Category: Character Stories

ANDREW GARFIELD’S PETER PARKER, FOUR

This is an emotion-driven Spiderman. He must be a Four, lol.

First of all, The Amazing Spider-man is a particularly grim version of the story. The world is darker than in other iterations. Stylistically, this movie has a touch of the horror genre to it. Certain Character Enneagram numbers are more suited to this kind of storytelling. We need someone resilient. Peter is beat down a lot in this film. A Four will rise back up again.

The plot to this version is sparse. I won’t try a breakdown, but it doesn’t feel like it would hit all the beats. A Four Parker is very interesting; however, this isn’t the vehicle for him. Give me more backstory, more depth. Dig in. Ben and May are fantastic. Gwen and her father are fine (although don’t get me started about a costumer putting a young woman in thigh highs for a professional environment).

Many of the details on this movie are just okay. Peter’s a Four! Give him juicy scene chewing! Garfield is up to the task. Let him off the leash! This should’ve been a huge, emotional roller coaster. Instead, it’s meh.

TOM HOLLAND’S PETER PARKER, ONE

Holland’s Peter is nice because he’s young. He’s respectful to his elders. Obviously he’s a good person, too, but much of his wide-eyed aw-shucks is due to youth, not an inherent character trait.

Without Spiderman Peter still has an athletic comfortableness. The suit helps, the bite helps, but this Peter had some skills before all that. Odds are that this rule-following young man is a One. He has a fast way of moving, a physical quickness, that speaks of Body Type. He has ambition and charm — very One — while still trying to do as he’s told.

When I think of the old Spiderman cartoon TV show, a One is a great choice for Parker. The wise-cracking, the physical speed and dexterity, the moral certainty — these are the traits that define Spiderman for me. This is who he is in my memory, and Holland’s Peter brings that Spiderman to life.

BATMAN (2022), FOUR

Well, his Batman headpiece fits well and doesn’t give that horrible neck-pinch impression when he turns his head. Good costume, check. And when he takes off the cowl we still see his eye black, which feels realistic.

Now I have nothing.

He’s not a Holmesian detective, he’s not an intimidating fighter, he’s not a rich guy with toys, and he’s not a companion with Alfred. He’s a blank, mostly, with Batman-esque tropes laid lightly over his character.

Again, as I said with Catwoman, I don’t blame the actor for this portrayal. Pattinson was given a lank of hair over his face as an acting tool.

So, what do we have besides “not” qualities on the left-hand scale? He and Gordon spend a lot of time together and work as a team. To extrapolate, this Batman could be a Heart Type, someone who seeks social engagement and a sharing of duties. But then his aloofness with Alfred could negate that reading. However, considering how underused the marvelous Andy Serkis as Alfred is, the script might just have had a hole around them. 

Wow, the more I think about this movie’s lack of focus, the angrier I get. Tropes and lazy archetypes are tossed around rather than character development. One of the worst was the accusation that Bruce Wayne, because he’s rich, can’t feel the sorrow and pain of being an orphan. Does Bruce let this slide because he agrees, because he’s divorced from his own feelings around the tragedy of his parents’ deaths, or because the script gave him nothing to play? I can’t tell. This movie has a lot of medium shots with no emphasis to help point the film.

Are we talking Null? His emo mood suggests a Four, as does his companionability with Gordon. If the script had pumped Alfred and his relationship with Batman more, this could’ve been a great reading of his character. I’d say that this is the only number that even suggested itself during my watch.

I’ll count it. I think this is what Pattinson was playing, even though the directing and writing didn’t back him up. It just makes me sad for the depth of a Four Batman that we’ve missed. A lot more juice went unsqueezed in this orange.

CATWOMAN (2022), SEVEN

My comments for this Catwoman and Batman will be very similar: there’s not much to work with, and it’s not the actors’ fault.

Alright. She’s athletic. We don’t see a lot of Catwoman acrobatics, but she can fight. Her undercover detective role is much more emphasized, though, than her physicality. Let’s say she’s not a Body Type.

Although she owns cats, they don’t dominate her persona. And her costume is sufficient, but nothing particularly noticeable. Her headpiece does have low, small feline ears, and her mouth is covered with a strip of cloth. Her outfit looks vaguely homemade, but mostly it’s just a black smudge with nothing to distinguish it. Her wigs and makeup for her undercover work show the most detail. Detecting carries much more interest for her than battle.

She’s a get-the-job-done Catwoman. When the mystery of how her friend died is solved, and revenge meted out, she moves on. She does ask Batman to come with her, but her heart isn’t in it. This is a very practical, no-drama Catwoman.

If I have to choose, I’ll say Seven.

MARIAN BROOK, FOUR

With the energy of the young, Marian will engage with New Money or Old. She’ll call on a social outcast, befriend a Black woman, and concern herself with the Cook’s problem. She’ll also become romantically entangled with a man her Aunt Agnes has labeled an adventurer.

Marian, always willing to discard convention, is not always right to do so. Her enthusiasm leads her to overstep, such as when she brings cast-off shoes to Peggy’s mother’s home — a wealthy and stylish household — as an act of charity.

The problem with Marian is not just her youth and naivete. Her rebelliousness can feel fresh at times, and then foolish. The story has made her the bridge between Aunt Agnes’ Old Money prejudices and the Gilded Age’s ambition. It’s a difficult straddle for a character, and Marian isn’t always up to the task. Also, I can’t help wondering if the actress, Meryl Streep’s daughter, wasn’t cast for her pedigree — how Old Money! — rather than for the innovation of a New Money unknown.

