, invalidating everything else during the course of the story.
Sandcastle, a screenplay hot off the Black List, sees Nicholas Hoult as a reluctant soldier who sees the darkness of war and wants nothing to do with it. But by the end of the movie, the needle of his character graph has barely flinched. He takes away nothing from his experiences and has no change or understanding or anything really, making me wonder what the point of this story even was.
Even coming to the larger and more mainstream original blockbusters by Netflix, like Bright and War Machine, the lead characters are just plain unlikable, and bordering on the boring. And these films surprisingly feature an A-list cast and crew.
Related Story. Like Father movie review. light
Bright’s Will Smith plays a somewhat righteous cop who isn’t really racist toward his Alien partner, but also seems very much so? His actions during the film supposedly prove his just and moral nature, however, he spends the movie constantly berating at his partner, and seemingly never understanding his struggle or experiences as a minority in this fictional world. Imagine the obnoxious and animated Smith from his Fresh Prince of Bel Air days, but just more mean and cruel.
While on the flip side, Brad Pitt in War Machine is an eccentric US military commander in the Middle East who— is trying to do something or the other. The movie is so incredibly boring that it’s hard to keep up with the intentions of any one character, or what is even happening in the story itself. Pitt tries incredibly hard to make his character seem funny, quirky and a sort of comic relief, but with layers.
None of which actually work out in that way. Instead, the character comes off as weird, uninteresting and boring; qualities that would never want to see on-screen for hours. And unlike other comedies, there are no supporting characters to contrast that behaviour to make it seem funny or odd, as everyone around him just accepts the character as he is.
This Netflix originals’ protagonist problem continues in movies like Mute, The Outsider, Win It All, Game Over Man, Small Crimes and more. While the movies and stories have varying degrees of intrigue and watchability, the main characters always seem flawed, but not in a way that is intentional or to feature in an eventual redemption arc.
It’s odd that Netflix is able to allow creators to craft wonderful mini series or series that surpass the line up of existing networks in both quality and critical success, but their original movie line-up is so deeply broken when it comes to the leads characters. Characters that are not heroic enough to be considered heroes, not grey enough to be anti-heroes and don’t change enough to be relatable.
Next. New CW show a modern day Friday Night Lights?. dark
I hope that Netflix’s collaboration with bigger storytellers like Martin Scorsese will eventually iron out these issues and we are treated to more gems like Okja, Beasts Of No Nation and Mudbound. Until then I’m keeping one eyebrow raised during my viewing of the next Netflix original release.
What do you think about Netflix’s protagonist problem? Sound off in the comments below.