By Lord Castleton | Miscellaneous | June 10, 2015 |
By Lord Castleton | Miscellaneous | June 10, 2015 |
We’re nearing the end of a process that has taken longer to decode than the Dead Sea Scrolls, but with each passing step, we get closer to the beating heart of the Pajiba beast.
I’ve been remiss in not just posting this at the top of every response article, so let me do it here:
For those of you who missed the original post, don’t worry, we have more of these to come. They’ll be much more specific in the future, rather than the sort of catch-all of the original post.
These results are a linear result of an indirect question, and therefore may be taken with a grain of salt. The original question asked for your favorite five characters, and I decided to chronicle and total the films, shows, books etc. those characters were in and make a few lists about them. In some ways, because everyone just shot from the gut, these results may be more accurate than future results when people are more attuned with the process. Or they could be much less accurate as people view future, more specific questions more thoughtfully. Take it all for what it is.
Without further ado, your top 10 movies or movie series, based on the Pajiba Favorite Five character responses.
#10: The Princess Bride
A classic, crowd pleasing favorite. One of the only stand alone movies in the top ten and definitely a kissing movie.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
40% Buttercup
18% Inigo
12% Westley
12% Fezzik
12% Vezzini
6% Dread Pirate Roberts
#9: Guardians of the Galaxy
An instant favorite that seemed to connect with audiences right off the bat. Although it’s part of the Marvel Universe, it ends up in 9th place because it had enough votes to stand on its own.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
50% Peter Quill / Starlord
30% Groot
10% The Collector
10% Drax the Destroyer
#8: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
A trilogy that seemed to do the impossible, made only more impressive when The Hobbit movies showed just how quickly an adaptation can go south. Many beloved characters helped lift this franchise into 8th place.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
22% Samwise Gamgee
22% Gandalf
8% Arwen
8% Pippin
8% Bilbo Baggins
8% Boromir
8% Gollum
8% Aragorn
8% Saruman
#7: Marvel Cinematic Movie Universe
This is a bit of a cheat because it’s a much wider net than most series, but Pajibans love their superheroes. I removed the Guardians of the Galaxy votes and yet, with all the votes for the various series characters, the MCU ended up in 7th place.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
48% Agent Phil Coulson
28% Steve Rogers / Captain America
12% Natasha Romanov / Black Widow
4% Loki
4% Thor
4% Tony Stark / Iron Man
#6: The Harry Potter Movie Series
The series that won the book category rolls in in 6th place in movies. I tallied the character votes this way when people said “the movie Severus Snape not the book Severus Snape.” Landing in the 6th spot really illustrates the cultural impact of the series.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
23% Hermione Granger
17% Albus Dumbledore
12% Severus Snape
12% Harry Potter
12% Minerva McGonagall
6% Neville Longbottom
6% Sirius Black
6% Ron Weasley
6% Molly Weasley
#5: The Big Lebowski
The highest stand-alone film on the list, based solely on the love people have for The Dude. His Dudeness. I’m a person who can’t get enough Coen brothers movies, so a fifth place showing for The Dude really ties this whole website together.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
100% Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski
#4: The Dark Knight Trilogy
In a testament to the sublime vision of Christopher Nolan, we have a 4th place finish for a franchise that was blighted by the likes of Joel Schumacher and Arnold Schwarzenegger only a few years before. The trilogy gave voice to a darkness in society and showed a deft grasp of the cultural direction of future superhero franchises.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
84% Batman
8% Bane
4% Bruce Wayne
4% Alfred
#3: The Indiana Jones Series
I’m not sure there’s any single character more classically American in scope than Indiana Jones. He was the John Wayne of a new generation, fallible and yet competent. We just haven’t seen that many characters with his brand of old-school toughness and intelligence. Obviously, we don’t mention the crystal skull abomination in this tally. Or any tally.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
100% Indiana Jones
#2: The Aliens Series
Mostly, the votes for this series reflect the first two films in the Alien world, and all of them reflect the admiration for Ripley. I just mentioned old-school toughness and intelligence. Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley rewrote the book on both, all while overcoming the type of odds that a character like Indiana Jones might shit his pants about.
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
96% Ellen Ripley
4% Hicks
Aaaaaaand the #1 movie or movie series based on your character votes is
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#1: The Star Wars Series
Not a surprise that the Star Wars franchise was the runaway winner in the movie category, doubling up its nearest competitor. I suspect the lead will only increase after the next round of films in the franchise. How many other film series make people connect with an idea on a religious level? What vaulted it to the top was the many votes for a huge number of characters. In fact, no other series in the entire Pajiba favorite five voting exercise had such a broad number of characters listed as favorites. That’s a testament to the fact that it has something for everyone and that, even in the face of some rather wooden performances, certain archetypes really connected with us.
Star Wars is deservedly your Pajiba Favorite Five #1 Movie Series
Characters Pajibans want you to look for:
28% Han Solo
14% Darth Vader
10% Luke Skywalker
10% Anakin Skywalkr
10% Obi-Wan Kenobi
6% R2-D2
6% Princess Leia Organa
3% Qui-Gonn Jinn
3% Chewbacca
3% Padme Amidala
3% The Emperor
2% Darth Maul
2% C3PO
And here’s the rest of the rest in the movie category. Please forgive any errors or accidental omissions.