Marian has a lot of energy — she’s always walking Ada’s little dog, lol — and a taste for conflict. She likes to stir the pot in social situations. Her father, Agnes’ and Ada’s brother, was, by the sisters’ accounts, a selfish terror. He burned through the family money, used up the sisters’ inheritance with no remorse, and left Marian destitute at his death.

She’s a Four. Although her past has hardship, she is undeterred and willing, if necessary, to fail. It takes a certain bravery to step forward in so many social situations. Not every number would persist against such risk.

PEGGY SCOTT, SEVEN

As Agnes surmises and appreciates, Peggy is a very determined person. She leaves her well-off family in Brooklyn, with whom she has a secret grievance, and takes a secretarial position with Agnes. She intends to write fiction, and she lands a second job at a Black-owned newspaper as a journalist.

Peggy knows her own mind, she knows what she wants, and she will pursue it. Meanwhile, she’s kind to people who are kind to her, and she stands as a solid friend to Marian. She’s no Mary Sue, though. This is a real character.

Her curiosity makes her a good journalist. She asks about what interests her, and ends up with an article that appeals to many. She has an energy and an industry, always engaging with the world. And she has an implacable temper. Her father has wronged her and she won’t forgive him.

Peggy is open to life and adventure, yet she has a cool head and won’t act impetuously. She has a steadiness that compliments her joie de vivre. I’m going to say Seven.

ADA BROOK, NINE

A spinster, Ada lives on the charity of her sister, Agnes. She is endlessly kind, and Agnes protects her. Her simplicity is refreshing because she has no guile. She genuinely doesn’t conceive of being mean. Her family, her household, and her little dog, are enough to bring her joy.

She’s not a simpleton, though. She has a quiet savvy that lets her see that the cook needs help and that Marian is over her head in a romantic entanglement. Acting from gentility, she lets people follow their own will, though, rather than imposing her own. She’s a lovely, admirable character, but she could never survive in this world without Agnes’ intervention.

What a beautiful dynamic! What a fascinating sisterhood.

I want to say Two because of her deep heart connection to those she loves. She’s not particularly social, though. She participates in charity events and enjoys her family, but she doesn’t seek out a whirl. It’s quite possible she would be content to never leave the house.

Also, if Agnes is a Six, a Two is a rare designation for a sibling. Ah! Ada is a Nine. A Nine woman is a gentle, nurturing person. Her concern with justice — refer to the cook situation again — is the indicator. And a Six/Nine combination is a great symbiosis. Oh, The Gilded Age gets better on examination, and I already loved it.

BERTHA RUSSELL, THREE

On the New Money side of the street we have a woman so socially ambitious it’s a wonderment to watch her. Bertha runs her advancement into the hierarchy of New York City’s rich as if it were a business. I’ve never seen a female character written so forcefully and yet respectfully. Usually a woman this brash is the villain.

Does she like nice things? I don’t think so. She likes status. But then she hires an innovative architect and a French chef (something not done at that time). Boldness is her profession, and she has an instinct for it. She has a tactical understanding of style, while choosing something for its beauty is secondary.

Three. Envy eats her alive, yet it won’t stop her. She will achieve what she attempts. This is a mesmerizing person who refuses to lose. I couldn’t stop admiring her.

AGNES VAN RHIJN, SIX

The Gilded Age has become one of my delights. The series is engaging, the characters are true to themselves, and the costumes are jaw-dropping. Please try it if you haven’t yet.

On the Old Money side of the street we have Agnes. She is so firm, so determined, so confident in her ideas. Her snobbery towards New Money is unmovable. 

Her compassion is very strict, too. She can spot “an adventurer” from a mile, and she’s always correct. For care of her family, she will cut the rogue to the bone. That her sister or her niece might prefer their illusions is something Agnes would disdain and ignore. Right is right, and the truth must be honored.

This is not a Heart Type, lol. This is a One or a Six. Rules are an iron bound box to her. We never see her step out for a stroll or a turn about the park, so probably not a Body Type. Also, she married a horrible man when she was younger in order to protect and support her family. This is a Trooper.

XIALING, NULL

The sister has a lot going on as a character, and seems placed to contribute more in further sequels.

She’s self-taught. While Shaun was trained abusively, Xialing was ignored. On the quiet, she watched and learned.

She’s self-made. After leaving home as a teenager she built a fighting arena in Macau that becomes hugely successful. At the end of the movie, she’s taking over her father’s crime business.

It’s actually a bit awkward. She’s brave, strong, smart — a hero — yet no one ever suggests that she wear the Ten Rings. Even she never questions why Shaun gets the power. It’s canon, or it’s a father/son inheritance, or both. Shaun never even offers her the Rings. I mean, yes, that’s the story — abused boy becomes resolved man — but if sister is going to be worthy of power, then we need to see that discussion.

Oh, dear. She’s much more developed than mom and auntie, but is she just an archetype, too? What does she want? What is her arc and what are her goals? She gets a lot of screen time and is integrated into the main plot. She saves them on the skyscraper scaffolding and in the final dragon battle, but her actions could’ve been performed by anybody. Besides being Sister, she brings nothing specific to these moments. Yikes.