Oftentimes, a major character has to have a great deal of unhealthy luck for his or her story to be attention-grabbing. Misfortune and private tragedies can result in compelling tales. In a drama, some kind of unlucky occasion can create a compelling narrative the place an issue is overcome. In a comedy, there’s humor in a fictional character’s fixed calamities. Mel Brooks put it finest when he stated: “Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die.”
Still, not all fictional characters are equally unfortunate, and typically, the universe appears to exit of its option to punish some greater than others. The following film and TV characters all undergo a fantastic ordeal of their respective works of fiction, and are ranked beneath from tremendous unfortunate to cosmically cursed.
The following will comprise some spoilers for the films listed.
10 Paul Hackett from ‘After Hours’ (1985)
Martin Scorsese is finest recognized for his gangster movies and historic dramas, however the cult traditional After Hours proves he additionally has a knack for darkish comedy. It’s a movie that is equal components hilarious and nightmarish, centering on a person named Paul, who goes on a collection of misadventures one evening in New York City after making an attempt to satisfy up with a lady for a late-night date.
It’s the type of film the place each scene serves as an escalation, and the pacing proves relentless. It’s an anxious however very entertaining watch about an exceedingly unfortunate younger man, with Paul’s survival of his loopy, harmful evening the one factor that stops him from rating even larger on the karmically cursed scale.
9 James Bond from the Daniel Craig ‘James Bond’ collection (2006-2021)
Every iteration of James Bond goes via some robust instances, however the character was usually one who nonetheless felt like an influence fantasy. Physical ache was one thing James Bond tended to have the ability to shrug off, and on the event that somebody he knew died violently, it did not usually appear to impression Bond an excessive amount of emotionally.
Things modified when it got here to the Daniel Craig period of James Bond. He was nonetheless robust, cool, and charismatic, however suffered extra bodily and emotionally than different variations of 007 earlier than him. The demise of Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale was extra devastating than some other comparable demise, he misplaced M in Skyfall, and he turned the primary Bond to die within the sarcastically titled No Time To Die, making him simply probably the most unfortunate 007 to date.
8 Tora-san from the ‘It’s Tough Being a Man’ collection (1969-2019)
The Japanese movie collection It’s Tough Being a Man spans 50 installments throughout 50 years, with all however the final specializing in a bachelor named Tora-san. In nearly each film, he falls for a brand new girl, although due to both horrible luck or considered one of his personal errors, he would not find yourself along with her, and so units off in search of another person by every movie’s conclusion.
It’s a really formulaic collection, however seeing Tora-san and his household mature and develop as folks retains it compelling. Tora himself could be the least fortunate character in romantic-comedy historical past, however as he grows older, he pursues new potential companions much less frequently and fewer chaotically, displaying that in the direction of the tip of his life, he could have been at peace together with his standing as Japan’s unofficial everlasting bachelor.
7 Lawrence “Larry” Gopnik from ‘A Serious Man’ (2009)
The Coen Brothers love writing film protagonists who’ve a string of unhealthy luck that will get them in deeper and deeper hassle because the story goes on. Few characters display this higher than Larry Gopnik, the lead character from their bleak/unhappy darkish comedy A Serious Man (2009).
It’s a movie that takes the Old Testament story of the Book of Job and locations it in a contemporary context, displaying a person being stripped of all his funds and most of his relationships, and the methods this exams his religion. The Coens do put a darkly comedic spin on the story, but the very fact Larry suffers a lot – and is so unfortunate – could make this movie general fairly the downer.
6 Jack Bauer from ’24’ (2001-2014)
Few TV present protagonists have gone via as a lot as Jack Bauer’s gone via in 24. The counter-terrorism agent has been on the entrance strains for numerous world-ending threats, has taken a whole lot of lives, has been tortured on quite a few events, and has misplaced nearly everybody who was ever near him.
The solely cause Bauer is not the least fortunate character of all time is that he appears to be invincible, seeing as few fictional folks have cheated demise as many instances as him. Of course, it is also argued that after somebody’s suffered as a lot as Bauer, an eternity of dwelling to battle one other day could be a curse extra so than a blessing.
5 Ripley from the ‘Alien’ collection (1979-1997)
It’s fairly terrifying to consider how a lot Ripley’s misplaced all through the Alien movies she’s appeared in. She’s the only human survivor of the unique 1979 movie, and survives with another characters within the 1986 sequel… but it is revealed in 1992’s Alien 3 that they really died between movies. Then virtually everybody in Alien 3 finally ends up dying, together with Ripley herself.
She comes again as a clone in 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, solely to need to cope with extra carnage and horror. Even demise can not seem to spare Ripley from continually going through Xenomorphs, making her maybe eternally cursed to proceed combating them till the tip of time, all of the whereas everybody she is aware of dies round her.
4 Sam Lowry from ‘Brazil’ (1985)
A science-fiction traditional that point has been sort to, Brazil takes a have a look at a very terrifying dystopian future. In it, terrorism is a continuing risk, the federal government interferes with nearly each side of everybody’s lives, and paperwork has spiraled uncontrolled to the purpose the place nobody can actually change something.
Brazil’s protagonist, an peculiar man named Sam Lowry, is caught in the course of all of it. When he will get roped into an odd conspiracy, each second of his life turns into a waking nightmare, with every minute being worse and extra complicated than the final. He’s in the same state of affairs to the aforementioned Paul from After Hours, but Sam’s final destiny on the finish of Brazil is not almost as fortunate.
3 Peter Parker from the ‘Spider-Man’ collection (2002-2021)
While Peter Parker may not face fairly as a lot private tragedy as Black Panther‘s Shuri (and never in such a brief area of time), he nonetheless stands as maybe Marvel’s least fortunate hero. This is especially due to how multiverse crossovers proven in movies like Into the Spider-Verse and No Way Home depict Peter as an unfortunate, tragic determine in each single conceivable universe.
Whether it is family members dying, relationships falling aside, fixed new arch-nemeses arising, or just failing at college and work, Peter Parker is doomed throughout all universes and timelines to undergo. Yet he at all times fights again and offers together with his rotten odds, which means that even when he’s cosmically unfortunate, his dedication and good coronary heart guarantee he often achieves no less than a minor victory in every movie he options in.
2 Buffy Summers from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (1997-2003)
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, each major character has to course of a substantial amount of trauma, but few face as a lot fixed unhealthy luck because the title character. Buffy Summers begins the collection as a highschool pupil who cannot catch a break, and ends it as a younger grownup who cannot catch a break.
It makes for compelling tv, however it’s genuinely unhappy to see Buffy lose family members, fall out and in of affection, really feel alone and misunderstood, and need to continually be the only one that saves the world, many times. She fortunately ends the collection alive, and hopefully with a promising future forward of her… however the journey there was brutal.
1 Forklift Driver Klaus from ‘Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job’ (2000)
An absurd parody of tutorial security movies blended in with Evil Dead-style violence, the title character from Forklift Driver Klaus is proven having the worst first day at work of all time. On his first shift, carelessness and unhealthy luck result in him injuring and/or killing the general public contained in the manufacturing facility he works at… Klaus himself included.
Everything that may go fallacious for Klaus on his first day at work does go fallacious. Driving a forklift can result in accidents in actual life, however by no means to the extent proven right here, the place nobody makes it out alive. This ensures Klaus is arguably probably the most unlucky character within the historical past of fiction.